Google Analytics monitors and measures your website traffic.
It’s free, and integrates with other Google programmes like AdWords.
You can see how many people are actually engaging with your website, which you can't do using offline marketing tools like brochures or press ads.
We recommend that you analyse your website traffic reports regularly. These will help you understand where your traffic is coming from, and what visitors do when they land on your website.
How to set it up
1. To use Google Analytics you need a Google account. If you don't have one, set one up. It's quick and easy.
2. Once you have a Google account go to Google Analytics and sign in with your Google account.
3. Follow the instructions to create a new analytics account.
4. When you are creating a new account, the 'Add Tracking' step will generate your tracking ID. The tracking ID will start with 'UA'.
5. Copy and paste the tracking code into the pages of your website that you want to track.
You can follow these steps yourself, but it may be easier to get your web developer to do this for you.
With this code in place, you will immediately start to receive data related to your website that you can then use to analyse your traffic and business goals.
One fantastic feature of Google Analytics is goal tracking. Set up a 'conversion goal' within your analytics account and you will be able to check if you are reaching this goal. You will be able to see exactly where you are losing your visitors along the conversion process, allowing you to correct any mistakes you are making on your site.