During the last several weeks I’ve been consulting various online companies on the importance of tracking their website analytical data. Website analytics, in its simplest form, is the statistical data gleaned from visits to a respective site. Tracking the visits to one’s site could be considered to be one of the most important endeavors a webmaster dares to undertake. What is being missed in the overall web marketing strategy of a company? How can a website owner increase sales to her/his e-commerce site based upon information captured with web analytics tools?

Knowing exactly where your website visitors get to your page from, as well as how long and which particular page they remain on, are of the utmost importance for an online business. Capturing the demographics of prospective customers will tell you about possible marketing channels that you may want to visit in the near future. Tracking your visitor bounce rate (rate at which a user enters and leaves a particular page) can give you positive insight on possibly enhancing your visitor’s experience to retain readership.

While a lot of software companies out there may be competing for your Dollars, some of the best tools on the market can be assimilated into your organization at no cost. Google Analytics is one such free software platform. Having many features similar to its predecessor Urchin, Google Analytics is one of the best web analytics tracking tools around.  On a side note, Google’s Urchin Analytical software download is a licensed product and can be used to track up to 1000 domains with many advanced features that only Google Analytics can compare with.  Urchin is primarily a self-hosted solution with a comprehensive help center.

For those wishing to go a separate route and handle things “in the cloud”, I suggest Google Analytics. This platform has a plethora of goal tracking capabilities that will let you dig deeper into the statistical data presented by visits to your site. You’re able to track which keywords users input that led them to your site. You’re also able to utilize a graphical Interface that visually lets you test how links on your website may be performing.

Do you have a Google Adwords account? There is functionality to track your Adwords campaigns in Google Analytics as well.

I’m only touching the surface and will write about additional capabilities of Google Analytics in the near future. Till then you can make use of  these useful related links:

1. Google Analytics (Homepage) – http://www.google.com/analytics/

2. Google Analytics Individual Qualification – Helpful curriculum that prepares you to become certified in Google Analytics. http://www.google.com/analytics/

3. Google Analytics Help – http://www.google.com/support/analytics/?hl=en

Google Analytics Video(s)

Talk with you soon,

Eric Nathaniel Jones

Related articles by Zemanta

• How To Tag URLs Using The Google Analytics URL Builder Tool (marketingconversation.com)

Related posts:

1. Google Unveils New AdSense Interface
2. Google Unveils The Chrome Web Store
3. New Google Search Capability – Google Instant (Google In an Instant)
4. Google Breaks The Bank!! – Google DFP Ad Manager Program
5. Google Content Network Is Now The Display Network – Google Display Network Intro