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Is it wrong to love Google Analytics?
I know "love" is a strong word but it accurately describes my feelings about this service. Since we re-launched gamebike.com, every morning, no matter what city I'm in, no matter what crisis is looming, no matter what.I can't wait to hit the site that tells me what I want to know. No wait.the site that tells me what I must know.
Sadly, I have to admit, I am addicted to Google Analytics.
So, what has caused this plunge into the abyss of digital data darkness? It's a cautionary tale that you would be well-served to remember.
It all started with a seemingly innocent business relationship. Ken Purcell is partner and technical guru of Relevant Development. In what has proven to be a very smart decision, we hired him and his team to build this very web site. Ken is a low-key, affable guy. Who knew that this nice guy could be responsible for my Google Analytics Jones? You see Ken introduced me to Google Analytics. I, in turn, have infected others in the GameBike management team with the same virus. Not a pretty site.I mean sight.
The reason that a perfectly normal guy (O.K. some would argue with that) like me would turn into a data junkie is due to the facts that are available for consumption on Google Analytics. When an eager forefinger clicks on that "view reports" link, magic appears on the next page.
First, there's that cool chart of a month's worth of traffic that shows you how you are doing at a glance. The web site traffic was up 17 days ago. Down yesterday. Way up when Katie Couric featured our site on the CBS Evening News one night. When you're plugged into to GA, you know where you stand in the eternal quest for web traffic success.
So, what is it about this service that stimulates our frontal lobes? For me, it's my hyper competitiveness and the need for crystal clarity. Give me the simple black and white of a sports contest, an election, a foot race. Someone wins and someone loses. Unlike the rest of life, in this "game" there is very little gray. One way or another, we're all looking for clarity. We want answers, dang it. And we want to know just how we're doing.right now.
The Google Analytics service tells you how people found your site. Most of them come from the search engines. But they also come from sites that have your web site address on their site (a "referring site"). People also come directly to your site and GA gives you a percentage breakdown on all of these categories.
It is fascinating to note where the visitors enter the site. While most people enter this site via the Home page, lots of the GameBike.com traffic comes in on the Products page. A bunch of them come in from the PRESS BOX page. The physical fitness trainers and PE teachers seem to have discovered this site from their typing in "fitness training games or new exercises" on a search engine and then landing on our FITNESS Trainers and PE teachers page. If you haven't gone there, check out the lesson plans and other fitness training techniques that we've put on this page.
I know enough about Search Engine Optimization to casually toss off the acronym, "SEO." Whenever I speak to internet geeks who really DO know about how the search engines use algorithms to rank sites based on the words typed in the search box, I nod and say, "Hmmm, must be effective SEO." However, knowing the acronym and creating brilliant SEO strategies are as different as knowing how to spell "literature" and writing like Cormac McCarthy.
The one thing that has become obvious to me, the SEO neophyte, more meaningful content added to a web site every week makes the site more relevant to the search engines. How do I know this? You guessed it Bubba.Google Analytics.
GA also tells us what days and times people come to the site. How long they stay. How many came and went without spending much time to soak up our witty and enlightening repartee.
Since we spend a lot of time working to make this site cool and hopefully interesting, it is great fun to see if you like it. Web site visitors vote with their fingers and Google Analytics let those fingers do the talking.
Am I the only person who's addicted to Google Analytics? Give me a Clue.