Week 3 - Intro to Google Analytics: Chapter 2 (Review)

At the beginning of the semester I created a blog called Giancarlo's Marketing Blog, and the only proof I had of someone visiting it, or reading anything that I published, were these numbers on my blogger account:

Chapter 2 of the book shares instructions and advice on how to create a blog and a Google Analytics page to track your blog's activity more closely. So I did as followed and had myself a GA account. Now, the book also states that it usually takes to 24 hours for the GA to track the blog's activity, therefore my GA main page looks empty and full of zeros.

The book also states that to see "reliable monthly stats" it is necessary to wait a month.

I believe this is a good way to start learning how analytics work, with a fun page that is also user friendly for everyone capable of operating a computer. I am curious to know how my blog stats will look in a month.

Week 2 - Intro to Google Analytics: Chapter 1 (Review)

                

Let me get this right… I can have a record of who visits my website? A geographic location from where the page is being visited? What they are trying to do or searching for? And all for free? Apparently, I can. It is called Google Analytics.

 I have been reading a new book and it is called CASA Marketing: Intro to Google Analytics and it isn’t the type of book that I understood the content and everything that explains, but I think I am catching up as I read by.

 Quick intro to web analytics by Wikipedia: "Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage". So, if you are the owner of a business website, and need some feedback about if your target is visiting your website and what they are looking for in it, web analytics is the perfect way to take the most advantage of it. What GA does (what I am aware as today) is that it gathers data of your website's activity. Who visited this part, or that part; how many times they visited it, and if is the first visit or the 5^th. Google analytics can bring all down to numbers, but what if I am not a “numbers person”?

  Todd Kelsey, the author of the book Intro to Analytics, described himself in the book as someone who saw himself working with numbers. He also shares the story of how he was introduced to analytics for the first time. He claims to have started a website with a friend, and in their curiosity/necessity of knowing who was visiting their website, they searched for a “’tool’ that would help them do that”. And without realizing it, they were introduced to analytics. “And it was fun”.

  People use analytics mainly to track their Organizational Return of Investment. How many people see your product, your online ads, your service ads, and even your social media pages. Lets face it, we don’t need a case study to come to the conclusion that the big majority of your target is on any kind of social media these days. By analyzing these pages –Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, you can get a closer approach to your final consumer reviewing their likes, dislikes, comments, and suggestions on your brand. Now you think anyone can read and manage a social media account, but to analyze it by numbers is where you can get the best out of it for the benefit of your company.

  I have been facing my ups and downs trying to deeply comprehend everything that Website Analytics is about, and to be honest, I have a feeling that it may take me a while to become an expert. But the truth is that the business world is always changing, and now more than ever, in the Era of Information, the market has become more competitive than before. So, I think I will take as many weapons as I can to fight this war, and Google Analytics may just be a perfect one for my future.