Because I have a lot of web properties, I look at Google Analytics almost every day. So I'm not a noob to the idea of analytics by any means.
I keep reading these Google Analytics articles and they all just kind of wash over me. So many thousands of pieces of data. It just never all seems to come together into some kind of useful whole. It just never seems to add up to much.
I look at total traffic and how the traffic is getting there. Then I look at time on site and page views, which show me how engaged they are. Finally I glance at new vs. returning visitors. That's about it. I know I must be missing out on something -- writers keep telling me this -- but somehow I'm just not easily able to move from "here's a zillion pieces of data" to "here is something I can do today for my content to make it better for folks"
On on the positive side, I like the new interface and features. I've been geeking out on watching traffic arrive at the site realtime. But then again, just like all the other stuff, it's cool glossy data, but not a lot of actionable useful stuff.
You might want to follow Avinash Kaushik (hopefully I wrote it right), his blog is quite popular and for very good reasons: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
His book, Web Analytics 2.0, is an eye opener in terms of defining your own goals and processes, highly suggested.
Other tips, independent of whether you're using Google Analytics or any other tool:
- Plan and set up your analytics early. If you're using Google Analytics, set up goals (and goal funnels) for the major actions that are successes for your business. If you're not using GA, figure out how to model user interactions in a meaningful way.
- Track any and all of your efforts to spread your web presence. Tag links in emails, social sources, and advertising solutions. If you don't know how you acquired a particular customer, you don't know what's working.
- There is only one number that matters at the end of the day: revenue. Understand how metrics play into revenue before trying to optimize for something web-centric like "Bounce Rate" or "Time on Site".
I am learning webmaster skills and have marked this to study in detail later. I am scratching today after having my site ranked #3 on google for my keyword to today not being found in the search results at all. I went to bing and did not have this problem. The changes Google made with the new search format last year has a lot to be desired in my book.
One thing people should track is mobile user agents, and the usernames they correspond to. That way when you do release a mobile app you know offhand who has android, and who has iphone, and send targeted emails to those groups of people. Same for Google Chrome, if you wish to release a Chrome app.
Talk about HN title link-bait. The article's actual title - 11 Google Analytics Tricks to Use for Your Website - is much more accurate (namely because the article has 1) nothing to do with startups and 2) nothing "advanced".)
