{"id":11951,"date":"2016-06-01T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogsitestudio.com\/?p=11951"},"modified":"2017-01-25T12:52:20","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T20:52:20","slug":"4-fun-ways-to-view-your-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogsitestudio.com\/4-fun-ways-to-view-your-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Fun Ways to View Your Google Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you have Google Analytics installed on your site, but don\u2019t understand its reports? Do your attempts to read the numbers leave you confused and confounded?\u00a0Do you lack the umpteen hours needed to study in the Google Academy, but need to read your Analytics now?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, read on, user. I\u2019ve got a bunch of fun ways to view your Google Analytics you can implement now.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Analytics is such a powerful tool that it can provide almost too much information for average WordPress users to comprehend. Instead of floundering around amid the pages of charts and timelines, it’s smart to sort what you need to know into views you can\u00a0chew on.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have Google Analytics installed, read this post about how to get it there<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Once installed it will take a day or so to see the numbers on your Google Analytics dashboard. <\/span><\/p>\n

View your Google Analytics<\/h2>\n

When you first open your Google Analytics Home page, you\u2019ll see all the web properties you own. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Google Analytics home page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By default you get the indented view by which clicking on one property opens it to a basic view of Sessions, Average Session Duration, Bounce Rate, and Goal Conversion Rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s a Bounce Rate? For all sessions that start with the page, Bounce Rate is the percentage that were the only one of the session. In other words, the amount of pages where one was read before the user left the site. Over 50% Bounce Rate is not good.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goal Conversion Rate is the percentage of pages where the user completed a goal. For that to show, you need to create goals, which I\u2019ll explain soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clicking on the list Mode\u00a0button shows all those metrics for all your properties for the dates shown in the upper right corner.<\/span><\/p>\n

See, you\u2019re already reading Google Analytics!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019ll drill down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Audience overview<\/span><\/h2>\n

Click on your property in the list view and you\u2019ll be taken to Audience Overview. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Based on the date range set you\u2019ll see a big chart with peaks and valleys as well as smaller charts describing Sessions, Users, Pageviews, Pages per Session, Average Session Duration, Bounce Rate and Percentage of New Sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus there\u2019s a pie chart showing New Visitors and Returning Visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below all that is a bar chart where you can see Demographics, System, and Mobile breakdowns.<\/span><\/p>\n

All good information, but not always what you need to see every time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Google Analytics is so deep and exhaustive in it\u2019s output that clicking around in it\u2019s dozens of pages can lead to information overload.<\/span><\/p>\n

What you need to do in order to have Fun Reading Your Google Analytics is to arrange the metrics in a way that\u2019s easy for you to view.<\/span><\/p>\n

But first, a word about the\u00a0A, B, C\u2019s of Google Analytics…<\/span><\/p>\n

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The A, B, C\u2019s of Google Analytics<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the sidebar to the left you\u2019ll see a menu. There\u2019s Dashboard, Shortcuts, Intelligence Events and Real Time, which I\u2019ll get to soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Below\u00a0that is Audience, Acquisition, Behavior and Conversions, each with an Overview plus subcategories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Audience<\/strong> is just that. It describes your readers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acquisition<\/strong> is your traffic and how your audience made their way to your site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behavior<\/strong> is what your audience did on your site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conversions<\/strong> is what they committed to while visiting, what goals they completed.<\/span><\/p>\n

So when you clicking around in analytics and wonder why you\u2019re seeing numbers a certain way, look at the sidebar to check which A, B, C area you\u2019re in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Metric vs metric<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Google<\/a>On all of these pages you can select different metrics to compare against each other. On the left above the chart, click Select a Metric to get a dropdown menu and select a metric.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your chart will then show two lines; a dark one for the first metric and a lighter blue line representing the second metric. For instance, see all sessions and how many are new users.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other views you can play with include Dimensions which include Default Channel Grouping, Source\/Medium, Source, Medium, and Other. Two different dimensions can be compared as Primary against Secondary.<\/span><\/p>\n

By clicking the views next to Advanced on the left above the chart you can choose to see the data in a chart, pie chart, bar graphs, keywords and pivot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re having fun!<\/span><\/p>\n

Customize your dashboard<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ok, now that you\u2019ve checked out different views of various types of data, you need to decide what views you want to see on a regular basis. Once you decide, it\u2019s time to create a customized dashboard.<\/span><\/p>\n