This is the first in a series of posts covering some useful tips to help you get the most out of Google Analytics.

Map Overlay

Google Analytics is a fantastic tool available for free from Google. It is very easy to install and comprehend. However, if you are using Google Analytics to manage your site statistics, you may not be aware of all the information that is available to you. Beyond your basic traffic numbers, such as the number of visitors, average time spent on site, pages per visit and bounce rate, there are various reports within Analytics to help you further interpret these numbers. The first step is to understand these reports and then use the analysis to execute changes to your website that will enhance its performance.

In talking with a client recently, he was very interested to learn that Google Analytics allows you to geographically pinpoint the location of visitors who access your website. These locations are based on the user's IP address and can be seen in the Map Overlay Report, found under "Visitors."

The default view shows you a world map with site visitors broken into "Country/Territory," but you can drill down deeper than that. By selecting each individual country, you can look at traffic from specific states or cities. All the usual Analytics data is available for each of these sections: average time spent on site, pages per visit, bounce rate, content and goals.

How can you use this data? This information on your website may demonstrate that there are cities or regions interested in your company's services that you were not aware of before. You might think about the language of your website; if there are enough visitors coming from a particular country, you should perhaps have website content available in that country's language or a separate site altogether. If you have an e-commerce website, considerations should be made for different currencies or shipping costs. The Map Overlay report is a great, user-friendly marketing tool to help you better understand your website traffic and cater to specific market segments.

For more information on Blue Archer and our internet marketing services, visit our website.

Jennifer Brant

Marketing Manager