Data is everywhere nowadays.
Data is everywhere nowadays.
It has become a major point of emphasis in education, sports, business, and marketing. We love data! Especially when the data we are provided makes us better at our jobs by showing us what actions to take and facilitating the decision making process. The actionable data gathered from analytics is a great resource for marketing departments to analyze what is working and what isn't. And the best part is there are many free options available.
The most popular of these free data tools is Google Analytics, which is what we use here at GoldenComm, via Google Tag Manager. When you add Google Analytics to your website you will learn about your traffic sources (where visitors found your site), how your visitors interacted with your site (what pages they visited), and how much time they spent on your site. In order to add Google Analytics to your site you'll need access to your website's back end. Fairly simple if you have a developer you work with. If you aren't using a Content Management System (CMS), you should consult a developer or the person who built your website.
Once in the back end or CMS, you'll need to add your Google Tag Manager Tracking Code, which can be found in the Google Tag Manager workspace (image below), to your site.
Simply copy and paste that code into your websites HTML code. If you are using a CMS, you should be able to easily locate where to input this code. Once the code is entered – it needsto be inserted onto every page of your website – you are now on your way to collecting data that will allow you to make valuable, data-driven, business decisions that will impact your bottom line.
It is important to understand that this is a basic level of tracking the actions of visitors to your website. This will give you a basic understanding of what your website visitors are doing. This is a great first step for businesses to begin tracking the profitability of their marketing programs as well as the efficacy of their website.
In the end, your marketing program should be generating leads for your sales team. With Google Analytics, you will be able to see how well your marketing team is doing.