Episode 85: Unlocking Valuable Website Insights with Google Analytics and Business Intelligence

How Google Analytics and Business Intelligence Optimize Your Service-Based Business

In today's digital landscape, data and analytics play a crucial role in driving business success. For service-based small business owners, optimizing their online presence and conversion rates is key to staying competitive. That's where Google Analytics and business intelligence come into play.

Understanding Google Analytics and its Benefits

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that provides invaluable insights into website performance. By tracking website traffic, user behavior, and conversion rates, service-based businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their online presence. For example, they can identify the sources of their website traffic, monitor user engagement, and measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. These insights empower businesses to make data-driven decisions and optimize their online strategies.

Leveraging Business Intelligence for Website Optimization

While Google Analytics provides a wealth of data, business intelligence takes the analysis to the next level. Business intelligence tools help service-based businesses gain deeper insights and make informed decisions based on the data collected from Google Analytics and other sources. With business intelligence, businesses can identify trends, segment audience data for targeted marketing campaigns, and forecast future website performance. By combining the power of Google Analytics and business intelligence, service-based businesses can optimize their website performance and drive conversions.

Actionable Takeaways for Service-Based Businesses:

1: Set up Google Analytics and ensure proper tracking implementation. This involves installing and configuring Google Analytics on your website, setting up goals and conversions, and ensuring accurate tracking to measure the effectiveness of your online strategies.

2: Utilize Google Analytics reports to gain insights and make data-driven decisions. Key reports and metrics to focus on include traffic sources, audience behavior, and conversion funnels. By interpreting and acting upon these insights, businesses can optimize their marketing efforts and enhance user experience.

3: Leverage business intelligence tools to unlock deeper insights and optimize website performance. Integrating business intelligence tools with Google Analytics allows businesses to identify trends, conduct A/B testing, segment audience data, and make informed decisions to drive business growth.

Conclusion:

Unlocking valuable website insights is essential for service-based small business owners looking to optimize their online presence and conversion rates. By leveraging the power of Google Analytics and business intelligence, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of their audience, track their marketing efforts, and make data-driven decisions to drive business growth. Don't miss the latest episode of the Collab with Kiva podcast, where we dive deeper into this topic and provide actionable tips for service-based business owners. Tune in now and unlock the power of website insights

Remember, data is the key to success in today's digital world. By harnessing the power of Google Analytics and business intelligence, service-based businesses can stay ahead of the competition, optimize their online presence, and drive conversions.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva.
See you next time!

Are you ready to take massive action in your business and harness the power of data in your decision-making? Let’s chat 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade 0:01

Welcome to Collab with Kiva, where we let our inner nerd geek out on all the non sexy parts of your business. I'm talking data and operations. Neither as flashy or glamorous, but both are foundational to your business growth. I'm your host, Kiva Slade, your strategy and analytics guide here to break down what feels complicated. So it is understandable and executional. Let's dive in. So hello, and welcome to another episode of collab with Kiva. I'm your host, Kiva Slade, and unless you've been living under a rock, which granted to you might have been July 1 is quickly approaching. And yes, I will join the beating drum. That is, July 1, marks what? The day that Google will stop collecting data on your Universal Analytics configuration on your website, it will no longer send that data there. And that means that you should have installed Google Analytics for on your website by now. But again, if you have been one of those living under a rock and hoping praying, wishing, believing that Google was going to change their mind and kick this can further down the road, this podcast is for you.

Kiva Slade 1:29

Today, we really want to dive into just the importance of installing Google Analytics for even at this late date. And also just some true basics on how we can gain valuable insights, especially as it relates to our websites, and how they perform and how that influences and informs decisions in our businesses. So let's go ahead and dive in. It's so important to understand that leveraging data and analytics in particular is crucial to optimizing your online presence. And also it can show you details about your conversion rates that may or may not align with what you think happens in terms of conversions. So in today's digital world, obviously, having a strong online presence is essential for pretty much any business to thrive. Don't get me wrong, there are some outliers who don't have a web presence, and they're able to, I don't necessarily believe that that is the norm. So tread carefully, if that's the path that you want to choose, however, you define a strong online presence is up to you. But for most of us at a bare minimum, that is, it does include a website with that, you know, understanding of how your website performs and how your audience interacts with your website, if you don't have that you are in a dark room trying to find your way around to the light switch.

Kiva Slade 3:10

And that's really where Google Analytics comes in. And then being able to take the business intelligence that comes from the tool is very helpful to providing data and insights, obviously, to help them form the decisions that drive your business growth. Over the past week, I was a presenter at a marketing search Summit. And it's so funny, you're like, you get questions, or you SEO or PPC. And I was like, I'm neither I am, you know, this hybrid here who's not a marketer, more in the operations and data space. But I can speak to marketers in really helping bridge the gaps, especially between marketing and operations. So it wasn't SEO or PPC, however, there I was. But even for some of the sessions that I attended, lots taking place around, obviously, SEO around websites, and their importance in determining the things that go on in a business and a lot of companies pay very good money to to rank high through organic content and things of that sort related to SEO. So with that being the case, whether you produce a blog a month, or you don't, there are things that take place on your website. And the more that you know about these things, the better you can adjust things in your business to build off of what is doing well and maybe do more of that and less of what is not doing as well. And or tweak what's not doing so well so that you can increase conversion. So to increase traffic so that you understand that when people come to your site from a speaking engagement that you did, or a podcast or social media platforms that you're on, that you have this data, you have these insights that can drive where you are putting your energy in that energy can be in the form of time, as well as in the form of money.

Kiva Slade 5:25

So it's really important to have an understanding of what is taking place in your website ecosphere, I have seen, worked with people who do not have Google Analytics installed, they have no Analytics installed. And yet, they'll do web redesigns. And yet, they'll tweak, copy. And they'll do all of these different things and spend lots of money on marketing and things of that sort. But really have no understanding of what worked, what didn't work. Anything. So using Google Analytics, A. it's free people. It's a free tool. And it can help you track and analyze so many aspects of your website and gain insights into traffic sources, user behavior, conversion rate, audience demographics, and so much more. So again, it's free. What other reason do we need, it's not something that's going to break your bank in terms of installing it. And even a bare minimum install, you can do it yourself, Google will guide you through it. If you've already let Google auto migrate you, bless you. And I would encourage you just still install it yourself or contact me or some other amazing souls out there who do this, because their auto migrate is trash. I'll just say that and keep going. So and you'll notice that you can't delete it. And it's not really optimized for what you do and or what your business does, but a whole another conversation for another time.

Kiva Slade 7:11

So let's go ahead and take a trip down imaginary lane. And maybe you run a graphic design agency, he had a significant increase in traffic from your social media platforms. Why? How did this happen? Those are questions you should really want to know like, oh, what led this to being? And you can dig deeper into that and really identify which channels why were they driving the most traffic and engagement and what took place? What did you do in order to have this as a result? And this is stuff that plays into your marketing. I always ask people like what platforms they're on. And they tell me what they love what they hate, or that they're on all of them. And which ones drive the most traffic to your website? And they don't know. And it's like Scooby Doo moment. And it's like, no, you need to know. And because my next question is, out of those that drive the most traffic to your website, which are those that have the highest conversion.

Kiva Slade 8:15

And it's again, this is a no judgment, no shame zone. But if you're going to spend money in time and energy on these platforms, then you should know which ones are driving traffic, what actions are you taking on those platforms, that causes boost in your traffic and your engagement, which of those that drives a lot of traffic, actually also drives conversions. And I've shared this story before of a client, who spent a lot of time on Instagram, but was feeling burnt out there. However, whenever we promoted an event that she was doing, Instagram drove tons of traffic times. However, when we actually broke down her funnel, and went behind the scenes, even though they Instagram drove a lot of traffic, it didn't drive high conversions. Her email list had higher conversion rates, then Instagram. So that really helped us know like her buyers were these long term invested folks who are like, always loving her welcoming her in her inbox. And hey, Instagram is nice. And it's the looky loos they're like, Yeah, we went shopping, and we just wanted to see what she was putting out there. But we're not actually, you know, taking money out of our wallet in order to attend. And if so, it's just a few of us and not the large numbers that are actually coming to her site when those things were happening. So again, this is important to know where to direct your energy this all falls still under the umbrella of business intelligence because it is this intelligence that's helping you be informed about where to direct your energy? Where are you going to have the best ROI, Return On Investment of your investment?

Kiva Slade 10:07

So if she spent tons of time on LinkedIn, and LinkedIn never drove traffic, one would have to wonder, why are you on LinkedIn? Like, that's not where your people are, that's not where your audiences, that's nothing that you're posting is necessarily resonating. And so that would be a decision to make and say, Hey, social media person, we are only paying this person X amount of dollars for extra pieces of content, oh, we don't need content any longer for LinkedIn. That's not our platform. Or we just need very sparse content for LinkedIn, because of this. And obviously, you can insert Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, like you do, whatever, whatever the ones for you, which in most cases, you will not know unless you have what Google Analytics for installed, or some level of an analytics platform. So moving on from that, obviously, these insights would help you with also optimizing your website in terms of looking at, where are things taking place on your website, what heat maps that's a whole separate, it's not a part of Google Analytics for but encourage it. But when you're looking at that, like where people drawn to what content in what pages and things of that sort, but also things like scroll depth.

Kiva Slade 11:37

That's another thing that we worked with another client on is like, are people actually scrolling? Are they reading? Are they reading, because if they're going only a quarter of a way down your page before they bounce, but then you need to get the goodies up at the back corner part of the page. If they're going three quarters of the way down, you'd be okay. They're engaged. They're actually spending time. They're looking at things. They're reading things they're taking things in. It's far different from folks who 10 percenters or 25% people who scroll and then they're like I am out of here. You want to know that? Because that helps you determine where do you place content. If people aren't scrolling down your page, and you got this amazing video right at the halfway mark, and they don't go more than 25%. They're never seeing your amazing video. They're just not. However, if you've been watching scrolled up, you've been looking at it, seeing what the audience behavior is, you know, to move that video up, get it where people are going to see it. Again, all under the umbrella of business intelligence and taking that data that Google Analytics gives you and using it to make actionable insights and decisions in your business.

Kiva Slade 13:03

Google has some amazing insights into audiences now. And in making audiences maybe you have a blog on your website, and you want an audience of newsletter subscribers, plus blog readers who scrolled 50% of a blog, you know that those people like you, and they want to know what you're doing and what you're talking about in their return visitors maybe even add that in. So you can create these audiences that helps you drill down even further. Because this audience that you just created of those who are like, super fans, they might interact with your website far differently than someone who did a Google search. And this is how they found you. And they're like, Oh, this is interesting. Let me dabble here, look here, click here. In their path is different. It looks different than someone who was like a mama's website every single week, because she's got a new blog coming out, and I know it and it's on Thursday. And I'm going here to go read and get this recipe and grab this to do item, whatever it is that you do. So you can take this data from these different sources of how people interact with your website. You can use it to uncover trends. Maybe you want to conduct some A B testing, because hey, those people who don't really know you don't spend as much time as those super fans. What is it that the superfans are seeing getting? Obviously there's no like trust that's there. But is there something that you can do to replicate that for those that don't really know you? And you can test that maybe they come to a different page of your website that's hidden and you can AB test it set you can also obviously segment your audiences. And in there are some predictive features of Google Analytics for as well, where based on the data that's collected actually give you some predictions about future website performance. So those are things to really think through.

Kiva Slade 15:11

Like, again, if you publish a blog and you see this spike in user engagement, because you've sent out an email, Hey, I got a new blog. And it's like, oh, so when I send an email to my list, that there's a new blog that increases traffic? Well, if you're only posting a blog twice a month that might want to tell you, let's test that. What happens if we post a blog weekly now? And what does that do? What how does that add to our branding? How does that add to our SEO, how does that add to our authority score, and that we are now going to maybe share what higher and even additional Google searches related to that or Pinterest or whatever the situation might be, you can take this information and use it to attract more of and engage more of your target audience. So some takeaways because I told you, I was going to try my best to keep this high level not too down in the weeds, but we can definitely go.

Kiva Slade 16:11

But takeaway number one, set up Google Analytics and ensure that you have proper tracking implementation. I cannot stress that enough, Nor can I stress the fact that if you are used to Universal Analytics, it is not apples to oranges, at the conference was that someone said it was apples to cars, it's they're not the same. There's things in GA4 that we're not in Universal Analytics. So you do have a mindset shift that has to take place. There are people out there like myself and others who can tweak your GA4 or give you reports that allows you to see your UA versus GA4 and give you some level of comfortability as you transition your mindset. The bottom line is though, that if you don't have it set up, nobody can help you. You can't even help yourself at that point. So I want you to install it have it configured, it's pretty straightforward. Like I said, the initial beginning setup, there's things that you can do that are obviously more advanced. But at this stage of the game, I just honestly want you to get it installed, so that you can begin tracking something which is better than nothing.

Kiva Slade 17:36

Number two, really use the reports that are in there that you can make custom reports, but I actually have to say that they have some decent reports to get you started. That will help give you the insights you're looking for to make better informed data driven decisions. So looking at your traffic sources, your audience behavior, if you have funnels, what do those funnels look like? What are their conversion rates, and really understanding the path that users take on your website? Are there things that are bottlenecks in your website that really just jank up your customer journey, you know, and then you can look at those and really look to optimize your website accordingly.

Kiva Slade 18:20

And then the third takeaway is really to leverage this insight, leverage these tools to get even deeper insights and actually make the changes to your website. Don't just have the data and do nothing with it. Because that's crazy. So since it's there for you via a free tool, utilize it and actually make, implement, do the things the data is telling you to do. Don't ignore it. Don't pretend it's not telling you something because it's something that you don't want to hear. It's telling you to not be on Instagram, you're like but I love Instagram, you can still love Instagram all day. However, your business time, your resources for your business don't need to be on Instagram. So use the tools and gain the deeper insight. Work with someone to help you visualize your trends help you make better informed decisions. If there are things about it that you're not understanding or you don't know how to take that information and make it actionable. Definitely reach out. So with that all being said you have your three takeaways. And you have this constant reminder to if you haven't please install Google Analytics for it can really help you do things that can be game changers in your business.

Kiva Slade 20:00

As we continue to have like, the internet is not going anywhere people, and the proliferation of whether it's AI tools or anything else, your website, you've paid for it, it's your land that you own on the internet, like, well, you borrow and you rent it from some large company. But the reality of the situation is, that's your presence. You want to understand how to optimize that presence, how to increase conversion rates, from that presence, how to drive business growth, to increase that presence. So those are things that you want to do and Google Analytics 4 is a means in which for you to do those things. So I again, try to keep this short and sweet. Keep it high level. If you have additional questions, obviously, always reach out, you know how to find me primarily on LinkedIn. Because why my data told me I don't need to be on Instagram. So thank you for joining me on this episode of Collab with Kiva. I really hope you find these insights valuable and that you really do move forward on them, especially for you who are out there who have not installed Google Analytics 4 like, honestly, if you ever watch wipe out the big red ball, the motivator, it's coming to bump you like Don't, don't let it hit you. So implement the takeaways get going leverage the power of a free tool that's available for you, and really amp up how you were using the intelligence in that to grow your business. Thank you, and I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I'm wildly cheering you on as you go forth and execute data and operational efficiencies in your business. If you need additional support, connect with me via my website, the516collaborative.com your reviews on Apple are appreciated. See you next week.

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.