Perhaps one of the most valuable tools for evaluating your web marketing efforts is the use of web analytics tools. One such tool in wide use today is Google Analytics for the primary reason that it is a very powerful and free tool. Probably the single most underused and misused part of Google Analytics is setting up and using Goals. Because Google Analytics is a Google product does not mean it only tracks Google searches. Google Analytics can be used to collect data on all types of web traffic regardless of the source.
The reason for properly setting and measuring goals is that goals are really the only sure way to determine the effectiveness of your online marketing efforts. Optimally, online and offline data need to be merged to get a complete picture of your ROI. But setting the right goals via web analytics will get you a long way in understanding what is happening and where to fine-tune your web site for improving conversions.
Easy goals that you can set up for virtually any web site in Google Analytics are "Time on Site" and "Pages/Visit" Goals that can be found under Goal Settings. Time on Site lets you group your visits by the amount of time spent per visit, while Pages/Visit allow you to categorize your visits by the number of pages viewed per visit. Setting up "Pages/Visit" equal to 1 will allow you to track those that land and leave your site after visiting one page or bounce. A goal of greater than 1 page will give you the ability to track non-bounces. Also, take a look at the main Dashboard Report and find the statistic for the Average Time on Site. Next create goals that will track those who stay on your site longer than average versus visitors that have average or below time on site.
The true power of goals is then to view, compare and analyze them in relation to other measures to determine which factors are most important in keeping visitors on your site that result in conversions. Once you have sufficient data collected for your goals, you can view them in relation to your Visitor, Traffic Sources, and Content measures that are part of Google Analytics. For example, on your Map Overlay Report take a look at which geographic locations of your visitors have higher or lower number of goal conversions. Under your All Traffic Sources Report, take a look at which of your top traffic sources have the highest goal attainment percentages. Once you find your key goal conversion factors, create custom reports using Goals as your Metrics versus those factors or Dimensions so that you can view, share and monitor your results at a glance.
