Confused by Website Analytics? Google Wants to Teach You

Analytics have come a looonngg way from the days of a hit counter at the bottom of the page. The availability of Google Analytics gives everyone access to one of the most sophisticated web analytics tools on the planet, so there isn’t any reason you shouldn’t be tracking the traffic to your site! Tracking is one thing, but understanding what the data says is just as important. What value is there in tracking traffic to your website if you aren’t using that to make improvements?

However, it can be more than overwhelming to make heads or tails of all the data, analysis and reports available in Google Analytics. And, just to keep you on your toes, they are adding and changing things all the time. The Internet is full of places you can get help, but for the month of October, Google itself is offering an Analytics Academy course on Digital Analytics Fundamentals. The three-week course is for beginning to intermediate users seeking to understand the core principles of digital analytics and to improve business performance through better digital measurement. Every small business owner is both marketer and analyst in their business, this is a great place to start so you can get more out of your analytics and improve the value of your website to your business.

The course goes live October 8 and Google estimates it will take 4 to 6 hours to complete. You can check out the Course Overview, sign up, or take a gander at the FAQ page. Personally, I’m already signed up because Google has been continuously updating Google Analytics so I’m sure there are new features or changes that I’ve missed.

Do you have a story about how you have used (or not used) analytics to help your site? Be sure to share with us in the comments.