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What You Can Learn About Renters from Analytics
What You Can Learn About Renters from Analytics
What is your UA code? If you don’t know the answer to this question, or at least where to find it, you probably aren’t using Google Analytics, and you’re missing out on the possible discovery of insightful info on prospective renters.
The UA code or number is the account assigned by Google when you sign a URL up for an Analytics account. This tracking number is then entered into the website. For CMS sites, this task is easy because the majority of platforms (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal) have a simple interface that allows you to enter the number or the entire tracking code (depending on how it’s configured) in only one spot, and that takes care of the entire site. This is usually located in the framework section in the site’s dashboard.
If you’re not using a CMS site, then it’s a bit more complicated. The tracking code needs to be inserted into the header (html <head>) of every page you want to track. This isn’t a task for novice site managers, but is something that can easily be handled by a seasoned developer, so best to hire this one out if you have the resources.
Once that code is in place and working, you’ll be able to login to your Analytics account and receive a confirmation to this effect. And, in a short period of time, you will also begin to see reports detailing information about your site and the traffic coming to it.
From the first landing page, you’ll see three crucial metrics: # of sessions, average duration, and the bounce rate. The # of sessions is the number of interactions that occur on your site within a given timeframe. So, if a user visits the site for 25 minutes and visits 4 different pages, this is counted as one session. There’s several scenarios here, and it’s an important number to understand, so we suggest this page from Google on the topic.
The session duration is, of course, the average amount of time all visitors dedicated to the site during a session. And, then there is bounce rate. Basically, this is the measure of how many visitors “bounce” away from your site quickly after landing there. There are disagreements over the importance of this number based on the fact that it has so much to do with a site’s offering and the type of link clicked to bring them there; but the parameters that tend to be desirable here is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% to 70% (but, of course, lower than 40% is good, too). If you’re above 70%, it’s not always a bad sign, but it may be worth having a professional marketer look into the issue just to make sure your site doesn’t have a feature or issue that is turning people away.
Now, for the fun part. Click on the link for your site that’s in bold (usually the 3rd one down). It will take you to a much bigger analytics page. Here, you can see pie charts that will tell you the percentage of new versus returning visitors you have coming to your site. You can also look just below that and see the language of your primary audience. But, it’s the analytic options in the left sidebar we’re most interested in. See the option to view statistics related to “Audience”? Clicking any one of the categories below that has the potential to expose something totally new about the people clicking on your site.
If you click on demographics, you can see breakdowns by age and gender. Click on Behavior, and you can see how your site is engaging users, how long they are staying, and how many page views your site receives. And, if you click just down from Audience to “Acquisition”, you’ll see yet another phenomenal set of categories that will show you exactly where your traffic comes from and what’s leading it there.
The possibilities are endless with what you can learn and how you can leverage this tool to your benefit. The key is to use it. If you want to learn more about Analytics, including detailed usage, Google offers some great video tutorials and even courses where you can become certified (not a bad idea if you’re heading up this part of your marketing efforts). We suggest starting here.
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