The 5 minutes you NEED to spend in Google Analytics each month.

If knowledge is power, then when it comes to digital marketing, data is the 'master of the universe'. Having a thorough understanding of how people are interacting with your website is key to ensuring your digital marketing is successful. The great news is, all the data you need is at your fingertips.

Unless you live on an internet free deserted island, you probably understand the need to have Google Analytics installed onto your site. However so often we talk to clients about their data and find they haven't actually logged in and 'taken a look' recently. It's the equivalent of getting a membership at an amazing gym (you know those fancy ones with the pool and the sauna rooms) but never actually visiting.

So make that your new challenge, to each month (at a minimum) log into your Analytics platform and get some of that very valuable data out into the real world. Ideally you should allow time to get in there and have a very thorough look through all the different types of reporting and data available but if you really only have five minutes spare... here's three quick reports we think you should start with that will tell you A LOT:

1. Home Screen - User General Statistics

This is the first screen you'll see when you pop onto the platform and don't let it's simplicity fool you. You definitely want to record month to month the stats from this widget.

- Users: number of unique visitors to your website

- Sessions: How many sessions those users have having ie. is the sessions is double the number of users you can see there's obviously a lot of repeat visits happening (which you can delve into more in the Audience Insights tab)

- Definitely take note of the Session Duration as it really tells you a lot about how much the visitors are 'enjoying the experience' of being on your site. If you're visitors are only on there for a few seconds they either are 1. not the right people for your business/service/product or 2. you aren't providing them with the information/experience in a way that hooks them into wanting to find out more

2. Timing is everything (also on the homepage when you login)

Though simple, this is a powerful little widget. Having a good idea of the key times people are visiting your site can provide some brilliant data to take into account when you're releasing new social advert campaigns, adword campaigns, launching new blog posts etc.

3. Where are your visitors coming from?

Learn where your visitors are coming from, what channels, what referral sites... what's truly working for you. The acquisition of your customers (and monitoring it from week to week) is just so important. To do this, go to the 1. Acquisition area in the left hand side of the menu and then click down to 2. Referrals. Then set the date range over on the right

Tip: Don't forget to record your data ongoing in an excel spreadsheet so you can see the changes/trends month to month and it will give you even more of an insight into the effectiveness of your marketing and business activities, both online and offline.

Is your data telling you your website isn't quite right and it's just not converting?

Book a call with our expert web strategy team her and let's build you a digital lead machine.