This post contains affiliate links that generate a commission for the author, at no cost to you. Read my disclosure for more info.
Serious Side Hustlers Need Google Analytics
As promised in my September 2018 Income Report, I’m going to talk a little bit about Google Analytics. In short, Google Analytics is THE platform you need for tracking your website’s stats. It’s your best resource for up-leveling your SEO and determining the best ways to market your website.
And I’ll start off by mentioning that it’s free.
Google Analytics: It’s The Most Accurate
Not only is Google Analytics FREE, but it’s also the most accurate. You’re not going to get the same analytics from any other platform out there, not even Jetpack.
Why? Because Google Analytics offers the widest range of insights available. The analytics available in your WordPress dashboard aren’t going to scratch the surface in terms of the detailed information you require. If you can think of a statistic to track, then you can probably track it in Google Analytics. And if you’re not tracking your website’s stats, then you’re not doing your side hustle justice. Tracking stats is so important.
You’re really leaving money on the table if you’re not.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the analytics on Quest for $47. Barely scratches the surface of how much detail you get!
Google Analytics: Details In Every Report
Google Analytics provides incredible detail in each and every report.
For example, under the Location section in the Audience category, it breaks down the countries your visitors are coming from in any time frame you specify. Not only that, but it also breaks down visitor behavior in other countries. This way, you can see which countries your posts are doing best in. Now, most bloggers are blogging for the U.S./other English speaking countries, but you never know which other countries your content is popular in.
Not unless you look.
You can also track visitor behavior in under the Audience category. This will give you a detailed understanding of who is coming to your website more than once, and even how long between sessions. User retention is critical to building your platform of fans and customers. If your readers aren’t coming back, then you need to reframe what you’re doing with your side hustle and find a way to keep them coming (this is where freebies and content upgrades come in).
Google Analytics: Insights You’ve Never Even Thought Of
Recently, I was going through my Insights (which is the swirly blue button on the top right corner of your home screen), and one stood out. While most of them look like this:
I saw one telling me that might site performs above average on the screen resolution of 1440×900.
Random much?
At the same time, it’s interesting to see what Google picks out as notable, right? Like, that’s all about graphics cards and computer tech, but apparently people whose screens are in that resolution spend almost 10 minutes on my site? I’m not quite sure what to do with it, but hey, good to know, I guess?
The moral of the story is that you really never know what you’re going to find with Google Analytics.
Google Analytics: Mobile Responsiveness
Having a website that is responsive on mobile is more important than ever. So many users access the Internet primarily from their smart phone. You will have trouble keeping your visitors happy if your website isn’t responsive on mobile browsers.
Fortunately, that’s not difficult to fix. Premium themes, like Divi from Elegant Themes, are set up so they are responsive not just on desktops, but on phones and tablets too. It’s important to check your website from your phone from time to time, to make sure things look good and are running the way you want to. And with Google Analytics, you can keep an eye on your mobile stats. When you see a dip, it’s time to figure out what’s going on.
That brings me to another tangent, on why you need to purchase a premium theme. While WordPress has a number of quality themes for free, if you want something to really take your website to the next level, you should invest in a premium theme. It’s important to look out for something that’s clean and professional, and above all, easy to navigate.
Google Analytics: It’ll Help You Niche Down
Now, I haven’t talked yet about why it’s so important to have a specific niche for your side hustle, but it’s coming. Sign up for the email list, and you’ll never miss a post. It’s why, here on Quest For $47, you’re not going to see me posting about my favorite makeup brands (Nars and Urban Decay, if you’re curious). But once you’ve been blogging a while, this will really kick in.
Check out your “What pages do you users visit?” section. That will, obviously, show you what your most popular pages are. The default is how many views in a given week.
In the report, Google Analytics shows you insights including: how many views, how many unique views, time on page, entrance sand exits and exit percentage. These are all very important things to keep in mind. If you have a page with a high bounce rate, then it’s probably because people are coming in and they’re not interested in what you have to share.
But if you find a page with a high ‘Time on Page’ duration and a low bounce rate, chances are if you post something on a similar topic, you’ll get the same results. And with that, you’ll end up seeing a pattern relating to the type of content that gets people to stick around.
Writing more about things your readers love will keep them coming, and ultimately turn them into your next batch of raving fans.
Google Analytics: Where Do Your Readers Come From?
No, I’m not talking geographic location this time.
This is a big one, and why the Acquisition section in Google Analytics is SO important. Not only does Acquisition show you WHERE people come from, it more importantly shows you which platforms they’re coming from.
Why is that important? Because that dictates your focus. If you’re not getting a ton of people coming in from your Instagram, but are getting a TON of people clicking in from your Pinterest account then…focus your efforts on growing your Pinterest account. There’s obviously a ton of value there, and you already have some traction.
That’s not to say that you should completely ignore your Instagram following. Until you’ve completely mastered your Pinterest account and are getting steady traffic from it, your best bet is to focus on that platform before moving onto the next. As I said in 8 Keys To A Successful Side Hustle, you must not try to do everything at once. No one is successful when they try to do everything and be everything, right from the start. You are allowed to take it slow.
How To Get Google Analytics To Track Your Website
Now, before I start off with the how-to (which is super easy, just bear with me a moment), the first thing I want to make clear is you MUST have a self-hosted website to enjoy all that Google Analytics has to offer.
For one, because YOU own all of your content and your website. You just don’t get that when you’ve got a website that’s on a platform like WordPress.com, or any of the other free blogging websites. Not only that, but free blogging platforms do not allow you to make the most of monetizing your sites. If you’re in it to ultimately grow your side hustle into something that makes you money while you sleep, then you need a self-hosted site.
If you don’t have a self-hosted website yet, worry not. Siteground, which is my preferred blogging platform, offers a FREE website migration for new users. It’s super simple, and I had mine transferred and up and running in just a couple hours. If you want to learn more about how I got my start blogging, then check out 6 Reasons I Host My Websites On Siteground (And You Should Too). You’ll learn how I made a massive blogging mistake, right off the bat, and how to avoid it.
The other perk of Siteground, is that you can get your hosting for as low as $3.95/month, which is a steal. Click the banner below to get started.
Now, For The Google Analytics.
There are a lot of different ways that you can get Google Analytics installed and tracking on your website, but my preferred method is to simply download the Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics. Yes, it’s free! Once it’s installed, all you need is to add your tracking number and you’re good to go. That tracking number can be found in your Admin settings, under Tracking Info.
You can also take the javascript code with your tracking number and manually paste it into the header of your website. I only recommend that method for people who are experts at the coding side of websites (which is not most of us, including me). It’s doable, and there are a lot of resources out there that show you the proper steps. I will say that the biggest issue I ran into with that was whenever WordPress would update, the tracking code would disappear from the back end and Google Analytics would stop tracking until I put it back. There’s probably a way around it, but right now the Google Analytics Dashboard for WP plugin method works best for me.
Remember, we’re trying NOT to overcomplicate things here. You have many more important things to worry about.
Leave a comment and tell me: what are your favorite metrics to track in Google Analytics?
Ready to write an awesome blog post that your audience will devour?
Pin It For Later!
I’ve just started paying more attention to Google Analytics, so thank you for sharing this – super informative.
The reports in Google Analytics are fantastic! You can really dig deep and get some great insights!
I checked GA as soon as my traffic dropped trying to figure out a reason behind it. I’ve also heard Google Search console is good but having a hard time getting it set up. will add it to my to do list.
Google Search Console is important too. I’m working on a tutorial to get that set up (I noticed it can be a little tricky). Coming soon!
Great article, I always see such misinformation out there about traffic and this is very helpful.
Happy to help! There’s so much value in Google Analytics, and a LOT to learn!
I love this because I just started my blog and there is so much to learn. Google Analytics is one of those pieces I haven’t mastered yet, so thank you very much for laying it all out for me! By the way, I want to make $165 per day, but I am working on my blog full-time. 🙂
It will definitely help you reach your goal by helping you narrow your focus and further define what your readers are interested in! And $165 is a great goal! You’re totally going to get there!
I always forget to check mine! Thanks for such a great post!
Happy to remind you! I’d recommend checking at least once a week, just to see how things are going.
I have just started to pay more attention to my Google Analytics. Still learning it though.
It’s best to play around with it and find what stands out to you. There’s definitely a lot to it!
Still learning how to use Google analytics. Sounds great!
Awesome! I know you’ll learn a lot from it!
I have really started paying attention to my Google analytics. I learned recently that I have more men than women subscribers which surprised me so much.
That’s so interesting! Cool find!
It’s funny I think the resolution is important to some brands. I saw it in a requirement and now I can see GA tells them that. Now we know!
That’s so interesting! Good to know!
Thanks for the info! I will pay more attention to GA
It’s so important! Just take a little time out of your day to play around with it and see what insights you’ll find.
I made the mistake of not setting it up until a week or so after launching my blog (just set it up this past week). Argh!
Don’t worry, that’s not too late! It’ll still give you loads of insights in the early going!
So much to learn on this and you did a great job explaining. I will be pinning this for later to review. Thanks
Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful!
This is really great info! I am working to streamline my focus, and these data points will be a great point!
It’ll definitely help! Really look at what referrers are coming in and what your most popular posts are. That’ll really indicate what your readers want to see!
Google analytics is a great tools. I will sure play around with it a little more.
It’s so valuable! See what you can find!
This is such a great post. I will be pinning this for later to review. Thanks for sharing.
That you! I’m glad you found it helpful!
Fascinating stuff. I’m still learning how to maneuver around GA, but I do enjoy peeking at it every day.
Just keep exploring!
Thank you so much for these wonderful tips! I am really needing them right now.
Happy to help!
Thank you for this reminder to finally finish setting up my Google Analytics! It’s such a great tool.
It is! Have fun playing around with it!
Google Analytics is such a useful tool! I am using it and I love it! Although I found out new things from your post!
Happy to help! There’s really so much to it! Keep learning!
This is informative for newbies like me. Thanks for sharing.
Happy to help! Enjoy learning it!
Can’t imagine life as a blogger without Google Analytics. Absolutely not the same to be using Jetpack – you’re very right about that.
Right? When I first started, I had no idea how much it was going to help me, and how much I missed when I was still on the WordPress platform, instead of being self-hosted.
Thank you for the great information. I just started using it. It is filled with lots of information.
Happy to help! Enjoy exploring it!
This is great! I know that I am still getting used to GA and I am learning more from it. It is fun to look at all the things it has to offer. What is doing good and what needs improvement.
Exactly! It’ll be very helpful, just keep playing around with it.
I use Google analytics to track traffic.
Google analytics can help you see which content is resonating with your readers the most. I’m still playing around with it on my blog but I do find it interesting.
That’s awesome! Keep at it and see what stands out to you!
My favorite metric to track is the referral traffic. I like to see how people found my site. I also like the real time analytics so I can see how many people are on my site at that time.
Yeah, referral traffic is awesome! I love to see what is working best for me.
I also use google analytics and it is super beneficial.
I always track my stats and this is one is what I use to do so.
Such a great article. I’m gonna explore Google Analytics more. Thanks for sharing ♥️ ♥️ By any chance you are interested on doing collaborations, you can check out the collaborations portal of Phlanx.com and connect with amazing brands!
Xoxo,
Tiffany
Interesting!
Google Analytics is definitely an app I’ve always trusted. It is definitely the most accurate out of all the different apps that analyze traffic stats. xo, Suzanne
It really is! So helpful!