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One of the most important marketing tasks you can complete as a small business owner is tracking how well your efforts are doing.

If you’ve heard how important website data and reports can be to your online marketing efforts, but you aren’t exactly sure why, here are some top reasons to begin using Google Analytics — and understanding what all of these numbers mean.

You Can Better Track ROI

ROI (short for return on investment) is an essential part of any great marketing plan, especially for small businesses. With limited budgets, it’s all the more important to understand what you’re getting out of the money you’re spending on search engine advertising, social media ads, email promotions and more!

For example, if you spend $500 per month on a Facebook ad for a few months, but only generate $100 in sales each month, your ROI is pretty low. This can mean your ads aren’t reaching the right people and need to be adjusted, or that the item you’re advertising for isn’t a good fit for a Facebook ad.

In short, tracking ROI can exponentially help you save money in the long run, as well as prove whether or not it’s worth it to keep advertising in the same way over time.

Best and Worst Performing Pages and Posts

By far one of the top benefits of utilizing Google Analytics on a regular basis is knowing how well your website is doing on its own.

Do you have some pages with high traffic and engagement, but others with really poor numbers? Do you have a couple of high-quality blog posts generating a big chunk of your traffic while others struggle to bring in one new viewer each month?

By understanding which pages and blog posts are doing poorly, you can better investigate why they may not be performing as well as other pages and posts and how to fix them over time.

Understanding Your Audience

Want to know which cities or states are most engaged with your website? Interested in data that shows you which services or products you offer are of most interest to them?

Google Analytics can help you uncover more information about your online audience that you may not already know. Even if some of the data confirms your guesses, other numbers may surprise you!

Take a look at the information in the Audience > Geo > Location section to learn about where they are visiting from. You might also explore the Behavior tab to see which pages they are engaged with the most on a regular basis.

Learn More About Google Analytics

Is it all a bit overwhelming? Thankfully, Google offers a free course on Google Analytics to show you all the ins and outs of utilizing the data and tailor the reports to your specific needs!

Optimize Your Website’s Design Today

If the data you see in Google Analytics isn’t what you’d hoped it would be, then it may be time to change up your design and content.

With a liveBooks website, you’ll be able to use our stunning, customizable website templates that look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free today!

Search engine optimization (also known as SEO) is a long-term process that can help your website show up higher on search results. Ranking on the first page of Google never happens overnight, but it’s better to start trying sooner rather than later.

If you are just starting out and not sure which steps to take to begin optimizing your website, here are some simple steps you can take to begin the process:

Generate More Content

Having several pages that describe your services, products and company history is great. But in order to rank highly, you’ll need to start publishing more content on a regular basis.

Building an online blog is one of the easiest ways to boost your SEO. Why? Because it tells search engines like Google that you are actively engaging in the online conversation surrounding your industry. Blogging also provides additional content, keywords, images and more for search engine’s to search through.

Companies that publish relevant, informative content online will rank higher on search engines. If you aren’t one of them, you will lose out to those that do.

If you struggle with creating content on a regular basis, consider setting aside one day a month to schedule content out in advance. Or hire a freelancer to help you!

Add More Keywords to Your Website

Although you never want to make it sound like a computer wrote your website, you may want to review the current web pages you have to ensure you’re including the right keywords to begin with.

While you read the content you already have up, keep your eyes peeled for keywords you know your potential audience may use on search engines to find you.

If you already have a large following and great brand awareness, make sure you have your company name listed in an appropriate amount of places. If you are a fairly unknown company, but have specific services or products others may search for, it’s vital that you begin listing out those services in detail.

One great way to see what phrases people commonly use surrounding your business or industry is to begin typing in keywords on Google. As you type, you’ll see related phrases and common search queries come up underneath the search bar. You’ll also find an area of “related” search terms at the bottom of your results list. Use these keywords and phrases (also known as long-tail keywords) in your website copy when it sounds appropriate.

Drive More Traffic

Whether you are regularly engaged on social media, or you’ve started a great email list of contacts who want to stay in-the-know about your company, find ways to drive free traffic to your website.

The more traffic you bring to your website, the more that search engines will see you as a relevant source of information. When that happens, your ranking starts to increase over time. It’s a great way to connect all of your marketing efforts and easily begin boosting your SEO — for free!

Improve Your Web Design

liveBooks offers stunning, customizable website templates for wedding industry professionals and creatives.

Impress your potential clients with a visually stunning website that is ready for search engines and looks great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free today!