Using Google Analytics to Improve Your Manufacturing Website

Do you really want to take your manufacturing website to the next level? Make it difficult for the competition to keep up? Generate more traffic...leads...sales? OF COURSE YOU DO!

Here's the thing. After you launch a website it doesn't mean that you can just forget about it. If you just let it sit and do nothing you will probably get more traffic over time, but you'll have to wait and even if you get that traffic, does it mean they will take the next step? Just getting traffic does not bring money through the door, which is what keeps everyone in business. Here are some tips to help your manufacturing website improve by using Google Analytics.

Tip #1

Use Google Analytics. OK, this might be an obvious one, but you would be surprised at how many websites out there aren't tracking what their website visitors are doing. Google Analytics is absolutely FREE to use and can be installed without much trouble. If you need assistance with that, let us know...we'll hook you up.

Tip # 2

Set up goals. This will truly help you understand where your quality visitors are coming from and more importantly if you are REALLY getting quality visitors.

There are a few types of goals you can track:

1. If your website visitors take some sort of action, return them to a custom URL after that action, such as a Thank You page. Be sure that this thank you page is only accessed after they complete the action. This might be something like signing up for an email newsletter, requesting a proposal, a general contact, etc.
2. You can set up a goal that tracks visitors that visit your site for a specific length of time. This is not as telling as an actual conversion, but it can help you understand what gets people on your site and gets them to actually stay there. When you set up a goal like this be sure it is something that really shows quality vs standard. If your site average is 2 minutes, maybe make your goal 5+ minutes.
3. You can also set up a goal based on how many pages viewed. Same considerations as #2.
4. Set up goals for events such as video plays, podcast plays, etc. This is a better gauge of quality than 2 or 3, but will be slightly more difficult for you to set up.

The thing to really understand here is that traffic alone doesn't matter, the actions that the visitors take on your site do matter.

To get there: Go to Google Analytics and Log In > Go to the Website Profile you are tracking > Click Admin in the top right > Click the URL of the Profile you are setting Up > Go to the Goals Tab

Note: You must be an administrator to complete this.

Tip #3

Review the Top Landing Pages section under the Content area. These metrics show where a visitor actually arrived when they got to your website. Most times you'll probably see that they arrived on your home page, but if you are creating GOOD content and landing pages, you'll probably see that many other pages have gotten people to land on them as well. If you are getting several visits to internal pages it means that they are actually ranking in the search engines, people are linking to them, or people are clicking those links in social media.

The second thing to look for here is that these people aren't automatically leaving. Too many website owners don't understand that if a visitor arrives on your site on an inner page, they may not understand what you are actually about. People leaving your landing pages immediately might signify this. For example, on a capabilities page, don't just list off a bunch of generic capabilities. Talk about your capabilities and why they are important to your industry and why they make you better. You don't have to get incredibly wordy, you can accomplish this in a visual way as well.

Bottom line...pay attention to what people do when they arrive on your site!

Tip #4

Don't get hung up on the keywords that you think you want to generate traffic for. Sometimes they just aren't the right keywords. Through reporting over time you will get a better understanding of the terminology that your prospects actually use. Find keywords that are very related and see what actions are being taken when visitors arrive on your site through these terms. Take the ones that you know can generate more traffic but are getting high quality visitors and expand the content in these areas...remember, good content not just content.

Tip #5

Use the Network Location data under technology to determine what companies your traffic is coming from. This is helpful to your B2B sales team. You'll have to weed out a bunch of internet service providers, but if you dig deep into the data you can find some really useful information. You can see what prospects are looking for you, what they are doing on the site, and how they got to your site. This is powerful data!

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Google Analytics can be AWESOME for manufacturers if you use it correctly. Questions? Concerns? Want some reporting done for your website? Give us a shout at 814.596.0020. We would love to hear from you!