Essential analytics set-up for a new business website

You got yourself a website! Now your business is in the game, right? 

No. In this article, I will guide you through the tech stack setup you will need to grow your business website in 2021 and beyond. I will tell you the analytics tools you need to add to the new business website, how to configure and what data is the most valuable for your business growth. 

The tools and setup below will help you create a robust infrastructure for your business’s next steps. Your marketing campaigns will only be effective when you have the data on who your target audience is, what content performs best, and how your audience interacts with your business brand and content.

Free website Analytics tools your business needs for growth

1. Google Tag Manager
2. Google Search Console
3. Google Analytics
4. Hotjar Visual Analytics
5. Facebook and Linkedin marketing pixels

1. Google Tag Manager - website marketing must-have

Google Tag Manager (GTM) installation is putting a single line of code into your website. But Google Tag Manager holds all the other tags you will need in a single environment. After you place it into your site, every other marketing tag you need will be easily accessible for you in a pleasant and manageable way.

And if you are not a techy person, you only need this one thing to be installed on your website by your developer or ‘that tech friend’ who’s helping you with the website. All next bells and whistles you can add to the website yourself using Google Tag Manager interface.

2. Google Search Console - analyze website tech performance, and measure your business results in Google Search. 

To verify your ownership and connect your new website to Google Search Console, you need to:

1. Create a Google Search Console account
2. Copy the verification code from GSC and paste it into the website or your nifty Google Tag Manager.
3. Submit your sitemap to Google. A sitemap is the list of your website pages. It will help Google scan your website fast and start showing it in Google. 
   

When you finished the steps above, Google Search Console dashboard will not show you anything just yet. The data will build up over time, and you will start getting vital business insights when your website your users’ attention.

So now you can close this tag and move on to the following points in this guide. But if you want to dig more into optimizing your business website for Google Search, check out the “New website SEO set-up guide”.

3. Google Analytics set-up for the new business website

Google Analytics is a free and most powerful website analytics tool. It also serves as a centerpiece of your marketing efforts for all possible marketing campaigns you will be running through the years and years to come.

Why new business website needs Google Analytics? What does it give you as the business owner?

Google Analytics (GA) has two crucial functions. The first - Google Analytics provides you a deep understanding of your users’ activity on the website. 

Where are people coming from? What marketing channels are most effective? What pages are most engaging? 

Are your new clients coming from the $$$ ads campaign or a free Linkedin post you completely forgot about?

The second reason Google Analytics is a new business owner’s best friend is it holds your conversions. Your business has goals, right? So Google Analytics is a tool that tracks how good your website is in helping your business achieve goals.

Do you need leads? Set new inbound Lead as a conversion event in your Google Analytics and see the impact of specific marketing campaigns for your business. Now you can calculate the ROI of your ad campaigns and the ROI for that SMM freelancer you pay to run Facebook and Instagram.

How to set up Google Analytics for the new website:

1. Create an account;
2. Connect GA to your website through your Tag Manager;
3. Set your website goals - those money-making events your business has;
4. Connect Google Analytics to your Google Search Console to have all the data synced between those.
   

What goals do you need to configure in your Google Analytics account?

You already have a website. So after building your website, you already know why you need it and how your website complements your business.

For example, if your business website goal is getting you Leads:

1. Set up a conversion event to track the Leads you get (Lead form submission).
2. Set up secondary goals that track events that lead to your primary conversion. 
3. Create an event that tracks how many people visited the page with your Lead form. 
4. Create an event that tracks how many people visited your pricing page if it is a significant decision point for your business.

A well-configured Google Analytics instance can often become your single source of truth for growing your business online.

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4. Hotjar is a free visual analytics tool for your website user experience optimization.

Hotjar’s free-tier analytics plan will give you insight into your website visitors’ behavior. With this tool, you will get Click maps - see where your users click. You may be amazed at how valuable visualizations of the user journey on your website may be. 

Scroll maps will show how deep people scroll on your website. It is the info on what content your visitors see. Do you know how many people scroll down to that form at the bottom of your home page?

And best of all, Hotjar has a Session replay function. The tool records your visitor sessions, and you can analyze the first-hand experience your website provides. Do you think that CTA on your pricing page is visible and easy to click? Just watch a few sessions where users scan through your pricing page!

1. To start with Hotjar, you need to create a free account. 
2. Then copy your Hotjar ID. 

• Navigate to your Tag Manager, create a new tag, choose Hotjar, paste the ID.
• Open Hotjar and verify the configuration.

Now you are all set with Hotjar. After your website reaches your first users, the data will start flowing into your Hotjar dashboard.

Visual analytics will help you make informed decisions on your website experience optimization.

5. Reach your most engaged audiences on Social - Install marketing Pixels relevant to your business.

This is an extra tip. It is a bit more technical, and you can skip it for the website you have just built. Just keep it in mind for later when you figure out your traffic sources and are getting ready for retargeting campaigns.

Your website is the center of your online business activities. It holds the information about your business, ways to reach you, and in many cases, it sells your products right there on the website. So what is the fastest way to reach the most engaged people who already know your business?

You need to understand where your business audience spends their time when they are not on your website. Is your target audience active on Facebook or Linkedin? Or maybe those people spend their time on Twitter or Quora? 

When you know which platforms your target audience uses, go and get those Marketing Pixels. 

Install marketing pixels from your platforms of choice via Google Tag Manager and start building the audience lists on the platforms where you can advertise to people who are already in love with your product or service!

Outro

Look at you go! I hope you already configured those essential website analytics tools for your business. 

But if you are just planning to execute those tips I share above - save this article in your Read List here on Elish platform!