Thanks for this post Amber – I signed up for Google Analytics when I started selling on Etsy but have never really gotten a good grasp on what it tells me. I often see bloggers talking about how ‘someone came to my blog by searching for pink llamas’ and I’ve always wandered how they know that!

Anyway, I’ve printed out this post and will be going through it properly when my shop re-opens sometime in May… I may have many questions for you then! You have been warned.

Google Analytics is intuitive. The headings are clear, directions to see more detail are clear. All you do is read, and click.

It is unhelpful to become obsessed with the number of views of your site. It is very easy to generate views on Twitter – but if you have high views because of Twitter, your bounce rate will be high too- people from twitter tend to look, and go.
So you need to look at the quality of the views; how many pages were looked at, how long visits to your site averaged.

Get a broad promotional base – use Twitter as one tool, but also use blogs, ThisNext, Stumble, Kaboodle, MySpace; the broader the base the wider your audience.

Compare two months with each other, and enjoy the information given to you. But GA is only a tool, not an end in itself.

You can draw traffic to your shop but you cannot force them to buy. You can encourage them to stay (for example by linking all items to another item in your shop), but you cannot make them buy. You can entice them with good SEO writing, and excellent photos, but you cannot make them buy. You can basically work your butt off, but you still cannot force people to buy.

I’ve been on Etsy two years and have a good customer base, many return customers, and a huge promoting base. I have more traffic this year than last, but sales are down. I am part of a small team of established Etsy sellers who all work together, promoting each other, and all of us have lower sales this year compared to last.

Selling online is a tough, time consuming work. GA is interesting but not, ultimately, massively useful.

Very useful info. Thank you. However, I do not consider the GA very useful for getting sales until the site performs better with SEO improvement.

Great article but I have so many more questions. When it says that a blog referred someone on a certain day and I go there and they don’t even have an entry for that day how do I find out how they got there. I have some really strange strange referring sites. Also I would have expected Twitter to show a much higher hit rate. I can post a bead on Twitter and get 25 hits within seconds, I do this at least once a day so there should be a whole lot more hits. Or are these all the same people so they only count once?
Are there any other more indepth articles about Google Analytics that I could read for more help understanding what I see?

Thanks,
Jan

Linda, I completely agree with you on the point that google analytics is a tool and not an end to itself. However, tracking your results is imperative for any online website or e-commerce site. Etsy does have a no brainer approach to SEO and probably has its own set of flaws as far as set-up. By not addressing SEO content and keywords you could be leaving hundreds of dollars on the table. I look at it like car maintenance..you gotta check in and get a tune up every now and again. GA is one of the ways to check in.

I feel that google anayltics is a great tool if you have built your own website. Many have the mentality that if you have a “website” the traffic will automatically come. I’ve had clients that say “I’ve had my site for 3 years, with only a couple of sales.” When I pull up their site they have zero content and minimal keywords. The search engines can’t even find you let alone anyone else! You absolutely will “work your butt off” when it comes to the SEO process. However, your customers have to be able to at least GET to you. Of course there are several other factors that determine if they will actually buy once they are there but you gotta at least get them in the door. I use GA to track how long people stay on my site. The fewer bounces and the longer times mean that users are reading the content. I track where I am getting hits from and with what keywords. I go back into my content and make sure those keywords are relevant and well placed within the site.

I also like to make sure my traffic is diversified this helps me measure how I am doing as far as promotion of the site. Incoming links, networking sites, blogs etc. It also helps me know where I need to spend more of my time. (Facebook for example) I am averaging 900 hits a week from face-book referrals. So this tells me that my interaction and time on this site is worth it! Ning on the other hand..3 hits. So not going to waste my energy there. GA is at the end of the day another “tool” but one that I do rely on to use as a guideline for my efforts. My toolbox is VERY full.

@Laura..can you explain what you mean by Etsy needs SEO improvement? Tell me where you are struggling or your question exactly. I can help.

Thanks for all your great feedback!

thank you for being willing to explain this techno stuff to the untechnoed….copied for more study and action.

Thank You so much – this is brilliant and has helped me out loads. Thanks again!

This was very helpful, especially if reading it while looking at your own Google Analytics account at the same time. Thanks for the tutorial. I find the keywords (how people are finding me) to be interesting and sometimes fascinating. :)

This is interesting information share over here. its provide better Guideline regarding to high ranking in SEO which is beneficial in order to grow online business.

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I’ve also read that while having many visitors is good and driving traffic to your site is ideal, if your bounce rate is high it can come off as having somewhat of a negative effect. If people are leaving quickly than you are either not providing enough information or you are misleading search results. Not enough information is easy to fix but the misleading is key. If someone visits your auto repair shop off the search work T-Rex, I don’t imagine they’ll be sticking around.

What this means for you is that your site’s results are not representative of your content and therefore are less reputable. Google bases its search results on relevance and appropriate content (partly) and if it sees that 75% of your visitors are leaving after the first page within 10 seconds, it doesn’t speak well for the relevance of the keywords and topics you’ve provided.

It is just something to keep in mind. One dedicated interest in your company is better than 10 apathetic ones.

Thank you! This was really helpful and saved me a lot of time figuring it out on my own! :)

I can’t tell you how happy I am that I found handmade spark! I joined on Saturday night. Sunday I had 189 visits – visits to my shop. The most I have had in one day is 65. A day that one of my items was featured in a treasury.

This is definitely encouraging and helping in the “patience” factor! I also think that with your help, I will be able to knit more and network less!

Thanks so much!!

I often see people dealing with how ‘someone came to my site by seeking red llamas’ and I’ve always came how they know that.