For small business owners, putting together a marketing budget that won’t break the bank can feel like an impossible task. In between paid ads, SEO and creating top-notch content, the last thing you want to worry about is adding in the expense of another subscription service. You want to monitor your metrics and create a plan for success, but you don’t want to spend a fortune doing it. So, where does something like Google Analytics factor into this equation? The good news is that this service is one that can be used for free or upgraded to a paid premium plan depending on your unique needs. Let’s take a look at what Google Analytics actually does for your business and how you can incorporate it into your marketing gameplan.
What Does it Do?
In short, Google Analytics tracks your website performance so that you can measure what is or isn’t working for your business. Since it officially launched in 2005, Google Analytics has quickly become the go-to tool for small and large scale companies alike to monitor their webpages, for good reason. It offers a wide range of tools that you can utilize to track site visits, mobile data, conversions and a whole lot more. If you’re looking to take a deep dive into the nitty-gritty of your website performance, Google Analytics is for you.
What’s the Catch?
In addition to the free version, Google Analytics 360 is a paid premium service that includes more advanced features and a larger capacity for metrics that can run up to $150,000 per year. Now, you’re probably experiencing a bit of sticker shock at that price tag. It’s important to keep in mind that Google Analytics 360 is geared more towards large companies whose needs exceed the capabilities for the original free version. For smaller businesses or those with a tight marketing budget, Google Analytics can still provide a multitude of resources that you can take advantage of without having to fork up six figures.
Features of Google Analytics (Free Version):
- Real-time data tracking
- Social reporting
- Conversion reporting
- Flow visualization
- Mobile device and app tracking
- Data export and tracking API
- Integration options for Adwords, Adsense, etc.
- Advanced Segmentation
- Data tracking for up to 10 million hits per month
Features of Google Analytics 360 (Paid Version):
- Data tracking for up to 500 million hits per month
- Advanced analysis reporting
- Custom funnel reporting
- Salesforce integration
- Data freshness of less than 4 hours
- Google Drive integration
- Query time processing
Conclusion
Using Google Analytics to paint a clear picture of your website performance isn’t exclusive to corporations with large marketing budgets; you can take advantage of these tools no matter how much money you have to work with. In our digital world, having a website that performs well is crucial to the success of your business and Google Analytics offers fantastic free services that can help take your website to the next level.