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I once heard a quote, “If you don’t track it, you can’t change it,” and if you want bigger results in your business, it’s time you take this quote to heart.
Face it: if you’re actually aiming for a goal, you’re only going to hit it if you have an informed PLAN… and you get that from consistently looking at what is and isn’t working and using it to make educated decisions moving forward!
In this episode I’m going to break down what we measure, why, and how you can start measuring your results… like, yesterday. Ready? Let’s dive in!
Business Is A Numbers Game
As an entrepreneur, I’ve always loved numbers. They give me clarity, confidence, and certainty in my business. But recently, I realized that I hadn’t taken my love for numbers to the next level. I needed to go deeper and truly understand what was working and what wasn’t in my business.
So, I decided to hire a team to help me set up a comprehensive data tracking system. We started by using Google Analytics to track our website traffic and conversions. It was a simple and free tool that allowed us to gather valuable insights about our audience and their behavior on our site.
But it didn’t stop there. We also created UTMs, which are unique links that help us track the performance of our different marketing efforts. This allowed us to see which channels were driving the most traffic and conversions, and adjust our strategies accordingly.
What Measurement Gives You
Having all this data at our fingertips was a game-changer. We could now answer specific questions about our business, such as which blog posts were converting into email subscribers, or whether appearing on other people’s podcasts was a good way to promote our launches.
We could make informed decisions based on real data, rather than just guessing or relying on gut feelings.
But the real power of data and measurement lies in the insights it provides. It gives us clarity on what’s working and what’s not, so we can focus our time, energy, and resources on the strategies that yield the best results.
We can see trends and patterns, and make adjustments in real-time during our launches. It allows us to do work that truly matters and drives our business forward!
How To Get Started
1. Look At What’s Working.
In order to see what’s working, you need some tools. Google Analytics is a web analytics service that provides statistics and basic analytical tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes. The service is part of the Google Marketing Platform and is available for FREE to anyone with a Google account.
According to Statista, currently more than half of the websites on the internet (55.49%) use Google Analytics. With a market share of close to 78%, Google Analytics helps website and app owners track their goals and conversions to understand what works for them and what doesn’t!
How to set up Google Analytics:
- Get an Analytics Property ID. If you don’t already have one, sign up for an Analytics account and then you’ll find your Analytics Property ID.
- Add the Analytics Property ID to your site. This will vary depending on what website host you have, but I believe in your Googling skills to get this set up! It’s honestly really easy!
- Open Analytics and see your data.
P.S. – Free training courses like Google Analytics for Beginners are available through Google Academy. You will need a free Google Mail account and then you can register for any number of tutorials on how to do this!!
Now it’s time to create UTMs. Within Google Analytics there is a free page called Campaign URL Builder. This is where you will insert the website URL you want to track visits to, such as a landing page for a webinar or course.
You can then create different links for each promotional platform – such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and paid ads, just as an example. Then, when you share a webpage on these different platforms, you’ll be able to track how many visits came from specific platforms and later, you can use this data to see what’s working.
2. Organize and Track
Now that you are on the path to knowing what’s working because you got Google Analytics and created UTMS, it’s time to organize and track it!
My team tracks our traffic in a thing called Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) so that we can see the charts and things laid out in the most useful way.
Start tracking your traffic; this is the simplest place to start. Some questions to get your wheels turning:
- Where are your leads coming from, and how is that impacting your sales?
- Was there a spike in traffic one day from a specific source, and if so, why?
Once you start keeping track of these things and you have at least 30 days of data, you can then move on to the next step…
3. Set Goals/KPIs
A study by Dominican University found that people who set goals are 50.46% more likely to achieve them. But not just SETTING goals… writing them down and tracking them often.
Start by setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your business. As you gain insight into your numbers and you start to notice trends and things like conversion rates, you’ll be able to reverse engineer the results you want to get.
Once you’ve set goals, identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your goals. KPIs are the most critical metrics for your business, such as revenue, profit margin, customer acquisition cost, or customer retention rate.
My team has a KPI spreadsheet or scorecard where we all track our progress in different areas of the business that we each “own” – such as new email subscribers, podcast ad bookings, or blog views – this is something we’re refining and I’m excited to bring the new system into next year.
Now Get To Work!
I can’t stress enough how important it is to start measuring and tracking your data. It may seem nerdy or intimidating at first, but the benefits far outweigh the effort. It’s not just about interesting information, it’s about useful information that guides your decisions and helps you achieve your goals.
Feeling overwhelmed? I have just ONE task for you: set up Google Analytics for your website.
It’s free and easy to use, and it will provide you with valuable insights about your audience and their behavior on your site. From there, you can start tracking your data, setting goals, and making informed decisions based on real data.
I hope this episode has inspired you to dive into the world of data and measurement. It’s a powerful tool that can transform your business and help you achieve your biggest goals. So, let’s embrace the power of data and start measuring our way to success!
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