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Michael Miller's (Molehill Group) Google Analytics in 10 Minutes

Google Analytics! An amazing, free powerful metrics platform for search engine optimization (SEO) and AdWords (pay-per-click advertising). But can mere mortals effectively use Google Analytics? Can mere mortals even find effective online or offline assistance to help them learn to decipher its riddles, to ponder its mysteries? Michael Miller has taken on the daunting task of explaining Google Analytics to mere mortals, and - in general - he succeeds. I highly recommend his new book, for both mere mortals and more experienced Google Analytics users as well. Here is my review.

By Jason McDonald Senior SEO Instructor - JM Internet Group. Posted: July 22, 2010

Contents:

Analytics - the Missing Manual to Google Analytics
Nuggets of Analytics Insight
Why Analytics Matters

Analytics - the Missing Manual to Google Analytics

Students of my online classes will know that in teaching Analytics, I highly recommend Google's Conversion University as a learning resource, and that I always poke fun at its name (it should have been called Google's Analytics University) and at how ridiculous it is that you cannot actually click over to Conversion University from many pages inside the Analytics platform. Awkward (at least for the Google UI team).

Michael Miller, in contrast, takes the more traditional book-as-manual approach to Analytics, and he largely succeeds. The book is part of the in 10 Minutes series, but by 10 minutes they mean 10 minutes per day. The book begins with how to set up an Analytics account on Google, and proceeds chapter by chapter with some of the most important concepts in Analytics: using the dashboard, tracking visitors, analyzing top content, and even tracking AdWords and ecommerce. Pretty much every important topic in Analytics is covered.

It's a very useful book for someone who already has an Analytics account and is seeking a good lunchtime read to get tips and techniques to then go online and try out on the Google Analytics platform. The only criticism here would be that, unless you are a good reader / slash / book person, it may be confusing to translate Miller's word-heavy approach to what is really a visual user interface. Pictures and diagrams (not to mention videos and online learning) would have been an easier way to explain Analytics step-by-step.

But, all things considered, the book covers every major topic in Analytics at least briefly. Kudos, kudos, kudos, to brave Mr. Miller!

Nuggets of Analytics Insight

I would consider myself an advanced Analytics user. Yet I found some real nuggets of insight into Analytics. First, I discovered filters in Analytics. I had never even noticed that they were there, and had always relied on Advanced Segments As is so often true in Analytics, you confusingly get to filters not inside your Analytics account but on the Account Settings page, bottom right. Filters are useful if you want to filter out your own company IP address, for example, to avoid contaminating your Analytics results.

Second, I discovered how to use the Navigation Summary feature inside the Content section of Analytics. It gives you insight on how people arrive at a page, and how they exit. I sort of knew this already, but it had been forgotten in the blizzard of information overkill that is Google Analytics.

Third, Miller goes into event tracking and e-commerce, but here is where we start to have some real troubles. It is very complex, and requires a pretty extensive understanding of Javascript. He explains, very briefly, how to modify your Javascript code for these important features, but I fear in insufficient detail for most users. I myself cannot do this, and must rely on our programmer to implement any of these features. Analytics makes this really difficult for the average business person, and Miller's attempted explanations fall short of what one really needs. Points for trying, anyway, and at least these sections help you understand what to ask a more competent Javascript expert to do for your website.

Why Analytics Matters

Analytics matters, of course, because websites are not just ends in themselves. For most people, websites are sales and marketing vehicles - if they don't actually result in real sales on the Web, they should at least generate qualified sales leads. Analytics matters because it can shed light onto -

• How people find your website - referrer sites, search engines, keywords.
• What people do once they are there - their click paths, actions, failures, bounces, etc.

Analytics can also slice and dice your data so that you can see what regions are best for you, what referrer websites actually send you quality traffic - that sort of thing.

Miller doesn't position Google Analytics very well inside the marketing function of a business, so the book falls short at the strategy level. But as a tactical book, it is superb and I highly recommend you buy it (in addition of course to taking our classes on Google Analytics!).