Know Your Visitors & Where They Are Coming From
You've got your website up, maybe even a blog. You've committed part of your overall marketing budget towards online marketing and you're using several social media tools like Linked In, Twitter and Facebook to get noticed in the increasingly vast sea of online attorneys. Perhaps you've even enlisted the help of an attorney directory, maybe even an SEO consultant.
For lawyers doing any online marketing, advertising or Search Engine Optimization, knowing who is visiting your website and where those visitors are coming from are two of the most critical components in measuring the ROI for your online marketing. There are several tools to help analyze your online traffic including demographics and category or topic specific interests.
Here at Nolo, we use WebTrends, a paid service that combines analytics tools with professional services. There's also Mint, which helps web owners better understand their traffic trends at $30 per site. Yahoo also has a free analytics tool but the best bang for your buck is Google's FREE tool - Google Analytics. Google's free traffic measuring tool helps attorneys track their website traffic: where their visitors are coming from, what pages are being visited, how long they stay on a particular page and the bounce rate - how many visitors simply click their back button and leave the site altogether.
Here's a simple breakdown of how to get started with Google Analytics:
"By making this powerful service free, we aim to give all websites - large and small - the tools they need to better serve their customers, make more money, and improve the web experience for everyone," says Paul Muret, Google engineering director. Google Analytics also ties nicely into other products in the Google ecosystem--including AdWords, AdSense, Website Optimizer, Webmaster Tools and more, giving attorneys powerful resources to aid in making valuable decisions regarding their online marketing.
Finally, Google Analytics can be very confusing or even daunting at first, especially for less-than-savvy web users. Don't let this dissuade you from jumping in feet first.
You've got your website up, maybe even a blog. You've committed part of your overall marketing budget towards online marketing and you're using several social media tools like Linked In, Twitter and Facebook to get noticed in the increasingly vast sea of online attorneys. Perhaps you've even enlisted the help of an attorney directory, maybe even an SEO consultant.
For lawyers doing any online marketing, advertising or Search Engine Optimization, knowing who is visiting your website and where those visitors are coming from are two of the most critical components in measuring the ROI for your online marketing. There are several tools to help analyze your online traffic including demographics and category or topic specific interests.
Here at Nolo, we use WebTrends, a paid service that combines analytics tools with professional services. There's also Mint, which helps web owners better understand their traffic trends at $30 per site. Yahoo also has a free analytics tool but the best bang for your buck is Google's FREE tool - Google Analytics. Google's free traffic measuring tool helps attorneys track their website traffic: where their visitors are coming from, what pages are being visited, how long they stay on a particular page and the bounce rate - how many visitors simply click their back button and leave the site altogether.
Here's a simple breakdown of how to get started with Google Analytics:
- First, sign up for a free Google Account.
- Then, use your Google Account information to sign up for Google Analytics.
- Register your site(s) with Google Analytics.
- Cut and Paste the generated code onto your website - NOTE: If you are NOT the person administering your website, you'll need the help of your webmaster or the company that built your website for you. You may even want to check with them before you star.
- Set up reports for your site within Analytics to help better understand your traffic patterns.
"By making this powerful service free, we aim to give all websites - large and small - the tools they need to better serve their customers, make more money, and improve the web experience for everyone," says Paul Muret, Google engineering director. Google Analytics also ties nicely into other products in the Google ecosystem--including AdWords, AdSense, Website Optimizer, Webmaster Tools and more, giving attorneys powerful resources to aid in making valuable decisions regarding their online marketing.
Finally, Google Analytics can be very confusing or even daunting at first, especially for less-than-savvy web users. Don't let this dissuade you from jumping in feet first.
