Hacker News Reader

Comment by AdamTReineke | Hacker News Reader

What are really good resources on using Google Analytics? I don't check more than my pageviews, referrers and popular search terms, but I know that barely scratches the surface of what it can do.

View on HN

Avinash Kaushik's blog is pretty fantastic (http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/). Pretty much every post is packed with actionable information.

A really great resource is Google's Conversion University. They have video lessons and if you want a test you can take at the end to get certified. (disclaimer: I am certified)

http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/reque...

What did you have to do to get certified?

you take an online test ($50) and have to get 80% correct to get the individual qualification.

I'd suggest goals and segmentation are two of the most interesting things you should look into. Goals allow you to track things like conversions. E.g. how many people filled out my contact form, how many people purchased something, etc. Segmentation allows you to see how groups of users are behaving. E.g. are my first time visitors looking at as many pages as my returning visitors?

this is the guy http://cutroni.com/blog/

I'd say enabling e-comm in GA is extremely important. Then you'll have valuable data on conversion rates.

Even if your site is not an ecommerce site set up fake or 'pseudo-ecommerce' where you make up values, say $1, for key metrics like a sign-up.

Conversion rates give you 'value': - 500 visits from source A, 10 sign ups, 2% conversion rate - 100 visits from source B, 10 sign ups, 10% conversion rate

I'd like to know too. I haven't found any blogs that cover this really well, but I bet they're out there.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com