I have been playing heavily with Google Analytics last week and I like what I see. I last looked at it some time ago and wasn’t impressed but it has come on a hell of a lot and I think I may be converted from Hitslink, which does cost, compared to the Free Analytics, but stays right up to the second, which Analytics doesn’t.

I intend on highlighting some of the better features of Google Analytics in future posts as I get historical data, but this article on Search Engine Land is a good introduction in terms of this Google tool and three others. They are definitely worth investing some time into learning for your small business online marketing:

1. Google Analytics
2. Google Maps / Local
3. Google Base
4. Google Web Optimizer

I have toyed with all but the Optimizer so far as I haven’t had the right website to do it on. The others, however, all have their place.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is great for measuring your traffic, sources, etc. but the real initial benefit I am seeing is the goal setting feature.

Basically you can set various goals and measure how well they do. Most of us need people to do certain things when they get to our websites.  I need conversions into leads or sales, for instance. By goal setting we can get a better picture of how that process is (or isn’t) working for us and, if necessary, change it.

Google Maps / Local

I only see a real benefit to this feature for businesses looking for geographical customers. eg. a retail outlet, or local business (hence the name Google Local - doh!).

I have used this for the beauty salon in Farnborough, although I still don’t think Google Maps has really taken off yet. I certainly don’t see a noticeable amount of link-throughs to the website. That said, it’s free and easy to get in there and localises your offering.

Google Base

Google Base is a database of content within Google. This could be any data and is used a lot for products in Product Search (formerly Froogle).

I have played around with this for both articles and beauty products, but to be honest, have not had the time or patience to create enough. It does create quality links into your website though and it is an area I need to spend more time on making effective for my sites.

With the product side of thing, many shopping directories interact directly with Product Search, enabling you to put your catalogue of products into the Google Base directories to create links and sales.

Google Website Optimizer

Imagine changing one little thing to a page that could transform the amount of conversions you make when someone lands on your web page (landing page). Then imagine how you could test different versions to find out what the tweaks could be that would make the difference.

Through Adwords, you can use Google Website Optimizer, that lets you test your landing pages automatically and measure the results.

Conclusion

Investing a little of your own time and doing some of the basics tactics, can make a difference. You won’t necessarily see the benefits for a few months, but if you have the patience, and more importantly a longer term vision, you can make the value work.Also, if you find out where your business is really coming from online, the benefits may even surprise you further.