This past week, Google Analytics announced the launching of aynchronous tracking. This is a pretty important development, because this has the potential to help pages load just a tiny bit faster for those of us who use Google Analytics. Matt Cutts of Google recently announced that page load time was going to be an even more important factor in ranking websites for search engine results pages - so it is fitting that Google Analytics would get out of the way and let pages load a bit faster.
What is Website Analytics Software?
Analytics software allows a Denver business owner to track website visitor data to their website so that they may modify their website to better serve their customers. Analytics software packages allow for the tracking of items like (to name just a few):
- Total Visitors
- Traffic by Page
- Average Time on Website
- Website Which Referred Visitors to Your Site
Analytics software packages actually go much deeper than what is shown above, and can even show site owners where website visitors might be exiting from your website during the purchase process.
How Analytics Software Collects Data
Some analytics packages - like Google analytics - use javascript code that a Denver small business owner would paste right into their website code. This javascript records user interaction with the website and sends it over to the Google Analytics servers - which are external to your website.
The fact that Google is using asynchronous means to communicate with the Google Analytics servers means that your website won't have to wait for that communication to occur. As a result, your website will load more quickly.
If you're engaging in any sort of online marketing, odds are that you have numerous tracking codes from various vendors (including Microsoft and Yahoo) pasted right into your website code. It has the potential to really bog down site load times - especially if the external servers are experiencing problems. The fact that Google's tracking now takes place asynchronously is a big help.
Note: You can also get analytics software that runs right on your server. No javascript would be required, and this page load time would be impacted even less.
Where Can I Get Analytics Software?
There are many free analytics software packages that you can implement. Most Denver small business owners would be fine using Google Analytics. It should be more than adequate to meet your needs. It is also what I - as a Denver small business owner - use. Note that I haven't used any of the other analytics packages presented here.
How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
I'll dive even more into the importance of using analytics in future blog posts. If you are a Denver business owner participating in online marketing, you absolutely MUST use analytics. Analytics provides great raw feedback on your website performance, and what changes you can make to improve your website.