| You already have a website; readers sign up | | | | So far I'm satisfied that my branding is |
| for your newsletter; and you link to Amazon | | | | effective and I'm glad that no one is finding |
| so visitors can rush off to buy your books. | | | | my site using searches such as "terrible |
| As a writer trying to build a following, are | | | | writer" |
| you getting the most out of your author | | | | |
| website? | | | | ** What type of sites should I guest-blog on? |
| | | | |
| You can't answer this question until you know | | | | Imagine you have two invitations to guest |
| how many people are visiting your site, where | | | | blog, but only time to do one. Which do you |
| they come from, and what pages they visit on | | | | choose? Looking at data from your past |
| your site. This article will tell you how to | | | | guest-blogs can help you decide. |
| do this for free using Google Analytics. | | | | |
| | | | Using Google Analytics, you can find out |
| *** What is Google Analytics? *** | | | | exactly how many visitors arrived at your |
| | | | site from each of your guest blogs. You might |
| Google Analytics is a tool that lets you | | | | find that you get most clicks when you blog |
| track visitor activity on your website. It is | | | | on author sites in the same genre as you, or |
| free, simple to install, and provides | | | | you might find that you get most clicks when |
| easy-to-read reports that will answer most of | | | | you blog in far-flung and unusual places. |
| your questions about how people are reaching | | | | |
| and using your site. | | | | ** Was that bookstore signing worth it? |
| | | | |
| *** Why Should I use Google Analytics? *** | | | | Google Analytics also tracks the geographic |
| | | | origins of your website visitors. If you do a |
| Information is power. | | | | bookstore signing, you can determine whether |
| | | | website visitors from that locale increased |
| You can't evaluate the effectiveness of your | | | | before/during/after the signing. While this |
| author website until you have some data to | | | | isn't the only measure of a signings success, |
| give meaning to your hunches. I'll gives you | | | | it provides another piece of evidence to help |
| three examples where data from Google | | | | you decide how to spend your precious time. |
| Analytics can help you direct your marketing | | | | |
| efforts. | | | | These are only three examples of how Google |
| | | | Analytics can increase the effectiveness of |
| ** Is my brand effective? | | | | your author marketing efforts. There are |
| | | | dozens more reports you can review, such as |
| You've decided on a brand and come up with a | | | | which pages on your site get the most |
| killer slogan. Is it working? | | | | traffic, which pages do most visitors leave |
| | | | from, etc, etc. |
| To answer this question you can use Google | | | | |
| Analytics to review the key words that | | | | **** How Do I Get Started? **** |
| visitors are using to find your site. Not | | | | |
| surprisingly, the top keywords used to find | | | | Your first step is to go to Google Analytics |
| my site are "Nina Davies". But visitors have | | | | at and sign up for a free account. |
| also found my site using the following | | | | |
| searches: | | | | To get the tracking started, you then need to |
| | | | paste some code into the pages of your |
| -Romantic suspense author | | | | website. Adding the code is quite simple. |
| | | | Whoever developed your website should be able |
| -Authors psychic romantic suspense | | | | to do it in ten minutes or less (perhaps a |
| | | | bit longer if many pages need to be edited). |
| The first example makes sense, since I brand | | | | If you developed the site yourself, follow |
| myself as a romantic suspense author. The | | | | the instructions on Google. |
| second was a surprise since I'm not a | | | | |
| paranormal writer, although one of my | | | | Have fun with Google Analytics. You'll be |
| unpublished books features a psychic heroine. | | | | amazed at the information at your fingertips. |