So you’ve made the site.
Maybe it’s not doing as well as you had hoped, or it’s no longer picking up extra interest.
Have you been checking your site’s performance data?
If you have no clue what you’re doing and you are new to WordPress maintenance, welcome, and it’s not that scary.
Here is a very basic guide to get you started.
Step 1: Choose Your Analytics Platform
Google Analytics is a popular choice because of its comprehensive features, simple usage and cost-effectiveness (it’s free!).
To get started, create an account and retrieve the tracking code that you’ll need to add it to your WordPress site.
Step 2: Install and Activate a Tracking Plugin
WordPress plugins are amazing!
So to integrate your code with your WP site, use one.
Find one with great reviews, like “MonsterInsights” and install and activate it.
Then follow the setup wizard to connect your WordPress site with the analytic tracking app of your choice.
This eliminates the need to manually add code snippets to your site’s HTML.
Step 3: Define Your Goals
Analytics without goals are like a plane without a landing zone.
Figure out what they are – increasing traffic, boosting conversions, enhancing user engagement, etc.
By defining clear goals, you can track metrics that align with your business objectives and measure the site’s success more effectively.
Step 4: Monitor Key Metrics
With the setup now complete, it’s time to dive into the metrics that matter.
Here are some key metrics to keep an eye on:
1. Traffic Sources:
Understand where your visitors are coming from – whether it’s organic search, social media, referrals, or direct traffic.
This insight helps you tailor your marketing efforts.
2. Pageviews and Sessions:
The total number of pages viewed, and the total number of interactions in a given timeframe.
These give you a general overview of your site’s popularity.
3. Bounce Rate:
This indicates the percentage of visitors who navigate away from your site after viewing only one page.
A high bounce rate could signal a need for more engaging content or better UX.
4. Conversion Rate:
If you have specific conversion goals (like newsletter signups or purchases), track this.
It measures the effectiveness of your calls-to-action and landing pages.
5. Popular Content:
Identify which pages or posts are more popular among visitors.
This information can guide your content strategy and help you create more of what your audience loves.
Step 5: Regularly Review and Adjust
This is a commitment, baby.
Schedule regular check-ins to review dates, track trends and find any anomalies.
Use the insights you gather to make informed decisions about your content strategy, user experience improvements and marketing efforts.
Step 6: Stay Informed and Evolve
Everything online is changing, all the time.
Stay up to date with your website, make changes here and there, and you should start seeing some success.
What Are You Thinking?
Don’t you, forget about your WordPress metrics.
It may be a large task but also watch your site’s SEO!
To make things simple for you, we have worked on a phenomenal internal linking plugin called WILO, that makes all that BS as painless as *insert personal answer*.
Take a look, consider our advice, and get back to us if you need any help.
