How to Set Up Google Analytics Goals & Conversion Tracking

My first piece of advice to any new client or prospect looking for marketing advice for their website is to install Google Analytics. Having access to data on where your visitors are coming from and what content they find most interesting is one of the most powerful tools you can have as a small business online. (Google Webmaster Tools is another).

By default though, Google Analytics does not tell you which visitors are contributing to your business (signing up for emails, buying products, etc.). You have to tell it what to track – here’s how to set up Google Analytics goals and conversion tracking for your website.

Step 1. Find the URLs of the Actions You Want Visitors to Take

Decide what actions on your website are important – filling out your contact form? Signing up for your newsletter? Buying your product?

Next, gather the final URLs visitors land on when that action complete (often this is something like www.yourdomain.com/thankyou.html – go through each process yourself on your website and copy and paste the final URL into a document for safekeeping).

Special note: double-check that the URL is actually the most final one a visitor reaches – with email newsletter confirmations, this would be the URL the visitor lands on not after they click ‘sign up’ but after they click the confirmation link they received in their emails. Of course, this only works if your website is hosting these welcome messages.

Step 2. Add a New Google Analytics Goal

Here’s where we tell Google Analytics exactly what we want to measure. Once signed into your Analytics account, click the gear icon in the upper right hand corner.

• Once your profile/URL is selected, you’ll see a screen with 3 tabs — Profiles, Tracking Code, and WebProperty Settings. Make sure Profiles is selected.
• Under Profiles, select the Goals tab.
• Click +Goals to add a new goal.
• Enter a name for this goal that makes sense to you — “Newsletter Sign Up” may work just fine.

• Select the type – For this goal, select URL Destination. Under Goal Details, fill out the following:
  • Match Type — Select Exact Match.
  • Goal URL — Here’s where you enter the URL of your thank you for subscribing page. Do NOT enter the full URL — Omit the beginning/domain name (http://www.yoursite.com) and just include the end – often something like: /thankyou.html
  • Goal Value — This is optional. If you have a dollar amount associated with this goal, enter it here. (For newsletter sign ups, do you know how much each subscriber is actually worth to you? If so, enter it here – if not, leave this blank)

• Click Save Goal.
• Repeat as necessary for each goal.

Do URL-based goals not really jive with your business goals? You can also configure Google Analytics goals as Time on Site or Pages per Visit – select either one as your goal type instead of URL Destination.

Step 3. Make Smarter Marketing Decisions

Once you have your goals set up, you can start using the Conversion reports in Google Analytics to make smarter marketing decisions for your business online.

Having Google Analytics goals and conversion tracking allows you to stop guessing about what online marketing activity is worth your time or money and empowers you to make smarter decisions for your business online.

Find out which referring sites are giving you the best converting traffic – consider amping up your investment with them. Find out which sites are using up a lot of your time but aren’t giving you conversions – consider scaling back your time investment.

Do you have Google Analytics goals configured for your website? Did you find this useful? Let me know in the comments!

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