Hold on there, don’t Google have their own free one – why would you pay for a course? Which is fair, it’s a lovely little course, you’ll learn all the lingo. You won’t however, know how to do anything – which is kind of our bag.
Listen, we won’t make you an analytics wizard overnight – and we think misleading people is a bit mean – so we aren’y going to. Honestly, you could go off and learn the ins and outs of this fantastic platform by yourself – took us a few years, and if you have that kind of time – we salute you! We enjoyed the sweat and tears, no lie.
You’ll probably know, that unlike the formal training offered for other marketing tools, Google Analytics training tends to fall through the cracks. You’ll have heard about analytics, no doubt. You might even have glanced at the occasional report. Line goes up, good news, line goes down, bad news – that kind of thing.
But, do you really know how to use this wonder-tool with confidence? With so much confidence in fact, that you can super-charge your decision-making, answer even the trickiest question about any customer interaction and make your website work harder for you, without breaking a sweat?
Aha. Now that changes things, doesn’t it? And that brings us back to why we’re here. Because, unlike most marketers, we know how to absolutely -crush it- on Google Analytics, we literally wrote the book. And with this course, you can crush it too.
Yeah, that’s right, 10 whole hours of content to watch. A mix of animation, lots of over the shoulder tutorials and checking for understanding, with some questions. Don’t do it all at once.
Each module builds up your knowledge. Each one deals with a different aspect of the platform- key benefit over all is, ‘be better at this’.
Editable word and excel doc to cover everything from your measurement plan to ecommerce tracking to goal setting, + PDF explainers to remember key concepts. P.S It’s worth it for the templates alone.
(Which includes unlimited lifetime access and free updates for life)
Analytics Framework
Account Setup
Filters Guide
How to Audit
Campaign Tracking
Onsite Events
Multi-Channel Funnels
Segmentation Framework
Business Goals
Ecommerce Setup
Data Import
Custom Dimensions & Metrics
Attribution Guide
Reporting
Data Studio Dashboards
Now to the special bit. We are going to help you understand how it all works and master the ‘how to do it part’ with editable templates that have come off the back of 10+ years in analytics, about 200 analytics audits, and teaching a few thousand people. It has taken us months to create these templates alone, but they will form the documentation you need, not to mention save you weeks in creating them for yourself.
Other special thing, in case you are wondering what the catch is with the price? Our mission as a company is to make education affordable. We’ve done our fair share of training for companies that charge the big bucks, and this is a product we are very, very proud to have created. It’s months and months of work based on a few decades of experience. It would be easier to just go head on with the high price point, the product is worth it. However, this doesn’t really make our hearts flutter.
At the same time, people have told us we are wrong for pricing the course low. Our answer to that? How do you expect to close the digital skills gap if you price people out of the field?
How’s that for special?
(We might not be the one for you, but we also might be the course of your dreams)
In this module you’ll understand that Google Analytics (GA), and the measurement of your website and marketing performance, is a vital skill. However, with no real formal training on the tool, most people just log in, look at the chart lines that going up or down, or take the first set of numbers that they find as the gospel, and make decisions based on that.
However, if you’re using data that is wrong, or wildly inaccurate, then you’ll make mistakes, you’ll have crossed wires, and you’ll be using inaccurate insights to justify your decision making.
The truth is, you need to understand the foundations of how the Google Analytics platform works, and along the way, understand the jargon and lingo that comes with it.
Once you’ve got that down, you can then think about how you’ll approach your measurement journey, as well as understand the activities, tasks, and actions needed to setup your GA account and use it to inform the growth of your website and business.
Listen, you’re here for a reason, you want to sharpen your skills and get really good at using Google Analytics, which let’s face it, can be overwhelming and confusing at times. We’ve got your back though, by the end of this course you’ll understand how it works, what you need to do, and how to actually do it. We’ll show you exactly how to use the resources and templates, which have been created to help you get where you need to be faster, and become awesome at analysing and reporting.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this module, you’ll be able to:
You need to understand how your Google Analytics account is structured, as it has implications for the data collection, processing, and therefore the reporting on which you base all of your decisions. It can be a little mind boggling when you try and work out your account structure at first, so to help, we’ve created something called The House Model©, it’s a Template that sits alongside this particular module.
Using the Template, and by the end of this module you’ll understand what the account, properties and views are in Google Analytics.
You’ll see some common account setup use cases, and from this, you’ll have an idea of which setup you currently have, as well as changes you may need to make.
Building your Google Analytics house the right way means you’ll get the correct data processed – and mistakes will be minimised.
High fives all round.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Now that you’ve worked through some account settings, you’ll have a good understanding of the type of Google Analytics house you might need to build. With that in mind, you’ll also have a good idea of the reporting windows you need to create, so that you can start to report accurately. For this to happen, we need to think about the different types of filters you’ll need.
We touched on this when talking about The House Model© previously, filters can dramatically improve the quality of your reports from there. For example, you don’t want to see data from some sources, such as your own staff using the website, or if you happen to have fake spam traffic. Filters provide a way for you to change and modify the data that you can see in each view. They are destructive, in that they impact your data, but are pretty cool.
However, if you make a mistake here, your entire reporting view can be total trash. Far from ideal isn’t it? Fear not, because by the time you’ve finished this module you’ll have a solid understanding of the different types of filters you can use, as well as examples of common filters that most websites would need.
As you can imagine, filters have quite a bit of power behind them, and because with great power comes great responsibility, they should always have a strategic reasoning behind their use. We’ll finish this module with you being able to map out the filters that you’ll need, knowing the purpose for the filter, and the type of filter you need, so that your reporting view is nice and clean as well as having the data you want. Yay!
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Once you have a solid understanding of your analytics account structure using our House Model©, your next step is to audit your current admin settings. To do the audit you’ll need the correct access level, of which often, you don’t.
Just know here, that the default settings are never okay. You need to understand how your account is structured and amend your settings so they suit you, in turn ensuring that you get the best data possible within your reports. Never assume that it’s already been done, that IT or your agency fixed it. We can bet you money that they didn’t!
It may seem like a tedious process, but a simple toggle turned off can result in your data being quite wrong. This exercise will highlight areas for you to focus on, and flag areas of concern, which in turn, will help you prioritize the tasks you need to complete to ensure that your analytics is set up in the correct way.
This is a critical step towards writing your measurement plan. To do it effectively, you need to know your current state of play, and work through your account, property, and view settings. Doing an audit and having a record of your setup will be the foundations of your final measurement plan. It’ll also make you look good! Or, at the very least, capable.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
This module is a deep dive into the Account Settings specifically, we’ll cover what’s in the box, so to speak, and highlight key areas that you may want to check when you audit your own account settings.
To get the most out of this module you should now be relatively comfortable with how your Google Analytics account is structured, which we covered in the earlier modules, so go back and complete them if you haven’t done so yet.
If you have, In this module, you’ll watch a guided example of how to use the Admin Audit Template to review your account settings.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
This module is a deep dive into the Property settings and will follow the same format as the previous module where you’ll find a guided example of how to audit the Account level.
In this module, you’ll understand the impact that your Property settings have on your website and what you should be looking for as you gradually audit your current settings.
There will be detailed additional explainers for some concepts within Property Tracking, such as Data Collection and Retention, and User ID, as well as the importance of linking other Google products – but we will get to some of this a little later in the course. You’ll also understand the role of Audience Definitions, which we’ll cover in more detail in the module on Segments, as well as discovering if you’re using some of the more advanced features found in the Property level, which we elaborate on further in the more advanced modules, close to the courses end.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
In this module we delve further into the analytics weeds and work through a guided audit of your View settings. You select a View when you want to look at the reporting interface, so naturally, you’d want to make sure your reporting Views are in tip-top shape. That’s what We’re doing here.
You’ll understand how to set the correct time zone and currency, as well as check who has access to the reporting Views. If you’re using Site Search on your site, you’ll find out how to adapt your settings so that you get the appropriate user data into your behavior reports. We’ll also briefly reView your current goal setup, and if they are working correctly.
Equally, if you’ve struggled to get insights on which website pages people are Viewing in the past, you’ll also learn how Content Grouping is going to help with that particular headache.
Finally, for those of you that are selling stuff on your site, we’ll dive into E-Commerce settings, so you’ll know how it works, how to brief your development team to set it up, and what you need to do to receive that type of data in your reports too.
Quite a bit in this module really!
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
This is the final part of your Admin Audit. We’ll review in this module, personal tools & assets, where you’ll understand how to use annotations within your reporting views, and how to set up alerts so that you are notified if something were to change on your website. For example, you can get an alert if your conversion rate abruptly drops below a certain percentage or if your traffic from a particular channel increases, the kind of things that you would want to know as soon as possible, so you can action them – for both issues and opportunities.
We’ll also touch on the use cases for the segment, attribution model, and custom channel grouping functions in our guided review, but will loop back to these items in future modules in greater detail.
We close this module by revisiting the Admin Audit Template and show you an example of what a completed audit would look like, and with that, what your next steps are for your measurement plan.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Now that you’ve got a nice and tidy Google Analytics house, it’s time to invite people over, and, by people, we mean users from channels.Your lovely, resource-dependent marketing channels, and even lovelier customers.
Tracking your campaigns and inbound traffic is not just a nice to have, it’s a need to survive. You need to know what’s working, what’s not, and use data from your analytics to justify your budget and resource allocation so that you can keep doing super smashing marketing wizardry. Also known as, a good job.
However, the data you’ve in Google Analytics might not be quite as good as you think. With that happy note, after this module, you’ll understand how the Google core reporting API (Application Programming Interface) crunches your acquisition data, how to identify if you have any tracking problems, i.e visitors being allocated to the incorrect marketing channel and skewing your reports.
This module will equip you with the skills to identify how channels are actually defined in Google Analytics, and how you can make mistakes with the channel definitions.
We’ll also be talking you through the details of what the Urchin Tracking Module (UTM code) is, how they work, and use cases, so you don’t get your mediums and sources confused. Which is very common.
We’ll also walk you through a strategic channel planning process to make sure your marketing effort is allotted correctly.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this module, you’ll be able to:
In this module, we’ll be looking at event tracking, and you’ll have a much better understanding of what your customers are doing on your website. Bottom line, you’re not a mindreader! Whilst it’s great to understand which pages people are looking at on your website, you really want to know what people are doing on your website, and for that, you need to set up event tracking.
You need event tracking to find out if people scroll down your page, or if they download that PDF, watch the video, submit information in a contact form, but, as you’ve probably guessed from our previous modules, it doesn’t come pre-setup with Google Analytics, you need to get it implemented yourself.
This is challenging, particularly because event tracking requires another Google product to function properly, Google Tag Manager (GTM). This module isn’t about how to use Google Tag Manager, although you’ll understand how Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager work together to fire events, how to audit which events you currently have, and how to brief in new events to your development teams.
By the end of this module, you’ll understand why you should care about event tracking, how it works and what you need to do to get this data into the reports in your Google Analytics account.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
All websites, no matter how large or small, need to have some way of measuring whether or not we are all doing a good job, or not. Goals are used in Google Analytics as a way to find this out, because you really need to have a way to measure effectiveness. Yes, we are definitely talking about the website purpose, and the business outcomes.
However, these very important elements are commonly missing in the Google Analytics setup, or they simply aren’t being used to their full potential. You really want to take full advantage of all twenty Goals you’ve been allocated, and make use of this added measurement superpower.
In the end, you need to know how well your marketing on one hand, and website content on another – is actually contributing towards making your visitors convert, and convert – we mean doing the thing you need them to do so you’re still in business tomorrow.
Creating Goals in Google Analytics actually doesn’t take that much time, the hard part is understanding the types of Goals you can have, and then thinking strategically about how you’ll use your allowance per view. So, in this module we’ll dive into understanding your business model, what your business objectives are, and from that, how your customers and prospects move through your website, so that you can better identify the twenty Goals that are most meaningful for your specific case.
All of which will be very helpful when it comes to reporting and finding insights. Or, getting a pay rise.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
You’re now at a stage in your Google Analytics setup were your house is clean (thanks to your Account setup and audit), the visitors are tagged and bagged correctly (thanks to UTM Codes and Channel Planning), you know what people are doing on your site (why thank you, Event Tracking), and you’ve got a nice firm line in the sand for what is, and isn’t, a conversion (what would we do without you, Goals).
Now, logging into Google Analytics, and looking at your reports, how do you make sense of it all? The reporting interface can look intuitive, but you can enter a state of analysis paralysis quite quickly, and actually make grave errors by looking at the first number you see that validates your opinion, as the final answer to the questions you want to know the answers to.
In this Module, we’ll show you how to use the reporting interface to its full potential. You’re going to learn how to get the most out of the data you have and learn some tricks and challenges within Google Analytics along the way.
To make things a little more digestible, we’ll walk through the different reporting areas in the platform and give you examples of questions, as well as how to find the answers to. Answers to things, like:
Audience: who is going to your site?
Acquisition: how do they get there?
Behavior: what do they do when they get there?
Conversion: do I still have a job/business?
Let’s get going!
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Within the conversion report category, is another awesome function, but no one really gives it the time of day (in our humble opinion). This, of course, is a mistake, because the multi-channel funnel (MCF) reports help to give you an accurate picture of what’s working on your site, from the content you publish, to the marketing channels you’re using to drive traffic. How do they work together to get your goals completed is the big question?
The allocation of credit here, depends on a few things, such as with the attribution models that Google Analytics uses, which we’ve already touched on in our tracking module. Before your eyes roll into the back of your head in boredom at the thought of attribution modeling (more on that in our advanced module later) – there are a few steps you need to get right, six steps to be precise, to truly paint the right picture when it comes to how your marketing and website content is working for you.
Wouldn’t you like to know which pieces of your marketing assisted in getting you that sale? Or know how long it takes someone to actually complete the form? The path they take to purchase? Yeah, you do, come on!
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Looking at all of your Google Analytics data at once sucks like a sour lemon. If you don’t segment the data, you’ll never find the good, the bad, or the wonderful. Plus, we all know that your customers take different journeys on your awesome website, so you want to know how your marketing channels perform, and how to find your best customers, as well as how to enhance channels and help customers that are struggling.
Segments can be super sweet and juicy, but there are a few pips that you’ll want to avoid, the kind of pips that get lodged in your reporting throat and choke you on your own “insights.”
In this module, you’ll work through all the types of Segments available to you, and understand the pros and cons of Segmentation in general, as well as some issues that come along with using it.
And, as no one likes a blank sheet of paper, we’ll walk through a process to work out the types of Segments you may want to consider for your business.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
This module dives into some of the more advanced features within Google Analytics, features that you only really get any benefit once you’ve mastered your setup already and you’re feeling pretty confident as you’re working through your reporting interface. And now, you’re ready to level up!
This module will give you the information needed to tailor your analytics to work harder for you. For instance, Google Analytics has features that allow you to create dimensions or metrics that currently don’t exist in the platform, and to load data into your account from other sources. Equally, if you found the default attribution models limiting, there’s also the option to alter them and create your own rules. So, lots to dive into here!
We’ll walk you through the process for custom dimensions and metrics, data upload, and custom attribution models, with use cases, and templates for you to use on our own website.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
In our experience (and here comes the general sweeping statement) we’ve rarely seen an all singing, all dancing Google Analytics account, and even rarer, any documentation. If you think about any other key system you use in a business, like a new website Content Management System (CMS), or Email Service Provider (ESP), you get lots of documentation and training, yet with Google Analytics, with no formal training, you’re left to work it out for yourself.
Now you’ve nearly completed the course, you know what’s possible in this platform, and you’ve reflected on what’s missing from your own account, or how you would use it differently. Completing the admin audit and working through our Measurement Plan Template, you can map out your next steps, tasks, and actions, to get your account (and website) in order.
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed with what you need to do, there’s often a lot. However, progress is progress, and you need to take your time, especially as there really are a set of tasks that you’ve got to complete, in a specific order, so you don’t trip yourself up. For example, you can’t build an event goal without setting up event tracking first.
This module will walk you through our template, which, as you know, are to be used to document your journey. They give you a do to list, and in some cases, are used to make a business case for additional resources e.g. for technical development.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
You can very quickly find yourself drowning in analytics data and coping with a firehose full of charts and graphs. You might even have found yourself staring into the data abyss at an endless stream of binary numbers, and you’re desperately looking, trying to find the “Waldo.” The aim of the game, of course, is to make the observations,see insights, and make changes and recommendations to your website and marketing, so you can grow, nail it, and win!
Take a moment to plan how you’re going to show your work, your data, in a way that is as smooth as silk and as easy to read as your A,B,Cs. As a result, those insights and answers will be easier to see and action. It is, after all, part of your job to communicate your findings.
This module is to get you into the framework and mindset to create and present a story with your data. So, we’ll walk you through our process to help identify what should go into the report, and finish by showing you how to build a custom report in Google Analytics, as well as a demo on what is possible in Google Data Studio.
Module Outcomes
By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to:
Ok, right, really? Still here?
This is the bit where you make the call, and it very much is – your call. Do or do not, DIY or guided practice, headaches or painkillers. You do you.
