By visiting this site you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms & Conditions
Copyright © Slope Tech NYC. Images used are our own.
Website, Logo and Branding Designed in Collaboration with Katee Meese.
Here are the 3 tools that anyone can use to analyze their website traffic.
Why These Tools?
If you want to take control of your online presence and start growing then this is the place to start. The These tools let you take a full picture view of your website setup. Then you can pinpoint problem areas to make improvements. This leads to a better website experience, which leads to more users because google can tell your site is nice :)
Together, these 3 tools can provide a full picture of your website's performance.
More information about PageSpeed Insights, Google Analyitcs, and SEMRush below.
Many small business owners view their website as a thing they got done a few years ago that just needs to sit on the internet waiting for people to visit. If you're here, you KNOW that this mindset is outdated. The way people interact with things online has changed drastically in just the past 3 years. The first contact a potential new customer will have with your business is likely to happen online.
Using these tools to get a full picture view of your website's performance is the first step. In order to take the next step, you need to shift your mindset. Your website is a living system, not a static document.
After using these tools, you will see where the digital side of your business needs to improve. It is now your job to make the necessary changes. And then...
Repeat the process in a month.
If the changes you made worked, you may start seeing results right away. More likely, you won't see major improvements until later down the line, 3 months or more.
Whether you see the effects immediately or not, your job is to analyze your site again; using the same tools, to see where the next problem areas are.
You repeat until all major issues are taken care of and scans come up clean.
Pagespeed insights is a tool that has been around for a while. It is the best place to start when looking to start improving your website because it can give you a sense of your site's raw performance at a glance, while also allowing you to delve deeper into problem areas if needed.
It is important to remember that it is just a starting point, not the final word. There are some "issues" that the tool will flag that may or may not actually be relevant to your unique case. There might also be real issues with your site that the tool doesn't catch. There are great sites that do very bad in the pagespeed test, as well as terrible sites that do very well. Take your scan results seriously but don't stress too much about bad scores.
Main Takeaway: As a starting point, PageSpeed Insights is a great tool, but it is not the "be all end all." The other tools in this list will help complete the picture that this tool starts to paint.
Google analytics (GA) is the tried and true website analysis tool. There are other website analytics platforms out there but GA takes the cake as having the most features. It also has the unique distinction of being built by one of the largest tech companies around (Google). This gives GA an advantage in giving accurate data about your site, especially in relation to how you perform in google search.
It's not all sunshine and rainbows though. Because of the volume of data that GA provides, it can be overwhelming to the average person. It can be hard to find the data you're looking for (the helpful kind), and, once you do find it, it can be difficult to discern the best way to take action on the data.
On top of that, there are currently two different versions of Google Analytics available: The old, Universal Analytics (UA) and the new, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). While you can garner the same data points from either version there are some major differences to be aware of. I cover both in the video above.
Main Takeaway: Google analytics is a great tool but can be hard for beginners to use properly. In the Google Analytics section of the video guide I cover both versions of google analytics and provide a simple 3 prong framework for looking at the most important data. When in doubt, it is always good to talk to an expert.
If you aren't familiar with SEO I have a great resource for beginners here so you can have a baseline understanding before diving into an advanced tool.
To be found on google or another search engine is important because search is the main way people interact with the internet and find new things online. If you aren't showing up in search results you're missing out on valuable traffic to your site. SEO is the final piece of the puzzle in getting a handle on your website's performance.
SEO is last on the list because if your site doesn't load quickly (PageSpeed Insights) and you don't understand your users (Google Analytics) than SEO is largely a waste of time. The first thing a search engine needs to know about your site is if it is well maintained. That means load speed and user experience are VERY IMPORTANT. Google doesn't want to send their customers to a website that will take forever to load, or that they will have a hard time navigating once they are there.
SEMRush is just one of the many SEO platforms available. In the video guide above, we talk solely about the Site Audit tool within SEMRush (other platforms have similar tools) because it will give you a sense of whether or not your site is ready and able to start ranking in search. If your site audit results aren't great, you will have a harder time ranking in search results.
The three tools we discuss in this guide can give you a full understanding of how your website performs online.
Want to know how fast your site loads and how to increase that performance? Look at PageSpeed Insights.
Want to understand who your users are? Where they are coming from? and how they interact with your website once they're there? Use Google Analytics.
Want to know if your website appears in search results? Want to know what people are searching for when they find your site on google? Or want to know how to optimize your site to rank higher and get more organic search traffic? Turn to SEMRush or one of the many other SEO analytics platforms out there.
Getting a full picture understanding of your website can be a daunting task. Not everyone has the time to explore 3 new tools and implement solutions based on the data, especially if you have a business or organization to run.
Website management and analysis is a full time job all in itself. Big companies have entire teams dedicated to optimizing their online presence, so if the video guide above is too technical, or you just can't find the time to go all in, it is always a good idea to talk to an expert.
At slope tech, we offer services that fit your budget, whatever it is, so that you can get big tech results without paying a big tech salary. Consider scheduling a free introductory call with us today.
