Your Blog's Biggest Fan
Do you know who your blog fans are - returning visitors who actually stay on your blog and read it?
Google Analytics does.
Why would you need to care, you ask?
Other than the fact that it’s pretty cool to know the nitty-gritties of your traffic, these statistics will help you to learn what your sticky content is.
What posts do your readers keep coming back to and bookmark? What pages have the least bounce rate?
Let’s take it a step further: if you knew what your best content was according to your readers, could you make sure it was well-optimized for search engines and push it to the top of Google? Wouldn’t that be a smart move?
Here’s how to find out in who your fans are in 3 simple steps.
Step 1.
In your Google Analytics dashboard, find “all visits” tab. Click on it and unselect “all visits”.
Step 2.
The segments you are interested in are:
1. Returning visitors - as you know, websites use cookies to identify folks who come back to your blog after an initial visit. Congrats, it means you did something right the first time around and managed to get them hooked.
2. Direct traffic - visitor who get to your site via a bookmark or by typing in your URL are considered direct traffic. They have obviously been to your blog before, that’s why they know how to get to it “directly”.
3. Non-bounce visits - visitors who visited more than one page per visit.
You can choose one segment at a time or all three. Press “apply”.
You should see a graph similar to this one:
Step 3
Analyze to your heart’s content!
These are the things I would look at (in the content section of your report):
1. What pages are frequented by my “fans”?
In my case, the first 3 are my Traffic Generation Cafe home page, Promote Yourself page, and Increase Blog Traffic page.
2. What is my search engine ranking for those pages? What if I tweak them a bit more: come up with a better title tag, tweak the keywords with Scribe SEO a bit, focus on building a few quality links to those pages?
Since this content is already liked by my “fans”, isn’t it likely that the organic search engine traffic will eat it up as well?
Question: do you think you use Google Analytics to its fullest potential? What’s the coolest thing you are tracking with it? Answer in the comments below.
You are right: you don’t have to comment or retweet, but would it help if I told you it would be much appreciated? 
PS For more no-nonsense traffic generation and conversion tips from Ana, fill out this short spam-free form:
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This post brought to you by Ana Hoffman
Ana is the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and wants you to know that her 7 Steps to Complete Search Engine Domination free SEO report = SEO Made Simple. Don't forget to pick up your own copy today - just click on the link above!
Ana has written 230 great posts for Traffic Generation Cafe.
I am a wife to a great husband of 14 years (here ya go, now I have to make changes to this sentence once a year), a mother to a beautiful and, no doubt, genius little girl, and a successful internet entrepreneur. I also devoted my life to Jesus Christ many years ago, and He remains my true priority, focus, and hope.
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing this Ana…
As a scientist I love crunching through data, and you’ve just shown me another cool way to get data from Analytics. The particular data you can get out of this tutorial is amazingly useful, as it allows you to determine the pages most visited by your fans and then you can spend time optimizing! Very cool!
Thanks, Ana…. awesome stuff, as usual. Tweeted and FB shared!
Bob
Dr. Bob Clarke invites you to read…How to be Productive When You Just Wanna Be a Couch Potato
You have made my day! I feel so clever knowing that I impressed a scientist!
On a serious note, I am glad you found the post useful. It is so much more effective to optimize when you know what people are interested in.
Ana | Traffic Generation invites you to read…What Can We Learn From the King of Blogging?
Great article we use Google Analytics for the web site but didn’t know we could for the Blog
Surveillance Solutions invites you to read…Pro and Cons of Wireless Cameras
Yes you absolutely can. You can try using it anytime see how helpful it is.
Thanks,
Ana
Great post Ana!
I’m guessing I’m not doing too bad then, quite a bit of my traffic comes from those sources. My only gripe with GA though is it doesn’t match up with GetClicky stats! Says I have a 75% bounce rate, where as GetClicky says I’ve got a 30% or less bounce rate. Drives me batty that there’s such a big difference in stats between all the different analytic tools. :-/
Cori Padgett invites you to read…Put the “Pop” in Popular- Making Your Biz Cool
Yes, indeed there is, Cory…
In the end, I don’t think it matters that much; if our traffic keeps growing, then we are doing something right, whatever the stats say!
Thanks for coming by; always a pleasure.
Ana
Thanks Ana, that was a great tip. I never even knew the all traffic tab was up there and able to be changed.
Neither did I, Joy, until someone pointed it out to me. And now I am happy to pass it on to you!
Ana
PS Always love your comments; keep them coming!
Learning never stops, but I suppose that’s what makes our lives more interesting…
Glad you found my blog, Pam; look forward to seeing more of you around here.
Ana,
I thought I knew plenty of Google Analytic, I guess there is sure more to learn! New visitors are great but there is loyalty factor which is hard to find these days! Just found your blog from technshare! and I am glad.
Pam @ Best Cookware Set invites you to read…Healthy Eating Guidelines
Hey Ana, this is seriously useful.
I use Google Analytics, but I haven’t used it in the way you describe before and your suggestions on optimising for SE’s makes perfect sense.
Great ideas
Matthew Needham invites you to read…Wednesday Wisdom- Including the only SEO Guide you’ll ever need
Glad you found this post useful, Matthew. Hope you’ll use it to improve on your posts.
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…Scribe SEO- Why All The Cool Kids Are Doing It
Great post on more resourceful ways to use google analytics. I have been working on dropping my bounce rate. It didn’t even think to use it to see who my returning visitors are.
Great post and real eye-opener.
Larry
Larry Rivera invites you to read…To Widgets Or Not To Use Widgets That Is The Question
I am glad you found it useful, Larry - thanks for stopping by and keeping working on it.
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…Scribe SEO- Why All The Cool Kids Are Doing It
Hi Ana, I liked this article so much it inspired a blog post I did. I mentioned you and linked this article.
Larry
Larry Rivera invites you to read…The Power Of Google Analytics In Your Marketing
Thanks for the mention, Larry; love your post.
Ana
Hi Ana,
I like Google analytic too… For me I look the number of traffic in total, in a week and what post are the most popular. It’s an amazing tool to know how well your website is.
My blog is not too old and I have already 5 777 visitors… That’s very helpful those information! By the way thanks for showing those reports, now I will perform bounce and new visitors reports. I was not using it before!
Thanks
Dave B
Zero Cost Commissions invites you to read…Zero Cost Commissions
You are very welcome, Dave; I am very impressed to hear that you are so on top of your traffic and blog popularity.
Always appreciate your comments!
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…Scribe SEO- Why All The Cool Kids Are Doing It
I keep wondering when I will ever stop discovering new features in Google Analytics
One of my regular functions is to look at my top 10 pages, based on Google referrals, and see what can be done to boost one or two of the bottom pages. Sometimes it is just identifying higher-ranking keywords, or sometimes just reinforcing existing keyword strings with additional content. If it works, though, the payoff is huge. There is a tremendous difference in traffic if you can pull a page up into the first page of search results.
That’s the best SEO strategy you can ever come up with, Roy - see what’s working and what can work better and tweak it. That’s exactly what I do as well.
You are way ahead, my friend.
Ana
Ana, Thanks for pinpointing and focusing on a few key points in google analytics. The information you provide makes SEO & analysis much easier to understand. I appreciate your insight.
You are very welcome, Amelie (love your name, btw); I appreciate your comment.
Ana
Hi Ana,
Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Powerful, flexible and easy-to-use features now let you see and analyze your traffic data in an entirely new way. With Google Analytics, you’re more prepared to write better-targeted ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives and create higher converting websites.
Tamara @ plus size luigi costume invites you to read…Toddler Luigi Costume
Sounds like a perfect sales letter for Google!
Ana
Hi Ana,
I am not much of statistics person although I know one needs to be in this game so although I have used Google Analytics for a while I like the way you focused its usage here and immediately checked mine out using your great tutorial.
Just aside I was surprised to see that search engines still account for most of my traffic albeit a small margin on referring sites. I had thought referring sites would have been far ahead with the numbers.
Thanks for the value Ana. I have learned a lot.
~Marcus
Marcus Baker invites you to read…Know What Kind of Party Animal you are to Master Facebook for Business
You know, I am not as much into Analytics as I should be either, Marcus.
I do love these kind of “bite-sized” tips though that I can use with the purpose.
I am glad to hear that most of your traffic comes from search engines - that’s great! If you were to take a break in your blogging, you’d still have traffic coming in; that’s very powerful leverage.
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…Scribe SEO- Why All The Cool Kids Are Doing It
Duh…what’s Google analytics. I appreciate you information, but my mind is blank. Is Google analytics something you sign up for?
Lou
Maybe I’m in the wrong class here…lol…back to Google 101
Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google that helps you learn more about your website traffic, where they come from, where they go, etc.
I know you just recently started your blog, Lou; it would be good for you to take a look at the analytics to see if your efforts are paying off. Yes, you have to sign up for a free account.
Ana
Thanks Ana!
I love your tips, very helpful indeed!
Have a wonderful today and an even better tomorrow.
All the best!
Cate
You are very welcome, Cate; I appreciate the comment.
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…New Tweet Button- The Good- The Bad- The Ugly
Hi Ana,
Only recently started using Google Anayltics …. now you have given me another use for it….Love the post and the way you have presented it.
Thanks.
Cheers
Bryan
Thanks, Bryan - I am glad I gave you something else to do
.
Thanks for using that Tweet button, by the way!
Ana
Excellent tutorial Ana.
I have been using Google Anayltics for years but I definitely do not use it to its fullest.
I tend to monitor the % of search engine traffic and keywords.
I really enjoyed this tutorial and while reading I was actually applying your tips to my google account.
Thanks Ana!
Peter
Peter@Home Business Ideas invites you to read…The Law of Awareness - A Personal Story
The biggest compliment you can give me, Peter, is to use my tips. Thank you.
Ana
Hey Ana,
Love how you have illustrated the use of Google Analytics. I can see I wasn’t taking full advantage of this cool tracking tool.
Thanks for sharing this.
All the best,
Mavis Nong
Mavis@Attraction Marketing Online invites you to read…Mavis Nong Presents Her FREE Online Marketing Training
You are welcome, Mavis - I know you’ll use this to make your blog even better.
Ana
Gosh, nothing I love more than playing with stats for improvements. The only real way to get better is to have hard and fast data that can lead you to the right decisions. Great post!
Steve invites you to read…17 Tips for Making Friends While Traveling Solo
So true, Steve - relying on hard statistics is the BEST way to improve.
Leaves me to wonder why so many people ignore it?
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…New Tweet Button- The Good- The Bad- The Ugly
What a brilliant angle on an otherwise done topic! That sounds bad, but seriously I am so impressed with both the way you have written this, and of course the content itself!
Great way to lead into the importance of optimizing posts too!
Love the how to, I definitely learnt something there (never thought to see what advanced settings I could see in my Analytics - I’m off to play now
)
Alex@niche site marketing invites you to read…The Ultimate Keyword Research Resource – Available Now!
Coming from you, Alex - you just made my day.
I am not a big fan of writing about what everybody else writes about. This tip helped me and it will help those who want to do better SEO.
Ana
Hey Ana,
Great Job with the illustration! I love it when I visit a post and learn something new. I also knew that I wasn’t taking full advantage of Google Analitycs. Now, I can’t wait to test this out.
Chat with you later…
Josh
Josh Garcia invites you to read…How to Overcome Those Nasty Blogging Challenges
I know there is so much more potential in Google Analytics that we know of and use. I am not about to get obsessed with it, but I love discovering ways to improve my business with it.
Thanks for stopping by, Josh - always a pleasure.
Ana
Ana @ Traffic Generation Cafe invites you to read…3 Unorthodox Ways to Get King-Kong EDU Links
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