Latest / The Clinic Marketing Podcast | Local SEO & Healthcare Online Marketing Tips for Clinic Owners & Wellness Providers / How to Know If Your Website’s Working | Google Analytics Tips for Clinic Owners | Ep. 111

Transcript

How to Know If Your Website’s Working | Google Analytics Tips for Clinic Owners | Ep. 111 · The Clinic Marketing Podcast | Local SEO & Healthcare Online Marketing Tips for Clinic Owners & Wellness Providers

• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Clinic Marketing Podcast.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, darci Sullivan from Propel Marketing and Design.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Today I am answering a question that came straight from a listener, which I absolutely love.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: She asked I just set up my website.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I know it's important to track how it's performing, but without getting overwhelmed.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Where should I start?
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: What should I be looking at in Google Analytics and other tools?
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I told her that was a fantastic question and that I would put together a podcast about it, because oftentimes when you're looking at information like Google Analytics, it can feel like you're drinking water from a fire hose.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: To which she replied, which I thought was so funny.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I'm just getting started.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I don't have a fire hose, I barely have a garden hose.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So today we're diving into how you can start tracking information on your website to determine its performance in a way that won't be overwhelming.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: So again, this is such a good question and I know a lot of clinic owners wonder about it, especially when they've just launched a new website and they aren't sure what to expect.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Here's what we're going to cover in today's episode what good performance actually looks like for a clinic website.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Which tools to use when you're just getting started, key reports and pages to look at in Google Analytics without drowning in that data.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get into it.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Before we dive into tools, let's get clear on what your website's job is.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: If you're a chiropractor, physical therapist, acupuncturist, massage therapist or med spa owner, or a clinic owner of any sort, your website exists too.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Help people find your clinic online, educate them about your services, get them to know, like and trust you and ultimately, get them to book an appointment.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: So when we talk about performance, it's not about getting millions of visitors.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: It's about getting the right visitors and getting the right visitors to take action.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: You want to make sure that you have Google Analytics on your website.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Now, google Analytics can feel a little overwhelming, especially when they switch to the new layout of GA4.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: But let's simplify it.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Here are a few things to look at that actually matter.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: You want to look at users and sessions.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: This is going to tell you how many people are visiting your website, where they're coming from and how often they're visiting.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So if you look under reports, you will see engagement.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: This information can be found under reports.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Under here, you will see a number of different things, but we're only going to hone in on a few that are really important.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: You will see users.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: These are how many people visit your website and how they got there, meaning, did they come from social media?
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Did they come from organic search?
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: How did they get to your website?
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: This is where it can get a little confusing, because you will see user acquisitions and traffic acquisitions.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: User acquisitions refers to a first-time visitor.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Traffic acquisitions refers to general visitors.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: So if, on Tuesday, I come to your website for the first time through organic search, I would be under the user acquisition.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: If I came back again a couple days later, I would not show up on the user acquisition.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Instead, I would show up on the user acquisition.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Instead I would show up on the traffic acquisition and I could have come in from a different source, maybe the second time I visit you.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I come from social media, so this is where things can get a little confusing.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Again, user acquisitions is the first time somebody is ever visiting your website, while traffic acquisitions is just overall traffic to your website.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: You have sessions, which are how many total visits occur, and there's information about returning users.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: A steady increase over time is what you're looking for.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Don't stress about low numbers in the beginning, because that happens.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: You're not going to end up with thousands and thousands of website visitors when you first set up your website.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: We also want to look at top pages.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Under reports, this would be under the pages and screens, which is going to show you which pages are getting the most traffic.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: For most clinics, this is the home page, usually specific services pages they're what we call the general service page, which is like your catch-all for all your services.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: That highlights those your booking and contact page, blog post, an about page and usually conditions as well.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Those are some of the key core pages that drive traffic on websites.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: If you see people landing on random or unimportant pages first, it's a sign you may need to adjust your content or SEO strategy.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: We also want to look at those traffic sources.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: How are people finding your website?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Are they coming through organic?
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Are they coming from social media?
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Oftentimes we'll see people spending so much time and energy on social media, but it's not directly correlating to website traffic, so you want to take a look at that as well.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about conversions for a minute.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Conversion can be in a couple different forms.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: It could be an appointment, it could be a download.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: There's different types of conversions.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Currently, as I'm recording this, google analytics for ga4 doesn't refer to conversions as conversions.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Conversions have to be set up as what they refer to as key events.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Key events are different from regular events.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Google Analytics sets up some basic events that it feels like you would want to track, and if you want to track advanced conversions, you have to add them as key events.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: So let's talk this through for a second.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: If you were just getting started, sometimes you don't have a system in place for collecting booking appointments.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: In an ideal world, somebody would go to your website.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: They would click book now.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: They would book an appointment and then get redirected to a thank you page.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: That thank you page is what you would want to associate with the key event.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: That means somebody went through the whole complete process and got redirected to that thank you page and converted, aka booked an appointment.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: When possible.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: You want to set up in Google Analytics so that it tracks those key events.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Sometimes that's a little bit more difficult.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: So how do you do a workaround?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Well, maybe you have a contact page and a book page or a book now page, and why would you want to do that?
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Well, again, let's say you're just getting started and you don't have a fancy system together for booking appointments.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Yes, you could just assume anybody that goes to the contact page is looking to book an appointment, but that might not be the case.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: There could be a lot of people that are going to your contact page, maybe to call you to sell you something.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: So sometimes it makes more sense to set up a book now page and connect that as a key event.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: It really depends on how advanced your website is and what systems you have in Plymouth.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: So that's just a little side note.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: On conversions, they're a little bit more advanced.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: If you are just getting started and you feel like that flew way over your head, you can just keep with your contact page or just note what people actually end up on your booking pages and how they're getting there, how they're getting to your website and then what pages they're going to when they're on your website that are leading them to book an appointment your website that are leading them to book an appointment.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: You can also use Google Search Console.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Google Search Console is different from Google Analytics.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: It shows how your site is performing in search results by far.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: I feel like Google Search Console, to somebody who isn't very techie, can feel overwhelming because it's reporting so many data points to you that times people get confused.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: For instance, it might tell you that there are certain pages that it's not indexing, but if you're familiar with SEO, you would know that some of those pages shouldn't be indexed.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: So, again, it can be a little overwhelming.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: But key elements that you would want to look for in Google Search Console without getting overwhelmed are looking at what keywords you're showing up for and your click-through rates.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Also, which pages are being indexed.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: But again, keep in mind that you might see that there are pages that are not indexed.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: For instance, in most cases you don't want to index your terms and conditions page, your privacy policy page, your thank you pages.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Pages not being indexed means that something in your website is saying to google don't show this page.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: There's tons of reasons why certain pages aren't being indexed, so I don't want to get too much into detail about that because, again, we want to keep this light.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: This is for those that are just getting started.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: But take a look around and see what information you can pull from there.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: That you feel like is a value add.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: If you feel like Google Search Console is too much because you are such a beginner is a value add.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: If you feel like Google Search Console is too much because you are such a beginner, you can go back to Google Analytics, which I think is easier to understand and find information in.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Also, don't forget to check out your Google Business Profile Insights.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Those are located directly in your Google Business Profile listing account, which is different from your Google Analytics account and your Google Search Console account.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: This is in your Google Business Profile account and it will show you for your Google Business Profile listing, which is what shows up in Google Maps how many people are clicking to call.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: How many people are visiting your website from your Google business profile listing.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: How many have people have requested directions.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: This is especially helpful for local SEO, because a lot of patients may be booking right from your listing because they have that option, instead of visiting your website.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Since you're just getting started, don't obsess over numbers.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Here's your permission slip.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: You do not have to check your website stats every single day.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Okay, you can check them once a month.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Look for trends, not instant results, and ask yourself are more people finding me through search?
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Are my top pages the ones that I want to rank for?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Are people taking connection when they get to your website?
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: If yes, awesome.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: If not, it's time to make some small tweaks.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Check your homepage, check your blog post, check your core pages to make sure that they're real value add.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: Your website does not have to be perfect to perform.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Track just a few things to start, like your users, your top pages, your traffic sources and your conversions.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: If that doesn't feel too difficult for you, use your data to guide your marketing and don't get overwhelmed.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: If you're feeling lost, you're not alone.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: We have tons of information on our website, propellyourcompanycom, and if you're interested in getting additional assistance with your website, please feel free to visit propellyourcompanycom and book a discovery call.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: That's it for today's episode.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: Huge, huge thank you to the listener who submitted this question.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: It's one that many of you have asked, so I'm glad we got to dig into it today.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: If you have a question you'd love to hear covered in a future episode, shoot me a DM on Instagram at propelyour your Company.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you, and if you found this episode helpful, don't forget to subscribe and leave a quick review.