Debbie Mayo-Smith: How to easily view your website traffic

Google Analytics is a cost-effective way to track your website traffic. Photo / iStock

Most of us hope that our website (or app) acts as the golden goose. Delivering customers to our virtual door step. Letting them help themselves to all the information we put in our sites about our businesses. Our staff. Our products and services.

How golden is your goose? Don't guess. You can know exact figures down to the most intimate of detail (such as what phone and operating system a person was using when visiting your website). Further you can learn these details without the tyranny of a charge for it from your website designer.

Who is going to give you all these answers and without payment of money?

Google of course with its Google Analytics; free to anyone with a Google Account (and website or app of course).

Google Analytics lets you do more than measure sales and conversions. It also gives insights into how visitors find and use your site, and how to keep them coming back. If you manage your website, sign up for free here. You link your website to your Google account.

You can go further. If you want to be masochistic (or delighted for the more positive minded) you can get a Chrome extension called Page Analytics which will show you on any of your webpages when you click on them (in Google Chrome of course) your website traffic in real time.

Right down to the exact spot where people clicked. Here's an example from my website home page. Across the top of the page are the statistics. Across the page is the exact spot of the click troughs.

Debbie Mayo-Smith aka Ms Effective, gives speeches, seminars and trains on sales and personal productivity. Debbie helps you get more done in less time and increase profitability. Sign up for her monthly quick tip newsletter at www.successis.co.nz. To have Debbie speak at your next event or train your team call 64 27 575 5359 or visit her www.debbiespeaks.co.nz