Seeing as my AWStats software stopped working several days ago I’ve started to explore Google Analytics a little more to get a better understanding of how it can help me monitor traffic. It looked pretty slick on first impressions, the interactive interface is a very nice touch but would it really offer anything my previous software didn’t?

It’s much easier to understand and the statistics are laid out in a more accessible way. The most important stats are immediately visible which is far more pleasant than scrolling and searching.

The first thing you’re presented with is a line graph which plots number of visits as default. This can be changed to show anything from percentage of new visitors to bounce rate. Rolling over the points with the cursor will display the exact date and figures which is handy.

Underneath this you’ll find four different drag-able modules, Visitors Overview, Map Overlay, Traffic Sources Overview and Content Overview. Sort them as you wish, view advanced reports of each, it’s all available right away.

Everything recorded can be downloaded as XML or PDF. The XML source is perfect for displaying in a desktop reader or perhaps a corporate ethernet site but the PDF is where I was amazed. Every stat you could want is arranged neatly on pages showing all the figures so professionally you could easily hand this in to your boss and he wouldn’t have to ask you a single question.

It would be a great idea to print this out, sit down with a cup of coffee and identify your strong and weak areas, how you can improve and where you’re already succeeding.

One set of data I am focusing on right now is my traffic sources, as shown to the left. As you can see, the search engines aren’t really helping me at the moment. From this I can identify the fact that my seo could do with further work, I suspect mainly with keyword density in my posts. If I want to carry on making money blogging (ha!) I should really focus on that, see if it has any effect.

There are so many options and resources available in Analytics this post could quickly turn into an essay, if you’re using anything else at least give this a try, it’s free and you never know, Google might just surprise you yet again!