I became interested in analytics many years ago, when I was first exposed to Omniture’s Site Catalyst (which is now Adobe Analytics). Not long after that, I learned about Google Analytics, which has become a quite powerful tool over the years. For ecommerce professionals, website operators, and digital marketers, it is an indispensable tool. Some companies have teams of web analysts using it; some have only one web analyst. But even if you have such a person(s), everyone who deals with websites ought to have at least some knowledge of Google Analytics (GA). After all, you can’t expect what you don’t inspect, and you can’t get done what you can’t measure, right?
So, if you want to learn this powerful application, and add this great skill to your resume, here are my tips on how to go about it. I’m not a web analyst, and my recommendations are not intended to turn you into one. But if you go through this regimen, you would easily qualify as a “Power User”.
1. First, don’t think it’s going to be easy. It will take a serious time commitment if you truly want to learn it well. Even a very basic knowledge will be useful, but you will be amazed at how much you can do with it if you really dig deep into its capabilities.
2. Understand that there are a lot of different ways you can learn and many different resources; and I think it’s best to not get married to one method. Use a mix of resources and methods.
3. Nothing beats actual hands-on usage. What if you don’t use it at work, or don’t have access, or your company doesn’t use it? You can still create a free account, and then use Google’s sample data, from the Google Merchandise Store demo account.
4. Personally, I am a big fan of video training. I’ve taken hundreds (yes, hundreds) of online courses from Lynda.com, Udemy.com, Coursera.com, and others. Here is a list of a few GA courses I’ve completed on Lynda and Udemy:
a. Lynda: Web Analytics Fundamentals
b. Lynda: Google Analytics Essential Training
c. Lynda: Google Analytics Tips
d. Lynda: Advanced Google Analytics
j. Udemy: Google Analytics Mastery
OK, one thing to also keep in mind is that Google Analytics is constantly changing. Videos don’t, and some of the content can become outdated. That doesn’t mean it’s not still useful. Just remember, you’re not only learning about how to do something step-by-step, you’re also learning concepts. Concepts change, but not as quickly as the UI does. So, when you’re going through the videos, you should have your GA account open, and be following along. A 30-minute video should take you longer than 30 minutes to get through, because if you’re like me, you will routinely pause, practice the idea a little in your own account, and maybe replay the video. Sometimes the instructors talk a little too fast!
5. Next, Google itself has some fantastic resources, starting with the Analytics Academy. Here you’ll find all the documentation and videos, all of which are free. It’s probably the most in-depth of the training resources, and if you can get through all the reading (it’s a lot!), you would be very well prepared to take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (IQ) exam. Part of the Analytics Academy is the Google Analytics channel on YouTube, which has some great videos not only on GA, but also on GA Data Studio, and Google Tag Manager.
6. Google Analytics is just part of a very rich Google ecosystem of tools. If you want to really get good, learn about Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console (formerly called Webmaster Tools), Google Query Explorer, and even Google AdWords. There are a variety of resources on all of these, many of which are free. For more recent developments, check out the Google Analytics blog.
7. Lastly, although I know a lot, I’m still learning myself. It’s not my goal to become a web analyst, as valuable as those people are! There are many much smarter people than I on various online forums. My favorite is the Google Analytics Group on LinkedIn, because I’ve seen some tough questions asked and answered here.
Do you have any great resources that I missed? I’d love to hear about them.
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