Use Google Analytics to Find Your Audience

Authors may know the audience for their book well, but that doesn't neccesarily mean they also know the audience for their online marketing. Fortunately, Google Analytics, a free tool anyone can use, has a report that makes it easy for writers to find out where their audience is hanging out so they can plan on getting in front of the right people. 

In fact, there is more than one report, but instead of getting bogged down by too many details, try just this one:  

Log into your Google Analytics account and scroll down the left-hand column under where it says “Search reports and help.” (There is a tab called “Audience” that tells more about the kind of people who come to your web page, but we want to know where these folks are coming from.)

Instead, click on the next choice, “Acquisition” and scroll in that new menu to “All Traffic.” The other reports in this section are also interesting, but for a really simple at-a-glance report, click on “Channels.”

The channels report shows where your website traffic is coming from. The largest number will be labeled “Organic Search” or “Direct” which include a number of ways people find you in search engines. But check out what the other channels are. If you use any social media, you should see that listed as a source as well as email or other referrals. 

Clicking on any of the listed channels will show you even more detail. For instance, “Social” may include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or other platforms and you’ll be able to see which platform sends the greatest number of visitors to your website. Those will be platforms on which you’ll want to focus. 

You may also have a channel called “Referral.” By clicking on that one you’ll see who is linking to you. It might be a newspaper, a reviewer or a blogger. Once you know who is talking about you already, you can look for similar resources for building new relationships. 

You may be surprised to find connections you never knew you had, ones that could be really useful with just a little encouragement. But you’ll never find them if you don’t look at your Analytics once in a while, so stop putting it off!