Google Analytics™ Third Edition

Chapter 9. Advanced Dashboard Features

You've already seen how useful the dashboard in Google Analytics can be. What you may not have considered is that it's also useful for creating a quick snapshot of your web-site analytics for special purposes. For example, if you're the marketing manager for the web site being tracked in Google Analytics, you'll need to know different information from the webmaster or an executive.

Of course, the reports that you need (or think you need) as a marketing manager (for example) might be different from the reports that some other marketing managers might think they need. What it all comes down to is that you have quick access to the reports that tell you the most important metrics that you want or need to track. Those metrics are usually determined by your specific organizational requirements, which is why the metrics you need are probably going to be very different from the metrics another person needs.

There are some pretty good guidelines about what you should include on any dashboard, however, no matter what the purpose of that dashboard might be. In fact, there are three principles you should follow, no matter whom you're creating a dashboard for:

• Show metrics in context: This is the most important principle for creating any dashboard for any reason. A metric that's just a number tells you nothing about your web site. However, a metric that's in context can open your eyes to a whole new world of information. For example, if you learn that your ...