Tame Google Analytics with a real estate dashboard

Inman Next contributor Seth Price recently published an informative infographic on Google Analytics.

The infographic contained numerous facts and statistics. Did you know that 55 percent of the top 10,000 websites utilize Google Analytics?

Seth did an excellent job communicating the importance of measuring Web analytics.

“It’s game changing and it’s available to every business that is serious about marketing online,” Price wrote. “By including analytics in your marketing conversation you can start having actionable discussions about content and social media ROI as a real, measurable number, and not some mythical figure that no one knows.”

Google Analytics is a deep platform that can be a little intimidating if you’re just getting started. Dashboards are one of my favorite features that can help keep things simple.

Dashboards are a single page in Google Analytics, which is made up of multiple widgets that display a snapshot of a report. You can have up to 20 dashboards per account and each dashboard can accommodate up to 12 widgets.

I have created a dashboard that I quickly access everyday. The dashboard contains widgets that answer simple questions that are critical to any real estate pro’s business.

For instance, what are the most popular properties on my website? I then add the appropriate metrics and filters to answer the question.

Setting up a dashboard is super easy. As Google explains, “Each profile in your Google Analytics account displays a default dashboard that is prepopulated with a few widgets. You can add new widgets to a dashboard by clicking Add to Dashboard at the top of any report, or by clicking +Add Widget from the dashboard menu.

“You can also customize and remove any widget on a dashboard, including the default widgets that automatically display in your account. Click the gear icon in the top corner of each widget to see these customization options.”

Here are five must-have widgets to build your real estate dashboard:

Please note: Most Realtors utilize some form of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool to track and manage leads. So, I have not included a widget for managing goals in Google Analytics. Also, all of these widgets utilize a table to display the data set.

1: Most popular (viewed) properties:

Step 1: Select “Table” under Standard

Step 2: Display the following columns: Page > Pageviews > Unique Pageviews

Step 3: Show a table with: 10 Rows

Step 4: Sort: descending

Step 5: Filter this data: Only show > Page > Containing > */properties-link/

NOTE: *This entry will be determined by your website structure. For example, “yourdomain.com/properties-link/”

2: Most popular (viewed) agent bios:

Step 1: Select “Table” under Standard

Step 2: Display the following columns: Page > Pageviews > Unique Pageviews

Step 3: Show a table with: 10 Rows

Step 4: Sort: descending

Step 5: Filter this data: Only show > Page > Containing > */agent-roster-link/

NOTE: *This entry will be determined by your website structure. For example, “yourdomain.com/agent-roster-link/”

3: Syndication:

Step 1: Select “Table” under Standard

Step 2: Display the following columns: Source > Visits > Pageviews

Step 3: Show a table with: 10 Rows

Step 4: Sort: descending

Step 5: Filter this data: Only show > Source > Regular Expression > *zillow.com|trulia.com|etc.

NOTE: *Enter the website URL’s that you syndicate to separated by the pipe (vertical bar) character.

 4: Most popular (viewed) blog posts:

Step 1: Select “Table” under Standard

Step 2: Display the following columns: Page > Pageviews > Unique Pageviews

Step 3: Show a table with: 10 Rows

Step 4: Sort: descending

Step 5: Filter this data: Only show > Page > Containing > */blog/

NOTE: *This entry will be determined by your website structure. For example, “yourdomain.com/blog/”

 5: Most popular (viewed) content pages:

Step 1: Select “Table” under Standard

Step 2: Display the following columns: Page > Pageviews > Unique Pageviews

Step 3: Show a table with: 10 Rows

Step 4: Sort: descending

Step 5: Filter this data: Only show > Page > Regular Expression  > */communities/|/contact/|/about/|etc.

NOTE: *Enter the Web page names that you want to measure separated by the pipe (vertical bar) character.

Google analytics is a powerful platform that offers many benefits for real estate professionals. The application is free and empowers you to make sound business decisions.

Being data informed is critical in today’s marketing and technology space.

Tom Flanagan is the director of information technology at Residential Properties Ltd. in Providence, R.I. You can contact him at tflanagan@residentialproperties.com or @tflan on Twitter.