A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the most important content marketing metrics for coworking spaces. And I wanted to take a minute to walk you through how you can easily track one of the most direct metrics of them all: conversions.

This is much easier than it seems

One of the biggest barriers I hear from coworking space operators when it comes to measuring conversions is that you need to use Google Analytics to do it.And if you’ve ever looked at Google Analytics, you know it can seem daunting.But it doesn’t have to be.

A quick lay of the land

In Google Analytics, there are a number of goals you can set, such as:

• Destination goals: When a certain page is visited
• Duration goals: When someone spends a certain amount of time on your page or site
• Pages per session: When someone visits a certain amount of pages on your site

As a coworking operator, you’ll likely care most about Destination goals which can measure things like how many people have:

• Subscribed to your newsletter
• Booked a tour of your space
• Contacted you via your website

And what's most important is that you can even see exactly which page inspired your visitor to take action and track how they got there--giving you great insight into their journey through your site as well as what type of content is actually driving conversions.

How it works

Destination goals measure when a specific page is visited. So, you’re going to want to make sure that every form on your website redirects to a “thank-you” type of page. This way, you can measure how many people actually completed your form rather than just how many reached it. After all, if they got to your form and hit “abort,” it didn’t convert to a lead for you.The steps for setting up this type of redirect can vary depending on what type of form you’re using and what type of website you have. But a quick Google search of those specific criteria should yield a simple, step-by-step process.

How to set up Destination goals in under 3 minutes

Step 1: Identify which goals you want to track and make sure you have forms in place to do soStep 2: Ensure that your form redirects to a secondary page once it’s completed. Step 3: Sign-in to your Google Analytics accountStep 4: At the bottom left of your screen, click “Admin”Step 5: Under “View,” click “Goals”Step 6: Click “+NEW GOAL”Step 7: Click “Custom” and then “Continue”Step 8: Name the goal with descriptive language, like “Book a Tour” or “Newsletter Subscription”Step 9: Select “Destination” as the goal type, then click “Continue”Step 10: Specify the “Match Type” as “Equals To”Step 11: Enter the destination URL for your respective form. If this page is part of your website, just include the URL ending (i.e. /subscribe/thankyou). If it happens to be separate from your website, include the entire URL (i.e. https://www.exampleurl.com/example123)There are also a few other options you can use at this stage:

• Value: If you’re able to quantify a dollar value for each conversion, you can include it here.

• Funnel: If you’re tracking a unique form on each page, make sure to set up a funnel by setting the Funnel option to “On,” include a name for the form page, and include the URL ending for the page. For most coworking space operators using basic Destination Goals, your forms may be on multiple pages but will lead to the same database or calendar, so don’t worry about this.

Step 12: Click “Save.”At this point, your goal will be active. From here, you can track your conversions under the "Conversions" tab in your Google Analytics dashboard. In the "Overview" subsection, you can see exactly how many conversions you've had for each goal. And under "Reverse Goal Path," you can even see exactly which pages led your visitor to convert, from which page they landed on to where they ultimately took action.Understanding how many website visitors are converting, what they're interested in, and the path they followed to take action can ultimately quantify your content marketing efforts and help you identify what works well and where you could make modifications and improvements.If you’d like help setting, achieving, and measuring quantifiable goals for your content marketing, get in touch with me today.