This is a guest post by Fabiola Fleuranvil of Blueprint Creative Group.

Let's face it. There's so much for a Solo PR pro to be concerned about- business development, marketing, client management, networking, social media, and the list goes on. And now, you can add Google Analytics to the list.

Many solo consultants get by with the basics of having some type of web presence, and I suspect the main reason for doing so is usually because it’s standard practice and also helps to establish the consultant’s credibility. However, many of these same websites are not well optimized nor do they have a metrics system to monitor the site’s effectiveness and positioning.

So if you’re going to have a website to showcase your capabilities and portfolio, you might as well make it work for you. After all, it is much easier to market and position your practice when you know what works and what doesn’t, and Google Analytics (GA) solves that problem.

There are 3 top reasons why I absolutely love Google Analytics and why every solo consultant should integrate it into their website.

1)      I know exactly where my traffic is coming from. You’re on Facebook and Twitter. You’re blogging, writing articles, and distributing news releases. So why wouldn’t you want to know which of these activities is most effective at driving traffic to your website? With GA, you know exactly what site and search engine referred a visitor and what keywords were used.

2)      I can tell which of my blog postings are most popular. Another great thing about GA is its content overview. At any given time, you can track which pages on your website or blog post is most popular. This feature is particularly useful for me because my company’s website, www.BlueprintCreativeGroup.com, is built using a WordPress blogging platform, which means that both my website and company blog are combined. Using the Content Overview feature allows me to track my popular blog postings so that I can retweet the links, keep them posted on the homepage longer, and even write additional postings as a series to the first post.

3)      I know exactly what people are searching for. Since the goal of my company’s website is to provide useful content, it is important for me to know what specific topics I should focus on. For example, when I analyze my GA reports, I notice quite a number of search phrases related to non-profit marketing and branding that have landed visitors to my website. So now, I can tailor my blog postings on these search phrases so that I’m giving visitors exactly what they’re looking for. Of course, this is an excellent client attraction strategy.

As a PR practitioner, you know all to well the importance and value in metrics and monitoring. The same way you value ROI in your PR campaigns, you should also value ROI in your own web marketing strategy. Google Analytics is probably the best tool for doing so, and I have yet to find a comparable free analytics tool that does the same job or better.

For a step-by-step guide to adding Google Analytics to your website, see the company’s “Getting to Know Google Analytics.”

Fabiola Fleuranvil is Principal & CEO of Blueprint Creative Group, a boutique marketing strategy and public relations firm. The firm lives by a 360° approach to integrated marketing communications (IMC) and strategic messaging to engage consumers and intensify our client’s competitive brand positioning using a multi-layered marketing strategy. At the core of Blueprint Creative Group is the mantra that “Branding.Should.Be.Consistent.”