Google Analytics is like a lot like Disneyland. It's huge, somewhat intimidating, and you get to decide exactly how much fun you want to have on each visit.

Today, we're going to just scratch the surface. It's as if we're running in to ride Splash Mountain and then going back to our hotel to loll by the pool.

With the SEO Ninja Hoop.la release we added search engine friendly URLs (which can also be customized). It's much easier now to see which community content is resonating with your community members.

How to Find Useful Community Data in Google Analytics

• In your Hoop.la control panel, click Statistics, and then click the link to go directly to your Google Analytics account.
• In the upper right corner, you can select a time frame for your analysis, but it defaults to one month. That can be a good starting point to check out your content performance.
• On the left side of the page, click Behavior, then Site Content. Click Content Drilldown, and see the magic.
• In this section of Google Analytics, look for /blog and click to see blog posts that got the most page views. Click /topic to see which forum topics are getting the most page views.

Use this data to write followup blog posts that will be of interest to your audience, or spark forum conversations that will get traction.

All of the other rides are still there if you're not tired (go ahead, check out the Matterhorn), but it's OK to start small for this visit.

How often do you check out your analytics? Are you applying data to make your community better and more useful for your members?