Phase 9~1 hourEasy
9.2 Monthly Reporting
Step-by-Step
Create your monthly dashboard spreadsheet
Create a Google Sheet with monthly columns and these metrics:
- Traffic: Total sessions, organic sessions, paid sessions, social sessions (from GA4)
- SEO: GSC impressions, GSC clicks, average position, top 5 keywords (from Search Console)
- Conversions: Form submissions, phone calls, bookings, lead magnet downloads (from GA4 + CRM)
- Ad performance: Total ad spend, cost per click, cost per lead, ROAS (from Google Ads + Meta)
- Email: List size, open rate, click rate, unsubscribes (from your email platform)
- Revenue: New customers from digital, revenue from digital leads, total revenue
- Blended CPA: Total marketing spend / new customers
Set up a monthly reporting schedule
Block 30 minutes on the 1st of each month (or the first business day):
- Pull numbers from GA4, GSC, Google Ads, Meta, and your email platform
- Enter them in your spreadsheet
- Compare to the previous month and the same month last year (after you have 12 months of data)
- Highlight anything that moved more than 20% up or down -- investigate why
Interpret the numbers
Numbers without interpretation are just numbers. Ask these questions:
- Traffic up but conversions flat? You're attracting the wrong traffic or your landing pages need work.
- Traffic flat but conversions up? Your conversion optimisation is working. Do more of whatever changed.
- Ad CPA increasing month over month? Ad fatigue, increased competition, or audience exhaustion. Refresh creative and keywords.
- Organic traffic growing? Your SEO is working. Double down on content.
- Email open rates dropping? Your content isn't resonating. Test different subject lines or reduce frequency.
Create 3 action items each month
Every monthly review should produce exactly 3 action items for the next month:
- One thing to start (e.g., "start a retargeting campaign")
- One thing to stop (e.g., "stop spending on keyword X -- zero conversions after 60 days")
- One thing to optimise (e.g., "rewrite the landing page headline -- CTR is below benchmark")
- Write these at the bottom of your monthly spreadsheet column. Review last month's actions before setting new ones.
Keep It Simple
A simple spreadsheet updated monthly beats a sophisticated dashboard nobody looks at. If the 30-minute monthly review feels too much, you're tracking too many metrics. Cut back to the 5 that directly measure revenue: traffic, conversions, CPA, revenue, and ROAS.
You're Done When
- Monthly dashboard spreadsheet created with all key metrics
- First month's baseline data recorded
- Recurring 30-minute calendar event set for the 1st of each month
- 3 action items documented for the current month
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