How to Install Google Analytics| Track Visits and Conversions| Analytics Not Working
Ah ha! I know who you are! I know how you found my blog, I know your general location and I know your IP address! Well, ok I do not know everything about you, but I have a good idea. No, it is not magic, I am using Analytics to track my thousands of visitors to my blog. Installing Analytics is a great way to measure the success and failures of your blog or website.
Analytics could be considered the “CSI” tool for the internet. It allows users to look at statistics of their website with a magnifying glass. Having a website to help promote or sell your business is mandatory. However, not tracking how users interact with your site is a sure way to miss some great optimization opportunities.
Just in case you were wondering, there are many free analytic tools available that will work just fine. The one tool I am going to focus on is Google Analytics. Google Analytics is by far the best free and readily available tracking software. All you need to do is create a Google account and follow the instructions. However, sometimes novice users are unable to figure out how to install Google Analytics. If I get enough responses, I will create a free How to Install Google Analytics video for you! The ball is in your court my analytical thinkers.
Google Analytics tracks many different types of data such as:
Visitors:
How did they find your site (website referral etc.)
What city they are located in
What ISP they have
What browser they use (Internet Explorer, Firexfox or Chrome, etc)
What operating system they run on (Windows-XP, Vista, 7 or Mac)
What type of internet connection they have (Broadband, DSL, Dialup and T1)
Their IP address (number that identifies computer on the internet)
How long they stayed on the site (Bounce Rate)
What pages they visited
Language spoken
What search engine they used
What keyword was typed in
Are they a return visitor
Did they fill out an form or make a transaction (Conversion)
In addition, Google Analytics can be used to create custom reports that include all this information in an easy to read format. The reports can be scheduled to be sent by email automatically!
Using Google Analytics is the best way to see how users interact with your site. It also is a great way to use the trial and error method to see what changes are working and what are not. For instance, you notice that 70% of users are coming from the Google search engine and only 30% are coming from Yahoo. That means that the site needs to be optimized for the Yahoo search engine. Even more commonly, you notice that all of the Internet Explorer users are leaving your site upon entry. That means that your site may generate some errors for IE users.
It is not recommended to ignore some of the highly detailed aspects of Google Analytics. But if you do not use it to its full potential, you should at least use it to track changes in traffic and conversions (sales).
If you manage pay per click campaigns such as Google Adwords, Analytics is even more important. To get the highest ROI, it tracks how and where your money is being spent. One nice trick that Google Analytics offers you is the report on what keywords are used to find your website. You can use those keywords in your pay per click campaign. I will often find great niche keywords that I can add to the keyword list. In addition, I can find some great negative keywords too. This can increase your CTR, quality score and ROI.
Installing Google Analytics is fairly easy. First, sign up for a Google Account and create an Analytics profile. Input your URL and you should see some HTML code. The code is what is needed to install Analytics on your site.
FTP into your website. Contact your webmaster if you are unsure of how to do this. Now, copy the Analytic code. Go to the homepage in your directory (usually index.html). Open that file. Next, you will see the HTML code. Google Analytics needs to be inserted right before the closing body tag. It will look like this: </body> Paste the code right before the closing body tag.
If installed correctly, go back to your Analytic profile and you should see a prompt saying “Analytics installed successfully, gathering data”. If you see that message, you did it correctly! One important thing to remember is if you want to track other pages of your site, the code will need to be installed on that page as well in the same manner.
You are one step closer to perfecting your site. Google Analytics is free and there is no obligation or contract to use it. The information gathered from Google Analytics is not shared with your competition. Google Analytics simply tracks how users interact with your site.
Do not confuse conversion codes with Analytic codes. A conversion code is only used to track conversions for pay per click campaigns. They are not the same.
Google Analytics is easy to use to gather basic information. However, to maximize Google Analytics, you need to become familiar with the interface and practice the different types of reports. Internet Marketing Managers are even becoming Google Analytics certified. If you want visitors to come back to your site, I suggest you track how they found your site in the first place.
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