Setting up Google Analytics

Google Analytics Screen Shot

Now that you have your
Domain name (World’s Largest Registrar – GoDaddy.com)

Hosting (Easy Web Hosting $6.95)

and are starting to write some content; if you want to see how many people are visiting your site, you will need some sort of analytics program. 

Google has made this cheap and easy.  The price – free.  The amount of work to incorporate it – marginal.

They call this Google Analytics.  You will need to sign up with Google and get a Google Account to be able to sign up for the Analytics though.  This is also free. 

Go to www.Google.com

• Click “Sign In”
• You will see a spot where it says “Don’t have a Google Account?” Click the “Create an account now”
  • If you already have a Google Account, sign in with it

Now that you have signed up for a Google account, you can sign up for Analytics.

• You will see some links in the top right corner.  One is called “My Account”  click it
• You will see a line that says “Try something new”  if you see Google Analytics under that, click on the link.
  • If you don’t see it, click the “More” link
  • Find the Google Analytics in the list and click the link
• You will now walk through the wizard of how to get analytics for your site.
  • At the end of the wizard there will be a set of code.  There are several plug-ins for WordPress that allow you to input this code.
  • Each plug-in will use a different portion of the code, but they will give you the instructions on what part to use.
  • This is the code they are talking about.

After you have installed a plug-in, you can come back to your Google Analytics and get this code again by doing the following:

• Click on the “Edit” link once you are in the Google Analytics homepage and see the name of your site.
• Click on “Check Status” (top right corner of the frame)
• You will now see the code again.

Always use the “New Tracking Code”  – this is displayed by default so you shouldn’t really have any issue there.

Some of the Plug-Ins ask for the just the Web Property ID, this can be found on this same page at the top in a orangish-pink box.  It looks like this : UA-1234567-8

That is about all there is to the Google Analytics.  If you are creating your own site that is not a blog, then you will have to paste that entire code onto each page that you want tracked.  If you are using a blogging software, you will simply install a plug-in for Google Analytics.  WordPress has several of these available that can easily be found by searching the WordPress.org plug-ins directory. 

If you are installing the Google Analytics into a third party site like CafePress for instance, you will have to edit your shop’s code and insert the Google Analytics code into it.  There are several posts on the forums in CafePress for how to incorporate it, and where to stick it.  I have even responded to a couple over the years telling people where I placed the code and it is still working today.  As Google Analytics is one of the more popular programs, you should be able to find something that will suit your needs if the third party site you are on allows you to install tracking.

Need instructions on how to install a WordPress Plugin?  Click that link for a recent article on the subject.  Blogmaster General will post instructions at a later date for you as well.  Any questions about Google Analytics?

Ben
Blogmaster General
No Snooze button can keep us from our blogging.
Teaching people how to blog since yesterday.