Google Analytics

I try to take care of every detail for my clients so when they take control of their WordPress website it’s fully functioning. Unfortunately Google has recently put security measures in place making it difficult for me to log into my client’s Google account. Without access to their account I’m not able to install Google Analytics’ tracking code in their WordPress site.

Here are the very same instructions I created for my client so she can set up a new account, and install her Google Analytics’ tracking code. You can use them, too, if you ever need to install Google Analytics on your WordPress website.

NOTE: If you’re installing Google Analytics for the first time, you’ll need a Google account to be able to log into Google Analytics. If you have Gmail, AdWords, and/or Google+ you already have a Google Account, but that does not mean you automatically have a Google Analytics account. You still need to sign up for Analytics.

Sign In and Get Your Google Analytics Tracking Code for Your WordPress Website

For a brand new website that has a new URL you’ll need a new tracking code.

1. Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/
2. Sign into your Google Analytics account
3. Click Access Google Analytics
4. Click Admin (at the very top — it’s in blue type)
5. If you’re adding another website to your Analytics, click the window under ACCOUNT that has your account name on it, to open up the drop down menu
6. Click Create new account
7. Choose Track a Website
8. Fill in the rest of the information
9. Click Get Tracking ID (see below)
10. Select and copy every bit of the tracking ID code including <script> and </script>

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Where Your Tacking Code is Located

• Go to Admin
• Under PROPERTY —> click on Tracking Info to open up the window
• Click Tracking Code

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Where to Paste Your Tracking Code

WordPress uses a common header and footer file for each of its pages so that means you’ll only need to install your tracking code in one place for Google Analytics to track all the pages on your site.

If you have the Genesis Framework and a StudioPress theme like me and my client, follow these instructions to install your tracking code:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard —> Genesis —> Themes
2. Scroll down to Header and Footer Scripts and paste your text in the wp_head() box
3. Save your changes

If you don’t have Genesis you’ll have to get into the really scary part of your site.

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard —> Appearance —> Editor
2. On the right hand side of your page look for the words Header (header.php) and click on it
3. Paste your Google Analytics tracking code just before the </head> tag (see below)
4. Click Update File

Please let me know if this information was helpful.

Do you know if anyone really cares about what you have to sell? If you’re not testing and tracking your web site success you might was well be working blindfolded.

Google Analytics is free, but your time is valuable, so if you don’t yet have Google Analytics installed on your WordPress site…

…Begin It Now

 Do these 2 things first:

1. Sign up for Google Analytics
2. Put your Google Analytics <script> into the header or footer script of your WordPress web site

If you’re concerned about messing up or loosing important data, set up 2 views: One to be your test area, the other to stay untouched. Your first “view” was set up automatically when your signed up for Google Analytics. Here’s how to setup a second view:

Sign Into Your Google Analytics Account Then…

1. Select Admin
2. Under View
3. Open All Web Site Data
4. Click Create new view

 

In the New Reporting View…

1. Type in a name like “z-test” or “z-Playground” (tip from Lynda.com Google Analytics Essential Training with Corey Koberg: add a “z” before your label so it appears last in your your list)
2. Change the Reporting Time Zone to reflect your time zone
3. Click Create View

 

Time To Drill Down

Google will begin collecting data the minute you sign up, but it will take a month to see any meaningful activity.

I, for one, will take the advise of Jessica Commins‘ VP of Marketing at Copyblogger, and spend 15 minutes, once a week looking at my data, and one hour, once a month comparing totals to my weekly baseline.

Go ahead — there’s no time like the present to get started. Log into your Google Analytics Account: http://www.google.com/analytics/ and click on Reporting (at the very top). Go to the sidebar and choose —> Audience —> Behavior —> New vs. Returning

Now you’ll be able to see:

1. How many people came to your site last month
2. How many are returning
3. How many are new
4. How long they’re spending on your pages NOTE: Anything over 1 minute is good because it means they’re reading the page!

I’m not knocking it out of the park in terms of visitors, but I also have no way of knowing if this past month was favorable or poor, because I have nothing to compare it with right now. The good news is I have nearly the same number of new and returning visitors, and my returning visitors are staying longer on my site. Studies show that most new visitors will not buy the first time they arrive on your site.

How Are Your Visitors Finding You Online?

Facebook is not my favorite place to hang, which is why it was such a surprise to learn most of my traffic is coming from my Facebook page. Fortunately Google organic searches are close behind.

To find out how visitors are finding you, go to Acquisition —> All Traffic.

What’s Your Top Content?

My visitors are most interested in my blog posts. The About and Contact pages are also in my top ten.

To see what pages your prospects are visiting, check out your page views. You’ll find that under Behavior —> Site Content —> All Pages.

 

What Do Your Visitors Care About?

Go to Behavior —> Site Content —> Content Drilldown.

My visitors most care about WordPress, design, and SEO — in that order. It now makes sense why my blog posts are ranking higher than my main webpages because I write about these topics on my blog. But visitors are also interested in my packages. Knowing this, I will spend more time and effort selling my services, and developing other packages that may have greater appeal to visitors who care about WordPress, design and SEO.

What’s Next?

I’d like to build my list. Setting up goals in Google Analytics will help me figure out how people are getting to my email list signup page, and what they’re doing once they get there.

Would you like to learn about setting goals, too? Stay tuned.

My clients ask the best questions. Harriet Linder has a new site. I love working with people like Harriet because she’s not only passionate about helping her client’s feel better and improve their lives, she’s inquisitive and wants to grow her business.

The other day Harriet asked me how to use Google Analytics. Like most people, I, too, installed Google Analytics on my WordPress site when it was brand spank’n new. To learn how to use it I attended webinars, bought a few books, tootled around on the back end of my site, got busy with other things in my business and then …bam! Two years had passed since I paid any attention to my analytics. Guess what my answer was to Harriet’s question?  “Ah…I’ll have to get back to you. I forgot how to use it.”

This much I know, Google Analytics is important, but it only goes so far and the results can be misleading. Like all analytics, it’s about asking the right questions to get the right answers.

What Google Analytics measures:

• Who’s coming to your website?
• Where they’re coming from?
• What they are doing on your site?
• What content they’re consuming?
• On what page they leave your website.

The good news is…

Google Analytics is still free. Here’s what you need to do to get started:

1. Sign up for Google Analytics
   —You don’t have to have a Gmail account, but if you do, use that one, otherwise,
   —when prompted, select “I prefer to use my current email address”
2. Put in your Google Analytics <script> code into the footer Script box of your WordPress website
   —TIP: You can put your <script> code into either the header or footer script box. Putting it in your footer will make your site load faster: learned this from Copyblogger‘s VP of Operations, Jessica Commins.
3. Sign up for Google Web Master tools

Lesson learned the hard way

You can’t be like me and forget about using Google Analytics. If you do, you’ll never know if your content and/or product is of interest to anyone. Oops! Worse yet, your business may die on the vine, or never have a fighting chance to grow at all.

Do you want to learn with me?

I’m going to go back to square one to review everything, and then use this amazing tool. So check back — I’ll keep you posted, right here on my blog. If you want to follow along I’ll be sharing:

• tips from numerous webinars — like the one about the footer scripts,
• pearls of wisdom from the books mentioned above,
• notes from my Google Analytics training on Lynda.com (love this site),
• and even showing you how I’m using Google Analytics in my own business

Welcome aboard!