Using Google Analytics, you will be able to keep track of online traffic information. This can be especially useful if you are trying to create more traffic for your website. Google Analytics provides one of the most powerful tools for anyone, from small businesses to large corporations, who want to have a better understanding of who is visiting their site. This program gives you the tools that are necessary to observe marketing trends and see what visitors are doing on your site.
First, you will need to set up an account with Google Analytics. They will provide you with a personalized identifier for your website. This identification will allow you access to information about your account. In addition, you will need to provide a valid email address and the country that your website is based in. You will also be asked to enter the URL of the site that you want to have analyzed. If you have multiple websites, you should take the appropriate steps in labeling each one with a title. This will make analyzing sites much easier. Next, you will be asked to enter your personal contact information and time zone. You will need to read the Google Analytics terms of service and click on the ‘Yes’ box. You will be asked to create a new account and Google will provide you with a block of coding. This is very important and you should copy this down to later be inserted into your site.
You are now ready to insert the Google Analytics Java script into your website. You will need to insert the code that was provided into every page that you want tracked. To insert the code, you will need to enter the HTML portion of your web page. In a program like WordPress, you will need to insert the code into your footer.php file. On the bottom of the page, you will need to find the tag. It will be just about the page. You will need to paste the Google Analytics code above the tag. If there is a code that says urchinTracker(), utmLinker(), utmSetTrans(), or utmLinkPost(), you will need to post the Java script above these. On websites that have templates, the code will need to be inserted on these pages as well. Once inserted, you will be able to begin tracking site information.
You will be able to get a overview of your website’s performance within 24 hours of releasing the scripts. Sign into Google Analytics and head over to the ‘View Reports’ link. You will be able to receive information on your traffic for the past month. Another section titled ‘Visits’ will give you information on page views, visitor’s average time on your site, new visits, and bounce rates. Another important section is ‘Site Usage’. Here, you will be able to find information on site traffic statistics and how long visitors are on your site. If you click on the ‘Entrance Sources’ section, you will be able to find information on where traffic is entering from.
A program such as Google Analytics may be exactly what you need if you are looking to improve your site’s performance. Using this program will ensure that you get up-to-the-minute stats on your site and have the ability to easily analyze them.
