Google Analytics Set Up Instructions

Instruction for Setting Up Google Analytics Account

1. Go to the Google Analytics Website – Click Here.
2. If you do not already have a Google account, click “Sign Up Now” (located on the left of the sign-in box) to create your personalized Google account.
3. If you already have a Google account, sign in with your email address and password.
4. Click the Sign Up button to continue.
5. In the next window, give your site an account name that is easy to remember. This is especially important if will be tracking multiple sites.
6. Type in the URL of the site you want to have analyzed.
7. Select the country your site is based in, or the country it is serving.  Also, select the appropriate time zone of the country your site is based in.  However, if your users are in a different time zone then where your site is based in, you can choose to use that time zone as well.  For example, if your site is based in China, but all your users are in the U.S., you can either select a U.S. time zone to figure out what time of the day the U.S. users most choose to visit your website, or you can set the time to your city’s time zone to see when you need the most employees on staff.
8. In the next window, read the Google Analytics terms of service. If you agree with them, click the Yes box.
9. Click Create New Account.
10. On the next page, select what type of domain you intend on tracking: A single domain, One domain with multiple subdomains or Multiple top-level domains.
11. Google will provide you with a block of code. Copy this in order to insert it into your website.

Insert Google Analytics Code Into Your Site

1. Go into the HTML of your page.  If you are using WordPress, open the footer.php file to place the code.  To open the footer.php file you go to the Appearance tab in WordPress and select Editor.  To the right of that section there is a list of templates.  Select the Footer template.
2. Find the </body> tag at the bottom of the page, just above the </html> page.
3. Find the code urchinTracker(), utmLinker(), utmSetTrans(), or utmLinkPost() above the </body> tag and paste the Google Analytics code above one of those codes.  If none of those are listed, paste the Google Analytics code above the </body> tag.
4. If you have templates, insert the code into them as well.
5. Once the pages have been uploaded back to your site, you can start tracking information.

Source: Mahalo

Five Google Analytics Reports that are Extremely Useful

1. Visitors Overview – This report tells you how much traffic you have, how many page views, the average length of visit and your bounce rate.  You can also find out how much new traffic you are getting, what size monitors your visitors have, whether they use broadband or dial-up, and much more.
2. Traffic Sources Overview – This report tells you where your visitors came from (search engines, other Web sites, typing your URL into their address bar).  It breaks down that information and tells you your best traffic sources.  It can also show you where you need to put more resources into developing more traffic to your website.
3. Referring Sites (under Traffic Sources) – This report tells you the sites visitors were at before they arrived at your site, not including search engines.
4. Keywords – This report tells you what words visitors typed in at Google and other search engines to find your site.  It not only tells you the words, but it also gives you detailed information on how valuable each keyword is in terms of how long visitors spend at your site, how many pages they view, and whether they “convert” by filling out a contact form, signing up for an email newsletter or buying something from your store.
5. Top Content – This report tells you what pages get the most traffic on your site.  It breaks it down for you so you can better see how people are using your site.

Source: Flyte