Blogalytics

Hello everybody,

Today we will be covering chapter two of our Intro to Google Analytics, called Blogalytics.

In this chapter Todd Kelsey advises readers to set up their own blog to test out analytics. If you are also following along in my Social Media Marketing blogs, you'll see that setting up a blog is also good for strengthening your social media skills. So overall, you should try to dabble some experience in blogging. A good place to start up a blog can be through Blogger.com and you can create your own blog like this attractive one you are reading right now. Just remember it's okay to start simple. You can play around and try out new things as you and your blog grow. Blogger is not the only place you can set up an effective blog. You can check out wordpress.com, that has a few great opportunities too. It was there that I had created my alcohol packing design blog, but I digress.

Next you need to start a Google Analytics Account, and it's free (Thanks Google!). Google pretty much holds your hand through the whole process of setting up the account so don't stress! It defaults to focusing around websites, but you can use Google Analytics and integrate it into apps also. To register your particular website, or in this instance the fantastic blog you just created over at Blogger, you add a new "property". Once you do this it will give you a tracking ID number. You copy and past this number into your blog. To find the correct location differs from Blogger and Wordpress. But on Blogger you go to your blog, click other, find the sections that says Google Analytics (makes sense right), and it will ask for your property ID in which you will place your tracking ID number. And presto! You're all set.

I know what you want to do. You wanna get on your Google Analytics and start optimizing your site! But first you have to wait 24 for it to kick in. And on top of that you have to keep in mind there won't really be much for you to analyze until at least a month. Analytics is all about studying past data in order to pick up on trends that can help you in the future, such as page views and new users. It can help you see what type of campaigns work and which don't. Google Analytics can't start until you paste that little tracking number into your site, so be sure to keep all this in mind. It takes time, but once you get rolling it can make all the difference.

Until next time,
Caitlin Campbell