Want to track traffic and metrics on your site? You’re far from alone, and it is one of the best decisions you can make for your business. One of the best ways to do so is to set up a Google Analytics account.
Here’s how to do that.
Step One—Sign Up for an Account.
If you already have a primary Google account that you already use for Google Calendar, Google + etc., then set up your Google Analytics with that account. If you don’t, then you’ll need to set up a brand spankin’ new one.
The account that you use should be one that you want to keep forever and one that only you can sign into. While you can provide access to your account to other people, never give them total control over it.
As a side point, don’t let someone you’re paying create the account for you without having administrative access assigned to your OWN account. If you two end up going different directions, it can be difficult to transfer ownership of the account and you could be out months, possibly years, worth of analytics data forcing you to start from scratch. When Microtek provides account setup services, it is our goal to ensure that the client not only has access to the account, but administrative ownership at the end of our project.
Step Two—Access Your Account.
Once you gain access to the Google Analytics section, you’ll see three steps to complete your Google Analytics set up. Next, you’ll click the sign-up button, which then prompts you to fill out information for your website. Google allows you to position your websites in different hierarchies. They allow you to have up to 50 website properties under a single account, but there are variable requirements for that so we’ll move forward assuming you have only one.
Step Three—Configure.
After you fill out your website information (URL, business name, etc.,) you can then choose where your analytics data is shared. This will determine if you decide to share information with Google and their affiliates for marketing purposes.
Finally, you’ll get your tracking code which matches your website. You must install this code on each page of your website. You may require the services of a web developer to accomplish this – but most content management tools provide either a configuration location, or have plug-ins available to accomplish this.
Install Google Analytics on your websites if you’re serious about tracking your traffic and page ranking. It is the single best tool to do so.