In continuing with the season of change theme that we had yesterday on this blog, I want to address the new Google Analytics. If confused by the season of change go to the Season of Social Networking Upheaval.
Otherwise, take a look at the video below for what I see that is really great about the newly formatted Google Analytics.
New Google Analytics Walkthrough
As mentioned in the video, this is not the first time we have discussed using Google Analytics. The last time we did a blog post about this we talked about incorporating it into your WordPress blog. To find out more information about that post go to Google Analytics WordPress Plugin.
When going through your analytics for your site you can learn a lot about where you get the traffic and how to make it a repeatable event. After enough study, you can start getting heaps of traffic from different sources.
For those who do not have a Google analytics account please set it up, so I do not have to hear you say I do not know how many visitors I had this month. Not acceptable. You now know how to use the new Google Analytics.
This was a real eye-opener for me, Andy.
I’m a really POOR analytics person. I barely know how to balance a checkbook, much less review who comes from where and when and how… and especially, why.
You made this look so simple I’m running over to my Google Analytics account (forgot how I got that connected to my blog, but I did) and give it another shot!
David,
Thanks!
Let me know if you need help connecting your GA to WordPress. It is easier than you would think.
Andy
Good reminder Andy – I used to be pretty good about checking my analytics but the last couple of months I’ve been focused on product creation so something had to go and that was it. I’ll be sure to get back in the stat loop over the holidays. Thanks!
I just spend about 2 minutes everyday checking it to see where I am at with my numbers and then go on with the rest of my day.
Hey Andy,
You can’t improve something that you don’t measure so some sort of measuring tool is a must for somebody who is serious about their marketing.
Great walk through!
Thanks for the share!
Akos
Akos,
Could not agree with you more!
Andy
I use Histats, I haven’t used Google analytics in a long time, I might have to check it out again. I am a stats nut I think I spend more time looking at stats than I do blogging 🙁
Aaron,
That is great that you check out your stats, but you might want to reverse the stats with the blogging.
Andy
Hey Andy.
Just adding some of my own small experience… I’ve been getting by on the built-in (Well… with Jetpack enabled anyway) WordPress stats for a while on my Chromebook review site… but the stats don’t seem to be accurate 100% of the time, or even 90% of the time. The “clicks” are always off compared to other sources, and there are days where the page views don’t make any sense compared to some of the other stats. Time to install Google analytics again, I guess.
To be fair (not to demean the makers of WP stats in any way), the built-in stats work decently enough for a personal blog I guess, but there’s not enough information for larger review or affiliate sites. I used Google Analytics years ago on a different site with good effect and it seems like it’s just gotten better. It does kind of make sense to trust Google when it comes to… you know… the “web.”
Anyway, thanks for the video on the new Google A. features!
Jack,
I have never really used the WordPress stats, except for some free WP sites. However, Google is generally pretty accurate with their analytics program. Definitely take another look at it.
Andy