How to Get Started with Google Analytics

If Google Analytics has caught your interest and is something you believe will be useful to you, then you are in the right spot. The free Google Analytics tool will be your friend to provide you with results on important user traffic information relevant to your website or mobile app.

To be on your way with tracking your performance results is to create or log into your Google Account; if you already have a Gmail address then you are already a step ahead. Once you are signed into your Google Account you will have access to other free tools that make working with content easier, and there will be a button to access the Google Analytics tool. Or you can go to https://www.google.com/analytics/ directly, press the Sign In button, and select the Google Analytics option. Once inside the Google Analytics tool, you can sign up the website or mobile app you would like to monitor by entering basic information such as your Websites URL address or the App Name, and clicking Get Tracking ID. The Tracking ID is a unique code which creates communication between the site or the app with Google. To begin monitoring its performance after receiving the Tracking ID, you simply link it back to you website or mobile app to track the number of visits and the behavior of users on your platform.

It may take up to 24 hours for results to be populated in the Google Analytics tool, but if you followed the steps, your generated results should looks something like the above picture. If you are disappointed with how many user visits you receive, try sharing your site or mobile app on social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to advertise and generate traffic to reach your set goals.

Introduction to Google Analytics

Join me on my journey towards a Google Analytics Individual Qualification with the help of my resource CASA Marketing: Intro to Google Analytics and my professor Todd Kelsey.

 

People get scared when they hear the word analytics, because numbers can be intimidating to those who are not numbers people. However, learning to see how the performance of websites fit into a business is a crucial part of business intelligence, that ultimately is a return on investment for an organization. 

Every web search and click of each individual is a crucial part to an organizations website, because if you have a website and would like to know who is visiting and what they are looking at; then Google Analytics can be your friend like it will be mine. Some people look down upon free analytic tools because they have a mindset that you get what you pay for. Nevertheless, with free tools offered by Google Analytics, it is a rival that is increasing with power that exceeds some of the paid analytical tools.

The last important note to take away is that getting the users information through such tools as Google Analytics is in no way an individuals invasion of privacy, because it makes the data anonymous and generalized. It allows us to see important data like the number of new and returning users, or the amount spent on a website which has little to no importance to the user. Also, Google Analytics allows us to see who the target markets are around the world and what form of devices should be targeted for a favorable webpage format to be, to reduce the number of bounce rates from the website. Which as a result leads back to helping increase the organizations return on investment.