Here's a little excerpt from Chapter 4 in my book….
Google Analytics is a free enterprise-like solution, with a lot of powerful, custom reports and easy to use interface in following visitor activity.
In trying to find ways to improve your blog following, and therefore increase traffic to your site, it is important to know what pages, posts, categories, or sidebar items your visitors click on the most, when are they visiting your site, and how long are they staying.
To sign up and learn more, go to www.google.com/analytics.
- Click Access Analytics to begin and to setup your account.
- Enter the info such as name, blog address, etc.
- Check the box that you have read and agree to the Terms of Service.
- Click Create Account.
- Then select "What you are tracking?" – for most a single domain.
- Then copy and paste the code provided before the </body> statement.
- In Blogger this is by going to Design, then Edit HTML, and then scroll to the bottom of the page to find the </body>
- For Typepad users, go here: http://help.sixapart.com/tp/us/google_analytics.html, since you don't have access to the </body> tag area.
- In Google Analytics when you click Save and Finish, you will be back directed to the Analytics Settings Overview Screen.
- You should wait a little while to allow the stats to populate, however, to view reports:
- Click on the View Report text link.
- You will see Site Usage categories like Visits and Page Views, as well as a pie chart of where your traffic is coming from, and more (see snapshot below).
NOTE: This is separate from a site counter or visitor counter that you may put in your blog's sidebar or blog footer area.
Happy blogging!
Heather Wright-Porto
www.BlogsByHeather.com