Google analytics is a free program that you can use to track the visitors of your website easily and for free. Although it’s free analytics does require you to insert a bit of javascript coding into your website, which may trip up a new website owner. Where to insert the piece of code depends on what platform you’re using to create your website or blog, but for this example, we’re assuming that you’re running the Thesis theme platform.
If you’re not using thesis theme for wordpress and are still in the stone age running a site from the 90′s, we highly recommend thesis theme, especially for beginner website owners who don’t need to learn coding to create a professional looking site.
Adding Google analytics to your site allows you to:
- See where your visitors are located around the world.
- Search terms that they used to find your site.
- Learn the most popular pages on your site.
- See what sites are referring traffic to yours.
Adding Google Analytics to Your Site in 4 Easy Steps.
Step 1. Go to Google Analytics
Simply visit www.google.com/analytics and log in using your existing account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one for free.
Step 2. Add a New Site
Click on the “add new profile” button on the right side of the screen and follow the on screen instructions to set up your site.
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Step 3. Copy Your Code
Google Analytics will present you with a paragraph of javascript coding. Highlight the code you see on the screen and copy it.
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Step 4. Paste in Your Thesis Theme
Now log into your wordpress dashboard (this should be located at http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin). Now that you’re logged into your wordpress dashboard click on the thesis theme button of the left column, and under your stats/tracking option, you can paste the code.
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You’ve now just installed a powerful traffic monitoring system to your computer!
It usually takes Google a little while to read your site to begin tracking your site visitor’s information, so give it a day or so before you check back. Analytics also tracks on a day-by-day basis so you’ll only be able to check new visitors each day.
Google Analytics is one of many free traffic monitoring tools available on the web. However, it’s definitely one of the most powerful, and useful options out there for tracking your site visitors.
