google-analytics-revamped I’ve noticed that only about half of the most popular CM blogs are using Google Analytics. I really don’t know why. Maybe they don’t know what it is, or how to set it up. So, I thought I’d post this blog to explain what Google Analytics is and how you can enjoy the benefits of this great and FREE service.

If you’re like me, you like to know that people are visiting your blog. It’s super easy to put hit counters on your site and many of the blogging software options come with simple reporting plug-ins that tell you how many hits you’ve gotten in a day, week or month. But know this, none compare to Google Analytics. Really, none do.

My friend who used to work for a software developer was primarily responsible for SEO (search engine optimization). Basically it was his job to drive people to their company web site. He used software that tracked the people who came to his web site, how they got there, what they did while they were there (including what they eventually purchased). He told me he paid $500 a month for this service. That was until Google came along and bought the service, re-branded it and made it free. Google Analytics works seamlessly with AdSense which is how Google makes all their money, so they wanted to put this powerful software into the hands of anyone who might want to sell advertising through Google.

Just go to Google Analytics and create an account (if you have a Gmail account, that username and password will work). Once you set up your Analytics account, they’ll give you a code that you can insert into every page on your web site that you want tracked. If you’re using wordpress or blogger, you can get plug-ins that do this for you. Then after about a day you can begin seeing all kinds of interesting things such as what country, state and city your viewers are from, how many actual visitors you have, how they got there, how long they stayed, how many pages they viewed, which pages are the most popular, what operating system, browser and Internet connection they have. All of that is just the tip of the iceberg. So, give it a try, it won’t take long to set it up and you’ll enjoy the results.

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