As a business owner, it is best to know how your website is benefiting your company. With Google Analytics, you will be able to tell how many people visit your site, their demographics, and how they found you. This is a brief tutorial on how to install Google Analytics in your WordPress site.
Step One: Sign Up with Google Analytics
In order to put Google Analytics on your site, you will need to have an account. You can sign-up by visiting http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html and sign in using your Gmail account. If you do not have a Gmail account, you will need to create one first. After you have signed in, you will be given the option to select website or mobile app, and you want to have the website selected.
Google will walk you through the process of entering all of the information in to set up your site. It is ideal to use the Universal Access account, but you can select the classic analytics if you do not care about the features still in beta. After the site is set up, you will be presented with the terms and service that you must agree to in order to receive your tracking code.
Step Two: Install Google Analytics
Once you have a Google Analytics account, you are ready to install Google Analytics in your WordPress site. The recommended method is with a plugin. There are many different plugins you can choose from, but it is best if you select a plugin that is simple so it will not weigh down your site. Visit the “add new” plugin option and search analytics to see a list of acceptable plugins to choose from.
If you do not want to install a plugin, you can directly paste the tracking code into your html code. You will want to look for the header.php section of your theme’s code and then paste the code right after the <body> tag. If you are an experienced coder, you can add the tracking code into the functions.php file by adding the PHP action code and pasting the information from Google Analytics.
Step Three: Wait and Collect
Collecting data from your site will take some time. Google may take up to 24 hours to display the data it has collected, and it may take a few weeks for you to start spotting trends. As you continue to allow Google to work its magic, you will begin to see what sites people use to find you and how long they stay on your site. Finally, over a few months, you will be able to tell what your ideal target audience is by seeing the age bracket, language spoken, gender, country of residence, and even what operating system they use.
Using Google Analytics is the best way to reach your target audience by seeing what their needs are. In addition, you will be able to determine if you need to tweak your company to reach a different demographic. The best part about Google Analytics is the fact it is easy to install and use.