Google Analytics: Intro and Install

Google Analytics is a great tool to track so many different statistics related to your Etsy shop, blog, or other site. Here is a screenshot of my Google Analytics homepage. You can see I use mine to watch my own personal (neglected) blog, my Etsy shop, the EtsyWMI blog, and my online porfolio. GA will show you how many visitors are coming to your site, what they're clicking on, how they find your site, where they're from, and so much more. It's easy to get overwhelmed with GA, however, so we'll try to keep it simple here.

To install and use Google Analytics, you'll need a Google account. During the New Account Signup you'll enter your website URL (whether it be your Etsy shop or Blogger blog, pick just one to start with), contact info, and agree to the typical user agreement. At the end there will be tracking info, but I'll show you another place to find that information.

To find your tracking information from the GA homepage, you'll start by clicking on the "Edit" button in line with the site name. From here, click on the "Check Status" button as seen below. At this point you won't have the check mark and "Receiving Data" but that's how you know GA is working correctly once you've installed your codes.

On this page you'll be able to see your Google Analytics Tracking ID which you'll need for Etsy and the html code which you'll need for tracking your Blogger blog. These codes will be different depending on which web site profile you're in. In my case, this is the code for my Etsy Shop so I would only use the top code. When I want the code for my blog, I will go under that profile, or set up a new profile, from the GA home page and use the html code.

Now hop over to Etsy in a new tab. Under "Your Etsy" click on "Web Analytics" in the left sidebar. This is where you'll enter your tracking ID that looks something like this, UA-#######-#. It's easiest to just copy and paste the code over. Don't forget to save.

You're done with the Etsy part! Remember, it'll take 24 hours for Google Analytics to collect and show some data. This is the same for any new site you start to track. Inserting the html code into Blogger is slightly more difficult. In Blogger, navigate to the "Design" tab of your blog and from there click on the "Edit HTML" tab. Use the search feature by pressing Ctrl + F to find "/head" in your template's html code. It is before this piece of coding that you'll paste the code from your Google Analytics page.

Again, remember to save. In another 24 hours you'll be able to check your Google Analytics for traffic to your Etsy shop and Blogger site. If you have any more questions about setting up Google Analytics, try this link to Etsy Help on the subject.

This is just the beginning in a series of posts related to Google Analytics. I'll be showing you how to find answers to specific questions like "What time of day do people most visit my shop?" and "Where does my shop traffic come from?" Do you have any questions you'd like answered with the help of Google Analytics?