First, how to set it up. Because Google Analytics is about figures, graphs and charts we thought the most obvious place to stick your access to it is in the Admin panel on the Statistics tab. Then just follow the steps bellow:

  1. Click on the Sign up for Google Analytics button, which will open a new panel and then use the Get your Google ID button
  2. You should now be on Google's Analytics page where you can sign in to your Google Account (or register for one)
  3. Sign up for Google Analytics - this will ask for your URL (website address), account name (something appropriate), and your time zone
  4. Then after providing your name you'll have to accept Google's terms and conditions
  5. You will then be presented with a code block which is your Google Analytics ID which you need to copy (to your clipboard)
  6. Almost there! Go back to the Admin panel on your site (should be another window or tab) and paste the code block into the spacious ID field
  7. Click OK to save and then just be patient while Google begins to collect data about your site and your visitors

Depending on how popular your website is your stats may take a few hours to start collecting data or it may take several days. And there is a lot of detail and data, so if you love statistics you'll definitely be in heaven. The key stats for most users will be:

  • Daily visitors (how many visitors and what percentage are new)
  • Visits & Page View Tracking ( the number of visits which is distinct from your visitors)
  • Content Drilldown (the popularity of each page on your site)

Google's help is pretty extensive so spend some time understanding the stats and you'll have the basis for some very useful information. They provide good graphing for the visually inclined, plus they offer good options for printing and saving to various formats on your computer.

Really, the hard part is reading my blog. Setting up takes less than 5 minutes. How long you spend pooring over the graphs and figures is really up to you. So, sign up, get your website on the couch and start analysing.