Back to Basics: Install your tracking code in under two minutes
March 2nd, 2009 | Published in Google Analytics
This post is the second post in our "Back to Basics" Series. Last week we covered accounts vs profiles.
Before you can start gathering data about your visitors to your website, the very first thing you have to do is to install the Google Analytics Tracking Code on your site. It sounds simple enough, but this can be a very big hurdle if you're not familiar with editing the pages on your website.
If this sounds like you, you may want to follow the instructions in this post or pass the information along to your webmaster. To prove how easy it can be, we've even timed ourselves to show how you can do this in under two minutes. (By the way, this assumes you've already created a Google Analytics account)
Step 2: Paste the code onto every page of your website (48 seconds)
Before you can start gathering data about your visitors to your website, the very first thing you have to do is to install the Google Analytics Tracking Code on your site. It sounds simple enough, but this can be a very big hurdle if you're not familiar with editing the pages on your website.
If this sounds like you, you may want to follow the instructions in this post or pass the information along to your webmaster. To prove how easy it can be, we've even timed ourselves to show how you can do this in under two minutes. (By the way, this assumes you've already created a Google Analytics account)
Step 1: Find your personalized Google Analytics Tracking Code (30 seconds)
Sign in to Google Analytics. Select a profile from the accounts Overview page. From that profile's Actions column, click Edit. At the top right of the "Main Website Profile Information" box, click Check Status (look at graphic below to find this link).
Step 2: Paste the code onto every page of your website (48 seconds)
I used my Blogger account to add the tracking code. All I had to do was add a "Configure HTML/JavaScript" gadget from the "Page Elements" customization section and paste the tracking code into the field.
If you use a different editor (such as Dreamweaver), just follow this rule: paste the Google Analytics code snippet into the bottom of your content, immediately before the "
If you use a different editor (such as Dreamweaver), just follow this rule: paste the Google Analytics code snippet into the bottom of your content, immediately before the "
