Using google analytics to track your visitors:

Google analytics is a free browser based (can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection) statistics application. We ask all of our DIY, construction, building and Self Build advertisers to add this tracking system to their computer.

Quite simply it allows the owner of the web site to see where his users (potential customers) are coming from. This is the most basic of marketing techniques but an absolutely vital part of any enterprise. If you spend any time or money advertising your business on the web it is important to see which areas work and which don't. Why spend money, or time, in areas of the web which do not bring you customers.

THis applies to Google adwords also. If you are paying for adwords you need to be checking every day to see which ones are working and which ones are not. The oldest of sayings in marketing is;

If you can measure it, you can manage it.

This is particularly true with advertising. You need to be able to measure the response from every advert or adword you place. If you can measure the results, not only can you measure the popularity, but you can measure the profit.

To Google Analytics on your website, follow the instructions below.

Setting up the Google Analytics Account

This can be done by setting up an account with Google Analytics: If you click on the following URL: http://www.google.com/analytics/ and then click on the "Sign Up Now" link and in the following window click on the "Sign Up Now" link again you will then be taken to a create an account page. If you then fill in all of the required details and then click on the "I accept. Create my account" button your account will then be created.

I think that you may then be asked to verify the account be email. If so an email will be sent to your registered mail address and then you will be asked to click on a link to validate that the mail address is valid and working.

Once this has been done you will then be able to log in to your account: https://www.google.com/analytics/reporting/Once logged in click on the "Sign Up" button. In the following window complete the following fields with the required information, your website URL (e.g. http://www.delphiniumflowers.co.uk/ ). Once done click on the continue button and then complete the fields in the following window. In the next window tick the "Yes" tick box for the T&C's and then click on the "Create New Account" button.

The next job involves a little bit of coding. In order for Google to be able to track stats information generated by your site. If you can do this great, but you may want to get your web master/web team to do this for you.
What you have to do is copy the code from within the box and then paste it before the closing "</body>" tag on every page of your website, or at least every page that you would like Google to track for you.

Code

Once this has been done click on continue and you will be taken to your profiles page. From here click on the "View Report" link and you will be taken to your reports page. You will not be able to see any data as yet as it will take 12 hours or so to update, sometimes 24 hours at the beginning.

Once data starts to appear you will have to navigate around your account to get used to each area of Analytics.

In order to track click throughs from other sites e.g. DIY Doc, click on the "Traffic Sources" link towards the top left of the page and then you will be taken to the Traffic Sources area. Within here click on the "Referring Sites" link and this will list all of the sites that have referred traffic to your site.

Check out further marketing help for builders and tradespeople at: