Enter Google Analytics, the perfect tool for actual results without any economic output.  Introduced in 2005, this free tool has become a sort of gold standard for free Web resources.  It’s not one of those sites that’s an inch deep and a mile wide…it’s about a mile deep and a mile wide in terms of usefulness and potential, if you know how to use it.

Here’s the scoop:  after reading this series, you WILL know how…whether you’re a stalker who wants to see if your nemesis has been accessing you online, a technophobe who’s scared of wrangling a mouse, or a small business owner.

Let’s start with the basics (come back tomorrow if you already have your account set up)

Your to-do list for Day 1:

• If you don’t already have one, get a Google Account.  You can do that here.  Suggestion:  create a username/password that isn’t the one you use for every account.  Hopefully you’ll be growing and adding help to your stable of resources soon, right?
• Set the dang thing up.  You’ll need access to your website structure for this, so make sure you have a talented Web person or some knowledge of your own.  Go to the Analytics start page and hit “sign up.”  Add the Web address of the site you’d like to track, give it an easy-to-use name, and select the proper time zone.  Once you agree to the terms of service, you’ll see a page for Tracking Code.  Follow the instructions to install this code to every page of your site before the </body> tag.  (Migrating from legacy to the new code?  Here’s a resource for you [.pdf])
• Be patient.  It can take up to 24 hours for your tracking code to start working.

In our next edition, we’ll learn about how to use the dashboard before getting into the many fun goodies GA has to offer.

Photo courtesy of laverrue

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