How to: Add Google Analytics to Your Blog

This tutorial will cover how to add Google Analytics to your blog. Google Analytics is a powerful tracking tool which provides a wealth of information about traffic to your website, blog, or shop. Personally I use it on all of my blogs, my website, and even my etsy shops. It's a huge asset in letting me know what traffic is coming to my sites, where they're from, and what they do on my sites. The information collected is invaluable and with small businesses can even be used to help receive grants or funding.

For today, we'll go through how to add this useful tool to your own blog. So let's begin...

I chose to go to Google Analytics by clicking the link on the Feedburner page but I'm sure you could find it by searching for it in Google...
This takes us to the main sign up page for Google Analytics where we'll click the "Sign Up" button...
On the next page we will fill in our blog address, exactly as it appears on the main page of our blog...
Next we'll fill in the name we wish to use for the account...
And then you'll change the country if necessary and the time zone to your location...
Then click the "Continue" button...

On the next page you'll fill in your name and the country you live in again, then click "Continue"...
On the next page is the user agreement...
Special Note:} I know these are a dime-a-dozen on the internet but I do like to look them over, especially if it's a company I'm not that familiar with.

We'll click the check box and then click "Create New Account"...
On the next page you'll see a gray second with alot of code in it...

You will be copying this code and pasting it into a gadget on your blog so the first thing you'll need to do is highlight the code by dragging your mouse over it and then right clicking on the code and selecting "Copy"...

Now, return to your blog and click on "Customize" on the top right side....

Navigate to the "Design" (used to be "Layout") tab and click "Add a Gadget"...
In the pop-up window select "HTML/JavaScript" by either clicking on the title or the blue plus symbol...
In the next screen paste the code you copied into the blank area, then click "Save"...


You will now see the new "HTML/Javascript" gadget box...

I like to keep this box at the bottom of my sidebar to ensure I don't accidentally tamper with it so we'll move the box down by clicking and dragging it...
Be sure to click the orange "Save" button after moving your sidebar gadgets around as this will save the new positions. You can verify the changes have been saved when you see the orange/yellow confirmation message in the middle of the screen...
Now you're ready to return to Google Analytics. Return to the page you were on and click "Save and Finish"...
On the next page we'll see the list layout of the websites or blogs you have under this Google Analytics account...
Notice the small warning symbol next to view report. This is present because Google Analytics hasn't confirmed the code has been placed on your blog yet. There are some changes and additions we can make while we wait for your blog to be confirmed so let's take care of those...

The next thing we'll do is click on the blue "Edit"....

This takes up to a screen which shows a more detailed view of your information...
We'll begin by working in the top section where we can change some of the information so click on "Edit"...
A drop down section will open where we can fill in missing information...
Fill in as much of the information as you can, the "Default page" in this case will be the same as your blog address...
The next section covers E-commerce information and Site Search. If you were accepting PayPal payments on your blog then you would want to set up the E-commerce section so you could track that portion of your blog but in this example we will not be making any changes to these two sections...

Now click the "Save Changes" button...

Next we will set up a Filter. This filter will come in handy when tracking visitors to your blog. We will be inserting your IP address so that Google Analytics knows to ignore your computer each time you visit your blog. That way you'll have a realistic view of the visitors you recieve.

Special Note:} If you use more than one computer to visit your blog then you will need to input the IP address for each computer since in most cases each computer has it's own IP address. The process is simple though and once you learn how to do one you will be able to do it again quite easily.

To begin we will click on "Add Filter"...

On the next screen you'll click on the drop down window next to "traffic from the domains"...

Then select "traffic from the IP addresses"...

Next you'll see an area open up with several boxes. This is where we will be typing in your IP address...

We will now be visiting a website to find out your computer's IP address. Click on this link to visit the website: http://whatismyipaddress.com/

Upon entering the site you will see your personal IP information and your location. The number is show in two locations. Simply write down this number exactly as it appears...

Now return to Google Analytics, give this filter a name like home computer or June's home computer and then type in the number of our IP address...
Then click "Save Change"...
You will now see the filter listed in on the next page. Each time you add another filter this will be added to the existing list...
To return to the main page listing click on "Analytic Settings" at the top left...

Upon returning to the main page you should now have a green check next to view report...

You can click "View report" to get a feel for your new report however the data is always a day behind so there won't be any information to view until the following day. You statistical data will continue to increase as time goes on because there will be more information collected from your blog. You can return to this page as often as you like to view statistical information on your blog and other sites can be added at anytime.

Enjoy!

UPDATE:} It may take up to 24 hours for Google Analytics to confirm the code has been placed on your blog so if you don't see the green check don't panic. Simply revisit Google Analytics the following day. If the green check still isn't present then you will need to reinstall the code on your blog again.

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