This week I got a call from Peter, a website owner, asking if I could take a look at his Google Analytics setup. He had originally set up and configured his own Google Analytics account, and was very familiar with the reports. However he was confused by unusual data that had recently began to appear on his reports. Read the rest of this entry »
A new Econsultancy survey indicates that Google Analytics is making strong inroads in the analytics industry:
Faster web page with the new Google Analytics tracking code
The Google Analytics asynchronous tracking code is now the default snippet when setting up new accounts.
Google’s Conversion Room blog highlights a short case study on how online holiday cottage website Cottages4you used Google Analytics and Website Optimizer to achieve a 21% improvement in click-through for a checkout page. Read the rest of this entry »
The Google Analytics Blog recently announced that a browser-based opt-out for Google Analytics would be released in coming weeks. This plug-in would “allow users to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics”.
The announcement has obviously led to much comment about the effects of the opt-out. There are views at either extreme, but the balanced view appears to be that the opt-out would have a minimal effect on site data. eConsultancy suggest that the number of users who will know about and actually install the plug-in will be minimal.
Others have commented that people who want to opt-out can already do so by disabling JavaScript or running browser extensions to block scripts.
The notion of a web analytics opt-out facility is not unique to Google Analytics. Leading web analytics companies including Omniture and Webtrends already offer an opt-out facility.
Forrester suggest some measures which can be taken by businesses to determine how the opt-out might affect their websites. They suggest benchmarking traffic and known visitors before and after the release of the plug-in. They also recommend that website owners should be ready to accommodate the bias that the plug-in may incur on site metrics.
I will comment further as further details are released in the coming weeks.
As of 16 March 2010, Google Analytics has being displaying homepage views as “/” rather than “/index.html”, “/index.php” etc. I have reviewed a number of client accounts on different hosting platforms and the problem exists for them all.
This situation typically occurs in Google Analytics accounts where a default homepage (e.g. index.html) has not been specified for a profile. However in this instance the problem is occurring in long-established accounts. The problem is most likely on Google’s side. Hopefully it will be rectified shortly.
An example of a Google Analytics report showing two lines of data for the homepage - "/" and "index.php"
The following are the steps required to set up a Google Analytics account. Don’t worry – it’s actually easier to carry out the process than read about it!
All steps are relatively straightforward – Google does a good job on guiding you through the process. The only step that may cause difficulty is inserting the tracking code into the HTML of your web pages. This is one of the last steps in the process. Read the rest of this entry »
The importance of email marketing to Irish marketing professionals was highlighted recently by AMAS in their State of the Net – Winter 2009 bulletin. Their survey of members of the Marketing Institute of Ireland indicated that 65% of marketers surveyed use email marketing campaigns to get their message out and to drive action or uptake.
AMAS survey highlighting the importance of email marketing in Ireland
With such a reliance on the effectiveness of email marketing by Irish marketing professionals, it is crucial that campaigns are tracked successfully using Google Analytics so that return on investment can be successfully monitored. Read the rest of this entry »
Message appearing on Google Analytics website stating that due to maintenance the Analytics system will be be unavailable on March 2nd from approximately 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM (Pacific time). For GMT this equates to 3:00pm on March 2nd to 7:00am March 3rd.
Google states that data will continue to be collected and processed during this time.
To get the most from Google Analytics you need to be sure it is installed and functioning correctly. In 12 Useful Tools for Google Analytics Administration, Brian Clifton advises that adding Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) to your website should not be a “set it and forget it” measure. He stresses the importance of monitoring pages frequently to ensure that tracking code is in place and working correctly. Read the rest of this entry »