Once your new website is created, one of the first things you need to do is sign up for a Google Analytics accont. There are a lot of other ways to track the traffic to your site, but Google is the best. Plus, it kills two birds with one stone. It tracks your traffic, providing valuable information about how visitors reach your site and what they do once the get there and it also lets Google know you are there.
If you don’t already have one, sign up for a Google Account. Then go to https://www.google.com/analytics/provision/ to create your first Analytics account. The process of signing a Google Analytics account is pretty simple. Click the Sign Up button at the bottom of the screen and follow the steps provide.
On the next screen you will be asked to enter your Website URL, Account Name, Country and Time Zone.
On the next screen enter the last few lines of information and the agree to Google’s Terms of Service.
Click the Create New Account button and you are almost done. Google will now generate a bit of code just for you. You will need to copy this code and paste into your site so the Google Analytics can work their magic.
If you are using the StudioPress Genesis Theme Framework this is super easy.
Go to Genesis on your left hand main menu and click on Theme Settings. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see a box to enter code to appear directly before the </head>. This is where your Google Analytics code should go. Once you have pasted the code in their, make sure to hit save so your changes take effect.
If you are not using Genesis you will need to find </head> in your code. For a standard WordPress installation you will need to go to Appearance on the left hand main menu and then click on Editor.
From there click on header.php. Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the code </head>. Paste your Analytics code directly before that and click Update.
