I’ve been actively involved in web development for more than ten years now, and that’s where I spend most of my day. Having had lots of success with getting our web sites found by Google and other search engines, I am regularly asked about to get better search results for web sites by both our customers and suppliers. I try to help when I can.
For years, I have used a number of log analysis programs to help me see how our many web sites were performing. A web log (we’re not talking about “blogs” here) is a record of all the traffic that comes to your web sites, how it gets there, and what the visitor does while he or she is at your site. It’s fascinating information.Until recently, being able to analyze web logs has required using expensive and complicated software and has called for someone with a pretty high skill level. Not anymore!
Google Analytics has simplified the process, made it intuitive for someone with just a little web site building skill and, best of all, it’s free.
It does, however, require that you have a little experience with managing web pages at the code level. If this is an area you are unfamiliar (or uncomfortable) with, Google Analytics really makes it worth your while to do a little work on the code level. The returns for your efforts are incredibly valuable.
Most web users may not realize that if you open a web page in your browser (I use Firefox) and look at the page source, you will see something like this (source code for hooptape.com):
<html> <head> <title>hoop tape for hula hoops</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; color: #FF0066; Th .style2 {font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; color: #FF0066; font-style: italic; }
This underlying code tells your web browser how to present the information you are seeking in a format that makes sense to you rather than the information that actually resides on a web server.
By adding a few simple lines of web code that Google Analytics will provide (a simple cut-and-paste) process, you can make use of a service that will allow you to see things like what key word was used to find your site, when someone visited, what source they used to find you, how long they stayed, etc. etc. Just knowing the keyword that led them to your site is incredibly powerful.
If you don’t manage your own web sites, ask your web master to add Google Analytics to some of your pages. Make sure they give you log in privileges.
Happy analyzing!
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