Winning With Marketing Analytics

Posted by Michelle Merrill 7/25/09

Installing the Tracking Code

The first thing you need to do is figure out how to access the HTML coding for your blog. Usually there’s a button you can click to show the HTML when you are editing the template. Copy and past the HTML code into a word document and save it (so you have a back-up of your blog in case you accidentally change something you didn’t mean to).

Next, get the tracking code for Google Analytics. This HTML code will be given to you as you are setting up your account. If you’ve already created an account and set up a profile for your blog, you can find the tracking code by following the steps listed in the next section.

Take the tracking code (the whole thing) and paste it just above the tag in your blog’s template HTML code. There should only be one tag. Use the search function (control F in most browsers) to find it. Make sure you save the template.

Finding the Tracking Code

If you have already set up an account with Google Analytics and added your site, you can find the existing tracking code. On your login page, you will see a list of all your accounts. Click on the name of the account you wish to find the tracking code for.

Google Analytics Account Overview

That will take you to the website profile. Click “Edit.”

Website Profile Screenshot

You will be taken to detailed information about the site profile. Click “Check Status.”

Check Status Screenshot

If the tracking code hasn’t yet been installed, you will see the HTML coding on this page. You just need to select it all (control A) and copy it (control C) so you can paste is above the tag as described above.

Confirming Code Installation

After you’ve pasted the code in the HTML for your blog, just follow the same steps as you would to find the tracking code (explained above). When you click “Check Status,” look at the “Tracking Status Information” table (the first table at the top of the page). If you correctly pasted the tracking code in the HTML template, you should see the words “Waiting for Data” next to the “Tracking Status.”

After 24 hours, your analytics will be collecting data and giving you insights. Let us know if this post was helpful to you or if you would like further information. We may do a post on how to effectively drive traffic to your blog based on analytics, if enough people are interested.

Thanks for reading!

*For further reading, check out this post: http://www.eblogtemplates.com/how-to-install-google-analytics-on-blogger/