Google Analytics Tracking Preparation

Installation of Tracking Code Can be Tricky

Tracking your Website Effectively with Google Analytics

For setting up tracking your website effectively with Google Analytics  there is a strategy involved. That strategy starts with taking a close look at the implications before you begin code integration. Sometimes your tracking strategy cannot be executed the way you have planned due to special attention site characteristics.

If you are not aware of certain limits in tracking your website you may find yourself wasting time planning the impossible. It is better to arm yourself with the facts on what you can and cannot track with Google Analytics. Also, understand that no analytics package will perfectly align data with your back end sales when you implement ecommerce tracking. An acceptable discrepancy rate is 3-5%. Later in this tutorial I will explain why. Trending and behavioral patterns is what I use Google Analytics for.

Website Discovery

Why do you have a website?

This is a great place to start when planning your Google Analytics code integration. A strategic, knowledgeable approach will help you understand and track important metrics as they apply to your website objectives. One of the keys to that is identifying what type of website you have before you place any code.

What Type of Website do You Have?

There are only a few different types of websites really…

• Ecommerce
• Brand lift
• Lead Generation
• Blog, Social Platform

Additionally there are basic coding languages that are supported by Google Analytics such as html, .htm, .shtml or script-generated pages like.cgi, .asp, .cfm, etc. Plain-text pages can also be tracked along with PDF files (virtual pageviews) and event interactions (event tracking).

Do You Require Manual Tagging?

You can also use manual tags to track email campaigns, advertising, phone calls plus many other elements. It is best that we size it all up now in terms of what we want to track and tag.

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