Google Analytics is a useful tool for tracking different statistics about your site; such as:
- Number of page views
- Average time spent per webpage/on your site
- Bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who enter your site and “bounce” or leave rather than continue viewing other pages.
To set up Google Analytics on your WordPress (self hosted) blog, complete the following steps:
- Set up Google Analytics Account.
Go to www.google.com/analytics and sign in/create an account with your Google ID. Follow the step by step set up process (I will do a post on this another time).
By the end of this process you should have your Tracking ID code which will look something like UA-12345678-1 - Sign in to your WordPress Admin portal.
- Go to plugins > Add new
- Search for “analytics” or I recommend a plugin called “Google Analytics for WordPress”.
- Click “Install Now”
- Click “Activate”
- Go to “Google Analytics” under settings and tick the box which says “Manually enter your UA code”
- Enter your UA-12345678-1 code which you received from Google Analytics in step one in the text box that appears.
- Click the “Update Google Analytics Settings” button.
- You’re done!
It may take a few hours to start seeing some traffic on your site, but head over to your Google Analytics Dashboard to view your website’s statistics.