Google Analytics Goals

[pamb10]

Does anyone have goals set up in Google or know how to use them? I would like to set up goals when a buy now button is pressed.

[Dawnaurora]

That is a great idea. I never knew google could do this, but I used a different analytics program.

[TheWealthSquad]

The goals function in Analytics lets you specify an URL that you want people to go to. The goal is the page you want them to land on. It won't actually record the buy button being clicked but rather where they end up.

You select URL destination as your goal type. Use the little question marks to get more information on header match.

The easiest way is to set one up and see how it works. Just remember that GA only works with browsers that have java script enabled. So your information will be consistent but may not be accurate.

Does that make sense?

[pamb10]

Thanks. That makes sense. Does it matter if the URL specified is outside my domain?
I basically want to track my affiliate links. Maybe using Analytics Goals is not really appropriate for this situation. Does anyone track this and what do you use?

[TheWealthSquad]

Ahh outbound links are different since you don't have access to put the analytics code on the page they will land on. Google gives directions on how to do it here

http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55527

I use Pretty Link to manage mine. (It is a plug in for Wordpress. It has both a free and paid version. http://www.askthewealthsquad.com/PrettyLinkLanding (My affiliate link for the plug in if you are interested). Or you can easily do a search for Pretty Link in the wordpress plug in install in case affiliate links are frowned upon. I guess I need to read the rules huh? :)

It will run some pretty cool reports as well as allow you to export the data to a spreadsheet.

[TheWealthSquad]

You have to realize all the analytics packages have their limitations. They operate differently and thus you get different numbers. I use statcounter (free version), Google analytics (free) and Awstats (including with my hosting) to measure my stats. I also cross check them sometimes with the image impressions for some of the affiliate programs.

One thing I can say has consistently been true. None of them agree with each other. :) Pick one or two and be consistent with its use. Google works using java script. If your visitor doesn't have javascript enabled, you don't get good numbers from it. Others count the spiders/robots while some exclude them. Some allow you to exclude your own visits while others measure them all.

The good news is you can get all the numbers you want. Ignore them. The only number that truly matters is profitability. Never worry about being perfect. Just work on being better.

[pamb10]

Thanks Scott for the recommendation. I have now implemented Pretty Links free version. I will see how it goes.

[bascilikapeter]

it is to let u specify ur URL.

[Nelson Swett]

so there are several posts right now that include information about stats and analytics. I've been looking at the stats that hostgator provides. It shows that my traffic is generally increasing everyday as are the number of incoming links (thanks lynn).

I've heard enough mention of Google Analytics to ask whether I should be using it and if so, is there a WP plug-in that the more experienced would recommend. I typed in Goolge Analytics in the plug-in section and returned a ton of options (surprise surprise)

As always my thanks in advance for your help

[sonatanna88]

Hi

Does GA point out the KWs that get the sales?


Sona

[pamb10]

Since GA is free it is a great tool used to track visits to your site. There are several WP plugins that you can use to automatically add your GA id to every page in your blog. I definitely recommend using a plugin for this.

GA will not tell you which keywords get you sales, but it will tell you what keywords get visitors to your site which is very important. Capitalize on those keywords and you are likely to get more visitors which will likely pan out into more sales. :)

GA does have Goal settings which allows you to determine when a particular action has occurred. For instance, you can set it on a thank you page. On one blog that I own, when someone subscribes to my list, they get sent an email with a download link (a page on my blog). I used a goal to be notified when this page gets hit.

Hope this helps.