Before you can start analysing your performance, it is important to create an Analytics account. Or, if one already exists, to gain access to it. To do this, you have two options in this step-by-step plan;
Ask your web builder for access or to install GA for you.
Install GA yourself
1. Ask your web builder for access or to install GA for you
If your website was built by a web builder, chances are that GA is already installed. All you have to do is ask your web builder for access. Your web builder can easily grant you access by adding you as a user. Please note; to be able to invite you, you need a (business) Google account. Create one using this step-by-step plan if you do not yet have a business Google account.
If you have no or limited access to your website's CMS, or have little technical knowledge, it is recommended that you ask your web builder to install GA for you. Before you ask your web builder to do this, it is a good idea to ask for an estimate of the costs. Installing GA is often no more than one to two hours of work.
2. Install GA yourself
If you have access to the CMS of your website, you can also choose to install GA yourself. Follow the steps below to create an account and set it up.
Create an account
Follow these steps to create an Analytics account first;
Go to the GA website and click on 'Get started free of charge'.
2. Sign in with your Google Account. Create a business Google Account if you do not have one.
3. Click on "Start measurement" to continue.
4. Type in the desired account name (e.g. your company name), select all options (recommended) and click on 'Next'.
5. Type the desired property name (e.g. your company name again), choose Netherlands as time zone, Euro as currency and click on 'Show advanced option'.
6. Turn on 'Create a Universal Analytics Property', add your website's URL, select the options below (recommended) and click 'Next'.
7. Answer the questions and click on 'Create'.
8. Lees de voorwaarden en accepteer ze om verder te gaan.
9. Click on 'All website data', then on your Universal Analytics property and then on 'Open'.
10. Click on 'Manager' at the bottom left.
11. Klik op ‘Trackinginfo’ en dan op ‘Trackingcode
12. Copy the general tracking code (General sitetag) and add it between <head> and </head> in the HTML of your website.
How to add the tracking code varies from website to website. If you use website software like Wix or Squarespace, please visit their help centre to learn how to do this. For WordPress we recommend using a plugin like MonsterInsights. The MonsterInsights plugin is basically free to use.
3. Create data views
In this step, you will create three data views. The three views are used as 1) a backup for all your data, 2) a view for testing and 3) a view for analysis. When you set up your Analytics account, Google automatically created an unfiltered data view called "All Site Data" for you. This view contains all the raw data that GA automatically collects for you and is perfect to use as a backup for all your data. To clearly describe what the view is for, the first thing you'll do is rename it. You do this by;
Click on 'Manager' at the bottom left and then on 'Data view settings'.
2. Change the name to 'Unprocessed data', adopt the settings below and click 'Save'.
A big advantage of GA is that you can configure it to your own wishes. A disadvantage is that when configuring GA data can sometimes be lost by accident. To prevent this it is useful to create a test view. This way you can always test new configurations without running the risk of losing data.
3. Click on "Create view" to create a test view.
4. Choose Test view as name, Netherlands as time zone and click on "Create view".
5. Click on 'Settings for data display', take over the settings below and click on 'Save'.
6. Then click on 'Copy data view', choose Main View as the name and click on 'Copy data view'.
The Main view is the view for making analyses and creating reports.
4. Create filters
If you want to get a good idea of how visitors use your website, it is important to filter your own visits and those of your staff from the results. You can do this by adding filters that exclude internal IP traffic. Add your first filter by following these steps;
Go to your Test view, click on "Manager" at the bottom left and then on "Filters".
2. Click "Add filter".
3. Choose a name for your IP address filter and adopt the settings below.
4. Go to Google and search for 'what's my ip'.
5. Copy your IP address, add it under IP address and click 'Save'.
Once the filter is saved, GA will start filtering the traffic from this IP address from the results. It takes a while for this to happen.
6. In the left navigation, click on 'Realtime' and then on 'Traffic sources' to check whether the IP address is filtered out from the results.
Nadat je hebt gecontroleerd of de filter werkt, kan je deze ook gaan toepassen op de Hoofdweergave.
7. Go to your Main View, click on 'Manager' at the bottom left, on 'Filters' and click on 'Add filter'. Then click 'Apply existing filter', click on your filter, then click 'Add' and finally click 'Save' to add the filter to your Main View.
5. Add goals
In this step, you will start adding Analytics goals and funnels. With Analytics goals, you can measure the number of actions (conversions) carried out on your website and see if the online goals you set are being achieved. You can also track the conversion rate using funnels. This way you will know exactly if implemented improvements have led to the desired effect.
You add an Analytics target and funnel by;
Click on 'Manager' at the bottom left and then on 'Goals'.
2. Click on 'New goal'.
Please note that depending on the industry you chose when creating your Analytics account, in Target Configuration you will be presented with a number of GA curated templates with targets to choose from. In the example below, you can see the Goal Configuration for the industry category "Food and Beverage". Although the goals differ for each industry, the way you add goals works the same. In the next step we will show you how to track the number of orders. Keeping track of the number of reservations, contact requests, quote requests and introductions works basically the same way. Only the template you select for this is called different.
3. Select a template that best describes your desired goal and click 'Continue'.
4. Choose a name for your destination (e.g. Orders), select Destination as the type and click 'Continue'.
5. Select 'regular expression' and add the URL of the page. Please note that it is not necessary to include the full URL. The last part of the URL is sufficient.
Turn on the funnel, add the step, give the step a name (e.g. Order Page), enter the URL, make the step mandatory (if so), click 'Save' and then 'Done'.
Tip: if you know what the average order value is from last year, add it by turning Value ON and adding the average order value.
6. Check that Recording is ON.
7. Click on 'Conversions', 'Goals' and 'Funnel view' to see the funnel you just added. Finally, make a note in your calendar to check in a week's time whether the goal is working.
It is possible that your funnel consists of several steps. When setting up your funnel under Target details you can easily add these steps. Your funnel will then look something like this;
Under funnel view, this funnel looks like this;
It is possible to set up to twenty Analytics goals per property. If you are just starting out with GA, we recommend that you only start with your most important online goals.