Untangling The Web » statistics

Etsy :: What is Etsy Web Analytics?

Conrad Walton — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:25:23 +0000

Here are the instructions that Etsy published for setting up Google Analytics for an Etsy shop.

The first step is the same for everyone, with different names for the web sites, of course, but there is no magic there.

The second step is inside of Etsy. It’s as easy as pie. Getting the account set up is the hard part, figuring out profiles and accounts and managers. Read what they say on the Google site and it’s pretty straight forward.

Step 1: Getting Set Up

To create a new Google Analytics account, visit http://www.google.com/analytics/

Here are some helpful hints during signup:

When asked for your Website’s URL enter Etsy’s URL (www.etsy.com)

When asked for your Account Name enter your Etsy shop website address (shopname.etsy.com)

Hit Continue when you arrive at the page titled Analytics: Tracking Instructions

Once you arrive on your account overview page, locate the tracking code which appears to the right of your shop website address. It will appear in this format: UA-XXXXXXX-X.

If you already have a Google Analytics account you can instead login, click on Analytics Settings, and then choose Enter New Profile.

Step 2: Enter Tracking ID

Then you can enable this feature by going to Your Etsy > Web Analytics (under the Shop Setup header in the left side bar). Enter your Google Analytics Tracking ID in this format: UA-XXXXXXX-X. Click Save Changes.

You should be all set. To view your Analytics, you must sign in to your Google Analytics account. Since Google Analytics works on a delay, you may not see data in your reports for up to 24 hours.

Read the entire article at:
http://help.etsy.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/230/kw/analytics/r_id/100023

Basic Google Analytics Fail

Conrad Walton — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:24:03 +0000

You how I was bragging the other day about how all this web development stuff was child’s play for me? About how I’ve been doing it since 1994?

Well, pride goes before the fail.

When I pushed the new site design live, I was so excited. I had polished it for days to get it looking just right. I was so proud. I put it out there for the world to see and what happens? I get guest published the next day in ChurchCrunch! More traffic! I was just so relieved that I had the shiny new site ready for all the new visitors.

I checked Google Analytics the next day. (You do have Analytics set up, don’t you?) My traffic went down! What happened? I watched for another day and traffic was still down! Something must be happening, but what?

Then it hit me.

I forgot to put the Analytics tags into my new template files.

I was so worried about how the buttons looked and cross platform testing that I forgot the basics.

When you ever publish a new site, go over the checklist and make sure that you didn’t forget the basic stuff. I’ll try to get together and publish a good checklist for pre-launch web sites in another post.

Now, I’ll just sit quietly in the corner.

Read Your Analytics Stats

Conrad Walton — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:27:12 +0000

I was walking a client through his Analytics stats yesterday, explaining what each page, each section meant. I asked him if he ever looked at these since we set them up. He looks at them as much as you do, which is never.

What traffic are you missing?

He didn’t connect the value of what these numbers and charts mean to how he can improve his site and make more money with it, as well as make it a better experience for his users.

As we drilled into the content part of it, I saw that no one, as in not one person, was looking through his portfolio pages. I realized that these pages have a smaller menu over to the side that people could easily miss.

Also, when I redesigned his site by bringing it into WordPress (of course), the top, main menu now has a different look and action than the original small portfolio menu. I used to just put a glow around the highlighted menu item and now I was doing the whole colored div background, which is much more apparent.

Now we have a menu that looks and functions differently and no one who ever clicks on them. HHHmmmm. What to do?

Next step, I put in the same style menu as the top, so they highlight the same. That should improve the click on those. We’ll be watching his stats to see what happens.

Read your Analytics pages today. What traffic are you missing?