Thanks for signing up for the November 15 workshop! Here are 3 things to do to make sure that you’re set up with interesting data in your account before the session. If you’re having trouble with any of these steps, we’ll help you through them during the workshop.
1. Sign into Google Analytics
If you already have Google Analytics set up, make sure you can sign into your account:
- Navigate to google.com.
- In the upper right hand corner, click Sign in.
- If you have multiple sites or properties, you may have to select the right one.
If you’ve never used Google Analytics, setting up your account is pretty fast. But you will have to add tracking code to your website. Follow these instructions to get started with Analytics.
2. Make sure your tracking code is up to date
To get the latest Analytics features, your tracking code should be updated for the new “Universal Analytics.”
First, get your tracking code:
- In Google Analytics, go to the ADMIN
- Under “Property,” click Tracking Info > Tracking code.
Second, find the tracking code on your website:
- Load your website (i.e. your-nonprofit.ca) in a web browser.
- View the source code for your site. On a PC, use CTRL + U. On a Mac, right click and View page source.
- Use Find (CTRL + F) to search the code for UA-. That should locate your tracking code.
Compare the code:
The tracking code on your website should match the code in Google Analytics, most importantly:
- The number after UA- (ex: UA-86436807-1) should match your “Tracking ID” in Analytics.
- The tracking code should start with (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]
- If it does start with this, then you’re on Universal Analytics already and you’re set.
If the code on your website doesn’t match what’s in Google Analytics, the person who updates your website will need to update the code. Here are directions for adding the Analytics tracking code.
3. Add at least one Goal
You can add Goals in Analytics to conveniently track whether people are getting to the most important parts of your site or taking high value actions like donating. We’ll create a simple goals using the URLs of particular pages we want people to get to.
Example: If people who donate land on a thank you page afterwards, we can add the URL of the “Thank you for donating” page as a Goal so we can track people who donated.
Directions
- Sign in to Google Analytics.
- Select the ADMIN
- In the “VIEW” column, click Goals.
- Click + NEW GOAL.
- For “Goal Setup,” choose Custom and then Continue.
- Give your goal a name, like Donated or Visited Donation page
(i.e. if you don’t have a thank you page to be sure that someone actually donated). - Leave the “Goal slot ID” as is.
- For “Type,” choose Destination, then Continue.
- Put in the URL for the page you want to track.
For example, if the url is your-nonprofit.ca/donations/thankyou, just put /donations/thankyou in the box. - Click Save at the bottom.
You’ll start to see data coming in for your goals if you go to the REPORTING tab, scroll down to Conversions on the left, and choose Goals > Overview.
Repeat these steps for any other pages you want to add in Goals.
Thank you!! And don’t forget to bring a laptop to the workshop