How To Integrate Analytics On Your Website
You’ve got a new website and you want to make sure that the time and money you spent developing it was well-spent. You need to understand how people are using your site to know if it is effective and make changes if it isn’t. You need analytics! You know that Google Analytics has a lot of great information, but it is one more place to look and it’s complicated to learn how to find what you need. Luckily, there are a number of analytics tools that can be added directly to your website that can help simplify your life. We’ve broken down some great choices for analytics for the three most popular platforms.
WordPress
If you’re relatively familiar with WordPress, you know that plug-ins can make your site much more functional and a lot more individualized. Just like all things on WordPress, In order to access your site’s analytics, you’ll need to install a plug-in. Keep reading for the most highly recommended options to connect analytics software.
- MonsterInsights: This is by far the most commonly recommended plug-in for WordPress analytics because it allows you to connect Google Analytics to your website. It automatically tracks clicks on affiliate links, banner ads and other outbound links while allowing you to set up custom tracking dimensions.
- ExactMetrics: This plug-in is widely used as well, but offers fewer tracking features than MonsterInsights. It is still a viable option, especially for those just starting out with analytics.
- Analytify: Analytify offers a quick set-up which makes it a good candidate for beginners. It also offers stats and figures with easier-to-understand language than many plug-ins that use industry jargon.
Drupal
Drupal’s functionality add-ons are called “modules.” They operate similarly to WordPress plugins. There are several module choices to track analytics with Drupal, and they’re a bit more complicated than WordPress plugins. Here are two that are highly rated.
- Google Analytics Module: Simply put, this module connects Google Analytics to your Drupal site. This allows you to see everything that Google Analytics does right at your home base: your website. Drupal offers a similar module, Google Analytics Reports, which provides the same analytic information, just in a more visual format with charts and graphs.
- Statistics Module: One of Drupal’s “Core Modules,” the statistics module applies a counter to your site to tell you how many times any piece of content is viewed. We use it on our website! There’s also an Advanced option, which offers a few more features than the original module
Squarespace
Any Squarespace site will allow you to see site visits, which is one basic analytic you can use to determine how many eyes have seen the ads on your website. There are a variety of options to track analytics with a Squarespace site, and we have the most common choices listed below.
- Business Plan: The Squarespace Business Plan gives you the option to use buttons to track conversions. That way, if your advertisers use buttons with their ads, you can track how many conversions come from that image block.
- Google Analytics: SquareSpace also provides the option to connect Google Analytics to any site. They even offer a helpful how-to.
Your website is an investment, and you need to be sure that you’re making a return on that investment. Regular review of your analytics is a great way to prove and predict your ROI. Having your analytics tool directly on your website makes it easier to see where your website is doing well and where it could use some improvements in the future. Whether you are using Google Analytics directly or an installed analytics tool on your website, our blog, “Getting Started with Website Analytics” offers some useful tips for setting up and understanding your data.