Winning the Internet

How-to guide to advanced Google Analytics features

After a great run, the Winning the Internet blog has been retired. However, you can still keep in touch with New Media Mentors here.






google analyticsOver the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking about one of the most powerful free tools available to organizations: Google Analytics. A basic installation of Google Analytics is easy and enlightening. However, you can get so much more out of the tool by going a couple of steps beyond the basic installation.

In case you missed them, here’s a round-up of our recent Google Analytics posts, with tips for turbo charging your account.

  • Four kick-ass custom Google Analytics reports
    An amazing amount of data can be found in Google Analytics—some may argue it’s too much data. This is where custom reports can be a huge help. With Google Analytics’ custom report tool you can create any report you want, save it, and view it as frequently as you like, with just a few of clicks. This post walks you through setting up four super useful custom reports: 1) Traffic from social networks, 2) Traffic from blogs, 3) Most popular blog posts, and 4) Most popular pages (for a particular part of the site).
  • Track outbound links with Google Analytics Event Tracking
    For most of us, clicks on our websites that lead to other sites aren’t tracked at all. This can be a major drag, especially considering that donate and take action links often leads to third-party sites. Fortunately, the good folks over at Google have created a solution! It’s called Event Tracking. With the right coding, you can track outbound links and just about any type of interaction within a page.
  • Social tracking with Google Analytics
    Did you know that you can use Google Analytics to track social engagement on your website? It’s true! The latest version of Google Analytics includes new social reports that you can use to measure social interactions on your website. “Social interactions” include clicks to your Facebook or Twitter page, Likes on a particular page or blog post, etc.
  • Google Analytics: Fun with advanced segments
    Do you know how to use Google Analytics to see how a subset of your visitors are using your website? It’s easy with Advanced Segments! This post details how to create an Advanced Segment and highlights some of the most helpful Advanced Segments.

About Melissa Foley

Melissa is the Director of Training and Mentoring for Netroots Foundation and New Media Mentors. She aims to use her MBA + nonprofit background to teach organizations to use new media tools strategically.






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