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In fact, I ended up owning three VWs -- my pride and joy being a vintage 1966 Squareback with sunroof that I bought for $300 from the original owner. Oh mama! I tooled around in that car for years and cried when I finally sold her. Fixing my own cars helped me develop a real skill I've never let go of -- not being afraid to get in under the hood and get my hands dirty in order to learn how things work. This includes learning how to use Google Analytics more effectively, the topic of this issue. Do you have a good story about your first car? Send it to me and I'll post them next issue.
Regards,
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Five Tips for Getting More Out of Google AnalyticsBy Dianna Huff Many of my clients now use Google Analytics -- the fr*e tool that lets you see who is visiting your Website. I have to admit, though, that when I first started using Google Analytics in 2005, I found it extremely confusing and definitely not user-friendly. And, even though Google Analytics 2.0 is a vast improvement over the first iteration, I was still overwhelmed by all the data presented. I also knew I wasn't getting the most out of Analytics that I could. Thankfully, those of us who need a guide have one, in the form of the book, Google Analytics 2.0 by Jerri L. Ledford and Mary E. Tyler. Like the Volkswagen Idiot book mentioned above, my copy is already dog-eared, filled with copious notes written in the margin, and sticky notes on many pages. Why is this? Because it's a step-by-step guide for using Analytics. Call it analytics for dummies (that's you and me). Having spent hours with the book open in my lap while mucking about in Google Analytics, here's what I've learned: 1. You can filter out your domain or IP traffic.Because I do so much SEO and marketing work, I'm often on my clients' Websites for many hours a month and this traffic can skew the data. You can filter it out using the Filter Manager. To find your IP address, go to whatismyIP.com. I also filter out traffic from my Web designer's IP for the sites that we work on together. (Note: Be sure to carefully read about how to plug your IP address into the Filter Manager!) 2. You can track traffic to a specific sub-domain or section of your Website.If you have an e-commerce section on your site, or if you want to track how many people go to your Press Room versus your Products pages, you can set up Profiles within Google Analytics. Setting up profiles for one client, for example, brought home the fact that one section of the site was missing its Google Analytics tracking code. I wasn't seeing any data for that particular profile and couldn't figure out why until I looked at the source code (opps!) Tracking data by sub-domain or profile lets you see how people entered that specific area of the site and the pages they visited as well as which pages have the most "stickiness." Go to the "Top Content" report and click on one of the pages people downloaded from your site to see which Entrance Sources and the Entrance Keywords people used to get to that particular page. You can also view the Navigation Summary for that particular page -- which shows you what people did after they left the page. How cool is that? 3. You can track paid and non-paid keywords.For me, this option is key. Some of my clients run Google AdWord campaigns in addition to tracking organic traffic. You can view both organic and paid clicks from within Google Analytics once you link your Google AdWords account with your Analytics account. To view the data, click on "Traffic Sources" and then "Keywords." When this report is displayed, you can click on "paid" and "non-paid" -- meaning, you can see which keywords people used to find your site organically versus which AdWords they clicked on. You can also view your Google AdWords metrics without having to click over to your AdWords account. 4. You can set up goals and track conversions.One thing I wanted to know was how many people hit the "order" button for one of my client's sites. Now I have that information at my fingertips because I can use Google Analytics to track specific conversion goals. What is really cool about setting up goals, however, is that once you have data, you can view the navigation "funnel." Say you want someone to go from a landing page to a "submit order" page. Using the "Funnel Visualization" page you can see how many people followed your pre-determined funnel -- versus how many people exited to other pages or off the site completely. 5. You can track blogs as well.Best of all, Google Analytics doesn't just work with static Websites -- it works with blogs, too. Adding Google Analytics to Blogger is fairly straight-forward -- just follow these instructions. If you use WordPress, you'll need to download and install the Ultimate Google Analytics plug-in. You TypePad users will have to figure it out using these instructions. Bottom line: If you're responsible for a Website, Google Analytics 2.0 is a book you definitely should have sitting on your desk. Take a weekend to read it over, then when you get back to work, shut your door and start having some fun. You'll wonder how you ever lived without it!
Fun VW LinksI admit, I love everything about the classic VW Beetle, and whenever I see one here in New England, I get a real thrill. For those of you who have fond memories of this quirky car, here are a few fun links. Enjoy!
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My first car was a beat up 1969 red VW Volkswagen Beetle. I bought it, dents and all, for $900 (a small fortune back then) and learned how to use a clutch by driving the thing home. Because I was a starving student, I taught myself automotive maintenance by doing my own "tune-ups." 
My guide: the original "Idiot" book, 
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