BAL 3: Tracking with Analytics

Last time on Build A List (BAL) we got HTML code for people to subscribe to your list. Today, we are going to learn how to track the subscriptions with Google Analytics.

Creating a Goal

When you first login to Analytics, and it lists your site(s). Click on Edit next to the site profile for your blog or list. Then under Goals and Funnels click on Edit again (pick the first available Goal).

For Goal URL put something like this (no quotes) “/blogsubscribe” - Just make sure it’s not a valid URL. It’ll be a magical URL used for tracking. Then click Save (ignore the other stuff).

Adding the Tracking Code

Go back to Analytics Settings -> Profile Settings where it lists your goals. There should be a “Check Status” link at the top right of the Profile Information Box. Click it to find your HTML code. Copy and paste that into your page where it says to (Wordpress blogs the footer.php file under Presentation -> Theme Editor)

Editing the Subscribe HTML

Alright, get back to that subscribe HTML from before. You still have it right? Next you’ll want to add in the following code on the submit tag. Make sure you replace that magical URL if you didn’t use the text I suggested.

onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/blogsubscribe');"

So the full thing should look something like:

<input name="submit" value="Subscribe!" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/blogsubscribe');" type="submit">

This is the heart of tracking the signups. While it won’t check if they verify their email, it gives you the idea of how many people are trying. Inside Aweber you can get the info about verified/unverified.

Finding the Signups

Goto “View Reports” inside Analytics. Then goto Goals -> Funnel Visualization. This is where you can see the pages that are bringing in the signups. It’ll show you the stats from the past 30 days. Just remember this isn’t live data, Analytics doesn’t show you today’s stats.