Analytics

One of the most useful tools to a blogger is analytics. Search engine Google offers a free analytical tool on their site. Some users, myself included have had problems with Google's analytics. If you are having issues with Google analytics or you would simply like another analytical tool on your belt you should try Statcounter.

Why use analytics? Simply put, analytics keeps track of all the quantitative data associated with your blog and can help you tailor your blog to your readers, which is key! Analytics software keeps track of the amount of times per day, week, or month that your page is accessed. Analytics can also tell you things like where your page was accessed from, how long a user was on your site, how many individual pages the user visited and what search keywords were used to locate your site.

How do you install analytics? Easy. When you sign up for an analytics account using Google or Statcounter, the sites will give you a string of HTML code. Select the entire code (Control + A) and copy the code (Control + C). Okay, now go to your blogger.com account. Sign in and click on the tab Layout. Underneath the layout tab you will see five smaller tabs. Click on the tab labeled Edit HTML.

This will bring up a text book filled with HTML code. Scroll down to the bottom of the code until you see a small piece of code that has the text /body inserted between < > signs. Press the enter key a few times to give yourself a few extra lines, then paste (Control + V) the HTML code above the tag. Click the save tab and you're done!