NOTE: The site mentioned in this post is not working and we know of no way to obtain copies of this book at this time. We have kept this post should that situation every change.
How Web Analytics works is incredibly complex so it is important to get a basic understanding of what it is and how it works BEFORE you start making decisions based on what you see. Since Google Analytics is free it is the most commonly used Web Analytics program. I encourage anyone reading this far to keep reading because we’ll be explaining analytics so that anyone can understand it.
The first thing I recommend is signing up for the completely free Mastering Google Analytics ecourse offered by ValueGuardian. The link takes you to a sales page that explains what is in their complete book which we’ll be reviewing in the next few days. Simply leave that page or wait for an offer page to appear. Enter your first name and a valid email address and they’ll send you the ten part free email course.
The reason we’re recommending their course is that they explain Analytics in a way that anyone can understand. The lessons come every other day so they won’t overwhelm even the most busy.
Here is what the free email ecourse covers:
- Lesson 1: Why Web Analytics is important; Why unique visitors is more important than page views
- Lesson 2: Standard Metrics – A metric is simply anything you can measure. This lesson covers some major metrics used in analytics programs such as visits, page views, referring sources, etc.
- Lesson 3: How to set up Goals in Google Analytics
- Lesson 4: Monetizing Your Goals
- Lesson 5: Conversion Funnels – An easy explanation of an advanced way to increase conversions
- Lesson 6: Explains the original and “new” versions of Google’s tracking code
- Lesson 7: Benchmarking – This is new to even me and I’ve taken high dollar Google Analytics training courses. It gives you an advantage I used to have when I could access data for dozens of ecommerce stores: a way to see if changes are affecting only you, you and your competitors, or your niche and any other you want to compare. This is important information especially during economically challenging times.
- Lesson 8: Top Ten Reasons to track MORE than page views. Why? Because they don’t tell you whether your marketing efforts are working; they don’t even measure unique visitors or real traffic!
- Lesson 9: What if you could do more: what else can you do with Google Analytics?
- Lesson 10: Further Study: there is so much more to learn.
When you finish the free ecourse you’ll only have a basic understanding of what Web Analytics can do for you and why you need to know more. The lessons give you a good big picture view of Google Analytics and what it can do for you in plain English.
WHAT THIS COURSE DOESN’T DO
You will NOT be an expert on analytics or know how to install and set up Google Analytics. You will know more about how to use it. To really get the most out of Google Analytics you’ll need either training or to buy the book.
I contacted the author and specifically asked to review their course and book because I already know how complicated Google Analytics is.
I completed the one hour Free Google Analytics Webinar offered by ROI Revolution and also their extensive Google Analytics Webinars which they apparently no longer offer. When I was done I advised the client who paid for it to hire them to properly configure Google Analytics because of the complexity of his business.
Back then there was no Mastering Google Analytics book to guide us. I’ll be reviewing the entire book in one or more upcoming posts so you’ll know exactly what it covers and what it doesn’t. I can tell you that the free ecourse is representative of how the book is written. If you understand those emails you WILL understand the book too.
If you have a blog, Web site, or online store you really do need to know more about Web Analytics so you may as well take advantage of the free Mastering Google Analytics ecourse.
DISCLAIMER: The links for this course contain an affiliate link. If you decide to buy the book we may earn a commission. That is NOT why we’re recommending the course or the book. If you decide you like the book you may wish to recommend it and if you are recommending something anyway you may as well join the affiliate program and use an affiliate link. Just be clear in your own heart WHY you’re doing it.
I know that some object to bloggers using affiliate links because they feel the potential income may color their judgement. There are enough products and services of quality to recommend that ethical bloggers do not have to resort to recommending anything just for the money. If you disagree feel free to leave a comment.
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Hello,
Thank you for the vote of confidence. If you check the posts here you’ll find that I only recommend what I believe is very useful.
Twitter: alinkbuilder
December 5, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Twitter: @alinkbuilder
Google analytics are very helpful in know much about the visitors, it provides the full information about the browser and browser capability, which helps in improving the visitors visibility,
thanks for the resource.
Twitter: saurabhsnv
October 5, 2009 at 5:18 am
Twitter: @saurabhsnv
Really wonderful piece of information and I appreciate it that you share something so useful with the readers of this blog.thanks.
Twitter: ankushsnv
September 18, 2009 at 2:46 am
Twitter: @ankushsnv
i was waiting for such a course.Its a very good one.
Thanks for the post once again.
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:15 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome and thanks for taking the time to comment. Since GA shows numbers as soon as it is installed many do not realize that they really need to do at least some basic customization to eliminate common issues. Reading the book is a good investment.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Select Keywords First to Make Your Content Easy to Find
Twitter: marketraise
June 20, 2009 at 12:48 am
Twitter: @marketraise
I have been using GA since the past few months.Its free of cost and extensively used service all over the net.The one feature taht i like the most is the Custom Reporting in GA which provides you with the ability to create, save, and edit custom reports that present the information you want to see organized in the way you want to see it.
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:31 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Andy,
So you already figured out how to set up Custom Reporting? Good for you. I suspect most never get that far and only view data in the default views.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..DMOZ Now Largely a Waste of Time
Twitter: joolwe
June 19, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Twitter: @joolwe
wow..this course is exactly what i need for my jewelry store. thanks!
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:28 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Welcome Ryan,
Glad to be of service. I hope you find what you need in the course. I suspect that you will need the book eventually to really get the most out of any analytics program you choose to use. Many of the concepts and much of the terminology is the same in all analytics programs.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Get Your Free Business Listing in Yelp
Twitter: RBTBPoker
June 19, 2009 at 11:39 am
Twitter: @RBTBPoker
I do happen to believe that there are those out there who will recommend any janky product or service for a buck, because I’ve seen it. However, I don’t feel that you would fall into that category. I have seen your name all over the web, and your articles and recommendations are constantly and consistently well researched, useful, and honest. Your reputation alone is good enough for me to take your word, and the disclaimer at the end here only adds to the credibilty of this article, IMHO.
I’ve been hearing so much about google analytics lately, I think it’s time for me to look into it. I’ve been using other tracking methods, but with all that GA has to offer according to your article, I can’t see any reason not to give it a shot. Thanks alot for the informative post. Hopefully the course can help me to get the absolute post possible out of GA.
Rob’s last blog post..Semi-Bluffing in Poker
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:26 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Rob,
Thank you for the vote of confidence. If you check the posts here you’ll find that I only recommend what I believe is very useful. While I have added some ads in the left sidebar each one is for a business I either personally know and work with or use.
The e-course will give you a good overview but to really get the most out of GA you’ll need to buy the book or do further research in the many analytics blogs available online.
The reason I recommended the book is that although there are many blogs dedicated to discussing analytics most of them are written at such a technical level that business owners and bloggers are not going to be able to understand most of what they share. This book is better for anyone who is not already an analytics expert.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Add Your Business to Merchant Circle
Twitter: BTL_Mortgages
June 16, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Twitter: @BTL_Mortgages
I am a big fan of Google Analytics, I check it every day and I truly believe that it is a must tool, which some people ignore. I have to admit I never listened to a course, but certainly will do now. I have spent quite a bit of time on Google site, reading about AdSense and one of their suggestions is to integrate it with Google Analytics. I have also checked archives of Google Webinars, but for some reason, quality of the sound was terrible, but I have to admit understandable. I think goal conversion feature is a great one as it allows to see what is actually working and you really can learn so much about your visitors and it is all for free. I will be looking forward getting that e-mail course.Thanks.
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:21 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Kate,
Analytics is a complex subject so learning more about it is necessary to truly get the most out of what you see. Keep in mind that analytics measures what it measures and that is often not what it APPEARS to measure.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Add Your Free Business Listing to infoUSA
GA is really great cz it’s free
I alway attach it to my site if I create new one. But there is some feature I don’t understand. It is benchmarking. I don’t know what it use for.
Twitter: GrowMap
June 21, 2009 at 2:19 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hello Sama,
Benchmarking is simple recording a snapshot of data for a particular timeframe, especially before starting a new strategy or making a change so you can compare the effects.
Few businesses understand change management and they really need to so I’ll had that to my future posts list. Every change should be recorded including the date and specifically what was altered so that analytics data can be compared to changes.
There is a latency period between when something is changed and when the full effects are seen so data analysis requires knowing when changes were made.
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..How to Get Your Free Business Listing in Yelp
Twitter: GrowMap
April 29, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Brian The e-course is best for a good overview. You’ll need the book if you want an in-depth understanding. I do hope to review the entire book in a series as time allows so you may want to subscribe to be sure you see those posts.
When a site sells almost completely through the phone they are not going to be able to track those the way online sales are tracked. There are several options including paypercall type systems, offering individual codes on the site that the phone operators ask for or creating some other advanced way to correlate phone buyers with their Web visits.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Threaded Comments Works In Thesis
I just signed up for the e-course. I will read each day and try to get a more in-depth understanding of Google Analytics. I use Analytics every day, however never took a course before. I would like to learn how to setup different types of goals. Can you have a goal just for time on the website?? For one client, the sales is all through the phone and no easy way to setup conversions.
Twitter: GrowMap
March 16, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire Poor quality blogs eventually go the way of the dodo and hopefully so do the scraper sites. They are potholes in the Internet highway; we’ll just have to keep avoiding them.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Don’t Make ANY Changes Based on Web Analytics Until You READ THIS FIRST
Twitter: LottoMan01
March 16, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Twitter: @LottoMan01
True, but perhaps the blogs would be of a higher quality.
Sire’s last blog post..Googles Interest-Based Advertising Sucks
Twitter: GrowMap
March 16, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire True, we may hope to eventually monetize or visitor might support something we offer; however, if that were the primary motivator there would be a lot less blogs, wouldn’t there?
Internet Strategist’s last blog post..REVIEW: Mastering Google Analytics – Easy to Understand FREE eCourse
Twitter: LottoMan01
March 15, 2009 at 1:51 am
Twitter: @LottoMan01
In a sense though, even though we give our time away for free, there is always the expectation that someone will leave a comment of appreciation or that someone else may accidentally click on as ad or something.
Sire’s last blog post..Googles Interest-Based Advertising Sucks
Twitter: GrowMap
March 15, 2009 at 1:28 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire Yes and when I review them I mention any catches in getting the free part. The good thing about this ecourse is it is useful and totally free. Yes the book author hopes some who read the emails will decide to buy the book – and I’ll be reviewing the book shortly so that potential buyers will know more about it.
I shouldn’t say NOTHING is free because many bloggers do give away their time and experience. All that we’ve shared in the past was free; however, even we have to eat so we’re going to VERY SELECTIVELY offer what we feel is valuable.
Any of our readers who would like to support our work and can use what we share will have our blessing.
Twitter: LottoMan01
March 15, 2009 at 1:22 am
Twitter: @LottoMan01
I knew that, even when people offer you something for nothing there is always a catch, even if there is a hope that you like the sample and make a purchase at a later date.
Sire’s last blog post..Googles Interest-Based Advertising Sucks
Twitter: GrowMap
March 13, 2009 at 3:33 am
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Sire YES Google Analytics is officially free – but nothing is REALLY free. I know you read that post so I’ll go answer your questions in that post too.
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