Someone asked me yesterday about tracking site visitors and how to do it.  I’ve long been a proponent of using more than one analytics program, because what one misses the other may catch.  Knowing a lot of information about visitors can be very helpful.  I recommend at least using a statistics program provided by your host for free (and any good host provides this service in their control panel now) and Google Analytics.  That will give you a pretty good idea of what’s going on.

How do you sign up for Google Analytics?  Well, visit Google.com and sign in or sign up.  Once you’re signed up and logged in, go to your Account (good links are usually found on the top right of the screen).  There is a section for My Services and to try something new.  If you’re not already signed up for analytics, either find it on that page or, if it isn’t there, click the More link down at the bottom.

Find the Analytics link and click it.  It might take you through a setup screen, it may not.  Once you’re on the main Analytics page you can click to add a website profile.  Enter your info, follow the direction to insert the code on your site, and you’re done.  After a couple of days you can return to Analytics to see your statistics.

You can find out how many hits and visits you get, from where in the world, using what browser and operating system, what pages are visited the most and a lot more.  It makes for a good basic look and for some people may be all you need.  And it’s free.  So why not use it?