How Do I Sync Google Analytics?

In the last post, I setup campaigns for Facebook and AdWords. Now, I want to hook up Google Analytics to track my campaigns. It can be a bit tricky, but it's worth it. ( Note: You will need access to your site to add Google's code snippet required to collect the necessary data)

To find the tracking code, go to the Admin tab on your Analytics homepage (and set up an account if you haven't already).

Look for the Tracking info tab and you'll find your unique tracking ID and the tracking code below.

Once you've added the code to your site you can define goals. Conversions are your overall goals for those who click on your ads. Ask yourself "what do I want someone that sees my ad to do?" You can use your answer to that question as a conversion. For AdStage, I call a conversion someone coming to the site and completing our beta sign up form. Here's how I setup goals:

Go back to Admin on the Google Analytics homepage and click your P rofile name. Now click the Goals tab. This brings you goal configuration options to actually implement your goal.

The last step is setting up a goal. There are different goal types, but in this example I've set up a URL destination goal with a sample goal URL of www.adstage.io . You might like to use the page after someone signs up for you site, for example: www.site.com/?post_signup. There are additional options like goal value and setting up a goal funnel, if you would like to further customize your goals.

Google Analytics is a great tool, but it has some limitations. For features like intelligent insights, easy viewing of high and low performing ads, and much more, I'm now going to setup my AdStage dashboard.

H ow do I build an AdStage dashboard?

To setup my AdStage dashboard, you'll need access to our private beta. Sign up here and we'll set you up to get started. Our dashboard product is completely free. Once I have access, I fill out 10 keywords related to my company and a short blurb about my site. A good combination of specific and broad keywords will offer the best recommendations and insights. Then I can link my accounts using my network credentials. After I have picked my desired campaigns, my dashboard will be ready for viewing in minutes. Once you have access to AdStage, explore around to see all the features - you'll find some awesome stuff!

And I'm done for this week! I purposely skipped over details like further customization of campaigns, ads, and Google Analytics for a couple of reasons. One, because I don't know all the answers yet. And two, because I have already covered lots of material for these first posts.

I'll discuss many new questions in future posts. Next time, I'll report my first week's results and my plans for optimizing my campaign performance.

Thanks for reading and check out AdStage if you would like a great, simple way to compare your campaigns and get insights to improve your campaigns in one, well designed dashboard.