1. Content Filter

This filter allows you to search specific videos or all results that contain a specific keyword. Select the video you want to see analytics for, and the data will change the charts to display just that item’s data.

2. Geography

In this tab, you will see a break down by state, country or region. Viewing this kind of data isn’t just good for targeting your audience, it can be really cool to see that people all over the world are watching and sharing your content.

3.Date Range

As the title suggests, this tab controls the period of time you want data from. It’s always good to do week to week and month to month comparisons to make sure your channel viewers are interested and engaged in sharing your content.

Note: If you want to return to the full channel view, simply click the x in each category box.

View Reports

After you have uploaded your video, you should be tracking the number of views it gets each week, as well as the source it was viewed from. Your content may have a million views, but without knowing your audience, it will be difficult to know if you are communicating your message effectively.  The Views Report tab will give you an overview of channel views. You can dig even deeper to target the exact audience for your content by using these additional reports:

1. Demographics Report

Here you will see the age, gender, geographical location of viewers as well as the playback location which, shows you where people are watching your videos online. Use this data to create follow up content that will attract higher view counts.

2. Traffic Sources Report

This is definitely a report you will want to track weekly. With insight into where views originated, you can determine if video’s are gaining exposure directly from your YouTube channel or if it has been embedded on a blog or social media site.

3. Audience Retention Report

To improve your audience retention rate, keep content length at approximately 2-3 minutes. Create interesting content that will grab the viewers attention from the start, and keep them focused and interested through the remainder of the video. The Audience retention Report will show you how much of a particular video people tend to watch. This will be vital information as you create follow up content.

4. Engagement Reporting

The Engagement Report is broken down into five sections: subscribers, likes and dislikes, favorites, comments and sharing. Each category adds valuable information to your reporting and should be considered for production of future content. Here I will go into the two most important categories:

5. Subscriber Report

Having and increasing subscribers is important, but learning what brought them to your channel to begin with is more important. With the Subscriber Report, you will be able to see a list of subscribers and what video actually drove them to become subscribers. Again, this data will help you create like content to keep bringing viewers back.

6. Sharing Report

Knowing where your content is shared most, and what social channels are pushing your content, will indicate where you need to create a presence. The sharing tab will help you narrow that down by showing you how many times a video has been shared and the service it has been shared through

7. Data Reporting

You will likely be tracking all the data you have collected about your channels and videos on a spreadsheet. Every report tab in YouTube Analytics has a “Download Report” tab in the top right corner of the screen. It will download your report into a CSV file to open and use in Excel or Google Spreadsheets.

If you are thinking about monetizing videos using Google AdSense, the reports will show which videos are monetizable, and what your total estimated earnings would be if you chose to monetize them. With this type of comprehensive analysis, you will increase your channel traffic and continue to build bigger and better content if you use the reports to your advantage.

There are so many ways to use this data. Let me know what part of the YouTube Analytics you would you like to see more in depth!

Overview

StatCounter is a company based in Ireland, who seek to offer a straightforward website statistics service. Their basic services are free, but more advanced features can be purchased for a monthly fee that varies on the amount of traffic you wish to track in detail. The only real difference between the free service and the paid ones is the size of the log that you can explore (i.e. the individual visits that you can drill down into). I’ll go into more detail about that feature later.

Setup

Registering an account on StatCounter couldn’t be more straightforward and can be done on this page. Following that, you will be asked if you wish to create a project. You create a project per website you wish to track. You only need provide the most basic details about the website. Among the basic options here that you can select is the length of time between visits from the same IP for them to be considered unique, as well as IPs that you might want to block from being recorded as traffic (such as your own). The next page will ask you to select the kind of counter you wish to display on your site (you can use an invisible one), and there will be a few followup questions for your counter. Finally you’ll get to select an installation guide depending on what type of website you have. If you use WordPress, like I do, there’s a handy plugin that does most of the work for you.

Features

The image below shows one of the various views of the summary statistics that you can see in Statcounter. Free from heavy javascript (unlike GA), this loads in a couple of seconds even on a mobile browser. Very good for getting a quick snapshot of how your current traffic is looking.

You can also see recent keyword activity from various search engines, along with your current rankings for those keywords. If you look at the image below from one of my sites, you can see that it is ranking number 1 for Carbon Tax. If you click on the green text of the keywords it actually loads the specific google search page that the click came from.

If you click on Recent Visitor Activity, you can actually see the visits of real people, and you can drill down to see what they did. This is where your log limit comes into play. The free account gives you a log size of 500 visitors, and if you pay more you can see more. For most purposes, the free account is great. The image below shows a typical recent visitor activity list, and the following images show what you can see if you drill down further by clicking the magnifying glass next to one of the entries.

Round-up

StatCounter is a great alternative to Google analytics that is updated and browsable in realtime (did I mention that?). You don’t need to wait to check who just visited you site. It can be very useful for tracking phone calls. Imagine you have a website for your business and are wondering which pages or search terms convert. All you need to do is flick to StatCounter after concluding the phone call and you might be able to figure out which page they just visited and how they got there (assuming they got your number from the website, that is). Let me know how you all go!

Step 1. Set-Up A Google Analytics Account

The first thing you need to set-up Google Analytics is to have a Google Account. Since this guide is primarily for Blogger users, I assume that you already have one.

If so, head over to the Google Analytics page and select “Sign Up Now“.

Next you will be given more information about Google Analytics and the opportunity to create a new account. To do so select “Sign Up >>“.

On the next page you will have to enter the name of the website which you wish to analyse as well as the name of this Analytics account. Under a single Google Account you can create as many Analytics accounts as you like, and each account can have up to 100 websites. It is a good idea to keep your “Account Name” fairly general so that you can add a variety of websites under it. Finally, select the appropriate territory and time zone.

You will then be asked to enter some more personal details, including your name and country.

The last step requires you to accept Google Analytics’ terms and conditions.

However, in addition to accepting the terms and conditions, be sure to have a look at the “Data Sharing Settings” by clicking on the “Edit Settings” link. Through these settings, you can determine how much information from the analytics Google retains.

When you are satisfied with your selections, select “Create New Account“. You will be prompted to clarify your data sharing options.

Your account is now created and you will be provided with a tracking code to input into your website’s HTML template. This code is used to link your website with Google Analytics.

Select “Save and Finish” once you have copied the tracking code.

Finally, you will see an overview of your newly created account and your soon to be tracked website.

As the screenshot shows, there is an “error” in the status. This is because the tracking code has not been copied to your websites HTML template.

Step 2 – Installing Tracking Code in Blogger

This guide is primarily for Blogger accounts, however the tracking code can be pasted in the HTML template of most websites.

For Blogger Accounts: To copy this code into your website’s template head over to your Blogger dashboard and click on the “Design” link under the website which you wish to track.

On the next page select “Edit HTML”

You will see the full-text of your website’s HTML template. Check “Expand Widget Templates” to view all the HTML code. Then paste the tracking code just above the “</head>” tag.

The default tracking code is as follows:

<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', <strong>'UA-XXXXXXXX-Y</strong>']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
 
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? '<a href="https://ssl'">https://ssl'</a> : '<a href="http://www')">http://www')</a> + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>

This tracking code will come with a  alphanumeric number known as the “Web Property ID”. This is the essential part of the tracking code and it is in the form “UA-XXXXXXXX-Y“. Remember to exchange “UA-XXXXXXXX-Y” with your actual Web Property ID when you paste it into your HTML template.

Once you have completed this select “Save Template“.

Step 3 – Confirm Tracking

Your website will now be tracked on Analytics, but if it is not, head back to your Analytics overview page and select “Edit”.

Then select “Check Status“.

This will ping the tracking code in your website’s HTML template and Analytics will set to work collecting data for your website.

Step 4 – Add More Websites

To add more websites to your Analytics account, simply select “Add new profile”.

Conclusion

Once the data from your website is collected you will see a chart with all your information.

That’s it.

1. Google Dashboard

Privacy settings for nearly all Google products and services can be accessed from a single page – the Google Dashboard. Here, you can review individual settings for online services like Buzz, Reader, Picasa, YouTube, and more.

To use it, you simply log in to http://www.google.com/dashboard/ with your normal Google login and change any settings you wish.

2. Chrome’s Incognito Mode

Chances are good that if you’ve used Chrome for any length of time, you already know about Incognito Mode. For those who don’t, you’ll be glad you’re reading about it now. Chrome was the first major browser to include a “private surfing” mode which allows users to browse the web without accumulating a trail of crumbs on the local PC.

Sites visited while in Incognito Mode will not show up in the browser’s history, and will not be allowed to leave cookies and other tracking information behind. Other browser makers have since added similar features to their products, to the general benefit of all.

Encrypted Gmail

For some time now, Google has been allowing Gmail users to log in using a secure (SSL) connection. If enabled, your traffic to and from Gmail is much more resistant to eavesdropping and tampering by your work or ISP or others that may have access to your traffic as it flows from one end to the other.

To enable encryption temporarily, simply add an s to the end of http, making the address more like https://www.gmail.com. If you’d like that change to be permanent, open your Gmail settings to the General tab, and under Browser Connection choose Always use https.

Note by editor: Google has recently make the https the default connection for all Gmail accounts. Unless you specifically turn it off, your Gmail connection should be secure.

Encrypted Search

Much like the Gmail SSL connections mentioned above, you can now perform your normal Google searched using a secure connection. This of course doesn’t have the slightest affect on what Google knows about you, but it reduces the ability of unscrupulous web sites to track you based on your searches.

It works just like Gmail’s SSL connection above. Simply add an s to the end of the http to get an encrypted search page.

SSL Enforcer Chrome Plugin

I make several Google searches per day, but as a Chrome user, I search with the omnibar much more often than I go to the Google homepage. To get omnibar searches to use the new SSL feature, I use the SSL Enforcer extension. This will detect when a site supports SSL, and automatically use that option whenever available, including with Google searches.

This extension, however, is not foolproof. It needs to make a standard, unencrypted connection to the page before it can create the secure one. It’s probably not a good idea to rely on this for heavy security but it can be very useful to help protect casual browsing.

Analytics Opt-Out

Google Analytics is an extremely popular tool for web admins to gather information about the users of their sites. There’s nothing inherently wrong with analytics, and it’s most commonly used to gather basic information that any serious web admin would want, such as the browser and OS types of their visitors. Some people, however, are uncomfortable sharing their system or user info with the world so Google provides a simple way to take yourself out of the Analytics equation. By using the new Opt-Out Tool, you can install a plugin for your browser (IE 7+, Chrome 4+, Firefox 3.5+) that will make you essentially invisible to sites using Analytics.

What other ways do you use to protect yourself from the Google’s clutches?

If you have a web site or blog, you probably rely on web analytics to understand about your visitors. It provides a way for you to know

1. How they found your site
2. The items on your site they find interesting and
3. Location information about your visitors.

The best known and most widely used web analytics tool is Google Analytics. There are over 80 reports that can be accessed to track and analyze the health of your web site/blog. Additionally, it also has an ad hoc reporting function that allows you to further tailor these 80 reports, or create your own from scratch. There are other tasks that allow you to monitor vistors’ paths on your site/blog, monitor your AdWords, group similar visits together, etc. What if you were able to extend the functions that Google Analytics offer? There is a Firefox add-on that will allow you to do that. It’s called the Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension.

What does it do?

Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension enhances Google Analytics by using a variety of GreaseMonkey user scripts. The add-on uses user scripts created by different developers into one area. It gives Google Analytics some of the user-friendly and additional features that are missing.

What do I need to do before I start using it?

The first thing you need is to go to the FireFox add-on page, and install GreaseMonkey. After GreaseMonkey is up and running, install the Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension add-on.

How do I personalize it?

After installing Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension and GreaseMonkey, go to Tools->Add-Ons->Better Google Analytics Firefox. Press the Preference button.  There are three tabs: General, Reports, and Other.

What do I do in the General tab?

Go to the General tab. There are three options: automatically entering Google Analytics; automatically expanding the sub-navigation items; and increase the text boxes.

• If you want to automatically enter Google Analytics whenever the button is displayed, then check the check box next to this option.
• If you want to have all the sub-navigation expand automatically, then check the check box.
• If you want to increase the text boxes, then check this check box.

What do I do in the Reports tab?

In the Reports tab, it provides you additional report features that will make the Google Analytics’ reports area, more powerful. It adds search functionality, export capabilities, full-screen reader, profile enhancements, table sorting, and social media metrics. If you want to select one or all of the options, check the check boxes next to them.

What do I do the in the Other tab?

In the Other tab, it allows additional features to other areas of Google Analytics. It provides two Google Analytics Conversion University functionalities: “Expand All” button and the time. Also, it has a URL builder override for the “utm_nooverride” url variable.

What did I think?

I really love this Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension. It gives extra functionality to Google Analytics that makes it more user friendly and easier to navigate. Before I found this add-on, I was using the basic functions that Google Analytics had to offer because I didn’t really understand how to use it. With this add-on, I am using it more, using more reports, and even the goals/funnel features. If you have never use it, and you have a web site and/or blog, install it.

How do I get more information?

• To learn more about Better Google Analytics Firefox Extension, please visit: http://erikvold.com/tools/firefox/betterga/index.cfm
• To learn more about GreaseMonkey, please visit: http://www.greasespot.net/