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Google Analytics is a free service that lets you track your site visitors' behavior. Learn more about your audience and how they are finding and using your site. If you know where your site visitors are coming from and what they are doing once they are there, you can make your site more relevant for them and more successful for you.

Five Easy Steps to Get Started

1) Sign up for Google Analytics

Go to www.google.com/analytics and click 'Sign Up Now' under the Access Analytics button.

2) Sign in with your Google Account.

Log in with your Google account email and password. Don't have a Google account? Click 'Sign Up Now' and create one.

3) Create a Website Profile

Fill in the url of the site you want to track along with the other contact information. Hit Continue. Accept the user agreement and hit Create New Account.

4) Grab Tracking Code

Click on the tab labeled 'New Tracking Code (ga.js).' Copy all the code from the box and paste it into an email. Send to updates@widowspeak.com.

We will email you when the code has been placed on all pages of your site. You can then click 'Check status' from the Analytics Settings page to find out if your web site is being tracked and data is being collected.

5) View Reporting!

You can log into your Google Analytics account at any time to view your reports or request they be emailed to you weekly in PDF format.

I will discuss more about the cool reporting features and how you can use the statistics to make marketing decisions in future articles. For now, sign up for a free account and let me know if you have any questions.

(Need to grab your code again after your account is set up? Go here for instructions.)

Laura A. McArtor is the owner of Widow's Peak Web Design (www.widowspeak.com).