Who, What, Where, When, and How
When it comes to generating income on the internet, you would be very wise to know and understand your audience. Without this knowledge, you are certainly missing opportunities for lucrative returns on your efforts.
How can you find out who is viewing your website or blog (not to mention what, where, when and how).
The "big dog" on the block is Google Analytics. This free tool is comprehensive, and you can have your sites outfitted with the code snippet (provided by Google) in a few minutes. You will need FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your web files for this task. In WordPress, you have several other options. You can include the code in the footer section of your current template. Typically, the code can be pasted in right before the last BODY tag, in the editor for the template.
You HTML skills may come in handy here. It's simple once you've done it several times.
You can also install a Google Analytics plug-in, then insert your Google Analytics ID when prompted. The plugin will put the code on your pages, in the appropriate place. This is the simplest method for installing Google Analytics code on your blog. This modular approach to extending WordPress is why it is such a powerful platform for income generation.
After a few hours, you will begin to see various metrics slowly appear on your account dashboard. These metrics will include such things as; visits per period, bounce rate per period, page views per period, and other important measurements. With this information, you will begin to see how your blog is being viewed, and can make informed adjustments to content or keywords, if necessary. For example, if your reports indicate that you had 100 visitors in the previous 24 hours, and the bounce rate is reported as 50%, then you know that only 50 visitors in the past 24 hours found your site interesting enough to spend time on it. You may want to check your keywords to make sure they match up with your content.
The example above is a very simple. Many complex measurements about your website of blog can be generated and reported by this tool.
This is how Google Analytics works. When you create your account, you can include multiple websites. You will get a snippet of individualized code for each site. When a visitor's browser runs the bit of code (which is Javascript, by the way), information is sent to Google's analytic servers about the browser, and the activities of the viewer while on the site. This information is then made available to you in the form of customizable online reports.
The astute blogger or web site owner will benefit greatly from use of this tool.
Another tool in our arsenal is called PIWIK. This analytics package is currently in BETA, so there are some issues that are being resolved. As of this writing, the current version is 0.9. What I like about PIWIK is I can get my reports in real-time. In fact, PIWIK provides me with a slightly different view of my traffic that Google Analytics. With PIWIK, I can see the IP address of my viewers, and what pages they are viewing at the moment. Google Analytics reporting is delayed by at least 24 hours, so I can only report on the past. PIWIK shows me who, what, where, when, and how... right now!
Having a lot of information can be very helpful in emergency situations. We recently had a flurry of suspicious activity on one of our servers. We saw the activity first in Google Analytics, but by analyzing reports from PIWIK, we were able to isolate the IP addresses that we needed to block immediately. We were then able to monitor the server for any further suspicious activity.
PIWIK is open-source. Download it and examine it for yourself. Just Google it and you will find the latest download. Be aware that there are some issues that are currently being mitigated. Over-all, we are satisfied with the quality of reporting this product produces.
You will need an Apache server with PHP5, and mySQL database, which usually comes with most standard hosting packages. Again, FTP is required to get the files onto your server for installation.
So there you have it. We love Google Analytics and check it daily. We also love PIWIK, and check that minute-by-minute. We recommend that you include both in your internet bag of tricks. Making money depends on making critical decisions, at the right moment. Information is key to making those decisions.
Google Analytics and PIWIK are only two of a vast array of tools you can employ for income generation using WordPress.
Next time we'll discuss search engines, and what you need to know to enhance you blog's position, and profitability.
John McClenon, Jr.
http://internetcashline.com
John is the principle web designer at http://internetcashline.com, a website that helps its subscribers find successful money making programs on the internet. John has over a decade in web design and search engine optimization practices. Get acquainted with us today!
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