Google Analytics: Getting Started Part 1

Web site owners know that tracking site visitors is an essential part of growing the site.  Traffic patterns can provide a visual map for you to understand how your visitors use your site, and what areas of your site are most valuable.  Unfortunately, many web statistics programs are either prohibitively expensive, or they require a dedicated tech staff to install the program and understand the data that it spits back at you.

All of that changed when Google introduced Google Analytics -- a free program to help you track your web site statistics.  Google Analytics is an easy to use, web based program, that can be installed in minutes and will start providing traffic statistics within a few hours.

To get started, you have to first create a Google Analytics account:
Go to http://www.google.com/analytics, and click the Sign Up Now button in the center of the page.

If you have a Google account, you can simply enter the email and password for the existing Google account to access Google Analytics.  If you don't have a Google Account, click the Sign Up Now button in the box labeled Don't have a Google account?

When you click the Sign Up Now button the second time, you are taken to a page where you enter your email address, a password, and a verification word. 

Be sure to read the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for both Google and Google Analytics.  When you're done, click the I accept. Create my account. button. 
And your account will be created.

Setting up the account is only the first step.  The next step is to add the Google Analytics code to your web site.  You can learn how to do that in Google Analytics : Getting Started Part 2.