The Second Biggest Google Analytics Mistake Small Business Owners Make
"Measure twice, cut once" applies to Google Analytics, too.
Confession: I am a *wee* bit obsessed with Google Analytics.
Which is probably why I spot these analytics “mistakes” (or rather, opportunities for improvement for those drinking glasses half-full? 
) more than your average gal.
There’s often quite a bit of room for improvement when it comes to how small businesses have configured their analytics accounts, but today I’ll share the second biggest mistake I often see and what to do about it.
(Want to know what analytics mistake places first? Find out in my free report.)
This is by far one of the most common scenarios I see when I start working with a new client. What’s unfortunate is that it’s often not the small business owner’s fault.
Here’s how it normally happens:
- In prep for my first call with a new client or prospect, I do a quick check to see if they have Google Analytics installed on their website.
(This is easy – you can do it right now. Visit your site, then right click anywhere not on a link on the page – “View Source” should be one of your options. If that doesn’t work (varies by browser) just access it from your browser menu – this link provides some simple walk-through instructions for most browsers) - Do a search on the source code for the Google Analytics UA code.
(Also easy – either scroll through looking for something that looks like “UA-XXXXXXXX” where the Xs are numbers. Even faster? Do a quick Find on the page (Ctrl+F on the PC or Command+F on the Mac) for “UA” (no quotes)) - Find the UA code. Rejoice. Google Analytics is installed!
- Inform client/prospect of this on the call. They also rejoice.
- Prospect becomes client. I provide instructions on how to add me as an admin user to their analytics account so we can begin working together.
- Client realizes they have NO idea what their log-in info is or who set up their analytics account in the first place. Oops. We begin work to resolve this.
LET ME BE THE FIRST – to defend the small business here. I believe it is the responsibility of whichever vendor/freelancer/etc. who set up the analytics account on the small business’ behalf to share this information and make sure the small business owner understands how to log in and knows how important your analytics data can be. (Here are 19 reasons).
But what if you find yourself in this situation? What can you do? Here’s my suggested list of actions to take:
- Try logging into www.google.com/analytics with your various Google-capatible email addresses (any Gmail or other address you’ve used to log in to a Google property before – Google Apps for Business, YouTube, Adwords, etc.). Your vendor *should* have made you an admin on your account when they set this up. If this is the case, one of these emails should do it for you.
- If that doesn’t work, contact your current web guy or gal (or most recent if you don’t have one at the moment). Do they have this info? No? Keep going back in time if you’ve had more than one. See if you can track it down.
- Worst-case scenario: start from scratch. Having your historical data would be best – especially if your site’s been around a long time – but if you can’t access it, you can’t access it. Set up a new analytics account and install that code (be sure to remove the old one).
Ugh, starting from scratch can be frustrating but sometimes necessary. Why don’t I suggest contacting Google? Because they don’t help with these data loss issues, sadly.
What can you do to prevent this scenario? Track down your analytics log-in information right now if you don’t have it! Then make sure to add a second ‘backup’ admin user account associated with another Gmail address of yours (Admin – Users – +New User).
Do you know how to log in to your Google Analytics account? Have you ever lost access to your Google Analytics data? Did you find this useful? Let me know in the comments!
Want more on Google Analytics? Check out How to Set Up Google Analytics Goals and Conversion Tracking or What is a Google Analytics Funnel and Why Should You Care?
