Help & FAQ's/Using Viewbook/Pages & Websites
How can I get visitor statistics (Google Analytics) ?
Rien
posted this on August 18, 2009 08:31 pm
You can use Google Analytics to analyze visitor and site statistics of your page(s). This is what you have to do:
1. Create an Analytics account at http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html.
2. Add a new website profile, use your own domain name (yourdomain.com) if you have one, or your viewbook domain (username.viewbook.com).
3. Copy the 'Web Property ID' from the 'Tracking Status Information' box. It looks like 'UA-2500703-1'
4. Open the 'Settings' of your Viewbook Album or Page and paste the ID (without quotes) into the 'Google Analytics' input field.
Important: It can take a while (up to a few hours) before Google finds your tracking code, so be patient!
Comments
I am using an ARecord. Do I need to get an ID for my domain name (www.briancarlsonphoto.com) or my view book page name (bpcarlson.viewbook.com)?
Also, do I use the same ID on each page?
Thanks for the help
Yes, always the domain name you use for your website. Yes on each page for the same domain.
Is possible to add an ID on a specific page inside our portfolio?
You can add different Analytics ID's to different pages.
Hi,
Thanks for the information so far. I was wondering if you could only describe this in a bit more detail. I do have a website of my own and that has Google analytics on it, but I want to add google analytics to a viewbook page outside of my own website. It is not quite clear to me yet how I should do this.
I think my quesion resembles Brian Carlson's, but I don't get the answer you gave him, could you in your answer state a bit more clearly whether you're referring to the viewbook page or personal website?
Thanks in advance
Well it's what you want. You can create different website profiles in Analytics if you want to track multiple websites. You get different ID's for each website.
You can add the same ID to all your Viewbook Pages, but you can also create different profiles in Analytics and use different ID's. In Viewbook you need to add the Analytics ID to each Page individually.
Always be sure to use the correct domain name in the Analytics settings.
Hi,
i have just open an account on google for the analytics.
question : they asked me to write my url, but in fact i have two web adresses :
http://didier.viewbook.com and http://didier.bizet.viewbook.com
Doesnot mather which one or which one do i have to keep really ?
thanks.
Hi,
other questions.
1. My google ID is UA-18970250-1 or 'UA-18970250-1' as you explained in your google topics. (difference is ')
2. For a best result, do i have to fill in the ID into all albums or in the main page is enough ?
thanks.
http://didier.viewbook.com is your domain name with Viewbook. You can add anything after the first dot and it still works.
Don't add the: '
Yes, each Album, and Page you want to track.
Hi, I've just got Google Analytics setup and it seems great. But I have a few questions! :-
It was indicated above that you need to add your Google ID to every album and page that you want to track. I've only added it to my homepage, but in Analytics under "Content Overview" I can see indications that people have visited albums. Does this seem right?
Following on from that, and as I check what's in the list as I write this(!) I can see what I can only assume are all my pictures being loaded. First question here, I have an album for example called "landscapes" and I see hits for /landscapes1, /landscapes2 and so on up to /landscapes9 and miraculously there are 9 pictures in that album. Now, does it seem likely that as the flash player in viewbook caches all the images, these hits will always increment when someone opens the album, even if they don't look at all the pictures? Is there a way I can see how long someone looks as a specific picture?
Thanks,
James
As far as I know only pages that include the code are tracked. We'll look into it.
Each picture in an album has it's own URL /landscapes#1, /landscapes#2, etc. You should be able to analyse those individual URL's in Analytics.
I checked and I definitely don't have my ID on any page other than my homepage. You can't type those URLs in to get to the pictures though, so I have to assume they are just internally used by the flash viewer and further to that, I'd guess that therefore the flash viewer loads all pictures when you open an album and it therefore adds hits for each picture even if the user doesn't look at the pictures?
Thanks,
James.
The URL's to albums include the number of the image, for example this URL opens image #3 in the Album: http://photostory2010.viewbook.com/p_900#3. When the user navigates the Album the image # changes too.
Normally Google only indexes the Pages that include the tracking ID. We'll check this.
Thanks.
If the URL of a Page/Album/Collection in your site doesn't end with the Google Analytics code does this mean that it is not being tracked by Google?
Because from what I've noticed you get the Google Analytics code in the end of the URL only if the album is in a collection. But if your site is build only from albums their URLs are for example mysite.com/portraits ; mysite.com/fashion the you don't get the code in the end of the URL even if it was added in Analytics ID in Settings. Is this right or am I missing something?
For example, in my site I have 4 albums and 1 collection, which unites 3 other albums. Only the albums in the collection have the analytics code in the end of their URLs.
So it looks like this :
mysite.com/people
mysite.com/food
mysite.com/nature -> album Animals with URL -> mysite.com/nature/album/animals?p=1&s=UA-22001767-1
Actually you can check for yourself , my site's URL is http://grigor.info/
No, it's in the URL for another reason. You can take a look at the source code of your website. If it's there.
Look for this line: '_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2500703-xx']);'
Checked your site and your Analytics code is there.
Thank you, Rien. The tracking does work fine.
Thank you, Rien. The tracking does work fine.
As another poster requested, could you be a little more detailed in your walk-thru so it's absolutely bomb proof. I had to read this whole thread to know I got it right and to understand the multiple ID's thing.
e.g., username.viewbook.com or your own URL yourdomain.com
Thanks.
I've clarified a bit. We'll add screenshots later. Thanks for the feedback!
Hey, is the same method possible for Google Webmaster tool as for Analytics? I just started my site www.zambella.com/breville-juicer-reviews and want to use some of the features in GW as well as GA. Thanks!
@lorraine, yes see http://support.viewbook.com/entries/114691-how-do-i-add-the-verific...
when I click on settings, there is no "google analytics" input field offered.
Hi Kirsten, I looked into your page settings and I see you found it:)
Guys, just to help. It is as easy as the original post by Rien. Just be patient as it takes a while for google to register your account.
I can't get the Google Analytics ID code to show up in the HTML source for albums, e.g.:
http://photography.yvandermeer.net/album/wedding
The viewbook.com tracking code is there, but my own analytics ID is not showing up (added it the album settings as per the instructions). I added the analytics ID to several albums and was wondering why they weren't showing up in any GA reports, but it seems a problem with Viewbook.
Any suggestions?
Adding to my previous post:
I checked HTTP communication, and the analytics ID *does* show up in an XML response being loaded:
http://image.service.viewbook.com/presentations/xml/wedding/yvander...
I assume this is loaded by the Flash code handling the slide show, so should it be the Flash code that makes GA requests?
That's correct Yuri. Hope it works by now. Make sure you added the correct domain name in your Analytics profile.
Hi Rien, sorry not sure what you mean exactly, was there a bug that you just fixed? Because I've had several albums which have had an analytics ID for quite a while, but none have shown up in GA yet. Are you sure that the presence of my analytics ID in the XML guarantees successful communication with the GA API?
My non-album pages (/portrait, /packages, /wedding, /about, etc.) are showing up as expected in GA, so it seems more likely to be something specific to the Viewbook albums.
Yuri, can you send a support request here . Then we will look into it, just ask for Rudin.
i submitted a request for the same reason and have not heard anything back about it. My pages are indexed but zero of my albums are and they all have GA codes on the settings. This is been something that i just found out about after having my site up for months. What do you have to do to get you albums indexed like your pages?
Hi Jacenk, thanks for chiming in and confirming the same problem. I just created a support ticket for this (#16055), so I hope there will be a solution soon – I would love to see know who's looking at my album pages! ;-)
i only know one other person personally using viewbook and they dont have there stats for pages either. i would understand if it wasnt stated already that you should be able to have them show through VB and if there wasnt a space to enter the code in the album options. Since those are both there and not too many people are asking this question makes me wonder on the reason and if its hopefully a easy fix as i feel its VERY important that the albums are indexed especially since we don't have the option for drop down pages
I've added my google analytics code on each page settings a few days ago and google still says it does recognize my code / website. Any suggestions?
Are you sure you've entered the correct domain name in your Analytics profile settings? Can you send a support request here . Then we will look into it.
Hi, yes I've entered the correct domain.
I've sent you a support request as asked.
Thanks
Ooops, it looks like it's working now !
Hi,
I followes the steps and on google analytics it keeps saying
Tracking Not InstalledLast checked: Mar 1, 2012 10:58:36 AM PST
The Google Analytics tracking code has not been detected on your website's home page. For Analytics to function, you or your web administrator must add the code to each page of your website.
is it normal for this not work right away?
thanks
It can take a while. Make sure you did not add spaces before or after the code you've entered into Viewbook.
I was using Google Analytic before and I was questioning how accurate it is, because it's java based, Another thing that worried me about it is that some people say that Google can spy on your site through the service. All in all, I've been using a server side application, as part of my hosting, but it's kind of limited, I think I'll be moving back to Google. robbo @ <a href="http://www.helpforanxietysufferers.com/">Help For Anxiety</a>
is it possible to track with other analytics which generate code to be placed in the webpage?
Hi Sarah,
It might be possible. What service are you thinking about? What sort of code do they give you?
Best,
Jim
Hi Jim
Thanks for your reply. Looking at getclicky.com they have generated some javascript for my domain
Sarah
Hi Robert,
I think that Google is pretty accurate, but how would any of us actually test that. They are super geniuses, and they generally make products that work.
Are they spying on you? Again, they might say they aren't spying, but maybe they are. I don't know where one would begin an investigation into that matter. The only way to be 100% sure is to not use any Google products. I'm sure there are other less ubiquitous analytics services in the world, but I am not familiar with them. If you find a good one, let me know.
Best,
Jim
Hi Sarah,
You should contact me in support so we can discuss your account details in private. Send me the code they sent you. I may not be able to answer you tonight, but Rien will know. I'll ask him in the morning.
support@viewbook.com
Best,
Jim