The Ultimate Introduction to

Google Analytics
CHRIS BOULAS

Contents
Why this eBook

What this eBook Will Teach You

What You Wont Get From this eBook

Who Is Chris Boulas?

Introduction to Google Analytics

How To Use Google Analytics For Your Site

Setup & Installation

12

Standard Reporting

25

Advanced Reporting

35

Custom Reports

44

Next Steps

50

Disclaimer
Formulytic, Web Analytics Mastery, and Chris Boulas are
not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in
any way officially connected with Google, Google, Inc., or
any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. The official Google web
site is available at www.google.com. All Google, marques,
logos, brand features, etc. are registered trademarks of
Google Inc.
The use on this website and/or in this eBook of
trademarked names and images is strictly for editorial
purposes, and no commercial claim to their use, or
suggestion of sponsorship or endorsement, is made by
the authors or publisher. Those words or terms that the
authors and publisher have reason to believe are
trademarks are designated as such by the use of initial
capitalization, where appropriate. However no attempt has
been made to identify or designate all words or terms to
which trademark or other proprietary rights may exist.
Nothing contained herein is intended to express a
judgment on, or affect the validity of legal status of, any
word or term as a trademark, service mark, or other
proprietary mark.

Why this eBook

Google Analytics is the most widely used web
analytics platform, but its also the most
misunderstood.
As widely used as it is, there arent many resources
available that instruct people on its proper use. I found this
surprising, because were living in the age of content
marketing and whether youre a business owner, employee,
contractor, freelancer, or anything else, youre in the media
business. That is -

Everybody has a story to tell and the bigger

your audience is, the easier it is to make
more money on the web.
There are dozens of resources available for almost every
other marketing platform and tool. From Google AdWords,
SlideShare, and Twitter Advertising to LinkedIN and
marketing automation platforms, users interesting in getting
a jump-start or even advanced information on these
platforms can be had easily. Where do you go for help on

Google Analytics though? Google offers minimal support

because its predominantly free. Sure, you can get an
account manager with Google Analytics premium, but if
Googles knowledge base doesnt offer what you need,
you either need to take an in-person training seminar
through Googles partners or ask via online forums.
Historically, the interface of Google Analytics has changed
just as frequently as new reports and functionality are
added, leaving their users in a position to find outdated
information scattered across the web. From my perspective,
there just has to be a better way, and there is.

What this eBook

Will Teach You
Unless youre completely new to Google Analytics and dont
have an account yet, please dont read this cover to cover.
Ill save you from wasting your time. This guide is meant to
be used as a handbook, so keep it handy when you have a
question and need to find an answer. The guide will be
broken down into a series of chapters, from beginning all
the way to advanced.

What You Wont Get

From this eBook
This guide wont cover every question under the sun. This
eBook is meant to show you how to not only get up and
running, but also how certain features can be used from
beginner to advanced. I also wont be covering every report
available within the platform. For the sake of being concise
and providing whats most important as an introductory
guide, Ill only be highlighting reports Id recommend for
getting started.

For advanced information on how Google

Analytics functionality can be used to
answer specific business and/or website
questions, more comprehensive
educational materials will soon be
available through chrisboulas.com.

Who is Chris Boulas?

By age 25, I had generated over $5 million in revenue for

B2B companies using a variety of online marketing
strategies. Im a self-taught internet marketer from upstate
NY. During my undergrad at the Rochester Institute of
Technology (RIT) from 2004-2008, very few courses were
available that teach the strategies, tactics, and tools
available today. They simply didnt exist until now. I recall an
Intro to Internet Marketing class that I took in 2007. I could
have taught that class if I wanted to. I blew the entire class
out of the water during the last week because I didnt say
but 10 words all semester, then brought my dads company
on-campus and gave a mind-blowing presentation showing
everyone what I had been doing years prior.
5

In the years since graduating, I moved to Southern

California and began working with technology startup
companies, because screw corporate culture. Im allowed to
say that because Ive worked for those companies. Lifes too
short, Ill leave it at that. Some of you who subscribe to my
blog know me outside of the marketing community and in
the automotive community. Im extremely passionate about
cars and Formula 1, where the majority of my time is spent
outside the greater realm of marketing. Im eternally grateful
that my wife puts up with that side of my life without a
complaint.

Introduction to
Google Analytics
Lets start at the beginning. By now, you already understand
that Google Analytics is the most widely used web
application platform available. This is because the version
that (almost) everyone uses isnt only free, but it offers a
tremendous value in regards to functionality relative to paid
competitors. Google Analytics differentiates from most
competitors in that its best used for obtaining visibility into
macro trends. That is, understanding how larger groups of
users are interacting with your site. Google is slowly moving
towards being able to support visibility into micro level
information about individual users, but as of 2014 better
solutions are available that provide insight here (see
MixPanel or KissMetrics to learn more). Should you need
insights at both a macro and micro level, I recommend
running both Google Analytics in addition to one of the
above mentioned solutions.
Web analytics as a practice rose from the time when
webmasters built and maintained websites. Today, we

refer to them as front-end developers. Since inception in

2005 to present day, Google Analytics has evolved the
practice of traditional web analytics that was once tailored
towards webmasters, to focusing the suite of tools
contained within the platform towards marketers. By
building web analytics tools that marketers can use, deeper
insights about the behavior occurring on ones website
could be harnessed, analyzed, and acted upon for purposes
of furthering the extent of the sites goals, which I hope do at
least one of these three things, preferably in this order:

1. Educate
2. Generate leads
3. Acquire customers
Surely you dont need to be a marketer to meet and exceed
your website goals using Google Analytics, but thats who
the tool is tailored for. Unfortunately this creates a large gap.
As the platform has evolved, it has demanded an increased
level of analytical skill to maximize the effectiveness of and
most marketers havent kept pace. Through this guide,
Google Analytics can be used by everyone regardless of
background.

How To Use

Google Analytics

For Your Site
Before we even get into setup, Id like for you
to answer this question first - what are the
goals of your site?
Ive alluded to possible goals in the previous section, but
before continuing, note at least 2 items youd like your site
to achieve. This is important because you need to have a
plan in place for measuring actual performance relative to
all of the goals youve noted. This is where youll see the
highest return from Google Analytics and the time youll
invest in learning to use it. One piece of advice - dont list
goals that serve as a means to an end. These are goals
such as:

I want to increase traffic to my site

10% each month.

Traffic isnt a goal. Traffic is what you need to

satisfy a bigger goal. If this was your first
thought, revise your goal to read more like:
Id like to increase the percentage of
site traffic that purchases from me 3%
each month.
Other examples can include:

Due to the complexity of the industry I

work in, Id like users to spend more
time on my site learning about my
product/service offerings so they
understand my core competencies
and how Im differentiated in the
market.

10

 Id like to understand if people leaving

my site is a large scale issue, so I can
write better content that meets their
intention for visiting my site to begin
with.
I run a lot of marketing initiatives, but
Im unable to measure which ones are
most effective. Id like a better
understanding of what performs best
so I can iterate on that success with
future programs.

There are tens of other possible goals. Tailor

them to your specific use case.

11

Setup & Installation

Navigate to http://www.google.com/analytics to begin the
account creation process. Even though you may have an
email address already, Google Analytics must be used
using a Google account. Creating one account on Google
grants access to all Google-owned properties, not limited to
solely Analytics.
Upon completing signup for a new Google Account. Youll
arrive at the following screen. The process starts off a bit
misleading, but youll want to choose sign up again to
begin registering you new Google account for use with
Analytics.

On the next screen, youll be presented with two tracking

method choices. Sparing the nitty-gritty details, opt for
Universal Analytics over Classic Analytics. Classic

12

Analytics uses Googles traditional core reporting

algorithms, which are slowly being phased out in favor of
the new reporting algorithm being named Universal
Analytics. At the time of this writing, some of you may no
longer be presented with which tracking method to use.
Universal Analytics offers the same reports that Classic
Analytics does, with the added benefit of functionality not
present in Classic. The following table outlines the core
differences between both tracking methods. If you choose
Classic, youll have an option later to migrate your account
over to Universal, but know that in the coming months,
Google will be forcing all users to use the newer algorithm
present in Universal, which is now officially out of beta.

13

Below this table, youll need to complete a few additional

fields. In most instances, youll want to give your Account
Name and Property Name the same name. In the Google
Analytics hierarchy, Account Name is the topmost level. For
basic installations, youll want to input the name of your
company here. Property Name most often refers to the
name of your website. This is most often synonymous with
the company name, hence why I recommend using the
same value for both fields. If you run a more complex
business with 2 top-level domains (TLDs), its recommended
to use one account, and 2 properties, one for each domain.
If your website uses subdomains, (these look like
blog.chrisboulas.com - blog is a subdomain on
chrisboulas.com) dont create a separate property for each
subdomain. Keep subdomains under a single property, as
Google is smart enough to associate them accordingly.

14

Upon completion of this step, youll receive a tracking script

from Google that follows the format in the example in the
image on the following page. From here, theres one more
step to begin collecting data from your site. The script
needs to be added to every page on your site. If youre
comfortable doing this on your own, place the script just
below the closing </head> tag. If your site is hosted on a
CMS such as WordPress, the script can be added one time
to the header.php file.

15

From this point, most people wait for data to begin

appearing in their account as a means of verifying their
install was successful, but Ill show you a better verification
method below that most users arent aware of. By using
Chrome as your web browser, you have the ability to install
a number of plugins that enhance the functionality of your
browser. One such enhancement is called the Tag
Assistant by Google. Install this plugin
http://bit.ly/googletagassistant, and once complete, a new
icon will appear in the top right corner. Navigate to a page
on your website, then click the icon. If successful, youll see
something similar to this.

16

Setup & Installation

By now, you know the difference between Analytics
accounts and properties. Theres a third (and final) level to
the hierarchy we havent covered called Views Within
each property, can exist a number of different views. Views
give users flexible ways to segment their data, or to view
only a subset of data that fits a given set of criterion,
ignoring any data that doesnt meet your requirements.
Google will automatically create an unfiltered view for each

17

new property created. Using the example above, by

choosing the Admin tab from the top of the screen, we can
see how the hierarchy has been created, with the
automatically created unfiltered view appearing as All Web
Site Data.

To recap the hierarchy:

Accounts
A collection of web properties managed the company
or user
Properties
Individual web properties for which data will be
tracked
Views
Allows users the ability to segment and filter data that
meets a predefined set of conditions
18

Create a New Property

1.
2.
3.

From the Admin menu, click the dropdown at the

top of the Property column
Choose Create new property
Choose the tracking method youd like to use,
keeping the recommendation stated earlier in
mind.

19

4.
5.

Configure the remaining property options and

choose Get Tracking ID
Deploy the tracking ID following the previous
recommendations

Create a New View

1.
2.
3.

From the Admin menu, click the dropdown at the

top of the View column
Choose Create new view
Choose a new name for your view and click
Create view. Give your view a descriptive name
that relates to how you intend to segment the data
within the view.

20

Filters
Filters allow you to create the various views youd like to
track. As views are defined by various data perspectives,
filters allows us to create these segments and perspectives.
To create a filter:

1.

Choose Filters from the View column in the main

Admin menu and select the red + New filter button

21

2.
3.

Choose the red +New Filter button

From here, either predefined filter, or custom filter

can be selected and the filter can be constructed
accordingly.

As a word of caution, never filter data from the unfiltered

view automatically created by Google. I always recommend
preserving an unfiltered dataset in the event you need to
refer back to it at a later time.

Frequently Used Filters

Theres one filter I do recommend adding to any view you
choose to create. Well cover this further in a later section,
but in one of the standard reports, the full referring URL
information isnt displayed when viewing referral traffic. We
can tell Google to display the full URL by constructing a filter
per the image on the following page:

22

Of all filter options available, the Predefined Filter filter

type is used most frequently. Another example filter used
often allows users the ability to separate subdomain traffic
from what gets reported under their root domain. Hosting
your blog on a subdomain such as blog.mycompany.com is
one of the biggest use cases. To construct this filter:

1.

Create a new view from the view column in the

Admin menu

23

2.

3.

Name the view something youll easily recognize

later. In this case, name the view the name of the
subdomain youd like to track.

Create a new filter following the steps above, and

configure your filter using the example below

24

Standard Reporting
Metrics Defined
Before walking through the standard reports offered by
Google, its imperative to have an understanding of the
difference between each of the metrics Google displays
throughout these reports. Metrics in Google Analytics
represent the various points of data that are available to
measure. Metrics are always represented in blue
throughout the interface.

25

Users (Formerly named Unique Visitors)

The number of new unique cookies to the page within the
specified date window. This is a page level metric.

Sessions (Formerly named Visits)

Traffic based on a 30 minute session. Multiple loads of the
page within 30 minutes counts as 1 session. A visit within 30
minutes, and a subsequent visit after 30 minutes counts as
2 sessions. This is a page level metric.

Pageviews
The total number of aggregate page loads without any
filters applied. This is the raw number of times the page was
viewed.

Unique Pageviews
The number of page views deduped by session. If during a
single session, 1 page was viewed 3 times, only 1 pageview
is counted. However, if there was 1 view of 1 page, and 2
page views of another page in a single session, 2 page
views are counted.

26

Dimensions
Google Analytics dimensions are used to
describe data.
They represent the various characteristics about a web
property. For example, Medium is a dimension that can
have underlying values of organic referral or email to
reflect various traffic channels. In standard reporting,
dimensions can be tiered to two levels maximum. For
example, you can configure a report to view the Users
metric by the Medium dimension, and then by the
Source dimension. When the data is displayed under this
configuration, the user would first see the data by medium,
where each medium can be clicked to drill one level deeper
to the source level. For example, if I clicked the Organic
dimension first, I would be taken to the source level where I
would see values such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
Throughout Google Analytics, dimensions are always
represented in green.

27

Pairing Dimensions & Metrics

Dimensions and metrics are always used
together.
As youll find when we dive into Standard and Custom
reports, all reports contained within or built using Google
Analytics present data in the dimensions/metrics format.
Furthermore, dimensions can be layered in a hierarchy to
two levels in standard reports, and even more in custom
reports. This lets us dive into various levels of segmentation
all within the same report.

28

Now that we understand the difference between metrics,

dimensions, and how they work together, we can begin
diving into many of the standard reports offered within
Google Analytics. Standard reports are the most basic
reports offered by Google, in that the most common data
can be retrieved without the need to build a custom report.
Google organizes the standard reports into headings based
on the types of questions youre looking for answers to.
One very important point to note is that Google always
chooses a default metric for each report type. In the case
of the reports in this section, most
reports will default to displaying the
Sessions metric. To see these
dimensions paired with another metric,
choose the drop down displaying the
current metric from above the graph
within each report. If you dont see the
metric youd like listed, a custom
report is necessary. In the section
below, I wont be reviewing every
report. However, Ill make mention to
the most interesting reports and the
reports used most often. Now, lets go
through each of these main headings.
29

Audience
Includes reports that detail known physical and geographic
traits about the users that come to your site
The Users Flow is a very popular report under this
heading. The format of this report is unlike most others
youll come across. Users Flow shows the sequence of
pages most frequently chosen through the site. Green
boxes indicate through-traffic, while red funnels indicate that
this is where the navigation path ends for a subset of users.
This report is best used when selecting source/medium as
the starting dimension and reviewing the most frequented
paths based on the size of the green boxes. This should
give you an idea of how to better optimize on-site
conversion funnels by measuring drop off points through
the various navigation paths.

Acquisition
Includes common reports users should view to answer
questions about how traffic is acquired and where users
originate from.

30

This heading contains perhaps the most commonly used

collection of reports. Of these, the All Traffic report is one
of the most popular. This report shows users where their
site traffic comes from (by the Source & Medium
dimensions) and how much. When noticeable increases or
decreases in traffic volume are witnessed across multiple
time periods, researching using this report is often the first
starting point. By selecting the compare to checkbox in
the date range configuration window, youll notice that the
report repopulates to show how each traffic source/medium
has changed across the two time periods.

Within this heading, contain reports from both organic

search (in the Search Engine Optimization subheading) as
well as paid search (through the paid search AdWords

31

platform). If users are also running a paid search campaign

account through AdWords, the AdWords account can be
linked to Google Analytics to centralize data in one location.

Behavior
Includes reports that provide answers to questions you may
have about how users behave on your site, how they
interact with various pages, and what they do on your site.
The behavior heading contains reports that show page-level
traffic information. Specifically, the most common report can
be accessed by navigating to Behavior Site Content All
Pages. Referring to our previous example of researching
what could cause large changes in traffic between two time
periods, Id recommend viewing this report next to see
which pages were responsible for the traffic differences.
Note that under these reports, the default metric has
changed from sessions to pageviews.
Site Search - If your site contains a search field that allows
visitors the ability to find content hosted on your domain,
site search can be configured under Admin View Settings
Site Search Configuration. When toggled to the on

32

position, Google will request a query string parameter. To

determine what to enter, conduct a search on your site and
view the resulting URL that loads. In the URL, search for a
question mark followed by letters and and an equals sign.
Heres an example:
http://www.chrisboulas.com/blog?s=marketing%20tips Enter
the letters between the ? and = into the field where Google
requests the query parameter. After approximately 24 hours,
data will begin appearing in the site search report.

Conversions
Measures desired conversion events previously configured
in the Goals section within the Admin settings.
Under the Goals subheading, the report viewed most
commonly is the Funnel Visualization report. Similar to
how the Users Flow report under the Audience heading
shows which path users most commonly take through your
site, the funnel visualization report allows you to define and
configure your own funnels that youd like to track. This
report can be configured by creating funnel steps at the
time the goal is created. Users have the ability to define the

33

the starting page at the top of the funnel, middle funnel

page touchpoints, ultimately leading to the desired
conversion goal.

Navigation Takeaways

The main navigation is structured from the

broadest category to the most specific. In
marketing terminology, this is often referred to
as a funnel. That is, identifying who, what, and
were at the top of the funnel, behavioral
characteristics in the middle of the funnel, and
finally, measuring much desired conversion
events at the bottom.
This sequence provides a logical progression from
understanding what happens at key stages through your
funnel from the broadest categories at the top, to the most
specific at the bottom. Through custom reports, discussed
in a later section, will you be able to view this progression in
a single report.

34

Advanced Reporting
Inside the list of preconfigured standard reports, exist a
subset of reports that are considered to be more advanced
due to the fact that an extra level of configuration is
necessary in order to fully take advantage of the insights
they offer. Here, Ill be providing details on how each of
these advanced reports can be configured and used to tell
you more about your sites performance that you wouldnt
otherwise be able to determine from the other reports
included as part of the standard reports.

Events
This is a more advanced feature within Google Analytics
that allows for more granularity in tracking interactive
elements on a page. Google natively tracks traffic that
occurs on a page, but this default configuration doesnt
account for interactive elements such as individual buttons,
videos, or links. To track these elements, event tracking is
necessary. The use of events is highly recommended as a

35

way to determine how well individual calls to action or

design elements work at achieving your desired conversion
goals. Setting up events requires users to add extra source
code to their pages. Google offers a guide on how to get
started with events. I cant stress the importance of using
these enough, unless youre using a third party tracking tool
to handle interactive elements such as CrazyEgg,
KissMetrics, or MixPanel.

Experiments
Google Analytics Experiments are also referred to as
Content Experiments and can be accessed by navigating
to Behavior Experiments within the Reporting tab. I
consider this to be more of a tool than a report, as this is
Googles primary method of allowing site owners to define,
structure, and analyze a/b tests on various pages across
your site. This functionality was formerly referred to as
Google Website Optimizer and existed as a standalone tool
before being redeveloped and incorporated into the
broader Google Analytics platform in August 2012.

36

A/b tests allow users to test the impact of various pages and
compare the impact they have at achieving the users
predefined goals. This practice is also referred to as
conversion rate optimization.
Ill admit this tool can be glitchy at times, but its the only
free option available that Im aware of. If your budget allows
for additional marketing tools, consider Optimizely.
Configuring an a/b test is easy by following the steps
depicted below.

37

In step one, youll be required to select a goal metric to

measure. Here, youll need to select one of the goals youve
defined as discussed earlier in this ebook, or you can opt to
create a new one now. In step two, youll be prompted to
enter the URLs of the two pages youd like to measure.
After these variations are chosen, Google will generate a
new snippet of source code that will need to be placed on
both pages in order to track the performance of your
selected pages and determine which one performs the best
relative to the goal you selected in step one.

Advanced Segments

Widely considered to be the most powerful

feature within the Google Analytics platform,
advanced segments allow users the ability to
define subsets of traffic and isolate them from
other traffic within your view so the traffics
characteristics can be measured across
dimensions and more importantly, against each
other.

38

Advanced segmentation is so powerful that it could be a

topic of its own, but here, Ill be showing you how to get
started before taking some time to put together some more
comprehensive educational materials and practical
examples of how this feature can be fully leveraged.
The location of this feature can very easily be overlooked,
but it can be identified by a grey arrow in the upper left
corner of any standard report.

39

Clicking this arrow expands a flyout menu with various

options. Youll notice a number of boxes containing
descriptions. These boxes represent the default advanced
segments that Google provides. To see how the report
looks when an advanced segment is chosen, choose the
segment titled Mobile Sessions then click Apply.

40

Youll notice the segment you chose now appears at the top
of the report next to All Sessions. In the resulting report,
youll notice that you can now see mobile traffic being
compared to all traffic across the source/medium
dimension. The screenshot above represents a one-month
time period. Here, we can see 15.77% of organic traffic from
Google came from mobile users (or 620 sessions). See how
powerful this feature is? This is just one example, but the
possibilities are endless. The default segments provided are
great, but better yet are the custom segments we build that
are more tailored to the sites we manage.

Create a New Advanced Segment

To create a new segment, choose +Create a new segment
under the grey dropdown arrow referenced earlier. There
are many different categories to choose from, but I find
myself choosing Conditions from the advanced submenu
most often. As you view the choices available to you, note
that many times youll be able to create an advanced
segment based on either dimensions, metrics, or both.

41

Thats right, an advanced segment can be created by mixing

dimension and metric specifications using boolean the
boolean operators AND and OR.

Advanced Segmentation Recommendations

Ill be providing practical examples of real-world custom
advanced segments, but if you find yourself struggling to
determine how to segment your traffic, I advise building
advanced segments of traffic that has converted on your
site, and by each individual asset users are able to convert
on. Extending that thought, its equally important to build
advanced segments of non-converting traffic. Learning

42

your site as opposed to non-converters is a great way of

gaining insights into how you can better-optimize your site
to increase your conversion rate.

43

Custom Reports
Thus far, everything shared has been accessed under the
Reporting tab from the top menu within a view. As you
become more familiar with the limitations of the data and
reports accessed here, youll slowly find yourself spending
more time building custom reports, which are accessed
from the Customization menu at the top of the page within
any view.

Getting Started with Custom Reports

Building a custom report is fast and easy. All reports are
built within the screen that loads after choosing +New
Custom Report. As you can see in the screenshot below,
Google indicates areas where metrics and dimensions for
your report can be chosen.

44

45

There are two key areas that users often overlook when
building reports on this screen. First, take note of the fact
that you can add multiple tabs to your report. This will save
you from having to build multiple reports that you may
otherwise prefer to keep as separate tabs within a single
report. Heres a tip - filters you choose to add to your report
are effective across all tabs. Unfortunately, Google doesnt
offer the ability to set up different filter requirements on
different tabs in the same report. Should you need to do
this, multiple reports are required.
Second, notice that you can select to have your data
rendered as a flat table as opposed to the default selection
of Explorer under the report type. Choosing to view the
data as a flat table is most closely associated with a tab
delimited .csv file, whereas choosing the Explorer option
is ideal for scenarios where you dont need to export the
data for additional analysis in a spreadsheet application.
The reason I say this is because there will be instances
when a report is built using multiple dimensions that are
nested under each other. If the report type is on Explorer,
only the first dimension will appear when the data is
exported to a spreadsheet. For this reason, opt to view the

46

data as a flat table when multiple dimensions are required

to ensure all dimensions are included in the exported
report.

Custom Reporting Options

Once a custom report has been built, itll remain available in
the custom reports menu accessed immediately after
choosing the Customization tab from the top menu. From
this screen, reports can be shared, copied, or deleted by
choosing the Actions button from the right hand side.
Sharing a report generates a link that once clicked, will
allow the receiver to choose a view to apply the custom
report to. Custom reports are also flexible in that they can
be scheduled via email or added to a dashboard for easier
viewing under the Reporting tab.

47

data as a flat table when multiple dimensions are required

to ensure all dimensions are included in the exported
report.

Custom Reporting Options

Once a custom report has been built, itll remain available in
the custom reports menu accessed immediately after
choosing the Customization tab from the top menu. From
this screen, reports can be shared, copied, or deleted by
choosing the Actions button from the right hand side.
Sharing a report generates a link that once clicked, will
allow the receiver to choose a view to apply the custom
report to. Custom reports are also flexible in that they can
be scheduled via email or added to a dashboard for easier
viewing under the Reporting tab.

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To schedule a report to distribute via email on a recurring

schedule, choose the Email button from the top menu
inside a report that has been ran. Although hidden, youll
find it to be a nice feature that saves you time in the future.
Similarly to scheduling reports via email, they can also be
added to a dashboard by choosing Add to Dashboard
from within a report. From here, you can choose which
dashboard youd like to add the report to, or you also have

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the option of creating a new one at this time. Last,

dashboards are always accessed by choosing
Dashboards from the top left menu from within the
Reporting tab, as indicated in the screenshot below.

As you may notice above, Dashboards can be shared with

other users, creating a central location for viewing data.
Keep in mind, in order for other users to view dashboard
data youve built, the custom reports its comprised of must
also be shared with those same users. This means any
custom report used to render the data in a dashboard must
also be shared via the share link with the same users as
outlined earlier.

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Next Steps
Did you find value in this guide and have
interest in learning other areas of
internet marketing? Head over to
ChrisBoulas.com for the latest trends and
tactics in internet marketing from
beginner to advanced.
Trying to take your traffic, lead
generation, or customer acquisition goals
to the next level? Formulytic consults
with brands large and small to help them
grow revenue through online marketing
strategies.

www.formulytic.com

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