B4J: Using Google Analytics with ABMaterial

As ABMaterial is a hybrid website/webapp framework, you can use SEO (see previous article), and now even Google Analytics in the upcoming version 1.07. This article shows how you can use Google Analytics by adding just one extra line of B4J code on your page!

Note: This post is an ABMaterial adaptation of an excellent article for beginners on Google Analytics by Kristi Hines. Just to make it easier for you, I used and changed it just up to where ABMaterial comes in.  At the end of this post you can then continue reading the original one for more tips and tricks.

Why every website/webapp needs Google Analytics

Here are just a few of the many questions about your ABMaterial website/webapp that you can answer using Google Analytics.

• How many people visit my website/webapp?
• Where do my visitors live?
• What websites send traffic to my website/webapp?
• What marketing tactics drive the most traffic to my website/webapp?
• Which pages on my website/webapp are the most popular?
• How many visitors have I converted into leads or customers?
• Where did my converting visitors come from and go on my website/webapp?
• What content do my visitors like the most?

There are many, many additional questions that Google Analytics can answer, but these are the ones that are most important for most website/webapp owners. Now let’s look at how you can get Google Analytics on your ABMaterial website/webapp.

How to install Google Analytics

First, you need a Google Analytics account. If you have a primary Google account that you use for other services like Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google+, or YouTube, then you should set up your Google Analytics using that Google account. Or you will need to create a new one.

This should be a Google account you plan to keep forever and that only you have access to. You can always grant access to your Google Analytics to other people down the road, but you don’t want someone else to have full control over it.

Big tip:

don’t let anyone (your web designer, web developer, web host, SEO person, etc.) create your website’s Google Analytics account under their own Google account so they can “manage” it for you. If you and this person part ways, they will take your Google Analytics data with them, and you will have to start all over.

Set up your account and property

Once you have a Google account, you can go to Google Analytics and click the Sign into Google Analytics button. You will then be greeted with the three steps you must take to set up Google Analytics.

After you click the Sign Up button, you will fill out information for your website.

For the absolute beginner’s guide, we’re going to assume you have one website and only need one view (the default, all data view. The setup would look something like this.

Beneath this, you will have the option to configure where your Google Analytics data can be shared.

Our google account is setup and all we need now is get our Tracking ID and add it in ABMaterial.

Click the Get Tracking ID button. You will get a popup of the Google Analytics terms and conditions, which you have to agree to. Then you will get your Google Analytics Tracking ID.

In our ABMaterial app, all we have to do is add this single line to each of our pages in the BuildPage() method:

page.Initialize(Name, “/ws/appName/Name, False)
page.UseGoogleAnalytics(“UA-64248213-1”, Null)

I guess it can’t get much easier, no?

If you want to go deeper into Google Analytics, I suggest reading the original article The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics.

ABMaterial 1.07 will be realeased in a couple of weeks for the donators. Addidtional to Google Analytics support, two new components ABMEditor and ABMSocialShare will be included, but more on this in a next article.

Happy programming!

Alwaysbusy