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How to get stats using MonsterInsights on your website.

August 15, 2019 By Charles Johnston Leave a Comment

young woman in red beanie with statistic papers on wall, laptop on desk back to audience with caption how to get stats using monsterinsights on your website

When I wrote my first blog post back in 2007, I thought I knew who my audience was. Without analytics, I would have written for the incorrect audience for years. Thankfully since then, I have started using analytics to determine who my audience was, and you should too.

When you obtain stats about your website by using MonsterInsights, it removes all the guesswork.

There are a handful of WordPress plugins that we use on every website for our clients. One of those plugins is the Google Analytics plugin called MonsterInsights.

MonsterInsights creates a easy way to set up Google Analytics on your website. Once setup, it provides access to all kinds of stats in one place. Statistics that would otherwise need a header code or another more difficult application to retrieve.

In actuality MonsterInsights can do much more than just Google Analytics. Say you have a Woocommerce store and want to track your customers behavior, there is a simple enhanced eCommerce tracking you can turn on. Perhaps you have a form that you want to track engagement or a particular event on your WordPress site you want to track. You guessed it MonsterInsights can help with those as well.

So how does one get started getting stats using MonsterInsights on their own website? You ask.

First, head on over (after reading this of course) to the MonsterInsights website and download the plugin. You can also find the plugin in the WordPress plugin repository if that is easier.

After grabbing and downloading the plugin, next comes installing it to your site. If you are unsure about how to install a plugin, we can help or there are plenty of tutorials out there that can show you how.

Once the plugin is installed, you will see a new menu item in your WordPress admin dashboard. Select the Insights » Settings page in the dashboard and type in the license key. If you don’t have a license key yet you can obtain one on the MonsterInsights webpage.

Okay now that the heavy lifting is done, next we need to connect it to your Google Analytics account so all the little monsters can work their magic. Click the “Connect MonsterInsights” button just below where you activated your license. You will then be asked to login into your Google account. If you have many Google or G-Suite accounts like we do, be sure to select the one that you used to create your Google Analytics account (it will save you headaches trust me).

Next you will have to grant the typical permissions for MonsterInsights to access Google and validate that you are human, no DNA required though.

Wallah! You did it! You successfully connected MonsterInsights to Google Analytics!

Now you can now start working with the Analytics Dashboard inside WordPress.

Snapshot of MonsterInstights WordPress plugin dashboard stats

So all that hardwork and now what? You might ask.

MonsterInsights gives you access to great analytics right inside your website dashboard. You can adjust the settings inside the dashboard to give you the statistics that matter the most to you. For example say you are a blogger that uses alot of different affiliate link trackers. There is specific tracking built into the dashboard that will show you the traffic associated with each applicable link.

What if you use that same link more than once in a post?

You guessed it, there is also a way to enable tagging to specific links, allowing you to track not only the links, but the actions taken on the separate links to see which one happens to get most traction.

Whatever your goals are for tracking your web traffic, the dashboard is customizable to fit virtually any need and is also easy to use. So whether you just want to see how much traffic your site is getting, or want to know exactly what action a user took while visiting your site, the MonsterInsight plugin is the way to go.

In conclusion, our recommendation on how to get stats for your website is byusing MonsterInsights. So be sure to grab your copy of the plugin today and discover how much information your own website holds.

Never Underestimate The Influence Of Favicons.

July 21, 2019 By Charles Johnston Leave a Comment

Google warned us, yet few paid attention or even knew what they were talking about, what even is a favicon?

Recently, as Google does periodically, they rolled out some changes to the way we search, or at least the way they want us to. As they explained, especially when it comes to mobile search, they want websites to be easily identified and scannable. One way of implementing this was to utilize the ever so common favicon.

So what does that even mean?

For starters, a favicon is a small image icon that represents a website or at least should. Granted there are plenty of websites that are out there that are unidentifiable in this manner and are missing said icon. If you or your web designer failed to add a favicon to your site, perhaps with Google’s prompting now is the time.

What should a favicon be exactly you ask. Well generally speaking it should be something that is a representation of either your logo or theme. This enables users to quickly recognize your site over others when either searching or in their bookmarks.

How do I best resize my logo to make a favicon?

Depending on your web application or theme, it may suggest a specific size recommendation to upload. Usually, a minimum would be 16×16 pixels to 48×48. It can also be a good practice to use various sizes so that they format and scale appropriately on different devices. That being said, best practice is to not necessarily use a 16×16 size as Google will rescale it to that size anyway.

What kind of file should the favicon be?

You can use a JPG, GIF, or PNG for most browsers without any issue. However, best practices would be to use the ICO file format to ensure all browser compatibility.

What is an ICO?

An ICO is an image file that is formatted specifically for computer icons in Microsoft Windows. ICO files can contain one or more images of different sizes, depths, and colors for appropriate scaling on various browsers and device sizes.

How can I create an ICO?

There are numerous ICO converters online that can create ICO favicon files for you for free. Many of these converters require you to set the parameters of the file sizes that you want, otherwise, they default to 256 pixels which is the maximum size. It is best practice as mentioned previously to incorporate a few variations of image sizes in the favicon file for your website.

Next steps for SEO with Favicons

According to Google the favicons and the homepage in which they reside must be crawlable. Favicons should be a representation of your brand and easily identifiable. Also, make sure that the icon is not offensive in any way or Google will set it back to a default image icon. Google has already begun penalizing sites without appropriate favicons that go against their guidelines.

If you do not currently have a favicon on your site, we might suggest that you either create one yourself, contact your designer, or of course we are happy to help as well. Google is constantly making changes to the SEO algorithms, especially when it comes to mobile searches. The next step beyond mobile search will be voice search, which we will address in an upcoming post.

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Why We Went to WordCamp Europe

June 30, 2019 By Charles Johnston Leave a Comment

When the opportunity to travel to WordCamp Europe came up to speak about what we love to do, it was an easy decision.

As a web design agency, one way we love to give back is to participate in our local WordPress community through WordCamps. When the opportunity to take our passion globally at WordCamp Europe came about it took our sharing to a whole new scale.

WordCamp Europe 2019 Berlin Germany banner

I had the blessing to be invited by the WordCamp Europe organizers to speak about my passion for serving nonprofits as a web designer in Berlin, Germany. It’s not every day that I get an invite like that so of course, it was a resounding “yes!”

People ask me all the time, why do I speak at WordCamps? If I were to provide a one-word answer to that it would be “community”.

Whether speaking at local WordCamps of a few hundred or one as big as WordCamp Europe that had a record-setting attendance of almost three thousand. One thing remains consistent and that’s the community.

The WordPress community in which we live and love to work is open source in many ways, not simply their code. We are open and share our knowledge with one another. The WordPress framework is built on the premise of always being open source and so are the people that work with it. In addition, if you ever need help, there is always someone willing to lend a hand.

Speakers, sponsors, vendors, and attendees alike all gathered together to share with each other. Sharing their knowledge, passion, and insights on a platform we have all grown to love.

WordCamp Europe 2019 held at the Estrel Berlin Hotel and Congress Center in Berlin, Germany. From the opening remarks to the side conversations in the hallways, the venue filled with an energy that was palpable. There were 97 countries representing a global community of WordPress enthusiasts. All gathered together to share in a common thread, their love for WordPress in a way I have never seen before.

Events of this size do not happen overnight. Many months of planning and execution by the outstanding volunteers and organizers made it come off without a hitch. Their months of painstaking planning paid off.

A great deal of information shared by many fantastic speakers from all over the world from three different stages. Each one contributing their small part back into the WordPress community.

Connections made, business cards exchanged, ideas shared, and friendships created.

I had the opportunity to open up track two of day one of the conference. Above all turn a room full of strangers into friends within minutes. I shared about web design techniques that I have found to work while designing websites for nonprofits. Being able to share my passion from a stage like that was well, humbling.

stage presentation Charles Johnston WordPress for nonprofits at WCEU

An engaged audience had great questions right after my talk. We continued those conversations as we passed one another in the hall or around the vendor area or in the cafe. It was fun to read the tweets and social feedback as well.

It was amazing to watch people from all backgrounds and nationalities come together in such a global community. At HeartWired we talk about our passion for serving those who serve their local and global communities. WordCamp Europe exemplified that mantra.

As I unwind my mind from a whirlwind trip to Europe and back. One thing I can say, if the opportunity comes where I am invited again to speak at WordCamp Europe which will be in Porto, Portugal next year, or any other WordCamp out there, it would again be a resounding “Yes!”

In conclusion, I want to thank the WordCamp Europe organizers, volunteers, speakers, speaker wranglers, emcees, founders, vendors, sponsors, attendees. Without each one of you, there wouldn’t be a #WCEU!