Tattoo Studios and Artists
your online presence
Setting up Google Maps and Google Analytics for your site.
- by Damian McGrath

This page is a step by step guide for how to set up your studio on google maps and set up google analytics to track your website's traffic and visitor data. The Maps function will serve to have you easily found on google searches for your studios location. Analytics will tell you information about who is finding you, how they are finding you, where they are going on your website and how long they are spending on your site amongst other things. This page is meant to be used as part of the info we present for tattoo artists and studios wanting to maintain an online presence.

If you have any questions or need any assistance, if you are a tattoos.com client you can email us or call our Toronto office at 1-800-214-7104 or 416-203-7399 for clients outside N. America

Setting up Google Maps

As will be shown in the images below, are step by step directions in setting up your studio to be properly found in Google Maps. The first step is to go to google.com and simply type in tattoo studios in MY CITY, whatever the nearest city or town your studio is in. If you have multiple studios in multiple locations then it is best to go through this process for each location, once your first business is set up you can easily log in and add additional businesses. For our example here we have set up one of our clients studios we host in Toronto, Canada, Lower East Side Tattoo.

The first panel below shows how we log on to google and simply type a request in for tattoo studios in a specific area.

As you can see on "Panel Two" our search turned up several tattoo studios in the immediate area and if you look at the bottom of the page, our client Lower East Side Tattoos has a link positioned high in the google search results, however it has not shown up in the map listings close to our area. Having our Gmail setup, we want to now add our listing for our studio. If you are already listed, and you didn't set it up, you may as well follow this process in order to Claim your listing. This way you can edit and update google map info via your Gmail account. So the next step is to go directly to google maps, just simply click on the small map displayed in the search results. You will be taken to google maps in as shown in Panel Three.

Panel Two.

Once we are on the google maps page we see Panel Three broken into two main divisions. The studio info for the points on the maps with links to website's and contact info on the left; and the map of the tattoo studios in the central Toronto area displayed on the right hand side. Using the scrolling bar, scroll down to the bottom of the studio information displayed on the left. You will see a link to "Add a place to the map" as shown in the bottom left of Panel Four.

Panel Three

As you can see the link "Add a place to the map" is shown in the bottom left in Panel Four, simply click on the link and proceed to follow directions as shown in panel five.

Panel Four

Once you start to add your studio to the map, it is pretty straight forward. Just click on the "Continue to add a location" button in the large bubble over the map in Panel Five and fill out your studios information. Pay no attention to the location indicated on the map right now. It will update the map location once you have properly filled out your studio address information.

Panel Five

As you can see in Panel Six once we have updated the address in the information window the Point on the map is updated to properly indicate the your studios location. Save your information. If you are the first to register the listing it will simply be added to goolge maps, you can then login to google maps with your Gmail to make any updates or add additional studios or locations via this process again. If there is a similar or duplicate listing you will be asked to claim the listing. This is a simple process where you claim the listing and are then asked to verify with a PIN number google sends to your mailing address, or if you don't want to wait, google can SMS or call your place of business and give you a Pin number which you then enter into their onscreen prompt immediately confirming your studios information as accurate.

Panel Six

The next step in tracking your websites traffic.

Google Analytics - Just follow the directions and screenshots in the panels below and you can have a google analytics account setup for your website domain in ten easy steps. The instrucitons and panels below are a quick setup guide. Just click on any of the panels to see the graphics full size.

It's very simple to setup and there are lots of tutorials and explanations that allow you to get as in depth as you like. We are just going to go through the basic set up here for right now and then get more in depth as this site develops.

First, in your borwser logon to https://www.google.com/analytics/home/ and you should end up at what you see in Panel one. Using your Gmail Account userid and password login to Analytics and go to Panel Two.

Panel one.

You will be taken to the front interface of the Google Analytics. Just hit the Sign up Button on the lower left hand side as shown in Panel two and you will go to Panel Three. If you want to take the time to read the comman FAQ's on the right side of panel two go for it.

Panel Two.

Panel three takes us to the next simple step in Analytics New Account setup, the general information interface. This is where you setup what domain that you want assiciated with your Gmail. Pretty easy stuff.

Panel three.

Enter the name of the Studio account holder, this should be the same person that is running the Gmail Account, usually the studio manager or owner.

Panel Four

Now you goto the Google Terms and Conditions page as shown on Panel Five which is carefully scrutinized by your legal department before you check the box to accept the terms and conditions beofre pushing the Button to Create New Account.

Panel Five.

Finally you will get to a page as shown in Panel Six which will show you simple code to copy and paste into your websites page just before the /body tag at the end of your index page and any other pages you want to track on your site. Copy your code to the clipboard or stick it on a notepad for now. You can alsways login to retrieve it and set up other sites, and channels, all of this is for down the road when we get a little more advanced. For now we are just setting it up on your sites front page. so, once you have copied your code you can hit the "Save and Finish" button you see in hte lower left corner of Panel Six and you will see the google Analytics view reports interface on Panel Seven.

Panel Six.

Panel Seven shows you the google Analytics View Reports interface. This is what you will see when you login to your account at https://www.google.com/analytics/home/ from now on with Gmail account settings. However you will need to wait a few days after adding the code to your website for Google to start recording the Data for your site. Taking code you form the "Paste this code on your site window" you see on Panel Six. Open your website editing program and simply paste this code into your html beofore the /body tag at the end of your webpage as you see in Panel Eight.

Panel Seven

As you can see in Panel Eight, we have used the web editing program dreamweaver to show where we have copied the script onto the index page for the website. This can be done in a text editing program if you do not have a website editing program. DO NOT PASTE IT INTO THE DESIGN, BUT RATHER THER HTML CODE. It is not a complicated process, if you are unsure, just ask someone with basic website knowledge and they will be able to show you.

Panel Eight.

Once you load your webpage up to the site. All you need to do is verify the proper page with the code is in place. Form your borwser just click on View in the Menu bar and select Page Source as shown in Panel nine and then scroll to the bottom of the source as we see in panel ten and verify the code has been copied to the page for Google Analytics to start reporting as you can see in panel ten.

Panel Nine

The highlited area of the source code in panel ten shows us that the analytics code has been successfully added to our site.

Panel Ten

Now you have set up the analytics. Go in and explore, take the tutorials and if you have any questions for us and are a tattoos.com client don't hesitate to contact us.

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