Installing Google Analytics is probably one of the very early tasks of setting up a WordPress website.  Do not make the mistake I made in my early days by waiting for the official site launch. You will likely get traffic once your site is visible to Google (you are not blocking Google from your site), and once you publish your first few posts. Note, this instruction is completely for beginners, and a great tool for me when I am setting up my websites.

Basic Google Analytics Set-Up

1. Install Google Analytics for WordPress by Joost de Valk (Yoast)

2. Sign into Google and go to google.com/analytics

3. Click on Admin, and create a new account.

4. Set up your web property by filling in the website name, url, industry category, and reporting time zone.

5. Accept Google’s terms of service.

6. You’ll see a confirmation page with your unique tracking ID. Put this tracking ID in your  Google Analytics for WordPress plugin (you can do this manually).

Filter Your IP Address from your Google Analytics View

7. Go back to google.com/analytics and create a profile to filter out traffic from your IP address.  You can do this by going back to Admin, selecting your new google analytics account, and selecting the drop-down under View (Profile). Select “Create New View”.  Under Reporting View Name, enter something like “Your Site Name – No Internal traffic”, and enter your time zone.

8. Click on Filters, add a new filter called “Home IP Exclusion”, and leave the settings as Exclude Traffic from the IP Addresses that are equal to, and enter your ip address. You can get your ip address by going to http://whatismyipaddress.com/. This is the IP address you want to exclude. Hit save.

9. Now, verify whether the GA install was successful. Go to any page on your website, right-click and hit “View Source Code”. If you search for “ga.js”, and it appears, you have success!!!

So that’s it, you now have Google Analytics tracking installed on your website. Good luck!

Hello and welcome to the Small Biz Chick blog!

I’m starting this blog to document my journey as a newly minted entrepreneur and help other small business owners.  I left my six-figure corporate marketing job in search of a less stressful, more relaxing lifestyle. I have been living as an entrepreneur for about 9 months now.

I can tell you that while I do miss my steady paycheck, I have an overwhelming sense of freedom. My calendar is no longer jammed pack with back-to-back meetings, I have zero guilt because I can make it to dinner on time every night, and I don’t have to spend my nights working unless I really want to.

I have more time to prepare healthy fresh food, exercise (which I need to do more of!), and just “be” in the moment with my kids. I realized when I was a stressball at work, I had very little patience with my kids, husband, and the world in general. This was sad, but true.

So what did I do after I left Corporate America?

In nine months, I have launched 4 different businesses.

Ecommerce Store – At first, I started an ecommerce store.  In this business, I sell physical arts & crafts products. This business is consistently growing and I am using it as a sandbox to test various marketing tactics to see which gain the most traction.

As you can imagine, a product-based business can be labor intensive filling orders, so I listened to a lot of podcasts of well-known internet marketers.  I have also read a bunch of ebooks from Amazon.com.

Amazon FBA – I learned very early that the fastest and easiest way to make money online is to sell products.  Products (vs. services/info) are easier for people to buy because they are purchasing a physical, tangible product.  People have been making money off eBay for years.  I dabbled in selling my old books on Amazon back in 2005, and was amazed at how much extra money I could make with stuff that was lying around my house.

These internet marketers turned me onto selling on Amazon using FBA. They use a tactic called “retail arbitrage”, which means buying product in a retail store and selling it for a higher price elsewhere (in this case Amazon).

Niche Affiliate Marketing Sites – I also started following a couple of bloggers who inspired me to start niche blogs monetized by Google Adsense and other affiliate marketing programs. For any newbies, this is called affiliate marketing.  Since this is an information based business, earning money right out of the gate will be difficult. I have 2 websites that were launched in the last month, so I will keep the blog updated on tactics I’m using and what is working vs. not.

Authority Site – The fourth business I am now launching is SmallBizChick.com. I hope the Small Biz Chick will help you in your journey as an entrepreneur and small business owner. My blog posts will cover everything from selling physical product to information products to marketing other people’s products & services.

In the process of all of creating all of the above businesses, I’ve learned the tools of the trade to create WordPress websites and perform SEO, so if you are in need of these services, feel free to contact me!

Aren’t I spreading myself too thin working on all of these businesses?

Perhaps I am a bit crazy and a bit of an overachiever. The beauty of being an entrepreneur is you can decide what you want to work on and when. I am learning through trial and error what I like and don’t like. Eventually, I will likely focus all of my efforts on one or two of these businesses, but I need to determine what I enjoy most and what is bringing in money for my family.

I hope to see you on my journey from cube to entrepreneur!  You can learn more about my story here.  Please contact me with any questions and comments on my blog!  I would really love to connect with you!