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Access Information News Announces Free Lifetime Link Tracking For All Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors Beginning January 22, 2024
Released: 1/22/2024
Author: Aaron Di Blasi, Publisher, Access Information News
On This Page:
1.) Your Privacy and Access Information News
2.) Free Lifetime Tracking Announcement
3.) How will it work?
4.) Has this always been possible?
5.) What happens to the UTM parameters that I already submitted?
6.) The Result?
7.) Technical Details
8.) What's the easiest way to find a specific link for tracking?
9.) Are there any requirements for tracking?
10.) Are there any alternatives to interacting with the Google Analytics interface visually or using assistive technology?
11.) Closing
1.) Your Privacy and Access Information News
I would like to open this announcement by letting readers know that the only personal information that we collect about you is your First Name and your email address. That's it.
Where website traffic is concerned, the only thing we record are clicks. Not who clicked it. Just whether a click was made, or not. That, is all we are able to measure.
2.) Free Lifetime Tracking Announcement
I really cannot put into words how excited I am to announce this.
Why?
Because I know that it's going to absolutely change the game for Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors alike. How? By being able to track your link traffic in Access Information News even if you didn't submit the content that was published. I know. Pretty amazing, right? I certainly think so. And I think you will too. Here's why.
The most important question that any Sponsor or Advertiser has is whether or not they are getting ample traffic from readers for the money that they are paying for their advertisements.
For Access Information News Sponsors, this cost is just $100 per month.
Content Contributors also want to see the traffic that their contributions are getting. Even if their contributions don't make them money directly (though some do,) it always informs them as to what contributions are most appreciated by the community. Please think about that the next time you read Access Information News or Top Tech Tidbits. You are voting with your clicks.
We have known for a very long time that Access Information News Sponsorship packages were incredibly cost-effective for the amount of traffic that they generated on a weekly basis. We just couldn't prove it.
Well, actually, that's not true. We could prove it. But even with that proof, you would have had no reason to believe that our proof was legitimate.
For instance, would you simply take our word for it if we told you how many clicks your article or advertisement received? Without any way to confirm the numbers for yourself? Of course not.
And we all know that today, even supporting documentation can be easily forged.
So the only thing that digital marketers really trust anymore (and the only thing that you should trust) is your very own Google Analytics Account. So that is where we're going to meet you. Right inside of your very own Google Analytics account.
That's right. You'll always know that your traffic is legitimate because it will always be provided to you directly by Google Analytics, and never by us. And not just once. But for all time.
3.) How will it work?
Beginning with the January 22, 2024 issue of Access Information News we will begin to append something called UTM parameters to the end of all links submitted for publication by Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors alike.
This will not change the functionality of submitted links in any way. But it will allow the owner of that link's domain (AKA web address) to see any traffic generated by that link from Access Information News. And that is key to note. Only the owner of a domain (AKA web address) can use Google Analytics to review custom campaigns for that domain. A form of built in security and privacy that makes this an especially favorable long-term solution for keeping track of your traffic in Access Information News over time. And one of the primary reasons that we made the decision to implement free lifetime tracking for everyone in this specific way.
4.) Has this always been possible?
Yes it has, we're just reversing its direction. This is something that Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors have been able to do for themselves for as long as we have been publishing Access Information News. And a select few of you have.
But both Google Analytics and it's companion, the Google Campaign URL Builder can be a bit overwhelming. Both to use and to understand. And that's without using any type of AT. So we definitely understand why more Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors did not take advantage of this feature.
5.) What happens to the UTM parameters that I already submitted?
Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors that have submitted their own UTM parameters to track their link traffic in Access Information News will find them untouched.
If you wish to continue to submit your own UTM parameters to track your link traffic in Access Information News going forward you may still do so, though if your tracking needs are not complex, you may want to consider simply switching over to our parameters instead.
Why?
Because by using our parameters you'll never have to do anything to get your Access Information News traffic ever again. Except run the report on the specific link that you want tracking on. We will do the work of including UTM parameters specific to each weekly issue for every link, so that you don't have to. But the choice will always be yours.
6.) The Result?
This now means that if we publish a link to your domain in Access Information News, for any reason, traffic metrics for that link will now be available to you in Google Analytics.
7.) Technical Details
Technical details below.
Please feel free to forward these details, or this entire article, to your IT and / or marketing / analytics department so that they can begin delivering your weekly Access Information News link traffic reporting today.
This is what our custom UTM parameters look like for each issue of the Access Information Newsletter:
YOUR-LINK
?utm_source=accessinformationnews
&utm_medium=newsletter
&utm_campaign=01222024
&utm_term=editorial (Free Traffic)
OR
&utm_term=sponsorship (Paid Traffic)
Beginning with the question mark, this is the string (minus any spaces) that we append to the end of each of your links that run in the Access Information Newsletter, beginning in the January 22, 2024 issue.
For the newsletter, the parameter utm_campaign will change with each issue to reflect the date in a 2-digit month, 2-digit day, 4-digit year format, with no spaces, as outlined above.
This format allows you to simply swap in whatever issue date you want reporting on in order to run that report.
The last parameter, utm_term, can have one of two values:
1.) The first value is "editorial," and applies only to free, not-paid-for, editor-selected links that are published in the Access Information Newsletter.
2.) The second value, "sponsorship," applies only to paid Sponsor or Advertiser links that are published in the Access Information Newsletter.
This is what our custom UTM parameters look like for each issue of the Access Information News Website:
YOUR-LINK
?utm_source=accessinformationnews
&utm_medium=website
&utm_campaign=editorial (Free Traffic)
OR
&utm_campaign=sponsorship (Paid Traffic)
Beginning with the question mark, this is the string (minus any spaces) that we append to the end of each of your links that run on the Access Information News website, beginning January 22, 2024.
The last parameter, &utm_campaign, can have one of two values:
1.) The first value is "editorial," and applies only to free, not-paid-for, editor-selected links that are published on the Access Information News website.
2.) The second value, "sponsorship," applies only to paid Sponsor or Advertiser links that are published on the Access Information News website.
Please note that this traffic will always be separate from the traffic generated by your links within the newsletter each week.
Together these two tracking mechanisms can provide you with aggregate reporting on nearly all of the traffic generated by your links on a weekly basis. We say nearly all because not all of our partner channels permit measurement. So your actual traffic will always be higher than reported.
8.) What's the easiest way to find a specific link for tracking?
A much easier and more surefire method than trying to create your tracking link from the technical information above is to simply:
1.) Locate your link within the Access Information News issue that you want to measure.
2.) Right-click and/or option click on it.
3.) Choose "Copy link address" from the menu that appears.
This will copy your entire link, including the UTM parameters that we have provided for tracking, onto your clip board.
You can then paste this link into Google Analytics to get reporting on it.
9.) Are there any requirements for tracking?
Yes there are.
Please note that in order for tracking to work for you, you will need to already have a Google Analytics account connected to your domain, with the proper Google Analytics tracking code placed on any pages of your website that you link to in Access Information News.
With that in place, you can now enjoy free lifetime link tracking from Access Information News.
Monster Insights offers a really great tutorial on creating and connecting your Google Analytics account for the first time.
10.) Are there any alternatives to interacting with the Google Analytics interface visually or using assistive technology?
Thankfully, today, yes there are. And although they are all brand new, I, for one, am incredibly grateful for their existence.
A.) Paid Alternative: Avian
One alternative to the much maligned Google Analytics interface is a new plug-in for ChatGPT called Avian. There are also other plug-ins that will do this, like Zapier, but Avian appears to be the most trusted for analytics right now.
If you have a paid ChatGPT subscription, just select "Plugins" and search for "Avian" on the App Store. Install it and provide it with the necessary credentials to access your Google Analytics account. And voila. You can now query your website analytics using natural language.
Doing this automatically enrolled me in a no-cost trial period. Though I was not told this at the time.
I was able to use the Avian plug-in with my ChatGPT Plus subscription to ask detailed questions of my Google Analytics account data for about 5 days before I received an email saying that my "free trial" had ended. Which again, was news to me.
A current search for data about Avian pricing and policy yielded this untruthful (or, more likely, no longer truthful) nugget: "A free Avian account offers basic data analysis from 20+ sources, simple questions and answers in plain English. A paid Avian account offers complex data queries, visualizations, alerts and additional data sources." Which is not true (or no longer true) as of this writing.
But it still may be worth a try just to see, first-hand, the phenomenal cosmic power that it puts in your hands.
The email indicating that my "free trial" had ended encouraged me to continue with their $39 / month plan. But when I clicked through the lowest base plan was $79 / month. This looks to me like a company that has a hot product that they're not quite sure how to valuate.
Thankfully, for those of us not made of money, there are alternatives.
B.) Free Alternative (With ChatGPT Plus Subscription): Data Export and Analysis
Another option included in your ChatGPT Plus subscription is data export and analysis.
An important note here. As of January 13, 2024, the "Advanced Data Analysis" "feature" is no longer available to ChatGPT Plus users. It has been moved up into the "Enterprise" plan, whatever that might ultimately cost. Another AI company with a hot product that they're not quite sure how to valuate? Perhaps. But that's not important here. Even without this specific "feature," your ChatGPT Plus account will still answer basic questions about your website traffic.
How?
By exporting data from your Google Analytics account for a particular date range into formats like CSV or Excel, and then importing those files into ChatGPT, which can then generate summaries, tables, graphs, and even recommendations based on your data.
For bonus points (and additional optimization) I recommend creating a custom bot specific to this task.
C.) Below Are Step-By-Step Instructions, Complete With A Prompt That You Can Use To Create Your Very Own Custom Google Analytics Bot:
1.) Log into your ChatGPT Plus Subscription at: https://chat.openai.com/.
2.) Locate or search for your name located visually at the bottom left of the interface and click on it.
3.) From the menu that appears select "My GPTs."
4.) Select "Create a GPT."
5.) This will bring up a split screen with the GPT Builder on the left and your new GPT Preview on the right.
6.) The GPT Build screen has two sections, "Create" and "Configure."
7.) You will land in the "Create" section, which is where you want to start.
8.) Copy and paste the prompt below into the "Create" section. You can even include the "*** Begin Prompt" and "End Prompt ***" without issue:
*** BEGIN PROMPT
Title: Custom GPT Model for Google Analytics Data Analysis
Objective: To develop a GPT-based model specialized in interpreting and analyzing data extracted from Google Analytics, presented in CSV or Excel formats.
Data Description:
Nature of Data: The data will include various metrics from Google Analytics such as page views, session duration, bounce rate, demographics, traffic sources, and conversion rates.
Format: Data will be provided in structured formats, primarily CSV and Excel files, with clear labeling of columns and rows representing different metrics and dimensions.
Historical Range: The data spans over multiple periods, providing a historical context for trend analysis.
Model Capabilities:
Data Interpretation: Ability to read and interpret data from CSV/Excel files, understanding key metrics and their significance in web analytics.
Trend Analysis: Identify trends and patterns over time, such as increases in traffic, changes in user behavior, or the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
Predictive Insights: Generate predictions based on historical data, such as forecasting traffic or identifying potential growth areas.
Anomaly Detection: Spot anomalies or irregularities in the data, such as sudden drops in traffic or unusual changes in user demographics.
Custom Queries: Respond to specific queries related to the data, such as interpreting the impact of a particular campaign or the behavior of a specific user segment.
Visualization Suggestions: Propose ideas for data visualization that would effectively communicate key insights from the data.
Integration with Code Interpreter: Seamlessly work with code interpreter to allow for on-the-fly data manipulation and advanced analysis using programming languages like Python.
Expected Outcomes:
Accurate and insightful analysis of Google Analytics data.
Clear, concise explanations of trends and patterns.
Actionable insights for website optimization and marketing strategy.
Custom reports generated upon request with specific focus areas.
Ethical Considerations:
Ensure privacy and confidentiality of data.
Avoid biases in analysis and predictions.
Transparent about the model's limitations and accuracy.
Future Enhancements:
Continuous learning from new data to improve accuracy.
Integration with other data sources for more comprehensive analysis.
END PROMPT ***
9.) Give your new custom GPT a name of your choosing or accept the name suggested by ChatGPT.
10.) Assign your new custom GPT a photo of your choosing or accept the photo suggested by ChatGPT.
11.) You can choose to answer or Ignore the remaining questions that the "Create" assistant will ask you, as they have already been answered in your prompt.
12.) Now switch from the "Create" to the "Configure" section of the GPT Builder.
13.) Locate or search for "Code Interpreter" and check it.
14.) Save your custom GPT by checking "Only Me" and clicking "Confirm" under the "Save" button located visually in the upper right corner of the interface.
15.) Once your new custom GPT has been saved, either favorite it, or copy the URL for your new bot to the clipboard and paste it into your Master Internet Guide. You do have one of those, don't you? If you do not, and you already have too many book marks to bear adding another, you can always access your new custom bot from inside of your ChatGPT Plus subscription at: https://chat.openai.com/ by locating and clicking on your name and then selecting "MyGPTs" from the menu that appears.
16.) To use your new bot simply export your Google Analytics data for any specific period and feed it to your new bot by clicking on the attachment icon, locating the file on your hard drive, and selecting it. Add an initial query along with the file and you are on your way to making informed business decisions using Google Analytics via natural language at no additional cost.
Making informed business decisions from your marketing data using natural language takes a bit of getting used to, and it certainly works better if you already understand how Google Analytics works, but I still think it is far superior to that dreaded interface.
11.) Closing
And that's it. For some there may be a small up-front investment of time and effort to get your site properly set up with Google Analytics, but I assure you it is an investment that will continue to pay dividends for all time. And not just for the links that you run in Access Information News, but for all of the links that you run across your own email and social media channels as well.
It is my sincerest hope that once Sponsors, Advertisers and Content Contributors are able to review their traffic from every issue, in real time, all the time, they may just begin to see Access Information News in a slightly different way.
As not just the world's #1 online resource for current news and trends in access information, but also as the unique and incredibly powerful vehicle for interacting with the global access community at large that we have always known it to be.
Here's to that.
Cheers!
Aaron Di Blasi, PMP
Publisher (2022-Present)
Access Information News 🌐
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