How do I track downloads from my web site?
AWeber's email web analytics package allows you to easily track your subscribers' movements around your website (If you haven't already, learn how to install the analytics javascript). If you have download links on your site (or even links to other websites), you can track them in a similar fashion - all you need to do is make a change to the HTML of the link that you have on your page.
Step By Step Instructions
- While editing the HTML of your website, find your download link. It will look similar to what is listed below.
<a href="http://www.example.com/download.pdf"> Download My PDF </a>
- You will want to replace that line of HTML with the following:
<a href="http://www.example.com/download.pdf" onclick="awt_analytics.record('http://www.example.com/download.pdf)"> Download My PDF </a>
Note: The URL of the item appears twice - make sure to replace both with your own URL.
Now when someone clicks that link, it will be tracked in your account. To find out who has downloaded your file, go to the "Subscribers" page. On this page, click the "Search Option" drop-down menu and choose "Web Page Visited."
Just enter the URL that you used to track the download, then click the "Search" button.
What Else Can I Do With This?
You are not limited to using this feature to track downloads. You can also use it to track links that go to other websites, such as referral links or advertisements. Simply follow the same process, replacing the download URL with the URL of the other site or page you are sending people to.
In addition, if you want to assign a monetary value to the link (great for tracking ad revenue), that can easily be done with a minor tweak.
In the example below, I've assigned a $1 value to each click.
<a href="http://www.example.com/referral" onclick="awt_analytics.record('http://www.example.com/referral', 1);"> Click Here </a>
Of course, you can assign any value you would like - just replace the 1 with your own amount.