Using GA Goals as an Etsy Front Page Alert

UPDATE: Since Etsy has changed its link structure, these instructions no longer work. They will still show you previous front page visits under the old link system.

Using the goals feature of Google Analytics along with Etsy's referral codes, you can set up a kind of alert to let you know if you start receiving clicks from an appearance on Etsy's front page.

When an items appear on the front page, Etsy adds a little referral code to it. It looks like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/xxxxxxxx/item-name?ref=fp_treasury_1

When someone clicks on this link from the front page, this URL shows up in their Google Analytics report. What you can tell Google to do is to watch out for URLs that have this code in them and to let you know if they start showing up. Here's how:

Open your Google Analytics account and go to the Analytics Settings page. The link is in the upper left.



Find your etsy account and click on the Edit link on the right.



In the middle of the page is a box labeled Goals. Click on the Edit link for the first goal.



The Goal Settings page will open. Fill it out like this:

Active Goal: On
Match Type: Head Match
Goal URL: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=fp
Goal Name: A name that describes the goal, like Front Page
Case sensitive: Unchecked
Goal value: 0.0



At the bottom of the page, click the Save Changes button.

Now go to your reports page for your Etsy shop. You should now see another box on your overview page called Goals Overview



This line will be flat until you receive a visit from the front page, when it will spike for the day on which the item appeared. You can also see this information under the Goals link in the left hand sidebar, under Total Conversions



From this report you can see the day on which your item was on the front page, and by viewing by hour you can see the time of day as well. Also, on your Analytics Settings page, the number of front page hits will appear in the Completed Goals column.

Please Note: This setup will show you any link from the front page, including links from the gift guide scroll at the top left and the recently listed items! If you only want to track your visits in the front page treasury, then use the following Goal URL when setting up your goal:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=fp_treasury