Using Google Tag Manager on Websites | Part 2 – Basic Implementation

So I already have a Google Analytics account for this site, so I’ll be skipping that step of the implementation.

I’m going to start with signing up for Google Tag Manager.

  1. Go to (this will open up a new tab so you can follow the steps here still.
  2. Create an account by giving your account a name.
  3. Create your container by giving your container a name. Your container is just a piece of Javascript you stick on your site that let’s you inject tags onto it.
  4. Add your domains. It says this is an optional step but if you fill it out it’ll give you better suggestions throughout the interface. I added two; one for erikbigelow.com and one for www.erikbigelow.com
  5. Click Next and then accept the agreement.
  6. Now you’ve got a snippet of code to add to your site. Copy this and get ready to place it on your site.

Adding the code to your site. You need to add this code immediately after the opening body tag of every page you want tracked on your site. I’m unfortunately using wordpress so I’ll show you where to add it in their code.

  1. Log in to your admin (obviously)
  2. Now go to Appearance > Editor
  3. I’m using the Twenty Twelve theme currently so the opening body tag is located in the header.php file.
  4. I found the opening body tag and placed the code snippet from Google Tag Manager directly below.

    <body <?php body_class(); ?>>
    <!-- Google Tag Manager -->
    <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-XXXX"
    height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>
    <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
    new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
    j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
    '//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
    })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-8R2F');</script>
    <!-- End Google Tag Manager -->

    <div id="page" class="hfeed site">
  5. Click Update File and you’re done!

Now that GTM has been added to the WordPress site I’ll go into what I’ll be tagging and why in Part 3.

Using Google Tag Manager on Websites | Part 1 – Strategy

I’m implementing Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager on my website because web analytics is my job. I’m using a tag management system because they are the hot thing in web analytics right now for a few reasons:

  1. You separate the analytics (mostly) from the site code.
  2. You can deploy new tags when you want. There’s no need to wait for IT’s next code push to production.
  3. You give marketers the power they need to do their jobs, and lessen the burden on developers. This lets everyone to be more productive.

There’s a few things you don’t hear about with tag management systems, however.

  1. You still need to be communicative with your IT team, or they may freak out when they check their server logs and see “weird” calls going out from the site.
  2. Your marketers better have a decent understanding of how websites work, or a TMS will just confuse them.
  3. Your marketers better have a decent understanding of Javascript. No TMS I’ve seen or demoed so far, and I’ve seen all the major ones, is able to be implemented without some code help. This isn’t a flaw in TMS’s it’s just the nature of the beast and you’ll understand if you have a decent understanding of how websites work.
  4. Most importantly, you still need a strategy of what you’re hoping to see from the site. Your measurement plan and KPI’s

I’m going to keep my site’s strategy pretty basic. I want to create a site that either has fun and useful information. To test that I’ll be doing the basics like checking my unique visitors per month, pageviews, and bounce rate(people leaving my site). I’ll also be testing what tags are clicked the most and what categories people seem most interested in when they come to my site. Luckily the content producers, the marketers, and the IT are pretty communicative since they’re all me, and we’ve made a few ground rules to make our lives easier. An example is only one category per post.

A simple strategy and measurement plan, but this is a simple site. Now let’s get to Part 2 and the implementation.

You Should Know – Drying Clothes and Dryer Sheets

When you’re drying clothes, put a dry towel in the dryer with them. Your clothes will dry faster saving you time and money (from not having to run the dryer as long).

When you’re drying clothes also remember that a dryer sheet is there to protect against static. Cotton doesn’t get static. Static happens to synthetic fabric like rayon, nylon, and polyester. Putting a dryer sheet in with towels will just make them less absorbant because they’ll start getting some of the waxes from the dryer sheet. So you have a choice do you want your towels more absorbant or fluffier?

If you still want softer towels you can go the natural way and use white vinegar in the rinse cycle the same way you’d use liquid fabric softener.

I got this tip from Reddit and then Googling for a bit more info.

Romney Definitely Lost the Debate Last Night for Me

I watched the debate last night and one thing really stuck out to me the more I thought about it. Romney is born to be a CEO not the President. There’s many reasons for this, but I want to talk about one that I thought was big and Romney made a big part of the debate last night.

During the whole debate Romney was smiling, and so cocksure of himself, as opposed to Obama who would laugh and smile, but you could also see him get upset. His body language was completely different from Romney’s too, and I liked that. I liked that Obama showed some genuine emotion, because you should have a little emotion about leading the free world. This is about people and not money, and that’s what I think Romney fails to understand. The big thing Romney seemed to go on and on about was Obama’s 90 billion into green energy, saying that half the recipients failed (which is not true), and he would get rid of that. Spoken like a CEO that’s just worried about the next quarter financials.

I don’t think anyone can deny fossil fuels are going away, and even if it’s not in the extremely near future we still need to look ahead. We need to stop being dependant on other countries. We need a plan for future jobs while fixing our present jobs situation.

Basically if we WERE thinking of this as a company we NEED our R&D department to work on our future. Unfortunately the R&D department is pretty new so there aren’t fantastic results to talk about, but that doesn’t mean we should get rid of it. However, if a CEO is looking to raise the stock price and “cut out the fat” for the short term then of course R&D has to go. That’s what’s going to make the numbers look the best when he goes to part out, and sell the company, and that’s the mindset that Romney is stuck in. Fix it now, worry about the future in the future. He’s no Bezos or Gates to build a company on his own though, he’s a shareholder CEO. He only wants to make money. He thinks if he makes the government “turn a profit” then it will be good for everyone.

It won’t. It won’t fix anything. He’s still so out of touch.

(This is just over one point. I know there is fat to be trimmed and that should happen, but it needs to be done in an intelligent and forward thinking way. Something that I have no faith in Romney to do either.)

Tip: Stand Up Straight

You’re probably sitting in front of a computer most of the day and you’re posture is horrible. There’s an easy way to find your correct posture and fix it. A couple times a day look up at the sky as if you were checking out the clouds or stars, and now just lower your head straight.

Looking up like that should get you to a natural and comfortable posture. It’ll take a while of conscious effort to get used to standing and walking like that, but it will be worth it. People judge you by your appearance.

Posture is one of the first things people see about you, and good posture portrays confidence. It also makes you look slimmer and taller, taking off 3-5lbs. in appearance. Good posture helps your breathing which also helps your voice when you’re standing up talking. Appearance isn’t the only thing posture helps, however, there are genuine health benefits too.

The health benefits, while not as outwardly helpful, may be even better for you. As mentioned above your posture helps your breathing, but it also helps your circulation and digestion. It does this by increasing your lung capacity thereby aiding oxygen transport and nutrition around the body. It adds room in your abdominal cavity which lets your organs work easier. Good posture helps your muscles and joints too. It keeps your bones and joints in alignment which reduces abnormal wear. Your ligaments that hold your spine together will also be less stressed. Less energy will be used by your muscles because they will be more efficient, and that means less muscle fatigue. Finally it’ll help prevent muscle strain, overuse disorders, and even some back and muscular pain.