KickstarterForum.org

Does Kickstarter tell you the sources of your visitors and backers, i.e., what sites are driving traffic to your project? IF not, what's the best way to do this? I'm thinking of publicizing a page on my website (www.mysite.com/kickstarter) that refreshes to my Kickstarter project. Then I can use Google Analytics to see the sources of traffic to my webpage.

Hi tdkehoe,
Yes if you go to Check dashboard, you will see theh various referrers to your campaign as well as how much these referrers pledged to your kickstarter.

I haven't launched my project. (Tomorrow is launch date.) I can't find anything that says "Check" or "Dashboard." Do these only appear after the project launches? Can you send me a screenshot of the analytics? Sorry about being stressed out right now, I'm trying to decide whether to set up a redirect page on my website so I can use Google Analytics, or whether Kickstarter's analytics provide full information. I Googled this and found almost zero information. One blogger said that Kickstarter shows the sources of backers but not sources of visitors. Another blogger said that Kickstarter's analytics are incomplete but didn't say what information is provided and what's missing.

Yes they only appear once you've launched. In preview mode you cannot see any analytics unfortunately. Here's a screenshot of my analytics

"what sites are driving traffic to your project?" - You can use the bitly technique I described here with your Kickstarter shortlink to see where your traffic is coming from: http://www.crowdcrux.com/how-to-researc ... campaigns/

Yes - google analytics via a referral website is another option or using a landing page.

Thanks for the screenshot! I just shared your Kickstarter project on Facebook. (I'm not a gamer so I'm not going to pledge anything.) It looks like Kickstarter shows your pledge sources but not your traffic sources. Using bit.ly analytics is a good idea. The Goo.gl URL shortener also has analytics. I set up a 302 redirect page on my website with the URL http://bootchkas.com/kickstarter/. This redirects to the preview URL now, and when I launch tomorrow I'll change the redirect to the new Kickstarter URL. This way I'll have full Google Analytics traffic analysis.

Sorry - when I said "You can use the bitly technique," what I meant was that in the article, I described how if you add a "+" to the end of your Kickstarter short-link it will show you the traffic stats for that link.

That's how I got the traffic stats for the campaign in this article (at the end/bottom of the article see the screenshots) http://www.crowdcrux.com/everybody-know ... -campaign/

I think the google analytics method is a great solution.

Where can you find more information about google analytics?

The other day I wrote some notes for a possible e-book about Kickstarter. Here's what I wrote about Google Analytics.

Traffic Source Analytics

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” — either John Wanamaker (department store founder) or William Lever (founder of Unilever soap manufacturer)

After you publicize your project you’ll want to see which publicity worked. This is called “web analytics” or “traffic source analytics.” I call this “Google Analytics” because that’s the web tool I use.

Kickstarter provides analytics for creators to show you the sources of your backers. It doesn’t show your sources of traffic, i.e., people who visited your project but didn’t spend any money. In contrast, Google Analytics will tell you where visitors to your project came from. Both are useful tools.

Link Shortener Analytics

If you use Bit.ly or Goo.gl link shortener you can get traffic source analytics. I haven’t tried this but apparently you just add .info to your Goo.gl link, e.g., oo.gl/626U3 becomes goo.gl/626U3.info.

Set Up Google Analytics

First, set up Google Analytics on your website. Have your webmaster set it up, or go to http://www.google.com/analytics/ and follow the instructions. If you’re using WordPress then your theme should have a section for putting in your Google Analytics code. I use the Avada theme. Under Appearance > Theme Options > General there’s a metabox titled “Tracking Code.” The Google Analytics code goes in there.

There are WordPress plugins for Google Analytics. I don’t use them, I use the Google Analytics website.

Set Up 302 Redirect Page

Set up Google Analytics before you publicize your project. Make a page on your website. I titled my page “Kickstarter” and the URL is bootchkas.com/kickstarter/.

Then set up a 302 redirect for the page. With WordPress, install the plugin “Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin.” From your WordPress back end, open your webpage (e.g., bootchkas.com/kickstarter/) and find the metabox titled ““Quick Page/Post Redirect.” Put in the URL of your Kickstarter project. Check the box for “Make Redirect Active.” Click “Update.” Open a new browser window and enter your URL (e.g., bootchkas.com/kickstarter/) and your Kickstarter project should appear.

If you set up the redirect page before you launch your Kickstarter project using the Kickstarter preview URL, when you launch you can change the redirect URL to the project’s URL.

You can also use your redirect page in a URL shortener, e.g., http://www.bootchkas.com/kickstarter/ becomes http://goo.gl/vgBpp0.

Lastly but very importantly, a redirect page allows you to set up your publicity in advance. Your Kickstarter project’s URL isn’t assigned until you launch your project. Your preview URL then redirects to your project URL, so you could set up your publicity using your preview URL. But I feel more control with my own redirect page. For example, ordering business cards takes about a week, so you need your URL at least a week before you launch your project:

(Picture of my business card)

Using Google Analytics

To see the traffic to your 302 redirect page, go to your page on the Google Analytics website. Go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages

Select on a landing page, e.g., /kickstarter

Click on Primary Dimension > Source

Now you see where traffic to your Kickstarter redirect page is coming from.

Good idea on redirect. I will do that as well, but use http://piwik.org/ instead of Google Analytics.