Getting Started with Digital Analytics — A Humanities Guide to the Tools
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve already become part of my learning journey.
This blog isn’t just a writing project—it’s also the very first space where I’m exploring digital analytics in practice. That means: while I write about what I’m learning, I’m also using tools to learn about you—how you interact with this page, what catches your attention, and where you might come from.
And that’s exactly what this post is about: the hands-on beginning. What is digital analytics, concretely? What tools am I using? And how does someone like me—coming from the humanities—actually experience this transition?
Setting Up GA4: Surprisingly Simple
When I created the blog, I wanted to know: Is anyone actually reading this? Where are they from? Do they scroll or bounce?
That’s when I discovered Google Analytics 4 (GA4). I had assumed installing it would be complicated. It wasn’t. All it took was creating an account, choosing a domain name, a property name, and linking the website I wanted to track. Done. That’s it. I didn’t need to write any code—just follow a few clear steps.
Within a day, I could start seeing first results.
What GA4 Showed Me—And Why It Matteres
What surprised me most was how human the data felt. This wasn’t abstract or detached—it was my blog, and real people interacting with it. GA4 showed me things like:
- How long people stayed on a page—did they actually read what I wrote?
- Whether they used a mobile phone or a computer
- What language settings their browsers had
- Where in the world they were visiting from
And suddenly, the data meant something.
I live in Sweden, but I’m originally from Germany, and many of my friends and colleagues are spread across both countries. That’s why I write this blog in English—to make it accessible to as many people as possible. Still, the “About Me” and “Contact” pages are in Swedish, since that’s the context I live and study in.
Seeing the language preferences in GA4 confirmed that this mix wasn’t a bad choice—it was actually reflecting the reality I’m part of.
More Than Just GA4: Tools I’m Exploring
GA4 is just the beginning. As I dive deeper into digital analytics, I’m slowly expanding my toolbox:
- Hotjar: for heatmaps and click maps—to see what people actually focus on
- Looker Studio: to create interactive dashboards and visualize patterns in a way that makes sense to me. It’s like turning raw data into a visual narrative.
- Social media insights: to understand what types of posts draw people in
- Email platforms: where even basic metrics like open rates or A/B test results tell their own stories
Each tool answers a different kind of question. But none of them do the thinking for you.
A Note on Transparency and Privacy
Using digital tools also means thinking about transparency and privacy. I’m aware of that—and reflecting on it as I go. My blog isn’t a business. It’s a small personal project and learning lab. But even in this space, data deserves respect.
I’ll be writing more about GDPR, consent, and ethical tracking in an upcoming post. Until then, just know: I’m not collecting personal data, and what I’m learning helps me become more conscious—not overstepping.
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