A client recently launched a new Web site that had been designed by a volunteer agency, but has asked me to stay involved to help with technical issues. The new site looks and works fine, except for some poor front-page communication, but under the surface…
The other guys put a different Google Analytics code into their page template. So that means when the new site launched, Google stopped tracking visits in the one stats account, and started tracking stats in the new account.
Now the client’s stats are split into two. If they want to know how many site visits there were in 2010, they’ll have to look at two separate reports and add the numbers. Likewise, if they want to do any before/after comparisons, they’ll have to export the data from two accounts and crunch their own numbers.
I spoke with the client and it’s not a big deal to them, which is good news. But it illustrates the kind of short-sighted thinking some designers have — trash everything and start over, even if we lose some good stuff in the process.
