How to Set Quick Reference Static Calendar Dates in Google Analytics

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I love the free Google Analytics program, but I have royally hated the fact that the default calendar date range on the platform changes each time you log on. It always shows the most current month’s numbers.

Here is what I mean.  Have a look at the screen shots below.  Notice the date ranges are different in each screen shot?  That is because these were taken upon logging in on two different occasions.

But what if you like to measure your website’s traffic growth from the time you launched it?  Manually changing the date ranges is easy by simply either browsing back in the calendar or manually inputting the date range by clicking on the date box.

The process is simple but 1) it takes time to do this – yes, even a little bit of a detour can impede progress significantly 2) it’s  flat out annoying and 3) why should you have to go through this?  There should be an easier way one can set the start date to a static date (i.e. the date of launch or any other date you wish) to avoid the annoyance every single time.

In addition, what if you have multiple websites within various accounts and sub accounts (see image below).   I hate having to scroll through the list and keep changing accounts each time I want to view the statistics of another web property. Again, there has to be an easier way?

I don’t think I am being too unreasonable am I? I know at least one other person who is equally, if not more annoyed about this missing feature.

My friend Tai who I train at the gym with has been real vocal about this “glitch”. He has pulled out a lot of hair strands trying to figure out how he could work around the system and set his Analytics account so that it always shows the life to date traffic pattern of his blog.

Good news! Tai recently showed up to the Gym ecstatic that he “beat” Google and found a work around this feature – or lack of it. So here is how it goes.

1)      Log into your Google Analytics account

2)      Set the start date to whichever date you want

3)      Leave the second date box untouched

4)      Run the report

5)      Bookmark this page / URL

Aha.

The next time you want to view your Analytics, simply click on the bookmarked link and the program should show you your traffic progress from the start date you had initially set for that particular website.  Create multiple bookmarks if you have multiple sites with different start dates.  Yes!

My friend Tai managed to “Crack the Code” on Google Analytics. Congratulations buddy and thanks for sharing how you did it with me.   I know you are reading this.  Since you don’t have an Internet marketing and business blog, I took the liberty to share this information with everyone to benefit from.

Can you see this being useful in your initiatives?  Pardon my ignorance if the new Google Analytics platform already has a feature wherein you can pre program requirements. I am relatively new to it and have not found it yet.  I am all ears if you want to share a better / easier way?

Sunil
Stealing Tricks

8 Responses to “How to Set Quick Reference Static Calendar Dates in Google Analytics”

1. Theodore.N says:

   September 5, 2012 at 10:40 am

   Thanks sunil for this useful revelation, this has been a problem to me too to the extent that i stopped logging into my GA account.

   But i think a solution has emarged.

   Thanks for the discoveries.

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     September 6, 2012 at 2:24 pm

     glad it could be of use Theodore

     Reply
2. Lance @ Money Life and More says:

   September 5, 2012 at 6:05 pm

   Seems like a cool idea but I normally just want to look at my current day stats… I should try to get away from looking at my stats multiple times a day though…

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     September 6, 2012 at 2:25 pm

     sounds like a big time suck ?

     Reply
3. Cherleen @ My Personal Finance Journey says:

   September 7, 2012 at 3:01 am

   This is very informative. I never knew about this until now. In fact, I am having difficulty understanding Google Analytics. Thanks for sharing!

   Reply
   • Sunil says:

     September 7, 2012 at 12:24 pm

     you are welcome Cherleen

     Reply
4. Simone says:

   September 28, 2012 at 6:39 am

   I always spent my half an hour to read this weblog’s articles all the time along with a cup of coffee.

   Reply
5. Daniel from Beyond My Work Life says:

   August 2, 2014 at 4:35 pm

   So simple yet so effective!

   I honestly can’t believe I never thought about doing this.

   I haven’t found anything in Google but I hope they incorporate something

   Reply