Google Tag Manager Tutorial Part #1: Do you need tag management?

These days, there are tags (or pixels or scripts or tracking codes) for everything - Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, AdWords, LinkedIn, etc. are all asking you to add code to your website to track advertising performance.

One by one, adding tracking doesn't seem like a big deal. But adding all kinds of tags to your website can be a challenge, especially when the bloated JavaScript code begins to make your site perform slowly.

Not only that but managing all those tags can be a pain. You have to test your tags, keep them updated, and hope they don't break your website.

Fortunately for you and me, there is an answer to all these problems, and it's called Google Manager (GTM).

GTM is a virtually codeless solution for taking control of your website's tagging and tracking.

If you're interested in learning how to get started with GTM... You've come to the right place!

In this five-part Google Tag Manager tutorial, you're going to learn about:

Why, when and if you need tag management
The value GTM can bring to your business or organization
How Google Tag Manager works
How to deploy tags and migrate your existing tracking
Four common mistakes to avoid when you start using GTM
Google Tag Manager Tutorial Part #1 - How do you know if you need tag Management?

What is Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager is a free and simple solution for installing and managing all of your marketing and analytics tracking pixels.

Tracking pixels are little bits of code that collect information about your website users. These pixels are often referred to as "tags."  The Google Tag Manager platform allows you to manage all your tracking tags in one place. And GTM also allows you to install tags without manually editing your website code.

Simply put, Google Tag Manager is an effective, accurate, and efficient way to manage your website tracking. For those reasons, GTM has received worldwide adoption and accolades in the marketing and analytics communities.

Why do you need tag management?
The marketing landscape continues to become more complex. Each new platform or system that emerges offers us a different access point to connect with customers.

Below is the Gartner Digital Marketing Transit Map. This map provides an excellent overview of how our marketing systems intersect with each other.

There are tracking tags for everything
Almost every system on the Gartner map offers a unique opportunity to capture new customers or analyze your online sales. And if you want to extract data about your customers from these systems, you need tracking tags.

Want to use Google Analytics? You need to put the Analytics tracking tag on your website.

Want to know the results of your Facebook ads? You need to put a Facebook tracking tag on your website.

Need to know how well your email marketing is doing? You need to... Well, you get the picture.

The problem with too many unmanaged tags
Think of your brand new website as an empty glass. Your glass only has so much space.

But every vendor wants to pour a little bit of their elixir in your glass.

Adding to your glass little by little has a minimal impact. But eventually, you'll run out of space, and your glass will overflow.

The same kind of overflow can happen with your website. When you flood your site with tracking tags, it can't keep up. The competing tracking scripts slow your site down. When your site loads slowly, visitors leave. Also, slow websites get penalized by Google in the search engine rankings.

The problem with tracking code and web development
The tracking code can also cause problems in the area of web development. Typically web developers are tasked with adding new tracking tags to a website.

Installing tracking code can be tedious and problematic. New tracking scripts have to be tested and verified. And very often, vendors provide little to no support documentation for their tracking code.

So while tracking code seems harmless ... "Just put this code on your website and everything will work great..." web developers know otherwise.

Tracking scripts are notorious for breaking websites. And when a website breaks the development team takes the blame.

These problems can lead to a couple of common scenarios:

Your developer avoids installing your tracking code altogether.
Your developer does a sloppy job of installing your code due to inadequate support and poor directions.

Google Tag Manager to the rescue

Tags give you access to critical marketing data. But you don't want to kill your website by overloading it with tracking tags.

You need a safe and easy way to get your tracking code on your website. GTM can help you solve these problems.

Making tag management easy

GTM allows you to store all your tracking tags in one place. And, instead of manually adding new tracking tags to your website, you can use GTM's tag templates.

[MichaelTerwindt]

Hey Jeff, good intro here. As the series continues, I’d love to see how you address the missing Facebook integration, using events for custom conversions, and any other unique solutions offered by GTM. Cheers!

[bjornhansenfiu]

Hey Jeff! Great video. Can't wait to watch the rest. My biggest GTM question is: How can I use GTM to track events (like button clicks or add to cart) to enhance Google Analytics? (not sure if I asked that correctly, hopefully you know what I mean) =)