Getting Started

Welcome to WP Insights Pro! This guide will walk you through the essential first steps. We’ll cover how to install WP Insights Pro, check your system requirements, and understand our core tracking concepts. Our goal is to get you from zero to seeing your first analytics data in the next five minutes.

Plugin Installation

Installing WP Insights Pro is just like installing any other premium WordPress plugin.

1. After your purchase, you will receive an email with a download link. Download the wp-insights-pro.zip file to your computer.
2. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
3. Navigate to Plugins > Add New and click the “Upload Plugin” button at the top of the page.
4. Click “Choose File,” select the wp-insights-pro.zip file you just downloaded, and click “Install Now.”
5. Once the installation is complete, click the “Activate Plugin” button.

That’s it! You’ll now see a new “WP Insights” menu item in your admin sidebar.

(Placeholder for an Image/GIF: A short, fast-forwarded animated GIF showing these 5 steps. It should start with the wp-insights-pro.zip file on a desktop, then show the mouse navigating through the WordPress admin, uploading, and clicking activate. This visual confirmation is incredibly helpful.)

System Requirements

WP Insights Pro is designed to be lightweight and compatible with the vast majority of modern WordPress hosting environments. Here’s what you’ll need for the best experience:

• WordPress Version: 6.0 or higher
• PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
• PHP Extensions: The SQLite3 extension must be enabled. This is standard on almost all quality web hosts, but if you run into issues, a quick message to your host’s support can usually get it enabled.
• File Permissions: Your /wp-content/uploads/ directory must be writable by the server so that we can create the wp-insights-pro folder to store your analytics data.

Not sure if you meet these requirements? Head over to the WP Insights > Tools & Status page in your dashboard. We’ve built in a handy System Information panel that checks these for you automatically.

How Tracking Works (A Quick Overview)

Understanding the magic behind WP Insights Pro will help you trust your data. We’ve built our plugin on a unique architecture that prioritizes your site’s performance and your visitors’ privacy.

It’s a simple, two-step process:

1. Lightning-Fast Collection: When a visitor views a page on your site, our tiny (under 4KB) JavaScript tracker sends a small, non-blocking signal to your server. This happens asynchronously, so it never slows down your page load time. This signal is then saved as a single line in a daily log file, completely outside of your WordPress database.
2. Intelligent Background Processing: Later, in the background, a WordPress cron job wakes up. It reads these simple log files and uses an on-demand SQLite engine to process all the data, calculate sessions, and build your static report files.

What this means for you:

• Zero Front-End Impact: Your PageSpeed scores will never be affected by our tracking.
• No Database Bloat: Your core WordPress database remains clean and fast.
• 100% Data Ownership: All data, from raw logs to final reports, lives on your server.

For a more detailed explanation of our architecture, see our technical deep dive article.

What to Expect Next

Setup complete. WP Insights Pro is now silently collecting data on every new page view.

How to see your first visitors:

1. Go to your main WP Insights > Dashboard.
2. The dashboard defaults to showing the “Last 15 Days” of data. Since you just installed, this will likely be empty.
3. Use the date range selector at the top of the page and choose the “Today” option.

After receiving a few visitors (you can visit your own site in a different browser to test it), you will see your first data points appear on the chart.

Now that you’ve successfully installed WP Insights Pro and are collecting data, your next step is to explore the Settings Guide to learn how to customize privacy features, track events, and define your first conversion goals.