How to Use Web Analytics to Drive Your Digital Strategy Forward

Prepared by:Dan BlankWeGrowMedia.comdan@danblank.com973-981-8882Twitter: @DanBlank

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Blog network: 300 bloggers(4 million page views per year)

Social media strategy across 40 brands

Content strategy across 10+ markets(engineering, manufacturing, construction, media, hospitality, etc)

Why Analytics?

You have more on your platefewer resource

data = information on audience preference and behavior

companies do pathetically little research on their customers

web analytics is a 24/7 research channel, happening whether you like it or not

It is your choice to listen or ignore it

EG: most of the people who come to your website don’t ever go to your homepage.

assumptions vs reality.

This is scary because it challenges your existing

workflow

assumptions vs reality.

leveraging this data gives youACTIONABLE INSIGHT to better serve your audience

A better understanding of website analytics and show how B2B editors can use analytics data to improve their products and better serve their audience.

Web analytics terminology

Page Views

Visits

Unique Visitors

I went to this website 3 times in one month.That’s 3 visits.

I went to this website 3 times in one month.I am ONE unique visitor.

I went to this website 3 times in one month and viewed 4 pages in each visit.That’s 12 page views.

Engagement Metrics

Bounce rate

Engagement Metrics

Bounce rate

Engagement Metrics

Pages per visit

Engagement Metrics

Repeat visits (loyalty)

Engagement MetricsTime on site

What are people reading?Where are we wasting resources producing content no one reads?How do people find our website?How do our newsletters affect our overall website traffic?What time of day do our most active users come to our website?

Which metrics are the most important to watch?

Start with real-world editorial or business questions?

Ask questions that can lead to action once you know the answer.

Segment data.

Site-wide metrics often tell us nothing:

If your website gets 20,000 page views in January and 30,000 in February - what does that mean?

2007 2008 2009 2010

If your website is growing in page views year over year, what does that mean? What

are you doing right? Where are you wasting effort?

I’ve seen websites have dramatic growth because Google Images was sending a ton of traffic to some

unrelated photos they used.

Or Google sends a ton of traffic to a 3 year old post.

Segment data.

EG: Just traffic that came in via search, and the top landing pages from those sources.

Segment data.

Content type

Combine dataDon’t look at one data point in isolation.

Measure Year Over Year Data

Segment the Data Too...

Look for spikes in the data

Key Performance Indicators to measure benchmarks and goals.

Example of a goal:People who enter my site through search on a particular landing page - how

many sign up for our newsletter? Or how many sign up above a certain threshold.

Use web analytics to optimize your web site and its content.

Where to put resources - what to stop doing.

Does your homepage look like this?

Does this newspaper have ANY understanding of what their readers want?

Analytics will tell you what is high priority for your audience, and what is low priority.

What is deeply engaging, and where you fall short.

Analyze top content

Analyze navigation paths

Analyze what is engaging people

Use web analytics to generate innovative ideas—and give your publication a competitive edge.

What keywords are people searching on to find you?What long-tail content is consistently performing well?Which pages/topics are most engaging?

Use this data to develop feature content, webinars, and extend the value of what you are already doing.

The best thing you can do:

Look at analytics regularly. Once a month.Once a week.

(even if you don’t yet know what you are looking at.)

Identify key benchmarks or reports.Examples: Top pages

Newsletter click-throughsYear over year growth of a specific section

Talk about them in regular editorial meetings.(even if you are unsure what to say)

Share successful metrics to the business side, showing them in hard numbers audience growth and engagement.

Case Study

4 Editorial Features from 2008-2009From Library Journal and Restaurants & Institutions

Editorial Feature #1:Placements & Salaries

Effect:

Business executives took notice

Established new editorial practices

Better served the readers - much more conversation around this topic online and offline.

What happened within the first 2 weeks:

•A 730% increase in page views, compared to the performance of last year’s Reference Supplement.• It received 60% more page views in the first 2

weeks, than the previous year’s supplement did in 12 months.•Over 30 other websites/blogs linked to it.

Editorial Feature #2:e-Reference Supplement

We weren’t guessing that it did better.

We knew specifically HOW it did better, simply by measuring before, during and after.

We got into the process of looking at analytics to see what features/topics

were high potential, then making changes, and using analytics to show

what worked and what didn’t.

Editorial Feature #3:America’s Star Libraries Feature

Analytics proves your editorial strategy is well focused.

It identifies week spots and highlights what you are doing well, giving you the

chance to replicate that success.

Feature #4Restaurants & Institutions

Top 100 Independent Restaurants

In each of these examples, we used the most basic analytics: page views

But we didn’t just ask simple questions: “what types of stories do we write more of?”

We used them to optimize features and workflows, from editorial to marketing.

This is about creating and evolving your core strategies and empowering your

http://danblank.com/blog/2008/12/29/leveraging-your-best-print-content-for-huge-online-growth/

http://danblank.com/blog/2008/12/29/rethinking-online-editorial-strategy/

http://danblank.com/blog/2009/02/27/frankenstein-content-make-your-articles-come-alive/

http://danblank.com/blog/2009/04/24/from-print-to-webfinding-online-performance-success/

Links to full case studies:

Analytics represent the behavior and voice of your readers.

Listening to them allows you to improve your work and better

execute on your mission statement.

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer by Avinash Kaushik

THANKYOU

Dan BlankWeGrowMedia.comdan@danblank.com973-981-8882Twitter: @DanBlank

How to Use Web Analytics to Drive Your Digital Strategy Forward

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