073110 site analytics_benchmark

Web Analytics – Benchmark Summary

for

Prepared by Peter Lloyd Johnson

Marlboro College Graduate Center

Capstone Project

August 7, 2010

Peter Lloyd Johnson Web Analytics – Benchmark Summary

August 7, 2010 Capstone Overview/Where Are We Today? The Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity’s website is in the process of undergoing a change. As mentioned in other Capstone supporting documents, the Vermont Partnership feels that its existing site does not accurately represent the future of the organization, nor does it present a compelling argument for readers to spend time learning about the important work the organization shoulders each day. A new site that better represents the organization, coupled with social media tools to engage and build community, represent a significant commitment of resources by an organization seriously lacking deep pockets. How are we to know whether the actions we’ve taken are contributing to any legitimate success? Enter Google Analytics. The following 23 pages shows the breadth of information that can be tracked on behalf of the Vermont Partnership’s website. (The two immediate pages provide Google-authored definitions for terms that define the subsequent charts and graphs.) In the final analysis, what is important is the relative level of engagement that can be tracked by these tools. The creation of site goals allows us to see how effectively we are moving the reader through the site; the extent to which our content is interesting; and the degree to which readers will accept some form of on-going communication from the organization. Where do we want to be? Until the new site is launched, the following goals have been implemented for the existing Vermont Partnership’s website: Initial Goal Proposed Metric Goal #1: Time spent on site Five (5) total minutes Goal #2: Total page views Five (5) pages viewed Goal #3: E-newsletter signup Arrival at E-newsletter log-in page Goal #4: “About” page “About” page viewed Goal #5: Contact Funnel – Home page/About page/Contact Once the new site is launched, goals will need to be reviewed so that the organization maintains focus on pages it believes are critical to future growth. Other enhancements to the site will also require changes to the analytics tool. Among those will be the creation of a “thank-you” page for anyone signing up for the Vermont Partnership’s e-newsletter and a more important “thank-you” page for anyone who elects to support the organization through a financial donation. Expanded content will be important to track. Specifically, the testimonial pages that have been added as well as the extremely important “Donate” functionality. How will people navigate to these sections and what is the best way of insuring that roadblocks are not encountered. Is Facebook generating visits to the site and is our email initiative paying dividends? Sounds like an HCI challenge that’s answerable by Google Analytics to me. (Please see the accompanying glossary and Analytics charts that follows this page.)


August 7, 2010 - Capstone

Google Analytics: - Definitions Visitors Overview: How many new and returning visitors came to your site and how extensively did they interact with your content? This traffic overview allows you to drill down into aspects of visit quality (i.e. average pageviews, time on site, bounce rate) and visit characteristics (i.e. first time visitors, returning visits) Content Overview: Which are the most commonly viewed groups of pages on your site (grouped by title), and how are they used? This report provides the same information that is in the "Top Content" report, but aggregated by title tag value. Traffic Sources Overview: This report provides an overview of the different kinds of sources that send traffic to your site. The graph shows traffic trends; the pie chart and tables show what is driving the trends. "Direct Traffic" is visits from people who clicked a bookmark to come to your site or who typed your site URL directly into their browser. "Referring Sites" shows visits from people who clicked to your site from another site. "Search Engines" shows visits from people who clicked to your site from a search engine result page. Visits vs. Visitors: Analytics measures both visits and visitors in your account. Visits represent the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors to your site. If a user is inactive on your site for 30 minutes or more, any future activity will be attributed to a new session. Users that leave your site and return within 30 minutes will be counted as part of the original session. The initial session by a user during any given date range is considered to be an additional visit and an additional visitor. Any future sessions from the same user during the selected time period are counted as additional visits, but not as additional visitors. New vs. Returning: A high number of new visitors suggests that you are successful at driving traffic to your site while a high number of return visitors suggests that the site content is engaging enough to keep visitors coming back. You can see how frequently visitors return and how many times they return in ‘Recency’ report and the ‘Loyalty report’, both under ‘New vs. Returning’ in the Visitors section. Absolute Unique Visitors: represents the number of unduplicated (counted only once) visitors to your website over the course of a specified time period. A Unique Visitor is determined using cookies. Pageviews: the total number of pages viewed on your site and is a general measure of how much your site is used. It is more useful as a basic indicator of the traffic load on your site and server than as a marketing measure.


August 7, 2010 - Capstone

Average Pageviews: Is one way of measuring visit quality. A high Average Pageviews number suggests that visitors interact extensively with your site. A high Average Pageviews results from one or both of: 1. Appropriately targeted traffic (i.e. visitors who are interested in what your site offers 2. High quality content effectively presented on the site. Conversely, a low average pageviews indicates that the traffic coming to the site has not been appropriately targeted to what the site offers or that the site does not deliver what was promised to the visitor. Time on Site: Time on site is one way of measuring visit quality. If visitors spend a long time visiting your site, they may be interacting extensively with it. However, Time on site can be misleading because visitors often leave browser windows open when they are not actually viewing or using your site. Bounce Rate: Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page). Bounce rate is a measure of visit quality and a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance (landing) pages are not relevant to your visitors. You can minimize Bounce Rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy. Length of Visit: In order to capture the length of a visit, Google Analytics tracks the elapsed time between pageviews. The last page of a visit will not be recorded (as there is no subsequent pageview). Single-page visits are assigned to the 0-10 second category. Top Content: Which are the most commonly viewed pages on your site, and how are they used? The table lists all of the pages, which were viewed on your site. A high bounce rate indicates a landing page that should be redesigned or tailored to the specific ad which links to it. Time on Site for all Visitors: A high 'Time on Page' may indicate content that is particularly interesting to visitors. The significance of exits varies according to each page. For example, it may be common for visitors to exit your site from a receipt or "thank you" page because they have completed a conversion activity. In contrast, a high number of exits from a non-goal page (from a funnel page, for example) may indicate that the page is confusing or that it generates user errors. Content by Title: Which are the most commonly viewed groups of pages on your site (grouped by title), and how are they used? This report provides the same information that is in the "Top Content" report, but aggregated by title tag value.

www.vermontpartnership.org/

DashboardJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

10

20

0

10

20

Jul 5 Jul 12 Jul 19 Jul 26

Visits

Site Usage

79 Visits

305 Pageviews

3.86 Pages/Visit

35.44% Bounce Rate

00:02:27 Avg. Time on Site

78.48% % New Visits

Visitors Overview

0

5

10

0

5

10


Visitors

Visitors

63

Traffic Sources Overview

Search Engines41.00 (51.90%)

Direct Traffic33.00 (41.77%)

Referring Sites5.00 (6.33%)

New vs. Returning

Visitor Type Visits % visits

New Visitor 62 78.48%

Returning Visitor 17 21.52%

Content Overview

Pages Pageviews % Pageviews

/ 83 27.21%

/index.php?option=com_conten 36 11.80%

/index.php?option=com_contact 30 9.84%



Visits for all visitors

0

10

20

0

10

20


Visits

Visits

79

1 Google Analytics

Absolute Unique Visitors

0

5

10

0

5

10


Visitors

Visitors

63

Average Pageviews for all visitors

0.00

3.50

7.00

0.00

3.50

7.00


Pages/Visit

Pages/Visit

3.86

Bounce Rate for all visitors

0.00%

50.00%

100.00%

0.00%

50.00%

100.00%


Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate

35.44%

Pageviews for all visitors

0

30

60

0

30

60


Pageviews

Pageviews

305

Time on Site for all visitors

00:00:00

00:02:30

00:05:00

00:00:00

00:02:30

00:05:00


Avg. Time on Site

Avg. Time on Site

00:02:27

Length of Visit

Duration of visit Visits with this duration

0-10 seconds 41.77%

11-30 seconds 7.59%

31-60 seconds 11.39%

61-180 seconds 12.66%

181-600 seconds 20.25%

601-1,800 seconds 6.33%

Content by Title

Page Title Pageviews % visits

Vermont Partnership for 117 38.36%

About 36 11.80%

Programs and Services 26 8.52%

Resources 14 4.59%

Immediate Openings 11 3.61%

2 Google Analytics


Visitors OverviewJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

5

10

0

5

10


Visitors

63 people visited this site

79 Visits

63 Absolute Unique Visitors

305 Pageviews

3.86 Average Pageviews

00:02:27 Time on Site

35.44% Bounce Rate

78.48% New Visits

Technical Profile

Browser Visits % visits

Firefox 38 48.10%

Safari 18 22.78%

Internet Explorer 17 21.52%

Camino 3 3.80%

Chrome 2 2.53%

Connection Speed Visits % visits

Cable 31 39.24%

DSL 30 37.97%

Unknown 9 11.39%

T1 8 10.13%

Dialup 1 1.27%

3 Google Analytics


Traffic Sources OverviewJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

10

20

0

10

20


Visits

All traffic sources sent a total of 79 visits

41.77% Direct Traffic

6.33% Referring Sites

51.90% Search Engines

Search Engines41.00 (51.90%)

Direct Traffic33.00 (41.77%)

Referring Sites5.00 (6.33%)

Top Traffic Sources

Sources Visits % visits

google (organic) 40 50.63%

(direct) ((none)) 33 41.77%

facebook.com (referral) 2 2.53%

education.vermont.gov 1 1.27%

vbsr.org (referral) 1 1.27%

Keywords Visits % visits

vermont partnership for 20 48.78%

vermont partnership 4 9.76%

alana vermont 2 4.88%

alana community organization 1 2.44%

alana name change vermont 1 2.44%

4 Google Analytics


New vs. ReturningJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

10

20

0

10

20


Visits

79 visits from 2 visitor types

Site Usage

Visits79% of Site Total: 100.00%

Pages/Visit3.86Site Avg: 3.86 (0.00%)

Avg. Time on Site00:02:27Site Avg: 00:02:27 (0.00%)

% New Visits78.48%Site Avg: 78.48% (0.00%)

Bounce Rate35.44%Site Avg: 35.44% (0.00%)

Visitor Type Visits Pages/Visit Avg. Time onSite

% New Visits Bounce Rate

New Visitor 62 3.55 00:02:32 100.00% 33.87%

Returning Visitor 17 5.00 00:02:10 0.00% 41.18%

1 - 2 of 2

5 Google Analytics


Absolute Unique VisitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

5

10

0

5

10


Visitors

63 Absolute Unique Visitors

Thursday, July 1, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 2, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 3, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 4, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 5, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 8, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 9, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 10, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 11, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 12, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 15, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 16, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 17, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 18, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 19, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12.86% (9)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 11.43% (8)

Thursday, July 22, 2010 11.43% (8)

Friday, July 23, 2010 7.14% (5)

Saturday, July 24, 2010 2.86% (2)

Sunday, July 25, 2010 1.43% (1)

Monday, July 26, 2010 10.00% (7)

6 Google Analytics

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 14.29% (10)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 7.14% (5)

Thursday, July 29, 2010 4.29% (3)

Friday, July 30, 2010 11.43% (8)

Saturday, July 31, 2010 5.71% (4)

7 Google Analytics


Average Pageviews for all visitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0.00

3.50

7.00

0.00

3.50

7.00


Pages/Visit

3.86 Pages/Visit

Thursday, July 1, 2010 0.00

Friday, July 2, 2010 0.00

Saturday, July 3, 2010 0.00

Sunday, July 4, 2010 0.00

Monday, July 5, 2010 0.00

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 0.00

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 0.00


Friday, July 9, 2010 0.00


Sunday, July 11, 2010 0.00

Monday, July 12, 2010 0.00




Friday, July 16, 2010 0.00


Sunday, July 18, 2010 0.00

Monday, July 19, 2010 0.00




Friday, July 23, 2010 3.00


Sunday, July 25, 2010 1.00

Monday, July 26, 2010 4.12

8 Google Analytics




Friday, July 30, 2010 4.33


9 Google Analytics


Bounce Rate for all visitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0.00%

50.00%

100.00%

0.00%

50.00%

100.00%


Bounce Rate

35.44% Bounce Rate

Thursday, July 1, 2010 0.00%

Friday, July 2, 2010 0.00%

Saturday, July 3, 2010 0.00%

Sunday, July 4, 2010 0.00%

Monday, July 5, 2010 0.00%

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 0.00%

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 0.00%


Friday, July 9, 2010 0.00%


Sunday, July 11, 2010 0.00%

Monday, July 12, 2010 0.00%

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 0.00%



Friday, July 16, 2010 0.00%


Sunday, July 18, 2010 0.00%

Monday, July 19, 2010 0.00%

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 11.11%



Friday, July 23, 2010 20.00%

Saturday, July 24, 2010 100.00%

Sunday, July 25, 2010 100.00%

Monday, July 26, 2010 25.00%

10 Google Analytics

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 46.15%



Friday, July 30, 2010 33.33%


11 Google Analytics


Content OverviewJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

30

60

0

30

60


Pageviews

Pages on this site were viewed a total of 305 times

305 Pageviews

240 Unique Views

35.44% Bounce Rate

Top Content

Pages Pageviews % Pageviews

/ 83 27.21%

/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=26 36 11.80%

/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=2&Itemid=70 30 9.84%



12 Google Analytics


Visits for all visitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

10

20

0

10

20


Visits

79 Visits 2.55 Visits / Day

Thursday, July 1, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 2, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 3, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 4, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 5, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 8, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 9, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 10, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 11, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 12, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 15, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 16, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 17, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 18, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 19, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 11.39% (9)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 10.13% (8)

Thursday, July 22, 2010 10.13% (8)

Friday, July 23, 2010 6.33% (5)

Saturday, July 24, 2010 2.53% (2)

Sunday, July 25, 2010 1.27% (1)

Monday, July 26, 2010 10.13% (8)

13 Google Analytics

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 16.46% (13)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 6.33% (5)

Thursday, July 29, 2010 3.80% (3)

Friday, July 30, 2010 15.19% (12)

Saturday, July 31, 2010 6.33% (5)

14 Google Analytics


Pageviews for all visitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

30

60

0

30

60


Pageviews

305 Pageviews

Thursday, July 1, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 2, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 3, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 4, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 5, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 8, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 9, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 10, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 11, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 12, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 0.00% (0)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 0.00% (0)

Thursday, July 15, 2010 0.00% (0)

Friday, July 16, 2010 0.00% (0)

Saturday, July 17, 2010 0.00% (0)

Sunday, July 18, 2010 0.00% (0)

Monday, July 19, 2010 0.00% (0)

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12.13% (37)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 9.51% (29)

Thursday, July 22, 2010 9.51% (29)

Friday, July 23, 2010 4.92% (15)

Saturday, July 24, 2010 0.66% (2)

Sunday, July 25, 2010 0.33% (1)

Monday, July 26, 2010 10.82% (33)

15 Google Analytics

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 15.41% (47)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 4.26% (13)

Thursday, July 29, 2010 5.25% (16)

Friday, July 30, 2010 17.05% (52)

Saturday, July 31, 2010 10.16% (31)

16 Google Analytics


Time on Site for all visitorsJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

00:00:00

00:02:30

00:05:00

00:00:00

00:02:30

00:05:00


Avg. Time on Site

00:02:27 Avg. Time on Site

Thursday, July 1, 2010 00:00:00

Friday, July 2, 2010 00:00:00

Saturday, July 3, 2010 00:00:00

Sunday, July 4, 2010 00:00:00

Monday, July 5, 2010 00:00:00

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 00:00:00

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 00:00:00

Thursday, July 8, 2010 00:00:00

Friday, July 9, 2010 00:00:00

Saturday, July 10, 2010 00:00:00

Sunday, July 11, 2010 00:00:00

Monday, July 12, 2010 00:00:00

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 00:00:00

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 00:00:00

Thursday, July 15, 2010 00:00:00

Friday, July 16, 2010 00:00:00

Saturday, July 17, 2010 00:00:00

Sunday, July 18, 2010 00:00:00

Monday, July 19, 2010 00:00:00

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 00:03:29

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 00:03:08

Thursday, July 22, 2010 00:03:10

Friday, July 23, 2010 00:03:28

Saturday, July 24, 2010 00:00:00

Sunday, July 25, 2010 00:00:00

Monday, July 26, 2010 00:02:44

17 Google Analytics

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 00:01:37

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 00:01:25

Thursday, July 29, 2010 00:03:41

Friday, July 30, 2010 00:01:05

Saturday, July 31, 2010 00:04:05

18 Google Analytics


Length of VisitJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

Most visits lasted: 0-10 seconds

Duration of visit Visits withthis duration

Percentage of all visits

0-10 seconds 33.00 41.77%

11-30 seconds 6.00 7.59%

31-60 seconds 9.00 11.39%

61-180 seconds 10.00 12.66%

181-600 seconds 16.00 20.25%

601-1,800 seconds 5.00 6.33%

19 Google Analytics


Content by TitleJul 1, 2010 - Jul 31, 2010

Comparing to: Site

0

30

60

0

30

60


Pageviews

33 page titles were viewed a total of 305 times

Content Performance

Pageviews305% of Site Total: 100.00%

UniquePageviews240% of Site Total: 100.00%

Avg. Time onPage00:00:52Site Avg: 00:00:52 (0.00%)

Bounce Rate35.44%Site Avg: 35.44% (0.00%)

% Exit25.90%Site Avg: 25.90% (0.00%)

$ Index$0.00Site Avg: $0.00 (0.00%)

Page Title Pageviews UniquePageviews

Avg. Time onPage

Bounce Rate % Exit $ Index

Vermont Partnership for Fairnessand Diversity

117 92 00:00:58 31.25% 34.19% $0.00

About 36 26 00:01:26 37.50% 30.56% $0.00

Programs and Services 26 19 00:00:12 0.00% 3.85% $0.00

Resources 14 12 00:00:55 0.00% 14.29% $0.00

Immediate Openings 11 10 00:00:32 0.00% 27.27% $0.00

Policy / Research 11 7 00:00:22 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

Civil Rights Advocacy 10 6 00:00:34 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

Education 9 7 00:00:28 0.00% 11.11% $0.00

Community Residents 7 7 00:00:09 0.00% 14.29% $0.00

Make a Donation 6 5 00:00:24 100.00% 33.33% $0.00

Search 6 3 00:00:51 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

Services 6 6 00:00:52 0.00% 16.67% $0.00

Complainant Tool Kit 5 2 00:00:31 0.00% 20.00% $0.00

Login 5 3 00:00:09 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

Press Page 4 4 00:00:17 100.00% 50.00% $0.00

Arab-American Links 3 3 00:00:00 0.00% 100.00% $0.00

Business Organizations 3 3 00:03:41 0.00% 33.33% $0.00

Educators 3 3 00:09:58 0.00% 33.33% $0.00

Police Survey 3 3 00:00:03 0.00% 66.67% $0.00

April 24, 2009 Church cross isdesecrated

2 1 00:00:29 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

20 Google Analytics

Brochure 2 2 00:00:31 0.00% 50.00% $0.00

Bumper Sticker 2 2 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00% $0.00

Events 2 2 00:00:17 100.00% 50.00% $0.00

Facing Change 2 2 00:00:06 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

Newsletter 2 2 00:00:09 0.00% 0.00% $0.00

1 - 25 of 33

21 Google Analytics

073110 site analytics_benchmark

Documents

viewarticleamp

optioncomcontentamp

commonly viewed

measuring

visit quality

bounce rate

shows visits

high number