How to Use Web Analytics to Drive Your Digital Strategy Forward

How to Use Web Analytics to Drive Your Digital Strategy Forward Prepared by: Dan Blank WeGrowMedia.com dan@danblank.com 973-981-8882 Twitter: @DanBlankThursday, April 14, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Social media strategy across 40 brands Content strategy across 10+ markets (engineering, manufacturing, construction, media, hospitality, etc) Blog network: 300 bloggers (4 million page views per year)Thursday, April 14, 2011

Why Analytics?Thursday, April 14, 2011

You have more on your plate fewer resourceThursday, April 14, 2011

data = information on audience preference and behaviorThursday, April 14, 2011

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 itThursday, April 14, 2011

EG: most of the people who come to your website don’t ever go to your homepage. assumptions vs reality.Thursday, April 14, 2011

This is scary because it challenges your existing workﬂowThursday, April 14, 2011

assumptions vs reality.Thursday, April 14, 2011

leveraging this data gives you ACTIONABLE INSIGHT to better serve your audienceThursday, April 14, 2011

Goal: A better understanding of website analytics and show how B2B editors can use analytics data to improve their products and better serve their audience.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Web analytics terminologyThursday, April 14, 2011

Unique Visitors I went to this website 3 times in one month. I am ONE unique visitor. Visits I went to this website 3 times in one month. That’s 3 visits. Page Views I went to this website 3 times in one month and viewed 4 pages in each visit. That’s 12 page views.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Engagement Metrics Bounce rateThursday, April 14, 2011

Engagement Metrics Pages per visitThursday, April 14, 2011

Engagement Metrics Repeat visits (loyalty)Thursday, April 14, 2011

Engagement Metrics Time on siteThursday, April 14, 2011

Which metrics are the most important to watch? Start with real-world editorial or business questions? 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?Thursday, April 14, 2011

Ask questions that can lead to action once you know the answer.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Segment data. Site-wide metrics often tell us nothing:Thursday, April 14, 2011

If your website gets 20,000 page views in January and 30,000 in February - what does that mean?Thursday, April 14, 2011

40000 30000 20000 10000 0 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?Thursday, April 14, 2011

I’ve seen websites have dramatic growth because Google Images was sending a ton of trafﬁc to some unrelated photos they used.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Or Google sends a ton of trafﬁc to a 3 year old post.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Segment data.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Segment data. EG: Just trafﬁc that came in via search, and the top landing pages from those sources.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Segment data. Content typeThursday, April 14, 2011

Combine data Don’t look at one data point in isolation.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Measure Year Over Year DataThursday, April 14, 2011

Segment the Data Too...Thursday, April 14, 2011

Look for spikes in the dataThursday, April 14, 2011

Key Performance Indicators to measure benchmarks and goals.Thursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Use web analytics to optimize your web site and its content. Where to put resources - what to stop doing.Thursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Analyze top content Analyze navigation paths Analyze what is engaging peopleThursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

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.)Thursday, April 14, 2011

Identify key benchmarks or reports. Examples: Top pages Newsletter click-throughs Year over year growth of a speciﬁc section Talk about them in regular editorial meetings. (even if you are unsure what to say)Thursday, April 14, 2011

Share successful metrics to the business side, showing them in hard numbers audience growth and engagement.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Case StudyThursday, April 14, 2011

4 Editorial Features from 2008-2009 From Library Journal and Restaurants & InstitutionsThursday, April 14, 2011

Editorial Feature #1: Placements & SalariesThursday, April 14, 2011

Effect: Business executives took notice Established new editorial practices Better served the readers - much more conversation around this topic online and ofﬂine.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Editorial Feature #2: e-Reference Supplement 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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

We weren’t guessing that it did better. We knew speciﬁcally HOW it did better, simply by measuring before, during and after.Thursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Editorial Feature #3: America’s Star Libraries FeatureThursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Feature #4 Restaurants & Institutions Top 100 Independent RestaurantsThursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

This is about creating and evolving your core strategies and empowering your team.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Links to full case studies: 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/Thursday, April 14, 2011

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.Thursday, April 14, 2011

Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer by Avinash KaushikThursday, April 14, 2011

THANK YOU Dan Blank WeGrowMedia.com dan@danblank.com 973-981-8882 Twitter: @DanBlankThursday, April 14, 2011

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How to Use Web Analytics to Drive Your Digital Strategy Forward

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