The document discusses web analytics, explaining that 'hits' are merely requests for files on a server and do not accurately reflect website popularity. It highlights the importance of understanding various metrics such as unique visitors, pageviews, and bounce rates, and emphasizes the need for proper tracking of campaigns to gauge marketing success. Additionally, it mentions tools like Google Analytics, which provides extensive reporting but may underreport traffic and requires thoughtful implementation and analysis.

1. Web Analytics A presentation inspired by cold weather… Introduction

2. So… What are HITS? A hit is a request to a web server for a file (web page, image, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheet, etc.). When a web page is uploaded from a server the number of "hits" or "page hits" is equal to the number of files requested, therefore one page load does not always equal one hit because often pages are made up of other images and other files which stack up the number of hits counted. Because one page load does not equal one hit it is an inaccurate measure of a websites popularity or web traffic… Wikipedia

3. What does web analytics measure? Web Analytics measures success of marketing (and/or business) initiatives

5. Perfect metric for a Web site… Perfect metric of a web site depends on the business objectives What is the goal? Sales Lead Gen Branding Customer service Content/selling ads

6. Web Analytics tools History of tool development IT needs Marketing needs Industry consolidation/repositioning Web analytics Optimization Measuring Web 2.0 We need to understand Web 1.0 first…

7. How accurate is analytics? Web logs over counts JavaScript Tags under counts Data ownership Captures robot traffic Easier initial implementation No need for server access Automatic upgrades Easier campaign tracking Geared toward IT Need server access Need upgrades Difficult campaign tracking No data ownership Does not capture robot traffic Trends, not exact numbers Credit - ROI Revolution

8. Google Analytics (external sites) Each profile has over 200 reports… with infinite (for practical purposes) variations… Google Analytics underreports about 7% of traffic The process: Understanding client’s goals Adjusting setting Training the client and providing analysis

9. 200 reports! My head spins… “ Web Analytics is hard.” – Eric Peterson “ 10% of your budget should be spent on tools, while 90% spent on people (brains) who will be responsible for insights.” – Avanash Kaushik

10. Important basics

11. Visits - how many visits your site received (one person can visit site several times – it will count as several visits) Absolute Unique Visitors - how many people visited your site (one person can visit the site several times, but it will be just one visitor) Pageviews – how many pages were accessed by visitors (one visitor can view the same page 10 times; it will be 10 pageviews) Pages per Visit – on average, how many pages were viewed during each visit (a person visited the site twice; in the morning he viewed 2 pages, in the evening he viewed 4 pages – the average will be 3 pages per visit) Bounce Rate – % of visits that included only one page Average time on site – average time each visit took New Visitor – a visitor that have not visited the site before the selected reporting period

12. Asking analytics questions… … is asking business (campaign) questions

13. Tracking smart moves… Font color was changed from grey to black

14. Tracking campaigns Campaigns (electronic format) need to be “tagged” before they start Campaigns (not electronic format, direct mail for example) need to have a special “nice” URL; which itself need to be “tagged” If campaign is not tagged before it is sent, it can not be tracked

15. Questions