Overview of Website Analytics
Part 1 Website Analytics Basics Web Analytics Defined Types of Web Analytics Which type should your chamber use?
What is Web Analytics? Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage. -Web Analytics Association http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/?page=aboutus
What is the Point of Analytics? Analytics should go beyond the raw numbers and provide meaningful insight about how your website is being used so that you can make informed decisions about how to improve it.
Types of Analytics Reporting 1. Server-side Analytics records files (web pages) served by the website server *reports within ChamberMaster & MemberZone use hits recorded using this method 2. Page Tagging Analytics records page views and tracks visitors by using cookies *Google Analytics would be an example of this type of tracking IMPORTANT NOTE! Neither method provides 100% accurate tracking of your website
Which type of Analytics is more important for your chamber? The Page Tagging method (e.g. Google Analytics) will generally give you better information about who your website Visitors are and what they do on your website.
IMPORTANT NOTE! (revisited): No method of analytics is 100% accurate so what should you expect? Allow for a margin of error in the range of 10-15% between stats obtained using different tracking methods c.f. Data Quality Sucks, Let's Just Get Over It Avinash Kaushik (Google Analytics guru) It is important to look at trends not specifics
Part 2 Google Analytics & ChamberMaster How to get Google Analytics How to set it up for best use with ChamberMaster
Google Analytics is FREE! Sign up at www.google.com/analytics *Note that you will need a free Google Account to sign up for Google Analytics You may incur costs to have your web developer install the tracking code on your website, but there is no cost from Google to use the service
Setup your account Follow the instructions that Google provides at: https://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?ans wer=1008015 It is important to note which version of the tracking code applies to your website configuration (See following slides).
If your ChamberMaster pages use a sub-domain of your chamber s domain: Use the version of the code for tracking one domain with multiple subdomains e.g. www.chamber.com & business.chamber.com
If your ChamberMaster pages use a sub-domain on the ChamberMaster domain: Use the version of the code for tracking multiple top-level domains and refer to this article for important information: https://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer. py?hl=en&answer=1033876 e.g. www.chamber.com & chambername.chambermaster.com
Send the code to your web developer
Check it!
Wait It will take a few months to gather enough data to reveal meaningful insights. Remember you are looking for trends not specifics and identifying them requires time.
Part 3 Google Analytics Reporting Basics Key Metrics Important Sections to Explore
Key Metrics Audience Overview Report Visit the link below for an explanation of the stats in the Audience Overview Report: https://support.google.com/analytics/ bin/answer.py?answer=1144406
Important Sections to Explore Audience: Overview Demographics > Location Behavior > Engagement Visitors Flow Content: Overview Site Content > All Pages Site Content > Landing Pages Site Content > Exit Pages Traffic Sources: Overview Search > Organic Social > Overview
Resources: Get Google Analytics www.google.com/analytics Visits vs. Visitors according to Google https://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=57164 Avinash Kaushik s Website has many insightful articles about using analytics data http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/ Official Google Analytics Blog http://analytics.blogspot.com/
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