DATA DRIVEN WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
:: BEFORE WE GET STARTED What organizations in the room are using Google Analytics (or another tracking tool)? Who is tracking goals or conversions within Google Analytics?
:: OPENING THE BOX Google Analytics data can be powerful right out of the box. Still, in order to fully leverage the power of this data to optimize your website, you need to be tracking goals and/or conversions. Analytics data should drive business insights. Let s talk about that.
:: WHAT ARE GOALS/CONVERSIONS? A goal or a conversion is any desired action you want your user to take. Goals can come in many forms depending on your organization. The most effective optimizers are tracking both hard and soft conversions to gather data and insights.
:: WHAT CAN YOU TRACK? HARD CONVERSIONS SOFT CONVERSIONS DONATE BUY TICKETS TO AN EVENT SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER ASSET DOWNLOADS ENGAGED VISITS (time on site, visit depth, etc.) SOCIAL CHANNEL CLICKS VIDEO VIEWS
:: WHAT CAN YOU TRACK? Every website s tracking goals and KPIs will be as different as your data. Examples abound, but see a few below. Focus on what matters to your organization. Your goal is to use comprehensive analytics, audience insights, and eco-system orchestration to achieve performance growth.
:: CORE METRICS TO MONITOR Even if you don t have conversion tracking fully implemented, you can make inferences about traffic quality with available data in Google Analytics. CORE METRICS Visits by channel/source Depth of visit Length of visit Bounce Rate Visit/Device Type
:: SETTING IT ALL UP Every website s tracking implementation could be different depending on your content management system (CMS), URL structure, etc. Unless you are familiar with web development, leverage IT resources or your webmaster. To get started, click Conversions in left hand navigation of Google Analytics to expand that sub-menu.
:: SETTING IT ALL UP Click Goals to configure your tracking with a number of preloaded templates. You can create up to 20. Follow the instructions to create engagement based conversions.
:: BUILD A DASHBOARD Create a custom dashboard of your own, or use pre-loaded templates to make accessing your data quick and easy.
:: PLUG IT ALL IN It is critical to remember that we need the full picture before making data-driven optimization or testing decisions. Don t forget to connect your Google Analytics data with the following: Google Webmaster tools Google AdWords
:: I HAVE THE DATA NOW WHAT? Once your goal or a conversion tracking is implemented, you can begin the data-driven website optimization process. First and foremost, focus on CHANNEL ATTRIBUTION. Ask yourself, which channels or traffic sources drive the greatest amount of conversions?
:: CONVERSION ATTRIBUTION Identify the top performing channels and build upon them. Test and measure new initiatives.
:: OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITE In order to optimize you have to know what s working. Leverage the data and insights your are generating with conversion tracking to improve your website. Start by building conversiondriven landing pages that focus on a single action that impacts your organization.
:: OPTIMIZATION PROCESS By defining and measuring clear conversion goals, your organization can gather the data you need to improve your website and drive impact. Remember, conversion optimization is a PROCESS, not an event. Don t test too many things at once. Reduce friction with a clear call to action. Address the USER THOUGHT PROCESS.
:: OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Address the USER THOUGHT PROCESS. Optimize Thoughts, Not Design. Utilize usability testing tools (which you have). User s Thought Process Where Am I? What Can I Do? Why Do I Care? What About? Why Your Organization?
:: OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITE Optimize on BOTH sides of the click. Pre Click vs Post Click optimization. Drive better quality traffic to pages built to convert.
:: OPTIMIZATION PROCESS
:: ACTIVE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Data-driven website optimization should be ACTIVE. By developing the 5 Active Optimization Habits, your digital presence and website will drive results.
:: ACTIVE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Five Active Optimization Habits to Develop: 1) Go beyond the basic metrics and traffic analytics Stop worrying about visit volume focus on quality but more importantly, focus on CONVERSION and ATTRIBUTION 2) Go beyond channels Understand your digital ecosystem (paid+earned+owned) and how it impacts your results with assisted conversions 3) Go beyond groundhog keyword strategy Keyword research becomes multi-dimensional across all assets/channels
:: ACTIVE OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Five Active Optimization Habits to Develop: 4) Go beyond retro-active optimization Strategy, Data, and Insights drive new content generation and testing 5) Celebrate the enlightenment of Integrated Analytics Measure impact by contribution Remember, performance measurement is prioritization logic What are the Top 5 items for you to focus on right now?
:: OPTIMIZATION PROCESS Closed Sales Qualified Leads Link Portfolio Digital Footprint User Behavior Ranking & Reputation Keyword Insights
:: OPTIMIZATION PROCESS We ve heard how to do this in principle. Let s see how it works in the real world!
THANK YOU Nick Yorchak BIG FOOTPRINT www.bigfootprintdigital.com
:: WHO WE ARE NICK YORCHAK! Founder & Lead SEO! Speaker at Industry Events! Features in NY Times for SEO Expertise! Enterprise Level SEO Experience! 8 Years Experience ZACH RANDALL! 8 Years Experience! Strategist & Analytics Expert! Managed $40 million+ in Media Spend! Enterprise & Startup Level Experience! Landing Page Testing Lead CARLO RITSCHL! 5 Years Experience! Manager Digital Content & Social Media! Link Earning/Social/ Content Generation! BMA Young Professionals Board Member! Builder of Digital Footprints JAKE HAVENRIDGE! 5 Years Experience! Lead Paid Search Manager! Landing Pages + Keyword Research! Google AdWords and Analytics Certified