Measure Your Success on the Web: A Discussion About Analytics. Given at CASE Annual Conference for Media Relations Professionals, Washington DC. Feb 6 2012.

1. Measure Your Success on the Web
A Discussion About Analytics
Ryan Dellolio
The George Washington University
1

2. Analytics Marketshare
96% of the .edu web presence has
Google Analytics installed
Tool edu Marketshare
Google Analytics 96.60%
Omniture 2.40%
Quantcast 1.40%
Urchin 1.30%
HubSpot 1.20%
Webtrends 1.20%
StatCounter 1.00%
Source: Q-Success/W3Techs
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 2

3. Outline
• Basic tracking methodology
• 3 common pitfalls
• Key new features
• Other tools
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 3

4. COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 4

5. Pageview
Visit

7. 1 - You‟re only as good as
what you track
• Are your pageviews
comprehensive?
• Are your bounces genuine?
• Is your „time on site‟ skewed?
Certain pages may not be tracked.
Encourage IT to audit and correct.
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 7

8. 2 – Traffic sources can often
miss crucial trends
• Traffic sources are a best-faith effort
• Consider the following scenario
– User finds page through Google, and browses
the site.
– They return later.
– These are 2 visits, only one is considered
“Google referred” traffic.
Take this into consideration. Use
campaigns and goals where possible.
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 8

9. No campaigns
Using campaigns
Web traffic
due to
E-Newsletter

10. Goals

11. Missing the cookie?
• How it is interpreted
– This is first time you‟ve been here
– This is a new visit
• How might you lose the cookie?
– Browser cleared
– New browser
– Different computer
– Desktop-to-mobile, mobile-to-desktop
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 11

12. 3 – Metrics aren‟t always
indicators
• Measures vs. metrics vs. indicators
• Don‟t always tell whole story
• Use to inform decisions
• Sampling
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 12

13. Key new features
• “Multi-Channel Funnels” with
goals
– Towards solving the cookie problem
• Real time
– Watch stories trend live and react
– Gauge interest instantly
• Social Engagement
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 13

15. 4 tools to watch
• NewsBeat, for better social media
integration
• Wistia, for video analytics
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 15

16. 4 tools to watch
• Quantcast,
for demographics
• Localytics, for
app analytics
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 16

17. Contact
Ryan Dellolio
Director of Web Services
The George Washington University
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
ryan@gwu.edu
202-994-5497
COUNCIL FOR ADVANCEMENT AND SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 17