Use Web Analytics to Optimize Content and Drive Strategy

How to Use Web Analytics to Drive
Your Digital Strategy Forward

Prepared by:
Dan Blank
WeGrowMedia.com
dan@danblank.com
973-981-8882
Twitter: @DanBlank

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)


Why Analytics?


You have more on your plate
fewer resource


data = information on audience preference and behavior


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 it


EG: most of the people who come to your website
don’t ever go to your homepage.

assumptions vs reality.


This is scary because it
challenges your existing
workﬂow


assumptions vs reality.


leveraging this data gives you
ACTIONABLE INSIGHT
to better serve your audience


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.


Web analytics terminology


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.

Engagement Metrics
Bounce rate


Engagement Metrics
Pages per visit


Engagement Metrics
Repeat visits (loyalty)


Engagement Metrics
Time on site


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?


Ask questions that can lead to
action once you know the answer.


Segment data.

Site-wide metrics often tell us nothing:


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

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?


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


Or Google sends a ton of
trafﬁc to a 3 year old post.


Segment data.


Segment data.

EG: Just trafﬁc that came in via search, and the top
landing pages from those sources.


Segment data.

Content type


Combine data
Don’t look at one data point in isolation.


Measure Year Over Year Data


Segment the Data Too...


Look for spikes in the data


Key Performance Indicators to measure
benchmarks and goals.


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.


Use web analytics to optimize your web site
and its content.

Where to put resources - what to stop doing.


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.


Analyze top content

Analyze navigation paths

Analyze what is engaging people


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.


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.)


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)


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


Case Study


4 Editorial Features from 2008-2009
From Library Journal and Restaurants & Institutions


Editorial Feature #1:
Placements & Salaries


Effect:

Business executives took notice

Established new editorial practices

Better served the readers - much more conversation
around this topic online and ofﬂine.


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.

We weren’t guessing that it did better.

We knew speciﬁcally HOW it did better, simply by
measuring before, during and after.


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.


America’s Star Libraries Feature


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.


Feature #4
Restaurants & Institutions
Top 100 Independent Restaurants


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.


This is about creating and evolving your
core strategies and empowering your
team.


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/


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.


Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and
Science of Customer
by Avinash Kaushik

THANK
YOU
Dan Blank
WeGrowMedia.com
dan@danblank.com
973-981-8882
Twitter: @DanBlank


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