Google Analytics Intro for TCPRA
- 1. Google Analytics Just Do It Anna Belle Leiserson November 7, 2008
- 2. 3 web secrets for senior management
- 3. 3 Web Secrets for Senior Management 1. There is no quick fix
- 4. 3 Web Secrets for Senior Management 2. The closest you can get is… mastering web analytics
- 5. 3 Web Secrets for Senior Management 3. Almost no one in the university world is doing web analytics .… Yet. So why not make it you?
- 6. How Am I Going to Get You to Do It? What is “analytics”? What’s so special about Google’s flavor of analytics? How can YOU set up Google Analytics? How can you do it well?
- 7. What’s it all about, Alfie? Once upon a time….
- 8. What’s it all about, Alfie? Web analytics meant….
- 9. What’s it all about, Alfie? Log files Hits Pageviews Visitors - in other words – The numbers
- 10. What’s it all about, Alfie? Then analytics meant …
- 11. What’s it all about, Alfie? WebTrends Analog AW Stats Urchin - in other words – The application
- 12. What’s it all about, Alfie? Now analytics means….
- 13. What’s it all about, Alfie? The process of matching core goals with objective numbers
- 14. So what?
- 15. Why Does It Matter? 1. Hypothesis: A good website is a must for any college or university
- 16. Why Does It Matter? How do you measure website goodness?
- 17. Why Does It Matter? Any number of ways…. See Alertbox Oct. 6, 2008
- 18. Why Does It Matter? But…
- 19. Why Does It Matter? Analytics is the easiest way to measure site goodness
- 20. Why Does It Matter? 2. Analytics moves website improvement past opinions into hard data
- 21. Why Does It Matter? “ Watch what users do; don’t just listen to what they say” - Jakob Nielsen
- 22. Why Does It Matter? 3. It bridges the gap between web professionals and senior management
- 23. Why Does It Matter? Without analytics
- 24. Why Does It Matter? Design Function Organization are typically based on…
- 25. Why Does It Matter? HIPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion)
- 26. But that’s just Analytics… What’s so special about Google Analytics?
- 27. Google Analytics rules because it’s Free Easy for techies to set up Numerical and numbers talk Easy to share Web 2.0 glamorous
- 28. In fact, it’s so successful…
- 29. Now it’s what’s confused with “analytics”
- 30. How do you start with Google Analytics?
- 31. Get Going with GA Step 1 (You) Set up a “Google Account” (the same as a gmail account)
- 33. Get Going with GA Step 2 (You) Set up a “Google Analytics Account”
- 35. Get Going with GA Step 3 (You) Copy and paste “Google Analytics Tracking Code” into a text file and email this to IT
- 37. Get Going with GA It will look something like this: <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(" UA-1089968-2 "); pageTracker._trackPageview(); </script>
- 38. Get Going with GA Step 4 (IT) Pastes code as close to ending </body> tag as possible in as many pages as possible
- 40. Get Going with GA Step 5 (IT) Uploads to server; lets you know
- 41. Get Going with GA Step 6 (You) Test the next day (or later)
- 42. Get Going with GA Step 7 (You - the next day) If test is not working, loop back to step 5 If working ….
- 43. Get Going with GA Step 8 (You) Dive into analytics
- 44. Get Going with GA Steps Without webmaster With webmaster 1. Google account You Webby and you 2. Google Analytics (GA) account You Webby (will share with you at step 8) 3. GA Tracking Code You Webby 4. Deploy code IT Webby 5. Upload to server IT Webby 6. Test You Webby 7. If not working IT step 4 Webby step 4 8. Dive into analytics You Webby and you
- 45. Google Analytics Best Practices
- 46. GA Best Practices 1. Get a backup Don’t be the only one with admin rights for a Google Analytics account
- 47. GA Best Practices 2. Set website goals
- 48. GA Best Practices Possible ways to develop goals. Think about… Why did you start your site to begin with? What are the pages or sections you care about most? What audiences are most important What is your strategic plan?
- 49. GA Best Practices 3. Learn your tool
- 50. GA Best Practices 4. Track as many pages as possible within a subdomain, e.g. intranet.vicc.org
- 51. GA Best Practices Set up filters to limit
- 52. GA Best Practices Extra Credit Use multiple metric tools But… Don’t switch!
- 53. The Limits of Google Analytics
- 54. The Limits of GA Needs time to gather initial data Generates a sea of data Code installation can be problematic Third party so squirrely things can happen Doesn’t track PDFs & multimedia files 25 month limit Won’t work if cookies are off Won’t work for password-protected pages Limited to 5 million pageviews / month
- 55. Top 3 Google Analytics Reports
- 56. Top 3 GA Reports 1. The Dashboard Tweak it Schedule emails
- 57. Top 3 GA Reports 2. Entrance keywords
- 58. Top 3 GA Reports 3. Top Content Including Bounce Rates
- 59. Top GA Reports Other possibilities Referring sites Browsers Profiles with filters Focus on particular directory or page Eliminate your own IP address Divide internal and external traffic
- 60. Resources THE place to start http://www. google .com/analytics/ Searchable manual and reference http://www. google . com/support/googleanalytics/ Brian Clifton’s Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics Happywebdiva .com
- 61. The end? Not quite….
- 62. A challenge for you
- 63. Have Google Analytics in full operation by Jan. 1, 2009