Web Analytics How to turn data into insights and how to turn insights into more readers

Web AnalyticsHow to turn data into insights and how

to turn insights into more readers

Blog Indiana - August 17, 2008

What we’ll cover today

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• Why analytics is important

• The tools

• The definitions

• Benchmarks and trends

• What do we do now?

• “Chris argues that ‘engagement’ is not a measurable ROI measure for business. You have to apply the results to the bottom line!” – Hat tip to Doug Karr!

• Can’t manage what you can’t measure

• Are you on the right path?

• Gives you insights

Why analytics is important

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The tools

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• Google Analytics

• Feedburner

• If we have time…– Ranking reports– Twitter– WordPress plugin

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The definitions

• Visits

• Page views per visit

• Hits

• Bounce rate

• Time on site

• Subscribers

• Comments

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Visits

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1 visit, 1 unique visitor 2 visits, 1 unique visitor, 1 repeat visitor

3 visits, 2 unique visitors, 1 repeat visitor

Page views per visit

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1 visits, 2 page views = 2 page views/visit

2 visits, 3 page views = 1.5 page views/visit

3 visits, 6 page views = 2 page views/visit

Hits

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The rest…

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• Bounce rate: Visit only a single page on your blog

• Time on site: Amount of time visitors spend on the site (time/visit)

• Subscribers: The # of people that read your blog via RSS or email updates

• Comments: Response to a blog post

Benchmarks and trends

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Benchmarks and trends #2

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• Visits– 10.2K (7-16 to 8-15)– 8.6K (6-15 to 7-15)– 9.5K (5-15 to 6-14)

• Page views– 21.9K (7-16 to 8-15)– 19.4K (6-15 to 7-15)– 19.6K (5-15 to 6-14)

• Page views/visit– 2.15 (7-16 to 8-15)– 2.27 (6-15 to 7-15)– 2.06 (5-15 to 6-14)

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Benchmarks and trends #3

What do we do now?

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• H2 increase page views per visit

• H2 lower bounce rate

• H2 increase time on site

• H2 increase subscribers

• H2 increase comments

Some tactics…

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• All-time best posts

• Reader favorites, most commented

• WordPress first-time visitor plugin

• Increase references to previous posts

• WordPress related posts plugin

• Blog post series

All-time best posts

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Reader favorites, most commented

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Doug Karr’s tweet from yesterday

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• “B2B blogs are a different animal, most people don’t ‘subscribe’ or become continuous readers. Most are searching for an ANSWER via search.”

• Why do readers subscribe?

First-time visitor plugin

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Increase references to previous posts

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WordPress related posts plugin

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Blog post series

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686 subscribers to 801

Make the reports connectable

• Using language

• “I know nothing about blogging…”

• Subscribers = loyal readers

• Visitors = readers

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Example…

• Chicago– 359 visits– 3.16 pages per visit– 5:25 time on site– 24.79% new visits

• Chicago– #1 city in May for PPC Hero– 34.2% more articles read than

average reader– 55.7% more engagement than

average reader– 53.5% more loyal readers than

average city– Could we do a seminar in

Chicago?

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Questions?

www.hanapinmarketing.comwww.ppchero.com

patrick.east@hanapinmarketing.como - 812.330.3134 x106 | m - 317.965.2155