Stephen Cronin: Actionable Analytics

Everyone uses a web analytics package on their website – but how many people do anything beyond check the number of page views and where the traffic is coming from? Analytics packages are packed with so much more information – information you can take and do something with that will improve your site. You just need to work out where to find that information and what to do with it. I’ll show you how you can action your analytics data, giving you a better site.

Transcript

2. How many of us use web stats to actively improve our websites?
3. Pageviews up ↑ Pageviews down ↓
4. Analytics should be more than just monitoring the data
5. It should be about the insight you can gain from that data
6. Insight that can lead to action
7. Action that can improve your site
8. Question Time
9. How many of you use Google Analytics?
10. Do you have a team looking after your site? If so, do you have an analytics expert?
11. Is it just you looking after your site? If so, do you spend a lot of time on analytics?
12. An analytics expert is a luxury that many small to medium websites don't have
13. The benefits of acting on insight can be huge
14. GA and WP
15. Google Analytics for WordPress by Joost de Valk Google Analyticator by Video User Manuals *Recommended Plugins*:
17. Mobile Device Support
18. Understand what devices your visitors are using
20. Do you have a responsive design or mobile plugin?
22. Investigate devices with very high bounce rates
23. Make sure your site is usable on the devices that your visitors use
25. Mobile Site vs Responsive Design
26. Which is better for *your* situation?
27. Is the same content popular on both mobile and desktop?
28. If so, then responsive design is your best bet
29. If not, you may need a separate mobile site
30. Or at least separate navigation via a plugin
34. Build separate mobile site / navigation if content is different
36. Site Speed
37. Do you know how fast your site is?
38. In different locations, on different devices and network speeds?
40. Speed of individual pages, ordered by load time
42. Pages load times with very few samples may be inaccurate
45. Fix any pages that are consistently slow
47. Speed By Operating System
50. Trouble shoot your site on any operating system that’s slow
52. Site Speed By Country
55. Solution: removed an Amazon widget that was having trouble loading
57. Resolve speed issues for target audiences that are important to you
59. What You Rank For
60. Identify keywords you're ranking for, that you don't have content for
61. Search Queries: data on when your site appears in SERPs (vs actual visits)
62. Only goes back 90 days! Download it if you want to track it over time
63. May be better viewed in Google Webmaster Tools
65. Add content for these (and related) keywords
67. Keywords With Low Click Through Rate
68. Why aren't people clicking through?
69. Does the snippet suck?
70. Does our content match searcher intent?
72. Check SERPs & optimise snippet to improve CTR
73. Add content to match intent (if appropriate)
75. Keywords With High Impressions
76. Opportunity to increase traffic if we can move up a few positions
78. Apply SEO efforts here
80. Visitor Location
81. Where are you getting traffic from?
82. Do visitors from different countries need different content?
83. Do your call to actions work for visitors from different countries?
86. Maybe the site doesn’t have enough job listings for Hong Kong…
88. Identify new opportunities Add appropriate content Customise calls to action Check goals & conversions
90. Bounce Rate
91. WTF is bounce rate?
98. Troubleshoot pages with high bounce rate and fix them!
99. Rapid Fire
100. Browsers Support the browsers your visitors use 11
101. Low Traffic Repurpose or retire low traffic content 12
102. Tag Pages Remove or promote tags that get no traffic 13
103. Site Search Make sure people can find what they want 14
104. Trackbacks Ask them to optimise anchor text or URL 15
105. In Page Remove links that aren’t being clicked 16
106. Social Traffic Replicate content that is working well 17
107. Intelligence Monitor problems & investigate them early 18
108. Custom Alerts Set up alerts for key info and action ASAP 19
109. Homework
110. Action the above Investigate the following • Event tracking • Goals • Campaigns • Website Optimizer
111. Thanks
112. Questions @stephencronin http://scratch99.com /analytics
113. Image Credits • One_way_Ticket_to_the_Moon_0089 (2).JPG by Alvimann - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/614234 • Italian Masks by Peter E. Lee - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldpatterns/3331534873/ • Question mark, Ipswich, 21 January 2012 by ed_needs_a_bicycle - http://www.flickr.com/photos/omcoc/6751047205/ • web analytics washing by brockvicky - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickyb/2430043983/ • Wordpress Button Closeup by Titanas - http://www.flickr.com/photos/titanas/3199323703/ • Money by aresauburn - http://www.flickr.com/photos/aresauburnphotos/2678453389/ • Playing with Nexus 4. (Day 29/365) by RidwanJaafar - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ridwan326/8449370112/ • Nexus 4 by Colin ZHU - http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinzhu/8378670977/ • motionBlur by pippalou - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/854241 • DSC_0015.JPG by digidreamgrafix - http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/842628 • Heavy Load by lincolnblues - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lincolnblues/5778932400/ • Globe by LukePricePhotography - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukeprice88/8162093146/ • Czech Phrasebook, Or, Excitement (98/365) by swimparallel - http://www.flickr.com/photos/swimparallel/3424725513/ • Exit on the Left by EJP Photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejpphoto/6242148088/ • Women's Freestyle Aerial Medalists by Kyler Storm - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyler/4388043806/ • Mouse Logitech by antoniolas - http://www.flickr.com/photos/antoniolas/4367543346/ • Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon by tuis - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuis_imaging/5178653014/ • Attackers by SteveMcN - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemac/2436349268/ • My dog ate my homework. #pug by franklingraves - http://www.flickr.com/photos/27646542@N03/8107647888/ • End of the road - IMG_0515_72dpi by Kevin Dean (www.betaart.com) - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevindean/5836900722