Is My Blog Doing What I Want It to Do?

Bounce rates, time on page, unique visitors, frequency, channels and conversions. These are just a few of the metrics available about my blog, Now You Know, thanks to Google Analytics. But how do I best decipher all of the available information to craft a story about my blog’s success? Essentially, how do I know if my blog is doing what I want it to do?

In his book, Web Analytics 2.0, Kaushik (2010) explains that in order to measure success, I need to first establish my blog’s purpose, or objective, then I can pick the best analytics to tell me how I’m doing. Since I’m not selling a product, but am instead “selling” my knowledge of marketing, measurement and metrics, a good goal for my blog is to provide content that helps establishes my thought leadership and is interesting to my visitors. To determine if I am achieving my objective, I need to carefully choose key performance indicators that will tell me if I’m being successful. The analytics I need to consider, given my blog’s objective, fall under three of the five standard reporting sections offered by Google Analytics (GA) – Audience, Acquisition and Behavior – and will include returning visitors, average visit duration, channels and average time on page, to name a few.

Audience

I’ll begin by assessing the Audience analytics associated with my blog. GA (2013) lets me look at a number of metrics related to my visitors, such as age and gender, language and location, new and returning visitors, and mobile devices to help me better understand who my visitors are and their level of engagement. Keeping my blog goal in mind – thought leadership and interesting content – I’m going to look at metrics that can tell me not only who my visitors are, but how I can better tailor my content to reach them. Metrics I want consider include:

• Unique Visitors, Visits and Page Views. These foundational metrics can tell me how many individual visitors have come to my blog, how many total visits they have accounted for and how many total pages they have viewed during a particular time period (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013). Since my blog’s inception on Nov. 2, my site boasts eight unique visitors who have visited the site a total of 18 times and have viewed a total of 47 pages.


• Page View/Visits. This ratio is an engagement metric that is calculated by dividing the number of page views by the number of visits in a specific time period (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013). The data tells me that my eight visitors have viewed an average of 2.61 pages per visit.


• Average Visit Duration. By looking at this visit characterization metric (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013), I know that my eight visitors have spent an average of 3.08 minutes on my blog during each visit.


• Returning Visitors. P.I. Reed (Lesson 2, 2013) places this metric in the visitor characterization category. Returning visitors tells me that more than half of my visitors have returned (55.6 percent) since my blogging efforts started.


• Recency. Also a visitor characterization metric, this number tells me how much time has passed since a unique visitor performed a particular action of interest (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013). GA’s data reveals that the majority of my visits (15 out of 18) have taken place in a day or less (14 at 0 and 1 at 1).


• Visit duration. This visit characterization metric tells me the length of a session’s time for my visitors, (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013). For my blog, visit duration appears to be 30 seconds or less, with 10 of the total 18 visits falling in this range.


• Bounce rate. This engagement metric ratio, calculated by dividing single page visits by entry pages (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013), offers insight into how quickly visitors are exiting a site and where. As Kaushik (2013,) says, “In a nutshell bounce rate measures the percentage of people who come to your website and leave ‘instantly’." According to GA, my blog has a bounce rate of 44.44 percent.


• Age and Gender. Knowing this demographic information is helpful in identifying my visitors and better tailoring my content to them. Thanks to GA, I know 54.15 percent of my visitors are men, with the biggest percentage of visitors being between 25 and 34 years of age.

Acquisition

Next, I’ll look at some information related to Acquisition. Google Analytics offers insight into channels, keywords, referral sources, traffic and more to help me better understand where my visitors are coming from, and what or who is helping them come to my blog. The metrics I am most interested in – keeping my blog’s objectives in mind and availability functionality – are:

• Referrers. GA calls referrers – a visit characterization metric that tells me sources of traffic (P.I. Reed, Lesson 2, 2013) – channels. According to GA, 15 of my 18 visits came to my blog directly, two from blogger.com (social) and one from a bot - gadgets/ifr (referral source.


• Traffic. GA tells me that most of my visits, since my blog’s creation, have taken place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

While GA offers a variety of metrics under this reporting section, such as information on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, social, cost analysis and Search Engine Optimization, I am presently not using any of functionality because I am not running a marketing campaign nor have I enabled Webmaster Tools.

Behavior

Under this final standard reporting section I am using, given my blog’s objectives, GA offers a variety of metrics related to the Behavior my visitors – information that will help me better understand what my visitors are doing, including where they are landing and exiting my blog, and what content appears to interest my visitors the most:

• Unique Page Views. This foundational metric is the number of times a page was viewed at least once (Google Analytics, 2013). GA reveals that 34 out of 48 total page views are unique. This metric also allows me to see that my top two articles are “What Story Does Your Web Metrics Tell” and “Taking Advantage of the Shift to Content.” My least popular blog is “Which Online Advertising Platform Will Best Help Drive Results.”


• Average Time on Page. This metric tells me how long my visitors on spending on each page on average. GA reports this metric at 1:57 seconds for my blog.


• Landing Pages. This metric tells me where my blog visitors are arriving. GA reveals that most of my visits (14 out of 18) start from my blog’s home page, and that 8 of these visits are from first-time visitors.

This standard reporting sections offers other metrics I am not using at this time, based on my blog’s objectives, including site speed, site search, events and Adsense.

Conversions and Real Time

While I’m not using Conversions and Real Time presently, I wanted to note that GA also offers these reports. Conversion reports allow you to see how you are progressing in your realization of the goals you’ve set for your website or blog. It also allows you to look at multi-channel funnels and your e-commerce efforts. Real Time reports provide information about your visitors as it is taking place, including events, traffic sources, content and locations. Since I’m not selling a product, pushing downloads of a white paper or really focusing on increasing blog visitors (just yet), conversions are not part of the metrics I’m analyzing for my blog at this time.

Assessment

So after looking at all of this information, is my blog doing what I want it to do? What do these metrics, taken together, tell me about my blog? Simply put, the metrics are telling me that while I am on my way to achieving my blog’s objective – thought leadership and interesting content – I have much room for improvement. Particularly, I want to look for ways to boost my engagement with my visitors, increasing my page views/visit, returning visitors and average visit duration metrics.

Since I know the majority of my visitors are men and are between 25 and 34-years-of-age, I might try to tailor my content more to this audience and their interests as related to my topic of web analytics. It may also be helpful to introduce new content (i.e. post new blogs) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are peak performance times. Additionally, I should consider what referral sources beyond blogger.com could be helpful in driving visitors to my site and adding widgets to my blog so visitors can share content they find interesting and help boost my audience. I also need to begin asking my readers to share their thoughts and opinions on each blog to enhance engagement. These are just a few of things the metrics are telling me about the performance of my blog and how to enhance it.

Based on the information I’ve shared here about my blog from GA, what suggestions can you make to help me reach my goal of thought leadership and interesting content? Are there other metrics I have overlooked that would tell me an important part of my blog’s story?

References

Google Analytics. (2013). Beth's blog. Retrieved Nov.. 23, 2013, from https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?hl=en#report/visitors-overview/a45647041w76369387p78959657/

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Kaushik, A. (2013). Standard metrics revisited: #3: bounce rate. Retrieved Nov. 23, 2013, from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/standard-metrics-revisited-3-bounce-rate/ <br><br>

Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University. (2013). Lesson 2: Web Metrics & SEO. Retrieved Oct. 28, 2013, from WVU eCampus Web site: http://ecampus.wvu.edu

Which Online Advertising Platform Will Best Help Drive Results?

Thinking about online advertising, but aren’t sure which platform to use? The two top platforms today – Google AdWords and Facebook Advertising – each boast their own unique benefits that should be taken into consideration before making a media buy. 

Google AdWords 

This advertising platform boasts the ability for marketers to set their own budget; reach consumers via geographic, demographic or psychographic targeting; make advertising changes at any time; and measure the effectiveness of each advertising dollar spent.  According to Larry Kim (n.d., para. 10), Google AdWords works best when trying to sell a product: 

Our research shows that Google is the better choice for display advertising because it has superior CPC performance, improved ad targeting options, and an enormous array of ad formats that Facebook lacks.  

Facebook Advertising 

Like Google AdWords, Facebook allows marketers to select their own budget; target consumers according to location, interests, online behaviors, age, etc.; change advertising at any time; and measure effectiveness. Kim (n.d., para. 7) believes this venue is best for brand building efforts:

Facebook sessions usually tend to last much longer than a normal Google search session, which would make Facebook preferred for building brand awareness or sending a specific message.

A Side-By-Side Comparison

With the C-suite's increasing focus on measurable results, it makes sense to choose the advertising platform  most closely aligned with marketing goals and objectives. The following infographic by e-Intelligence (2013) offers a side-by-side comparison of the two platforms using a number of important metrics, including global online market share, unique monthly visitors, time spent by visitors on each platform and average click through rates.

As the visual shows, Google is clearly ahead of Facebook when it comes to global online ad market share and unique monthly visitors; however, Facebook visitors spend significant more time on that platform. What’s particularly interesting about the latter observation – time spent on a platform – is that that the greater the time spent somewhere, the more time a marketer has to engage with the visitor. This is extremely important for brand-building activities.  

Check out this white paper by Microsoft Corporation (2010) that supports this observation by showing a connection exists between online ad engagement and brand impacts – both on and offline. The white paper highlights the impact of “dwell” rates and “dwell” time on ad efficiency, visits to the brand site, traffic, engaged visitors and more. Dwell is defined on page 5 as “the level of active engagement with the ad.” 

Additionally, e-Intellgence’s infographic also shows that while Google Ad Words has a higher click-through rate, Facebook advertising boasts a higher revenue ratio: For every $1 spent on Facebook advertising, an advertiser realizes $3 in revenue compared to $2 for Google Ad Words. 

This article by Steven Matsumoto (2010, para. 1) offers marketers some tips to “help you make more educated decisions about where to spend your precious marketing dollars” – particularly when it comes to advertising. Matsumoto offers a formula for calculating return on investment for advertising dollars spent so no matter which platform you choose, you can determine what revenue results your ad spend is generating.

Let Your Goals Drive Your Choices

Since these two advertising platforms offer some similar functionality but boast different benefits, which platform you ultimately choose to invest in is best based on desired results. By letting your goals and objectives drive your advertising choices, you are in a better position to know which one of these two platforms can best help drive your results.

References

e-Intelligence. (2013, May 7) Google vs. Facebook: The battle of online advertising. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://visual.ly/google-adwords-vs-facebook-ads

Facebook. (2013). Advertising. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from https://www.facebook.com/advertising

Google. (n.d.). AdWords. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://www.google.com/

Matsumoto, S. (2010, July 12). Basic advertising ROI calculation. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://biznik.com/articles/basic-advertising-roi-calculation

Microsoft Corporation. (2010).   Dwell on branding: Proof that online ad engagement drives better brand results. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://advertising.microsoft.com/europe/WWDocs/User/Europe/ResearchLibrary/ResearchReport/Dwell%20on%20Branding%20Research%20Report%20Apr10.pdf

Taking Advantage of the Shift to Content

As a graduate student enrolled in the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program at West Virginia University, one of the messages I get loudly and clearly is that content matters – particularly when it comes to a company’s online presence. In fact, I have absolutely no doubt that content plays a key role in helping drive a company’s marketing and communications strategy.

In his article, Content is King of Social Marketing, Michael Greenberg (2009, para. 4) says it best, “Without content, there is not a whole lot to talk about.” He adds this piece of sage advice a little later in the article (para. 14), “Developing content is not for the faint of heart. You have to constantly develop new ideas and think of new ways to keep your readers or viewers engaged.”

I live Greenberg’s words every day. With a marketing team of four individuals, plus a director, that serves six million members and 26,000 clients, we struggle daily to meet the growing needs of consumers for fresh and relevant content.  On any given day, we wear a minimum of five hats – trying to balance competing priorities – which means our work day and week often extend beyond traditional business hours.

So how does a department like ours successfully manage its company’s online presence and build fresh, relevant content regularly? While the answer may seem simple –  by knowing where we need to focus our limited resources – doing so is far from it.

Today’s successful marketers and communicators know one of the best places to start is where you find your target audiences. Are they using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or blogs? By knowing where your target audiences are getting and sharing information, you can be better focused on reaching them. This means doing the necessary research into the channels your target audiences are using so you can work as efficiently and effectively as possible with limited resources.

The following infographic from Pew Research (McGee, 2012) shows who is using what social media outlets:

While this infographic is helpful in determining where a company should have a presence, it doesn’t help solve the content part of the equation – coming up with fresh and relevant content on a regular basis.

One of the biggest tools we use for content development is an editorial calendar. This calendar, managed by our digital media specialist, lists what content is being posted on what platforms and when. Then, each member of the marketing team is assigned pieces of the content to develop for these channels. So far this approach is helping our department and team stay focused on content development in a manageable way. This article by Buyer (2012) offers some good advice on how to create such a calendar.

So while developing content isn’t easy, it’s definitely necessary to help ensure a company’s online success. After all, you want to engage your target audiences in a two-way conversation, but without content – giving them something to talk about – you may just end up in a one-way conversation, which is reminiscent of "the old days" of marketing.

In the book, Content Rules: How to Create  Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, E-Books, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business, authors Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman (2012) offer several examples of companies that have found success focusing on content, including Kodak. The authors (2012, Chapter 1, p. 3) share the story of Ann who was thinking about buying a new camera and starting asking friends and family online to make recommendations:

Somewhere along the way, her search caught the attention of Kodak’s then–chief marketing officer (CMO), Jeffrey Hayzlett, whose team monitors Twitter for queries such as Ann’s. Jeffrey subsequently reached out to Ann directly on Twitter to suggest his company’s own point-and-shoot pipsqueak, the EasyShare. Oh, and if she had any unanswered queries about point-and-shoot products, Jeffrey added, ask away!

It’s cool that the CMO of a $7.6 billion company reached out to a single consumer. But what’s really going on isn’t just cool; it’s a major shift in how companies are marketing themselves online. Kodak might be on Twitter, but it and other companies are also creating blogs, publishing podcasts and webinars, launching Facebook pages, and more. Kodak knows that it doesn’t have to wait for Consumer Reports to review its latest point-and-shoot; it can publish the specs itself and help customers come to Kodak.

Clearly content matters. In his book, Web Analytics 2.0, Avinash Kaushik (2010, p. 242) explains why content is so crucial to a company’s success:

One of the least understood phenomena of the last few years is how the fundamental nature of content creation, distribution, and consumption has changed. Most marketers are unprepared to take advantage of this shift, most web analytics vendors have not evolved their core data collection mechanisms, and most analysts have not yet adapted their measurement techniques.

I know I want to be a marketer who is prepared to take advantage of this shift, using content to spark conversations and help achieve organizational goals. How about you?
 

References

Buyer, L. (2012, Dec. 28). How to create a social media editorial calendar. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2136988/How-to-Create-a-Social-Media-Editorial-Calendar

Greenberg, M. (2009, Oct. 20). Content is king of social marketing. Multichannel Merchant.com. Retrieved Nov. 9, 2013, from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/content-is-king-of-social-marketing-20102009/

Handley, A. & Chapman, C.C. (2012). Content Rules: How to Create  Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, E-Books, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

McGee, M. (2012, Sept. 14). Social networking demographics: Pew study shows who uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & others. Retrieved Nov. 4, 2013, from http://marketingland.com/social-network-demographics-pew-study-shows-who-uses-facebook-twitter-pinterest-others-21594

What Story Does Your Web Metrics Tell?

Ask any 10 marketers if web metrics matters and the answer will be a resounding “yes.” But ask those same 10 marketers which metrics matter most and their answers will run the gamut.

According to P.I. Reed (Lesson 2, 2013), there are two basic types of web metrics – counts and ratio – with six different classifications: foundation, visit characterization, visitor characterization, engagement, conversion and miscellaneous. Under each of these classifications are varying measures (e.g., referrers, unique visitors, conversions, etc.) that tell a different part of a company’s online “story.” Which measures a marketer ultimately chooses to use depends on the objectives he or she is trying to achieve, or the story he or she is trying to tell.

Avinash Kaushik (2010), in his book Web Analytics 2.0, talks about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as analytics that can help marketers understand if and how they are reaching their objectives. In keeping with the story analogy, KPIs would be the "characters" who help lead the listener/reader to the story’s conclusion. And while each character plays a unique role in weaving the story together, some character’s roles are more relevant than others. The "role" these characters play in the story's development would be similar to the role of web analytics, or the metrics that describe what is taking place or happening with a company's online presence.

In the 2013 video, Above and Beyond Metrics: Tell a Story with Reports, the importance of using web metrics to develop “meaningful” recommendations is discussed. Specifically, Sara Kaczmarek, analyst, with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, (2013) talks about how she uses her quarterly web reports to develop compelling stories about her employer’s online presence.



Kaczmarek's discussion appears to support the observation that web metrics, just like a character's role, play an important part in bringing a story together and to its conclusion. Without web metrics, a marketer simply has a bunch of characters (KPIs) that alone cannot bring a reader/listener to a story’s conclusion, or ultimate objective(s).

Today marketers have a variety of tools at their disposal help tell their story. In fact, Adobe recently announced adding six new features to help marketers become better “storytellers:” predictive analytics and anomaly detection, expanded real-time reporting, data visualization updates, expanded mobile analytics capabilities, conversion analysis for app transaction and video metrics report. As Craver (2013, para. 3) explains:

Some of the new ad hoc analysis includes better usability for understanding the context around site visitors data trends. It helps visualize and find the actionable meaning of mean, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation by overlaying column data in graphs.

Notice the word actionable in the above sentence – something Kaushik (2010) points out repeatedly in his book as an important outcome of understanding and using web metrics; of telling a good story.

Through each lesson, my hope is that you’ll focus not just on the metrics and reports being analyzed, but rather on the reasons for choosing the metrics and the thought process around creating insightful analytics. That’ll ensure the other types of analyses you do, not covered in this book, are actionable, (Kaushik, 2010, p. 87).

Without an ability to act on what is learned about a company's online presence, foundational, visit, visitor characterization, engagement, conversion and miscellaneous metrics are simply numbers that fail to tell an engaging story. After all, just about everyone likes a good action(able) story.

References

Craver, T. (2013, Oct. 15). Adobe analytics ads 6 new features. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013, from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2300532/Adobe-Analytics-Adds-6-New-Features

Kaszmarek, S. (2013). Above and beyond metrics: Tell a Story with Reports. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2013, from http://www.howto.gov/training/classes/beyond-metrics

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc. 

Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia University. (2013). Lesson 2: Web Metrics & SEO.  Retrieved Oct. 28, 2013, from WVU eCampus Web site: http://ecampus.wvu.edu

Using Web Analytics to “Mine” for Customer Information

This October 2013 white paper title, In the Decade of the Customer, Knowing Your Customer Means Owning Your Data, best sums up why today’s marketers need a solid understanding of web metrics. While the paper focuses on how and why businesses need to consider the implications an acquisition will have on their online presence (Ernst & Young, 2013), many of the reasons for doing so – branding, SEO and actionable insight – are universal to all companies. As the paper's primary author Paul Legutko (2013, p. 20) explains:

Every day a newspaper headline proclaims that customer data is the “new oil,” and just as extraction and refining techniques for energy have advanced with technology, so too should the techniques for understanding customers and providing a targeted, custom experience.
 
More so than ever before, marketers must realize that a “one-size fits all” approach to engaging consumers no longer exits. Today’s consumers are plugged in, tuned in and turned on 24/7 via computers, laptops, tablets, mobile phones and other devices. They hold the position of power, able to retrieve and share information about products, services and issues anytime, anywhere.

The following chart from a 2013 study by Pew Research shows just how pervasive digital devices are in America:

With 56 percent of Americans owning a smart phone, 58 percent a desktop computer, 61 percent a laptop and 34 percent a tablet, marketers must truly “manage” their online presence in order to be successful. This means using web metrics – and using them properly – to “mine” for information about online presence. This includes both the “what” and the “why” behind what is happening on a website, social media channels and digital advertising, for example.

Kaushik (2010) points out that most businesses are only using web analytics to analyze clicksteam data. This allows them to get at the “what”– what pages are being viewed, what products are being purchased, what keywords got clicks – but not at the “why.” He explains the “why” includes multiple outcomes, experimentation and testing, voice of the consumer and competitive intelligence data – all information that can result in actionable insight

In a digital marketing blog for Adobe, John Bates product manager, Predictive Analytics, (2012, para. 5) does a good job of explaining why the “why” is so important in helping marketers more effectively manage their online presence:

There is an epidemic failure within digital marketing to understand what is really happening and this leads people who run digital marketing programs to misjudge their customers and mismanage their businesses. Predictive marketing offers the cure to almost every ill-informed analysis and poorly managed optimization effort by unearthing hidden patterns in large sets of data and providing foresight for future decisions. Predictive marketing provides the marketer with the ability to intelligently interact with their customers at every stage of engagement – disrupting past web performance with unprecedented levels of success.
 
Web analytics that get at the "why" can help businesses better target offerings, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and enhance engagement. From what content should go on a page, to what set of keywords help elevate an offering in online search, to who is directing the most traffic to your website, web metrics are key to better understanding customers. And businesses that better understand customers are better ever to provide tangible value, creating long-lasting, two-way relationships, which is every marketer’s dream.

References

Bates, J. (2012, March 29). Moneyball marketing: How predictive marketing changes the game. Retrieved Oct. 22, 2013, from http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/analytics/predictive-analytics/moneyball-marketing-how-predictive-marketing-changes-the-game/

 

Ernst & Young. (2013, October). In the decade of the customer, knowing your customer means owning your own data. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013, from http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_In_the_decade_of_the_customer_knowing_your_customer_means_owning_your_data/$FILE/EY-In-the-decade-of-the-customer.pdf

Kaushik, A. (2010). Web Analytics 2.0. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Pew Internet. (2013). Trend data: adults. Retrieved Nov. 2, 2013, from http://pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/February/Pew-Internet-Mobile.aspx