Blog III | Module II | Web Analytics

This blog post is for Module 2 (Web Analytics). It will discuss the different lectures and reading materials that fall under this module. 

The blog will cover the below topics:

1. Web Metrics 
2. Google Analytics and Google Adword

Lecture Summary: 

In the "Lecture 9: Introduction to Web Analytics" lecture I learned that web analytics means the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of internet data for the purpose of understanding and optimizing web usage. Web analytics is all about gathering data about people that visit a website and understanding exactly what they are doing on that site to help improve the design of the website. I also learned that web analytics has software programs which are designed to track everything that happens on a website. It also records all the data in real time and then share that information back to the website owners to help improve the website. The program is designed to track who is visiting the site, what are they doing on the site, how they are behaving on it, what pages they are visiting. The program is tracking everything that is happening on the website. The most important concept I learned from this lecture was regarding the five W's of web analytics. They are the what, who, when, where, and why. The what is referring to actions that are being performed on the website. The who is for who the audience of the website is. The when is the time, when are people visiting the site. The where is for where the people are coming from, and the why is for the reason they are coming to the site, so why are they visiting the site.

In the "Lecture 10: Google Analytics" lecture I learned that Google analytics is a free, hosted web analytics tool. It is designed to help create more effective sites. It shows how visitors find and use a site, making it easier for the owner of the site to make informed site design and content decisions and overall improve the site. It also lets you track metrics to help visitors get more out of the site. The features of Google analytics includes: (map overlay, Adwards integration, internal site search, benchmarking and funnel visualization). Google Analytics leets you create all sorts of reports some of which are standard reports and it also lets you create custom reports if you want to. With Google analytics, when you first log in, it provides with you a dashboard which gives you an overview of website traffic and it provides you the ability to create new dashboards. The audience analysis provides information regarding people that visit the website. It provides information regarding things like where the people are coming from, what they are looking for on the site, if they are using a mobile device or not and what pages they are using to enter the website. 

Reading Analysis:

"An Introduction to Web Metrics" reading discussed how to create metric plans and it is important not to optimize a business focus over a customer focus. It then goes into detail explaining how to create a business focus metric. In order to create one, first identifying the business goals is important, then identifying specific web activity that demonstrates this. Lastly, creating summary or detailed metrics around this activity. To create a customer focused metrics, first check if the site is available, can you successfully login, can you then successfully search and look for what you need, and then can you download what you need with easy. Lastly, was the task easy to do, because it is important to have a satisfied customer. 

"Web Analytics Definitions" reading just discussed and showed different web analytics vocabulary. The meaning for the words and comments related to them.

The "Google Analytics - Powerful Simplicity Practical Insight" reading discusses the benefits of Google analytics. It is beneficial for all sorts of sites. It is also important to monitor the cost-effectiveness of each the marketing activities. If you want to optimize marketing, you can pull marketing reports, to help assist with how to get more visitors on the website. It is also important to not only get visitors but to make sure those visitors turn to customers. It is also important to continue working on the site to not only improve it but to make sure the customers are satisfied with it. Google analytics let you figure out which changes lead to increased conversions. Also, Google analytics is a platform that that gathers data into useful reports. It is only possible to work with Google analytics once you have created account and then added a piece of Javascript tracking code to each page on the site. 

The "The 19 Differences between Search and Traditional Advertising" reading discussed the difference between search advertising and print, broadcast and outdoor advertising.  A few that stood out to me are mentioned below. With search advertising, it will be seen by people who are interested in buying and with print, broadcast and outdoor advertising it is seen by a large group of people but that does not necessarily mean that they are interested in buying. Additionally, with search advertising, you can modify a message or wording, because it is more flexible. It is also not expensive to change frequently during the campaign. However with a print, broadcast and outdoor advertising it is expensive and difficult to make a change after a ad has been produced. Also it is impossible to change if it has been printed. 

Personal Opinion:

I really enjoyed this weeks materials. I have been wanting to learn more about Google analytics for a long time, and I had the chance to understand it better. Both of the lectures were very helpful during the assignment and during the preparation for the quiz. The most important thing I learned during the first lecture was that web analytics means the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of internet data for the purpose of understanding and optimizing web usage. The best way to understand how a website is doing is by reporting on it. Google analytics offers so many different reporting and metrics options. There are so many different ways to analyze the data to better understand how the website is doing. I had a lot of fun playing with the metrics and the reporting options. It helped me understand what types of users use the website and how they use the site.

Additional Materials:

Web analytics is a very new concept to me. The below article assisted me with better understanding what it means. The reading goes in detail explaining what web analytics means and explaining the most common terms that are used with web analytics. It was helpful for me while I was trying to do the assignment.  

Reference:

Österberg, Written by: Marcus. “Guide to Web Analytics - an Introduction for Beginners.” Web Strategy for Everyone, Published by: Intranätverk, 16 June 2017, webstrategyforeveryone.com/web-analytics-introduction/.