Internet Marketing Course -
Web Analytics

The phrase “Web Analytics” can refer to several different topics, anything from putting a page counter on several key pages on your Web site to the use of sophisticated Web server log analysis software to analyze Web site visitor navigation patterns on your site.

There are basically two approaches to collecting Web analytics data. The first, "page tagging", uses a small bit of JavaScript code placed on each Web page to notify a third-party server when a page has been viewed by a Web browser. An example of the use of JavaScript-based page tagging is the fairly new Google Analytics tool we'll discuss in some detail below.

The second and more traditional approach to Web analytics, especially for small to medium-sized businesses, is "log file analysis", where the log files that Web servers use to record all server transactions are also used to analyze Web site traffic. This topic is also discussed in some detail below in the "Log File Analysis" section.

Page (JavaScript) Tagging / Google Analytics

YouTube Video: "Authors@Google - Avinash Kaushik". Avinash Kaushik is the Google Analytics Evangelist and Author of, "Web Analytics - An Hour A Day". An excellent, and painless, overview of Web Analytics by one of the true innovators in this field. The video is 55 minutes long, so I suggest viewing/absorbing it in 10-15 minute segments.
============================

Page Tagging

As I mentioned above, we’re going to take a very close look at Google Web Analytics in this section because it’s the easiest way for me to explain, and for you to gain a very good understanding of, the concept of page tagging.

In order to do this, I’m going to assume that you have a Web site (personal or business) and that you know how to access and modify the pages on that Web site. If you do NOT have these skills or Web site accessibility, then the person/company who does these tasks for you can easily follow these directions.

Let’s start by going to the Google Web Analytics Support Center and follow their instructions for creating, installing and using their Web Analytics tools:

Google Web Analytics Support Center (www.google.com/support/analytics/)

To Be Continued.

============================

Log File Analysis

What I describe here is how I use the Unica NetTracker "On Demand" Web Server Log Analysis Service to monitor key Web site traffic statistics on a monthly basis, as well as several other page-specific parameters I monitor using this service.

You can get a comprehensive, linked list of commercially available Web server log analysis software packages on the following Open Directory (dmoz.org) page:

Quite simply, what I am looking for in these set of statistics on a month to month basis is growth - growth in number of pages viewed, growth in total number of visitors, growth in number of unique visitors, growth in number of new visitors, growth in average amount of time spent on the site, etc. (Note: much of this measuring is made possible by placing "tags" or "cookies" on your Web site visitors' computers when they first visit the site, so these stats are vulnerable to mistakes if visitors regularly delete these cookies on their computers. Because deletion of cookies is not a common procedure for most computer owners at this point, the month-to-month stat comparisons I use are valid for the type of growth patterns I'm looking for.)

Another important use of this Web server log analysis software/service is the ability to observe Web site traffic on a page-by page basis. Let me give you a recent example.

On this particular Web site that we monitor using NetTracker, the most important visitor activity we encourage is requesting more detailed information on the highlighted products. If visitors want to perform this activity while on the site, as you would expect most Web visitors would want to do, there is a specific Web page-based form they are asked to complete. Upon completion, they click on the "Submit" button, the form is sent in email form to our email server, and a "Thank You" page is displayed to the visitor so that s/he knows that the form was successfully submitted.

Of course, we are never satisfied with the total number of Web site visitors who complete this process, so we used NetTracker analysis results to look at the number of visits to the "Request More Info" Web page and compared that to the number of "visits" to the "Thank You for Requesting More Info" page. What we saw was the typical "shopping cart abandonment" pattern you have probably read about with online e-commerce sites. In other words, the Web site content was compelling enough to get a fair number of visitors to go the "Request More Info" form, but based on the number of "Thank You" page displays, we could see that many visitors "abandoned" the "Request More Info" exercise before completing it.

Based on this analysis, we guessed that one of the main causes of this visitor pattern was that too much of the info on the Info Request Form was required to be filled in before the form was considered completed and the submission process could work. We reduced by over half the required info on the form - the requested form info remained the same, but only certain info was required to be filled in. Since making that change, the number of completed forms submitted has gone up significantly.

Another important use of this software/service is helping you understand where your visitors are coming from and how they got to your site. In particular, you can not only see which search engines are sending you the most traffic, but you can also see what search phrases were used by those visitors to find your site.

Finally, because this NetTracker "On Demand" Web server log analysis service is "hosted" by the same company that hosts the Web site, I can access NetTracker statistics from any computer that has Internet/Web access.

If you're not already using a Web server log analytics software or service, I would strongly recommend that you look into it immediately. I think you'll find that it will be money well spent.

Want to learn more about Web site analytics? Pick up a copy of Web Analytics Demystified by Eric Petersen (click on the book title and you'll be taken to the Amazon.com info on this book). It covers Web log server analysis, as well as client-side "page tagging". It's a great read, and it's not in geek-speak!

Internet Marketing Course - Return to Home Page