Google Analytics for Publishers

Monique Sherrettmonique@boxcarmarketing.com604-732-6467

What Is Google Analytics?

A free tool that lets you measure sales and conversions on your website, as well as provides insights into how visitors arrived on your site and what they do on the site.

Think about data tracking in terms of ABCs

• Acquistion: How do people find our site? Where do they come from? Who are our best supporters?

• Behaviour

• Content: What parts of the site is performing well, which page are most popular?

• Social: How visitors interact with sharing features on your site or engage with your content across social networks like Twitter and Facebook

• Mobile: How do mobile visitors to the site perform in comparison to desktop visitors

• Conversions: How many visitors complete a desired goal like download a brochure, sign up for a newsletter, register for an appointment, or take some revenue-generating action like make a purchase.

Google Analytics Is …

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var _gaq = _gaq || [];_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-11907108-5']);_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);(function() {

var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' :'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);})();

</script>

Why Is Google Analytics So Complicated?

Monique SherrettOnline Marketing Consultant

1995: Graphics Editor, Treeline1996: Built 1st Publisher Website1999: Raincoast Books2007: Raincoast Online Marketing Manager2008: Founded Boxcar Marketing2010: SFU Adjunct Professor

ABC Metrics Are Actionable

Revenue

Acquisition Acquisition: Where do Visitors come from?

Activation

Behaviour: What do they do on the siteRetention

Referral

Conversion: What actions lead to or influence revenue?

Let’s Look at Google Analytics

Default Timeframe Is 1 Month

Annotations

Expand

Audience > Demographics > Location

Each Report Has a Drilldown

Each Report Has a Drilldown

All Traffic Sources

Referral Sources: Sites That Link to Your Site

Social Engagement

Content > Overview

/news/blog/programs/contact

Content Drilldown > Page Navigation Summary

/about/brochure/tuition/schools/contact

/how-to-register/about-bc/tuition/student-stories/contact

Goals

How to Set Up Goals: Step 1

www.domain.com

How to Set Up Goals: Step 2

Goals vs. Events

Goals

There is a distinct path or visitor flow through a series of tasks. For example:

1. Visit the Webinar page2. Click on Register for the Event3. On the Register page, complete

the form.4. Go to the Thank You page.

Events

There is NO distinct path, no change of URLs, but there is a task or action taken.

Click on a Submit button and a pop-up “Thank You” message appears.

< OR >

Click on link or button that takes the visitor to another website.

Ask your programmer or IT person to implement the Event Tracking Code.

This post explains how: http://www.boxcarmarketing.com/blog/item/how-to-set-up-event-tracking-in-google-analytics/

<a href=“http://www.twitter.com”>

< BECOMES >

<a href=“http://www.twitter.com” onClick=“_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘Follow’, ‘Twitter’])”>

How to Set Up Events: Step 1

Events

Events

Ecommerce

General Metrics

Website traffic (traffic coming to the site)

Number of incoming links (sites sending traffic, referral traffic)

Social media engagement: Twitter, Video, Facebook, Blog

Actionable Metrics

Are they aware of us? (Traffic Sources > Referral, Search, Ads, Social)

If they are researching, how do they become familiar with us? (Content Paths)

As they form an opinion, how can we know if we’re under consideration? (Non-revenue Goals and Events > Product Page to Download Excerpt, Enter Contest, Exit via Social Media Follow Us link )

Once intent is formed, what action do they take? (Bounce, Events, Ecommerce, other Conversions, Number of Purchases, Bundles, Upselling)

Do your analytics reports drive action?

Month over Month: Top Reporting Metrics

Revenue

Acquisition

ActivationRetentionReferralWhat behaviour do they engage in? If outreach, what sites are most valuable?

How many conversions?If time on marketing activities, which perform best?

How do we acquire visitors?If paid traffic, is it working?

Total Visits, month over month, %Visit Sources, locationVisits by Social Media Channel

Pages/VisitBounce rateAverage time on site% repeat visitsNon-revenue activities:i.e., Visit product pagesSign up for newsletterEnter a contestExit via social media links

Goal Funnel > Visits with conversionLead Generation Conversion RateNumber of purchasesConversions by Channel

Tracking Dashboard

Create a Google Analytics Dashboard

Things Are Changing

Google’s Universal Analytics is a new code snippet that provides access in Analytics to a new set of features that was previously only available in the development environment, in particular the ability to set custom dimensions and metrics and multi-platform tracking (track more than just websites).

New Code• Implement it on all pages concurrently with your existing GA but

use a new account (new UA-number)

New Features• Customize organic search sources• Session and campaign timeout• Referral exclusions• Search term exclusions• Mobile App Analytics• Custom dimensions & metrics

Multi-Platform Tracking• Currently in Public Beta (online/offline tracking)

Universal Analytics

Analyze your data on a quarterly basis• Set Goals, Events and Ecommerce• Know Your ABCs• Check reports daily or weekly. Actually take time to analyze each

quarter

Pay attention to the right data

Traffic Sources + Conversions: Custom report to see volume of referral traffic by source but also conversions. Focus more effort in the right places.

Segment Audience: Conversion vs. Non. Organic vs. paid. Member vs. Non. Know how different groups perform and what leads to a conversion.

Top Content: Pages? Themes? Custom alerts when traffic to key pages drops or spikes

Visits: Publish content or launch promotions on high traffic days to capture the most attention.

Next Steps

See Resources for Publishershttp://www.boxcarmarketing.com/google-analytics-resources-for-publishers

Monique Sherrettmonique@boxcarmarketing.com604-732-6467