Goals, Filters, Funnels in Google Analytics

Every website on the World Wide Web is comprised of a series of single pages that all together form a series of steps. During a customer’s online journey, an individual typically navigates through a hierarchical structure of page views. Web Developers refer to a websites entire page-listing directory as a site map.

Without a clearly defined site map, navigation between pages would most likely be misunderstood and broken, which could result in a negative customer experience.

Depending on the website type, a customers action steps might vary. For a web analyst of an e-commerce site, conversion would be a metric goal worth analyzing. For a non-e-commerce site, such as my blog, data collection and site visits would be other metrics of concern.

By establishing goals, funnels, and filters using the tools in the Google Analytics platform, a web analyst, or a novice like myself, would be able to offer key stakeholders transparent metrics about what is and what is not working within the site map of a website. 

Goals

Forrester Research describes socially inclined consumers as the Groundswell, and understanding the impression a website has on these forward thinkers is vitally important to a brand now more than ever (Forrester, 2012).

In the case of web analytics, a goal is defined as a setting that counts each completion of a specific task on a website (Emerson, 2011).  Every task counted indicates how well a website is contributing to the overall company bottom line. Determining what tasks are desired and the action steps required by customers should be considered before any goals are established in Google Analytics (Emerson, 2011).

Once a decision has been made on the key performance indicators (goals), a Web Analyst would be able to define the following goals: URL Destination, Average Time on Site, Pages/Visit, and Event Goals. The maximum amount of goals per profile is twenty (4 goal sets, and 5 goals per set) (Gabe, 2012).

In the case of my school SEO/Web Analytics blog, I established three conversion goals types that included: Pages/Visit, URL Destination, and Pages Per Visit.

Pages/Visit is an engagement goal type that triggers a conversion when a user visits a certain number of pages (Gabe, 2012). This goal can be set to greater than, equal to, or less than a number of pages, based on what needs to be tracked (Gabe, 2012).

URL Destination is another engagement goal that tracks if a user visits a certain page on a website after completing an action (Gabe, 2012).

In an effort to increase referring traffic to my blog, I wrote a post for the WVU Student Blog with a call to action back to my personal blog. Based on that prompt, I noticed an up-tick in my goal completions for both URL Destination and Page/Visit.

One other area for my to leverage in Google Analytics is the event tool. By establishing an event on my blog would be a powerful way for me to holistically identify a specific visitors actions. The actions of an event could include the following: downloads, video views, clicks on specific links, button clicks, etc (Gabe, 2012).

Based upon the metrics pictured above, I need to continue to look for other opportunities to increase my referral traffic. One way to visualize the referral traffic coming from goals is by implementing funnels within Google Analytics.

Funnels

Funnels and goals can happen in tandem during the goal implementation process. “Funnels will restrict the amount of completed goals to only those who follow through the entire pathway”(Rocheleau, 2012). The benefit of adding funnels will provide much more purpose if chosen goals require a set of intended paths (Rocheleau, 2012).

In addition,“Another option for viewing funnel data is the Goal Flow report, which is in some ways similar to the Funnel Visualization” (Kissmetrics, 2012).

“Goal Flow is somewhat more flexible and detailed and does allow Advanced Segments, but it does not calculate a single funnel conversion rate metric and generally requires a bit more interpretation” (Kissmetrics, 2012).

Based on the image detailing my current goal flow, I am able to discern that I have successfully captured one visit by the blogger.com referrer. The next step of measuring success on my blog is by establishing filters.

Filters

In order to capture web metrics on a webpage, it is necessary to filter out any bias from the subsequent reporting data. By leveraging, Google Analytics filters, a web analyst could include or exclude the following:  a network, pay per click traffic, organic traffic, or sub domain traffic (Overland, 2009).

Google frowns upon setting up more than one filter because, “Adding more than one Include filter to a profile can cause data to not appear in your reports. To allow data to populate your reports again, Google recommends assigning a maximum of one Include filter to each of your profiles” (Alexander, 2011).

Best practices indicate that filters should not be applied to existing profiles. Instead, a new profile should be created in order to ensure that the proper data is captured (Alexander, 2011).

In the case of my Web Analytics/SEO blog, I setup a filter during week six that now filters out my personal network IP address.  If this filter had been established when I paired the Google Analytics tracking code to my blog I would have now be looking at unbiased metrics.

By leveraging the filtering data tool, I am now able to segment and manipulate any future data streams coming into my GA account.

In addition to filters, an e-commerce web producer should perform housekeeping on the site map to ensure that individual pages are named appropriately; otherwise page names will be unrecognizable in a goals report, and any subsequent data would not provide full transparency on traffic patterns (Emerson, 2011).

Every website is a living canvas that can always be updated, tweaked and enhanced. With the tools available in Google Analytics such as filters, funnels and goals, a web team would be able to continue to improve the hierarchy structure defining their web presence.

Resources

Alexander, Dorcas. (2011). How to use more than one include filter (without losing data). Retrieved February 24, 2013

http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2011/06/24/more-than-one-include-filter/

Gabe, Glenn. (2012). A beginner’s guide to conversion goals in google analytics.

Retrieved February 25, 2013

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/a-beginners-guide-to-conversion-goals-in-google-analytics/42558/

Overland, Helen. (2009). Google analytics filter best practices. Retrieved February 24, 2013

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/google-analytics-filter-best-practices.html

Retrieved February 25, 2013

http://empowered.forrester.com/groundswell/book.html

Retrieved February 25, 2013
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/conversion-funnel-survival-guide/

Rocheleau, Jake. (2012). A guide to: goals and funnels in google analytics. Retrieved February 25, 2013

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/google-analytics-goals-funnels-tips/

Blogging is a march; measure the journey with Google Analytics

Just as brick and mortar stores capitalize on visual storefronts to entice customers, bloggers can follow suit by posting content and visuals to a themed online storefront. Any storefront whether online or on-site is just a facade for what lies behind the curtain. In the blogosphere, web analytics are the back-end of an interface providing structure and foundation to the front-end visual storefront.

According to Jay Baer, from the blog Convince & Convert, “Without a statistical measure of your blogging progress, adding content to your blog on a regular basis can be an incredibly lonely proposition” (Baer, 2010). In an effort to produce content for the masses, instead of content for a finite following, figuring out what metric to leverage is contingent upon the blog type. Baer suggests separating blogs into three distinct groups: content driven blogs, commerce driven blogs, and community driven blogs (Baer, 2010).

In the case of my Web Analytics and SEO blog, my goal is to build a sense of community around posted content with my audience. Baer suggests that I should pay attention to the following key performance indicator metrics: repeat visits, RSS subscribers, comments and refers from social outposts like Twitter or Digg (Baer, 2010).

By activating and pairing the tracking code supplied by Google Analytics (GA) to my Blogger account has provided me with transparent metrics on visitors interacting with my curated storefront.

Overview

One of the standard reports in Google Analytics (GA) is called Audience Overview. This snapshot overview captures the following metrics: visits, unique visits, page views, pages/visit, average visit duration, bounce rate, and % of new visits. Since repeat visitors are a key benchmark metric for community blogs to measure, GA provides a pie chart segmenting that seven return visitors (43.75%) have come back to my blog (Google.com, 2013). The average visit duration is three minutes and forty four seconds (Google.com, 2013). Forty-one page views have been accessed since the launch of the blog on January 18, 2013 (Google.com, 2013).

On a negative side, the current bounce rate is 56.25%, but “No matter how engaging your blog is, you can expect a high bounce rate for the very simple reason that bounce rate is defined as the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only a single page, and blogs in general are designed for consumption directly on the main page rather than navigation to internal pages” (Fettman, 2012).

In order to best leverage the overview report, Baer suggests setting up goal benchmarks within the report (Baer, 2012). Micro-goals could be an excellent starting point for me and my benchmarks could include: downloading an eBook, signing up for an RSS feed, or successfully sharing my blog with a social network (Baer, 2012).

Content Overview

A total of four blog posts have been shared on my blog and the most recent post amassed the highest page views with 14.63% (Google.com, 2013). In addition, to the content overview section, the In-Page Analytics drop down quantifies the clicks a visitor made by color code. It is intriguing to see that the Blog Archive feature, which I felt was unpleasing to the layout, was leveraged by visitors and should be kept as part of the interface.


Traffic Sources

The all traffic report under traffic sources provides insight on the source/medium of all the traffic coming to my blog. Direct traffic currently accounts for 31.25%, and referral traffic is 68.75% (Google.com, 2013).

Referrals have been a key traffic driver. Other student bloggers have been my top referrers, but no activity is currently coming from social outposts like Twitter, or Facebook. In an effort to widen the referral search pool for my blog, I should post my content across all viable social networks.

In order to improve the low direct traffic numbers on my blog, I should add meta keywords to any future posts. In addition, I should add a meta description to the page source so that when it is crawled by search bots my blog would likely appear higher in a natural search.

Social Sources

The social sources report within the traffic sources drop down is a helpful tool in pinpointing brand advocates sharing my content. In addition, this report tracks the stickiness of shared content across social networks.

Baer is a strong advocate for this report because he believes “The data inspires informed action” (Baer, 2012). Since I currently do not have RSS subscribers, comments, or social shares, I should proactively work on improving this portion of my blog. 

Marcus Sheridan, from thesaleslion.com believes in the concept of stirring up the pot. “You do not have to be over the top, a ‘gentle’ stir is all that is needed to initiate some great conversation” (Sheridan, 2012). In future posts, I should pose a question to help spark conversations within the blogs comments section. In addition, I need to follow the lead of other successful bloggers and start commenting on other blogs. If I start commenting on my classmate’s blogs I would begin to establish a dialogue with future blogging commentators.

With the help of Google Analytics, I will be able to holistically examine the back-end of my website. The data provided from the reports will help me to make front-end storefront improvements.

Baer advises infant bloggers, like myself “Blogging success is a slow march, not a mad dash” (Baer, 2010). With each step I take toward improving my community blog, I will need to keep in mind the goals and objectives I established at the beginning of my blogging march.


Resources

Baer, Jay. (2010). How to match 10 key success metrics to your blogging strategy. Retrieved February 18, 2013
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/web-site-analytics-and-metrics/how-to-match-10-key-success-metrics-to-your-blogging-strategy/


Baer, Jay. (2012). Google analytics social reports provide huge metrics edge. Retrieved February 18, 2013
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/google-analytics-social-reports-provide-huge-metrics-edge/

Retrieved February 18, 2013
http://gatipoftheday.com/expect-a-high-bounce-rate-for-your-blog/

Retrieved February 18, 2013
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/?hl=en&pli=1#report/visitors-overview/a38385524w67012327p68931161/

Sheridan, Marcus. ( 2012). 10 ways to get tons of massive comments on your blog every time.
Retrieved February 18, 2013
http://www.thesaleslion.com/ways-get-tons-massive-blog-comments/

Producing Ads of Interest on Google & Facebook

Facebook and Google might be top of mind companies for social networking and searching, but both brands also offer worldwide-recognized advertising networks.

For advertisers looking to leverage either networks, the following ad differences should be closely examined: reach, revenue/growth, advertising performance, targeting, and ad formatting.

Ad Reach

“Facebook is the world’s largest social network comprising over 845 million monthly active users” (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012). Facebook is able to reach 51% of all Internet users (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

“Google is the world’s largest online display advertising network, comprised of Google properties including Youtube, Blogger, Gmail, plus 2 million other websites” (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012). Google is able to reach 90% of all Internet users (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

Ad Revenue/Growth

In the first quarter of 2012, the Google Display Network had $2.9 Billion in revenue, which excluded 7B in revenues from Google Search (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

The first quarter 2012 Facebook revenues were $1.06 Billion, which was 6.5% lower than the fourth quarter of 2011 (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

Advertising Performance

The difference between Facebook and Google Adwords all comes down to the click through rate. “The average CTR of an ad on the Google Display Network is 0.4%, which is almost ten times as high as a Facebook Ad” (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

Ad Targeting

Facebook is the better platform for advertisers to leverage if a brand needs to gain visibility, or interest with a new customer base. Once a brand forms a “like” presence on Facebook, a brand tribe forms.

On the other hand, Google Adwords is better for advertisers selling specific items because people turn to search engines for specific solutions (Thompson, 2012). If Google Adwords was leveraged, advertisers would be able to target the people looking for their products and services (Thompson, 2012).

Ad Format Differences

Facebook offers advertisers two ad format choices, either a Facebook Ad or a sponsored story. Google, on the other hand, offers advertisers options, which include: text ads, image ads, ads in videos, and ads in mobile web or games (Ecommercecircle.com, 2012).

Once a platform is chosen, marketers should focus on the goals behind the advertisements. Howard Luck Gossage offers this sound advice to online marketers, “The real fact of the matter is that nobody reads ads. People read what interests them, and sometimes it is an ad” (Thompson, 2012).

By closely examining both networks, a brand would be able to choose the platform that best suits the interests of their viewers. “The goal of advertising is not to gain the most visibility; it is to attract the most attention” (Thompson, 2012). Brands able to leverage an advertising networks full capability would be able to produce ads of interest instead of ads for the sake of visibility.

Resources

Thompson, Alexis. (2012). Facebook ads or google adwords: which one’s for you?

Retrieved February 4, 2012 from

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/07/26/facebook-ads-or-google-adwords-which-ones-for-you/

Retrieved February 4, 2012 from

http://www.ecommercecircle.com/files/facebook-vs-google-display-network.png

Break down existing content and conversation silos with SoLoMo (Social, Local, Mobile) marketing

We live in a society dependent on technology. Today’s consumers rely on social, local, and mobile systems to seamlessly perform multiple actions (Horton, 2013). Brands now more than ever, need to participate and integrate content and conversations happening across a SoLoMo (social, local, mobile) landscape.

“In years past, social media marketing, geo-local marketing, and mobile marketing (which until recently largely comprised of SMS text marketing to feature phone users) lived in discrete silos” (Horton, 2013). Breaking down long held traditional silos means marketers need to dethrone the belief “Conversation is king, content is just something to talk about” (Novak, 2010).

According to Chris Horton, Content Creator/Digital Strategist for SyneCore Technologies, brands should instead, “Get Social. Think Local. Spend on Mobile” (Horton, 2013). Horton believes content and social messaging should be coordinated because “Content shared on social media amplifies your brand’s online presence while transparent social exchanges project its authenticity, fostering longstanding connections with new prospects and existing customers” (Horton, 2013). Brands unable to leverage SoLoMo by marrying content and conversations will be powerless to the consumer, who is now the king of their own social and mobile technologies.

SoLoMo might be a new marketing buzzword gaining traction, but many brands have begun to meet the demands of technology minded consumers.

Mashable.com

The New Responsively Designed Mashable.com

“Mashable, the largest independent news site, likes to keep its finger on the pulse of how people connect online” (Wildfire, 2012). In 2012, the brand launched a new responsively designed website, which has allowed Mashable to deliver better experiences across every device (Cashmore, 2012). The new website interface focused on three categories reflective of their existing audience’s needs: mobile, social, and visual (Cashmore, 2012).

Mobile

By leveraging the latest responsive technology, Mashable sets the bar high for other brands to deliver a seamless user experience no matter the device used.

Social

“In addition to hosting a slew of engaging hangouts and posting fresh content daily, Mashable encourages its consumers to use social from within the site’s pages” (Wildfire, 2012). Instead of sharing an entire article on social networks, the new Mashable leverages a new approach called “microcontent sharing,” which gives readers the ability to share individual quotes, images, videos, or songs across social networks (Cashmore, 2012).

The comments section on Mashable.com was never an engaging or rich user experience. Since the new redesign debuted, Mashable.com has upped the ante by adding a rich-text editor, which allows readers to post photos from Instagram and Flickr, videos from YouTube and Vimeo, and songs from Soundcloud and Spotify (Cashmore, 2012).

Local

Even though, the Mashable brand has yet to tackle localized banner marketing, the brand is moving towards that direction by “making ads prettier, more fun, and more engaging” (Cashmore, 2012).

Horton encourages brands to adopt the PI principle (participate/ integrate) to ensure a brand is on the right side of the historical shift to SoLoMo (Horton, 2013). Brands currently leveraging the participate principle, like Mashable, already recognize that social and mobile are paradigm shifts. Brands unable to recognize and adapt to the changing landscape will not be able to meet the content and conversational demands made by SoLoMo consumers.

Download the free field guide for SoLoMo below by SyneCore Technologies.

Resources

Cashmore, Pete. (2012). Welcome to the new mashable. Retrieved February 3, 2013 from
http://mashable.com/2012/12/04/new-mashable/

Horton, Chris. (2013). SoLoMo field guide.
Retrieved February 3, 2013 from
http://engage.synecoretech.com/SoLoMo-field-guide?hsCtaTracking=f79c5649-4cf3-4afb-b09c-9bd40da00a46%7C4f36a08c-c7c8-4dba-953f-94edd02884fc

Novak, Catherine. (2010). Why conversation, not content is king. Retrieved February 3, 2013 from
http://www.wordspring.ca/2010/07/why-conversation-not-content-is-king/

Wildfire. (2012). Rethinking the funnel: how your brand’s marketing efforts should evolve for the new social customer lifecycle. Retrieved February 3, 2013 from http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/studies/new-social-customer-lifecycle/