692R-2008-Book-Analytics

Web Analytics
Web analytics is the analysis and aggregation of web site usage and user statistics. Utilizing various options of server-side and client-side technologies, web analytics provides web content publishers the ability to effectively see what kind of users access their site, for how long, navigation patterns, conversion or goal statistics, and much more.

Why Web Analytics?
Web analytics is an emerging field. This is in part due to the increase in available implementations of technologies that allow analytics data to be aggregated. As the technologies have emerged and been perfected, web site content creators have seen the power of accessing user data. Analysis of web site usage data can be used to optimize web sites, thus making them more effective. As the technology of web analytics has continued to mature, the aggregation and analysis of this data has become increasingly easier.

A large part of web analytics is understanding the audience. Content creators are essentially powerless to see how users (and what kinds of users) access their content and in which ways without formal testing. Web analytics gives creators the power to peer behind the curtain, as it were, to reveal trends, demographics, conversion rates, and efficiency of content. Wielding this information, content creators can make data-driven decisions on how to optimize their content and maximize their return on investment.

Why Web Analytics and the Gospel?
In the age of new media, everyone can be a content creator, a publisher. Utilizing tools such as social networks, blogs, and many other kinds of applications, people all over the world are communicating in ways that are revolutionizing society.

As members of the Church, we are encouraged to join this conversation (see Elder Ballard's 2007 Brigham Young University-Hawaii Graduation Address on using new media). As we utilize these tools to share testimony, web analytics can be a valuable resource to understand who we are sharing with and how efficiently we sow the seeds of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

How Web Analytics Works
Traditionally, web analytics has been inferred from analyzing "log files," or files that are automatically generated by web servers that store information about files (web pages) served. The kind of information stored includes time of day (and date) and IP address of the requester (geographic location could be inferred using IP address). Content providers could analyze information about how many hits their website was receiving as well as where the hits were coming from and and what peak times. This was the genesis of web analytics.

Due to problems identifying users based on IP address and the rising complexity of websites, companies that previously relied on log file analysis started using "cookies" to track users visiting a web site. Cookies are hidden bits of information about web browsing stored on a user's computer. Web sites looking to track user visits and information automatically store cookies with information related to the user visiting the web site. Sites do this in order to later again access the cookie and track data on that user. Data is then aggregated into a central database and analyzed. This is the basis of modern web analytics software.

Variations exist on the technicalities of cookie generation, the different kinds of cookies that exist, and the various technical challenges that web analytics companies face. The purpose of this article is to give a simple overview of the technology as a whole.

Web Analytics Companies
These are some of the current providers of web analytics software and services:
 * Coremetrics
 * Google Analytics
 * WebTrends
 * Unica

There are many providers of web analytics technologies, this article will focus on a free web-based software provided by Google, Google Analytics.

Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a client-side installed tracking system that aggregates data into Google's servers which is afterwards displayed to the user through |Google's online portal.

Some of the features that Google Analytics provides its users:


 * Tracks and aggregates usage statistics for your web site or blog
 * Tracks user/reader data such as location, language, connection speed, and more
 * Visualizes the data in graphs so as to show trends
 * Gives the publisher the ability to create and track "conversions," or publisher-defined goals for readers
 * Allows for A/B and/or multivariate testing to track the efficiency of specific content or pages

How is Google Analytics Commonly Used?
Online businesses, online storefronts, and online retailers use web analytics to analyze target markets, test for most effective versions of pages, and track conversions; web analytics is used in great measure to evaluate the effectiveness of online content and drive revenues upward.

Content publishers such as bloggers can use web analytics to better understand their readership as well as track specific, possibly non-profit oriented goals for their users.

Educators can use web analytics to see how learners access online materials, how engaging the material is, and track usage patterns and educational goals.

Create your Google and Google Analytics Account
In order to install Google Analytics and begin to receive tracking data about your website, first navigate to http://www.google.com/analytics. If you already have a Google account, you can use it to create your analytics profile. If not, Google will help you to create a Google account in just moments.

After accessing Google Analytics with you Google account, continue following the analytics setup instructions by providing your website and time zone information.

Once your Google Analytics account is setup, you're ready to install the tracking code into your website pages.

Install Tracking Code
Upon creating your Google Analytics account, you will be given a unique snippet of JavaScript code to copy and paste into your website pages. Your tracking code will look similar to this:



In order to install Google Analytics in your web site, you will need to add this JavaScript code to your web site HTML code. If you are not familiar with HTML code, or do not know how to access it, please research the basics of HTML web publishing so that you will be familiar with the concept of HTML and how to modify it.

You will paste the JavaScript code directly before the closing  tag of your site HTML. If you are using a blogging service such as Blogger or Wordpress, you will need to edit the blog template, adding the JavaScript into the same place in the template that the service provides you. Both of these blogging services and a wide majority of services will allow you to edit the blog template, and you will only need to do it once.

If your site is custom-created and contains multiple HTML pages, you will need to insert the Google-provided JavaScript on every page that you wish to track.

You may be required to contact your web content administrator or IT professional in order to have access and permissions to modify your site HTML.

Begin Viewing Data
Now that your site has installed Google Analytics, you will be able to login to your Google Analytics account and see data being aggregated.

Resources for Learning Google Analytics

 * | Google Analytics Help Center
 * | Conversion University
 * | Google Analytics Product Tour
 * | Website Optimizer (for A/B or multivariate testing)
 * | Google Analytics Blog