The success of your online advocacy efforts can be determined by analyzing reports of your web site's traffic. By looking at the number of daily site visits over a period of time, it is easy to determine which aspects of your site marketing plan are driving users toward your site content. To get started, you'll need a software package for reporting the traffic data. Your technology support department may already provide access to a reporting tool which analyzes traffic based on web server logs, such as Webalizer, Analog, or AWstats.
If you do not have such a piece of software already installed, it's easy to use a third-party reporting tool such as Google Analytics. To get started, go to http://google.com/analytics and sign up for an account. You will receive a small piece of HTML code which will need to be inserted in each page of your site. If you use a templating system or Content Management System, this should be a snap. Then, simply log on to Google Analytics for your reports. You will likely need to do this in coordination with your technology support department.
Which statistics are important to track?
For starters, look at the most popular pages on your site. This will give you a good sense of what content is most important to users. You can also look at "referrers" - that is, pages elsewhere on the Internet which are linking to your content. Most analytics tools will also show the most common search terms users employed in finding your site - which can be invaluable when you develop a plan for search engine optimization. And of course, with every major site marketing effort - an e-mail newsletter, online advertising campaign, mention at a professional conference, etc. - be sure and track the average daily page views for several days before and after the event, to get a concrete sense of its effectiveness.
Once your analytics package is in place and you have determined the metrics you need to track, be sure to update them often - at least once a month - and if you find your traffic is slipping, it's time to take action. Generate fresh new content!
If you have comments or questions about Web Analytics, please post them below!
This blog post is part of the follow up to the recent Webinar hosted by EPA - Get Caught in the ‘Net: Building Your Web Strategy to Reduce Radon Risk. The complete screencast (audio and video) of the Webinar are available in the RadonLeaders.org Resource Bank.
United States