The Growing Importance of Mobile Devices

November 30th, 2010

mobile devices and web analytics

Very informative post from Vicky Brock recently where she writes about the growing importance of the mobile device. In a survey of 22 UK ecommerce sites, Vicky reveals that up to 7% (with a median of 3.5%) of the traffic to these sites is now coming from mobile devices. And what is surprising is that these are figures for general websites – not mobile specific sites or apps.

Read more - The Growing Importance of Mobile Devices

Enhanced Intelligence Reports in Google Analytics

November 8th, 2010
Major Contributors: a new intelligence feature in Google Analytics

Major Contributors: a new intelligence feature in Google Analytics

Google have announced a very useful enhancement to Custom Alerts which provides very valuable information and saves time mining for the data!

Read more - Enhanced Intelligence Reports in Google Analytics

Quickly Evaluate Every Page on your Site

October 27th, 2010
$ Index Value is the key to quickly evaluating all pages on your website.

$ Index Value is the key to quickly evaluating every page on your website.

Web analytics feature in the current edition of the Irish Marketing Journal. In his article “Web Analytics –  the New Kid on the Market Research Block“, John D Byrne opens with a great quote from Hugh Hefner, who when asked about the success of the Playboy Magazine website said: “Well we had over one million hits in the first couple of days. Problem is, we don’t know if that was a million individuals visiting our site once – or one, visiting us a million times!”

Read more - Quickly Evaluate Every Page on your Site

Econsultancy interview Eric Peterson

October 12th, 2010
EConsultancy have published an interview with web analytics guru Eric Peterson. Here are just a few quotes from Eric:
The only company really serious about web analytics anymore is Google with their Google Analytics offering.
Google has locked up that sector (web analytics) and continues to innovate, forcing everyone else to look elsewhere for core revenue and driving evolution in the sector.
…senior leadership still hasn’t seen the value that digital measurement and analysis can provide to the broader business.
Without (multivariate, A/B) testing, web analytics falls critically short and fails to provide anywhere near the benefit possible.
The companies that are having success are the ones with clear hypotheses and solid questions they are trying to answer.

Econsultancy have published an interview with web analytics guru Eric Peterson. Here are just a few quotes from Eric:

The only company really serious about web analytics anymore is Google with their Google Analytics offering.

Read more - Econsultancy interview Eric Peterson

Chrome Inflates Website Visits

September 27th, 2010

Google have announced an issue with the Chrome 6 browser which may have inflated site visit numbers from Chrome users during the period September 7th to 22nd.

The issue was caused by Chrome version 6.0.472.55 incorrectly executing Google Analytics JavaScript leading to artificially high visit numbers for each visit.

Read more - Chrome Inflates Website Visits

Protecting Your Google Analytics Data

July 2nd, 2010

This week I got a call from Peter, a website owner, asking if I could take a look at his Google Analytics setup. He had originally set up and configured his own Google Analytics account, and was very familiar with the reports. However he was confused by unusual data that had recently began to appear on his reports.

Read more - Protecting Your Google Analytics Data

Companies are Spending More on Web Analytics

June 9th, 2010

A new Econsultancy survey indicates that Google Analytics is making strong inroads in the analytics industry:

  • 87% of companies surveyed are using Google Analytics for online measurement
  • 38% are use Google Analytics exclusively

Read more - Companies are Spending More on Web Analytics

Asynchronous Tracking Code now the Default

May 18th, 2010
The Google Analytics asynchronous tracking code means faster web pages

Faster web page with the new Google Analytics tracking code

The Google Analytics asynchronous tracking code is now the default snippet when setting up new accounts.

Read more - Asynchronous Tracking Code now the Default

Google Analytics and Website Optimizer Case Study

April 30th, 2010

Google’s Conversion Room blog highlights a short case study on how online holiday cottage website Cottages4you used Google Analytics and Website Optimizer to achieve  a 21% improvement in click-through for a checkout page.

Read more - Google Analytics and Website Optimizer Case Study

Google Announces Opt-Out for Google Analytics

March 25th, 2010

The Google Analytics Blog recently announced that a browser-based opt-out for Google Analytics would be released in coming weeks. This plug-in would “allow users to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics”.

Read more - Google Announces Opt-Out for Google Analytics

Google Analytics Reporting Homepage as “/” and “/index.html”

March 22nd, 2010

As of 16 March 2010, Google Analytics has being displaying homepage views as “/” rather than “/index.html”, “/index.php” etc. I have reviewed a number of client accounts on different hosting platforms and the problem exists for them all.

This situation typically occurs in Google Analytics accounts where a default homepage (e.g. index.html) has not been  specified for a profile. However in this instance the problem is occurring in long-established accounts. The problem is most likely on Google’s side. Hopefully it will be rectified shortly.

An example of a Google Analytics report showing two lines of data for the homepage - "/" and "index.php"

An example of a Google Analytics report showing two lines of data for the homepage - "/" and "index.php"

Read more - Google Analytics Reporting Homepage as “/” and “/index.html”

Setting up a Google Analytics Account

March 12th, 2010

The following are the steps required to set up a Google Analytics account. Don’t worry – it’s actually easier to carry out the process than read about it!

All steps are relatively straightforward – Google does a good job on guiding you through the process. The only step that may cause difficulty is inserting the tracking code into the HTML of your web pages. This is one of the last steps in the process.

Read more - Setting up a Google Analytics Account

Email Marketing and Google Analytics

March 2nd, 2010

The importance of email marketing to Irish marketing professionals was highlighted recently by AMAS in their State of the Net – Winter 2009 bulletin.  Their survey of members of the Marketing Institute of Ireland indicated that 65% of marketers surveyed use email marketing campaigns to get their message out and to drive action or uptake.

AMAS survey highlighting the importance of email marketing in Ireland

AMAS survey highlighting the importance of email marketing in Ireland

With such a reliance on the effectiveness of email marketing by Irish marketing professionals, it is crucial that campaigns are tracked successfully using Google Analytics so that return on investment can be successfully monitored.

Read more - Email Marketing and Google Analytics

Google Analytics Unavailable March 2nd & 3rd

February 25th, 2010

Message appearing on Google Analytics website stating that due to maintenance the Analytics system will be be unavailable on March 2nd from approximately 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM (Pacific time). For GMT this equates to 3:00pm on March 2nd to 7:00am March 3rd.

Google states that data will continue to be collected and processed during this time.

Read more - Google Analytics Unavailable March 2nd & 3rd

Google Analytics Housekeeping

February 20th, 2010

To get the most from Google Analytics you need to be sure it is installed and functioning correctly. In 12 Useful Tools for Google Analytics Administration, Brian Clifton advises that adding Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) to your website should not be a “set it and forget it” measure. He stresses the importance of monitoring pages frequently to ensure that tracking code is in place and working correctly.

Read more - Google Analytics Housekeeping

Technorati

November 25th, 2009

Q3PV5HA8NJP2

Read more - Technorati

Why Start a Web Analytics Blog?

November 19th, 2009

Welcome to the Analytics.ie blog! My name is Paul Grealy and I’m a web analyst based in Ireland. I’ve worked in the information technology sector for about 18 years, the past 10 of which have been in web design, development and analytics.

google analytics

In this web analytics blog I’ll be concentrating primarily on Google Analytics as this is one of the most popular analytics tools for small and medium sized businesses. I’ll also write about other free and inexpensive web analytic tools which are also useful.

Read more - Why Start a Web Analytics Blog?