For most businesses, having a dedicated, inhouse analytics specialist would not be a cost effective exercise. And whilst I am the first to promote that as many resources as possible should be put towards online marketing, website development and analysis, most businesses will never take those steps. So where does that leave you in your organisation? An analytics evangelist with one small voice in a room full of managers and executives.
What you then, you who understands the important of web traffic data and the analysis of it, need to do is get proactive. You need to spend some time (even in secret) to prepare your case to present to the thought leaders or the decision makers. Most of these people very rarely argue with the facts and figures once presented correctly. What I plan to do here is provide you with the websites and people you should be paying attention to, so that you can give a well rounded educated response and argument to get your agenda at the front of their minds.
Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik
Avinash is widely regarded by many as a major authority in the space. His books and website helps many with no understanding at all become self-taught experts in the field. I have found his book to be of great benefit when trying to educate clients and others about how web traffic actually works.
For your own analysis, his blog posts provide an almost step-by-step guide on how to segment data properly and create reports for your superiors. If you have never done advanced segmentation on traffic data previously, you can spend days going through his guides.
Google Analytics Official Blog
The Official Google Analytics blog is a great place to stay aware of the latest feature releases and overall traffic analysis processes. The main reason why I plug this is due to the fact that for most SMEs, Google Analytics would be the analytics package of choice, and hence, it makes sense that people should become experts in the tool.
As of today as well, they have just started with Data Driven Discussion, including Avinash mentioned above. Staying in touch with the experts whilst learning is the best way to go about it. I myself prefer watching videos then reading, and hence why I think I am going to be a big fan of these episodes.
KISS Metrics
The Kiss Metrics Blog is probably my favourite resource of them all. I really appreciate good website design (which is how I originally found the website) and then realised that it covered my next love, analytics! So not only is this website super sexy but also incredibly useful in providing tips and suggestions for beginners and experts alike.
Conclusion
One thing you will notice though as you progress through your learning and research of analytics is how important userability is when it comes to traffic analysis and website performance. The two go hand in hand so much that many of my clients have experienced a massive increase in volume of traffic, bounce rate and conversions by doing simple little things such as improving meta descriptions, dedicated landing pages and internal search analysis.
So the advice I leave you with is to visit these websites, learn from them, compile a few reports, prepare a presentation, get your voice heard, and then get the resources that you are craving. By the team this is all done, you will have the skills (maybe not the experience) in truely getting the most out of your team and the tools.
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