I know I’ve already posted about my thoughts on the post-a-day challenge, but I’d love to sum up the experience as a whole … and talk about the future.

Not only have I learned to focus and not over-edit (or at least try) my posts, I’ve learned so much more:

1. To open up
2. To take a risk
3. To respond quickly
4. To post it and relax

I spent about 2 – 3 hours every night writing and editing my posts and reading others posts. It has been challenging, but I loved every minute of it. The timing of this challenge couldn’t have been better as I had *just* started this blog about three days before Cole’s kick-off post. The challenge forced me to dive in head first. Exciting and scary!

Going forward I hope to engage more people in higher education in a conversation around web analytics. As I’ve mentioned many times, web analytics is more than my passion.

To me, web analytics is about responsibility to our users, our students. It’s time to make it a priority.

I spend a good five minutes and the darn thing won’t close! So, the package touts that it’s stay fresh and resealable, but it doesn’t state you need to be patient for the ten minutes it may take you to actually close the bag. <sigh>

Let’s move on.

On Tuesday I was in a meeting doing a brainstorming-type of exercise. During the exercise we wrote down one word on a sticky note and stuck the note up on the white board. Can you guess where I’m going? You guessed it! The *sticky* notes wouldn’t stick! Seriously!

So this all got me thinking. A *resealable* bag that won’t reseal and a *sticky* note that won’t stick. Hmmm … is there a usability issue here?

Stop what you’re doing right now (well, except reading!) and think about your website. Visualize it. Now, without thinking about it too much (over 10 seconds is too long), say out loud the number one most important thing you want your users to do on your site. If you had to pick one and only one goal for your user, what would it be?

Got that one thing? Good. Now, do you know if that *thing* works on your site? Does that one *thing* frustrate your users? Is your site a resealable bag that won’t reseal or a sticky note that doesn’t stick?

Pay attention! That’s what it tells you. Internal site search is like a mini usability test. Instead of formally asking users what they are looking for on your website, they’re telling you … in their own words … without you asking them!

Let me expand.

Take a look at the top internal keyword phrases your users are searching for on your website. What type of terminology do your users use? Is that same terminology used on your website? Now take a look at how many of those keyword phrases bring back *zero* results? Why are they bringing back zero results? Are your users searching for something that isn’t on your site? Are you using the word “cost” when your users are searching for the word “tuition?” Looking at this specific report can give you so many instant insights.

Looking at it from another angle. Let’s say your top internal keyword search term/phrase is “tuition.” Look further. What pages are your users on when they search for “tuition?” Hmmm … is tuition located on that page anywhere? Should it be? Is it buried four paragraphs deep and users are missing it? Looking deeper into your internal keyword reports can give you key insights into not only the terminology of your users but also *where* within your site your users are searching for certain topics. Where do your users *think* these terms should logically be found within your site?

When users search for phrases using your internal search engine, pay attention to where they go after they land on your results page. Do they leave your site? Do they go back to the site search?

Your internal search engine reports tells you exactly *what* your users are searching for and *how* they are searching. Instant insights. Instantly actionable.

In higher education (as in a lot of fields), sometimes the reluctance to use web analytics correctly or test users might not be because website owners don’t think it’s useful, but rather because it may uncover too many issues. People are busy. Budgets are low. Where do we start?

Let me be frank with the answer to this question. For your users, your students, your faculty, your staff, you must start somewhere! Don’t ignore it. Take baby steps, but take steps. Prioritization is the key. Ask yourself two questions:

1. What’s the easiest thing to fix (the task that would take the least amount of time – the low hanging fruit)?
2. What’s the deal-breaker? When all is said and done, what’s the one item that has to be fixed because you’re losing your users, applicants, students, money?

Start there. If the deal-breaker is the project that would cost the most and take the most time (and it usually is), if possible, can you break it into mini-projects?

The quick fixes are easy. Typos. Renaming link labels. Content restructures. Or … how about getting some insights from your 404 report?

More complex issues may not be so easy. If these are your deal-breakers, though, it’s essential that you at least *start* somewhere.

For admissions websites, if your online application is not user-friendly (do you know that it is/isn’t? have you conducted user-testing and followed it up with web stats analysis?), that is a deal-breaker. Why? Because although potential students may not go elsewhere if they have their heart set on your school, it will impact all aspects of admissions. Your call volume could increase substantially. How many potential students don’t fill out the application correctly (wrong campus chosen – if applicable, information missing, wrong major chosen, etc.)? Odds are it’s a usability issue. This is costing your staff time and money.

You can translate this same scenario to other types of university websites (library, school websites, helpdesk, registrar, student aid, etc.).

The key is to start somewhere. Implement that analytics code. Pay attention to offline clues (call volume, mistakes made by students submitting forms, etc.). Remember, ALL higher education websites are customer service websites. Our customers are our students and potential students. If these students came into your office, would you give them the runaround? Are you allowing your website to give them the runaround?

Although you can buy many books (there are quite a few out there now that are phenomenal), you don’t have to spend one cent if you don’t want to (or can’t!). There are so many free resources that could keep you busy researching for years.

For general web analytics, Avinash Kaushik’s blog, Occam’s Razor is probably the best, hands down. Avinash is the most popular, and, I’ll dare say, one of the most knowledgeable people out there in the web analytics field. He’s the “Analytics Evangelist” for Google and does so much more. What’s great about Aninash’s blog is that he talks about web analytics in non-analyst terms. He tries as much as possible to use common terms that *all* website owners can understand and use. Even those starting out can absolutely follow his posts. He gives specific examples of everything he talks about. His blog is full of fantastic content from the very basic to the very advanced. If you are new to web analytics or you are an expert, there is something there for you.

Although there are endless blogs about general web analytics, there are precious few geared specifically toward higher education (or any other *non-ecommerce* sites, for that matter). If I have one gripe about web analytics resources, this would be it. Too many resources are geared toward e-commerce, in my opinion. But, that’s an argument for another post at another time.

Kyle James has a great blog called .eduGuru about web analytics and web development for higher education. Kyle has some guest bloggers that write for his site as well. For those of you in higher education, his site is a fantastic resource. He goes way beyond web analytics into web design, development, SEO, and much more. Kyle started his blog back and January. I am a relatively new reader of his blog, so I find myself reading his new posts *and* archived posts almost daily.

Let’s move onto some books. For those beginning in analytics, and by that, I mean *actionable* analytics, not just reporting, Avinash Kaushik’s book, Web Analytics An Hour a Day is a must read. What’s great about this book is that it takes you from the fundamentals with specific examples of “what’s in it for you.” He also gives specific examples of how analytics can benefit specific types of websites. If you have not read this book, read it! I know I keep mentioning Avinash (his blog, his book), but his writing is so user-friendly and relevant to *any* website owner I think it’s important to emphasize it.

For those of you using Google Analytics, a great book to read is Brian Clifton’s book, Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics. I just bought this book about three weeks ago, so I have not read the entire thing, but so far it’s fantastic. I used Google Analytics when it first came out, but hadn’t touched it until I implemented it on some sites I set up for a friend about a year ago (we use Omniture’s SiteCatalyst where I work now). This book has helped me get back into the GA grove as well as Kyle James’ blog. Kyle has great info about using Google Analytics.

Enough resources for now. I will absolutely post about others later. Begin with those, though, and you’ll get a great start. Do you have any favorite web analytics resources?

It’s interesting that I’ve had similar *and* completely different thoughts and feelings about taking part in the post a day challenge.

And today, I’ll be eating some crow. I’ll get to that later, though.

First, I agree with Cole and Anne. Writing every weekday for a month is definitely making me focus more. As I’m working throughout the day and come across something worth mentioning, I open up a blog draft and jot it down so I don’t forget. It’s made me really pay attention to what I’m doing at work (when I find myself working on analytics). That seems weird. Shouldn’t you be focusing on what you’re doing all the time at work? Sure, but it’s made me *really* focus – paying more attention to steps, objectives, reasons. It’s forced me to truly think about *actionable* insights and not just reporting. What a great side effect of this challenge!

What’s odd, though, is that sometimes I find myself focusing too much. For many reasons, I have to write my posts at night. I put a lot of time into both thinking about my topics and writing the post. Because of that, I spend much of every night on my post – either jotting things down, looking things up, writing or editing. I don’t think I’m much of a writer, but I am a relentless editor. I tend to read my writing over and over, constantly editing.

The eating crow part. It’s funny that I mention editing because in yesterday’s post, I actually edited my post so much I created mistakes. I cut and pasted, deleted and edited so much that I ended up completely screwing up the first paragraph. Cutting and pasting in the wrong place. Not a good thing for first paragraph!

To make matters even worse, the entire post was actually a rant about design and function of websites. So, I’m ranting about other websites when I had such a blatant, awful mistake on my own! Boy, did I feel like an idiot tonight when I re-read my post yet another time. How could I have let that through? I need an editor for my edits! The mistakes have been corrected, but probably way too late. I’ve absolutely learned a lesson – to leave well enough alone! Live and learn, right? : )

Moving along …

Reading fellow bloggers. Another great thing about a post a day is that I’m reading all the other *post a day* blogs on a daily basis. I love the variety of topics and am really trying to participate and comment where and when I can.

So, thanks Cole, for giving us this challenge. It has been hard, but it has absolutely been worth it!

I’m currently reading a fantastic book called, A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future,” by Daniel Pink. When I’m finished with the book I plan to write an entire post about it, but I had to share some thoughts I had now.

Even though I’m only halfway through, I immediately saw an analogy to higher education websites.

First, a little book background. The premise of the book (so far – I’m not done reading it) is that in the last 50 or so years, left-minded thinking, L-Directed Thinking (analytical, logical, sequential) ruled the business world. Right-minded thinking, R-Directed Thinking (creative, holistic, intuitive) although important, were always considered *less* important than L-Directed Thinking. A “nice to have,” if you will.

Not anymore. Left-minded thinking is becoming *essential* to getting ahead. There are many reasons for this that I won’t get into in this post. The author suggests that it’s not that R-Directed Thinking is becoming more important than L-Directed Thinking, it’s becoming *equally* as important. Business, teams, departments need *both* to succeed. If they have one without the other, they will ultimately fail.

It’s my opinion that the same is becoming true for higher education websites. When I say higher education websites, I mean all websites within a college or university, not just the main site.

Sweeping generalization. There are awesome higher education websites out there, but let me tell you about the ones that need work. A lot of higher education websites continue to emphasize either functionality over design or, heaven forbid, design over functionality (hopefully the latter is sub-conscious!).

What doesn’t seem to be emphasized is the importance of both. Equally. Some higher education websites seem to fall into either of these categories:

1. A user-friendly, functional website that looks like it never made it to the designers desk.
2. A beautifully designed website that leaves you wondering if anybody ever consulted an actual user before launching it.

I want to emphasize the word designer. I mean true designers. R-Directed Thinking designers. There is a difference between someone who can technically design and someone who is an actual designer.

Function and design are equally important, especially now. In the past, function *always* won out over design. This seems logical and was back then. If you had to sacrifice one, logically design would be it. As long as the site is functional and useful, what’s the problem?

Today, as users become more web-savvy, it’s becoming increasingly important to not only be usable, but *as important* to be well designed. Why? For many reasons, but in my opinion it boils down to credibility. If you’re a higher education website (or any business website, really) first impressions are essential. If your website looks like it never met a designer (poor design or no design), the credibility of that website suffers.

A year ago we ran a usability test on a part of our website that needed help. Our first question to the user is always, “what is your first impression?” I’ll never forget what almost all users said first. The conversations, although varying somewhat, went something like this:

Moderator: What is your first impression?
User: It looks homemade.

Moderator: What does that mean?
User: It has no design.

Moderator: How does that make you feel about it?
User: I wouldn’t trust it as much.

I wouldn’t trust it as much. Credibility.

Again, I am definitely, absolutely, certainly, not saying that design is more important than function or usability. I am, however, going out on a limb and saying that today it is *as* important (no more, no less) and we as a higher education web community need to pay more attention to that equality.

Users are getting more savvy and demanding. We need to evolve with them or our websites will suffer.

1. It gives you instant insights that are instantly actionable.
2. It is user-friendly, giving the user options other than the back button (leaving them on the same page with the same bad link! Ugh!)

First thing is first. Do you have a custom 404 page? If not, set one up. Recently, June Dershewitz wrote a great post about the importance of 404 pages, most notably, custom 404 pages. To figure out if you have a custom 404 page, type www.yourdomain.com/foo into your browser. Do you see something like this? Or, does your 404 look like this:

If your 404 page looks like the above picture, it’s not custom, and is hurting your website and your users! I’ll show you how a little later.

Finding broken links. To find broken links within your own site, you can use tools like W3C Link Checker or Xenu. To find other sites that have broken links that point to your site, you can use either your log files, or an analytics report. In order to use an analytics report, though, you need to have a custom 404 page created and tagged with your analytics code.

So how do you tag your 404 page correctly? It depends on your tool. Check out the help documents for correct 404 tagging for the new version of tracking code for Google Analytics or the older version of tracking code for Google Analytics. Using Omniture you simply name your 404 page appropriately and then look up that page in your pages report.

The good part. So you have your custom 404 page tagged, now what do you do? In your analytics tool, see what sites are referrers to the 404 page. You might see search engines, or email clients. Do you see other sites within your university? Start there. Email the owners of those websites and have them change the URL that links to your site.

If you have access to your log files, take a look at your broken link report. Using your log files doesn’t require a custom 404 page, but I highly encourage a custom 404 page.

Why should you use a custom 404 page regardless of how you track it? Think of your users. Remember? It’s ultimately about the user.

If a user clicks a bad link (whether internal or external) and is assaulted by the ugly default 404 page (see above image), there’s no other option but using the back button. Then the user is confronted with the same link that got them to the 404 in the first place. Not cool! If you have a custom 404 page, you can add some topic links, guide them to your archives, a search function, or, if you’re a customer service site (hello admissions, library, registrar, bursar, helpdesk!) leave a contact number. That way you’re *helping* them find what they need, not just making them hit the back button and fend for themselves.

The bottom line is, whether you use page tags (with your custom 404 page) or your log files, the 404 report gives you instant insights that are instantly actionable. Nice! Have you hugged your 404 report today?

Me. “Hey, do you use any web analytics tools on your website?”
Them. “Yeah, [enter vendor name and tool here] is awesome. it can do [long list of features here].”

Me. “Cool, have you tried [enter other vendor name and tool here]?
Them. “Yeah, it’s terrible, it can’t do [long list of features lacking here].”

Me. (completely dejected) “Oh … uh … ok.”

Too many times we focus on the specific tool that can do precisely everything we ever wanted to do. When it comes to web analytics, especially when you’re starting out, it’s not about the technology, it’s about how you use it. There are a long list of tools to use, each with their own best and worst features, but the bottom line is that you can gain valuable insights no matter which tool you use.

Another conversation that often takes place:

Me. “Hey, do you use any web analytics tools on your website?”
Them. “Sure.”

Me. “Cool, what type of insights do you pull from your analytics?”
Them. “Nothing, really. It just tells me visits are going up and down, which is expected. To tell you the truth, it doesn’t tell me much. Besides. I don’t have time to do all that stuff.”

Me. (totally dejected again) “Oh … uh … ok.”

When it comes to web anlaytics, a lot of times we hear, “I just don’t have time,” or, “I have the tool, but it doesn’t tell me anything worthwhile.” Excuses. Both of them. The *time* excuse, might be legitimate, but it’s still an excuse. The *nothing worthwhile* is simply an excuse. Nothing more. Let me expand.

Time. Nobody has time. For the majority of website owners (at least right now) really gaining insights with your analytics tool will demand that you go above and beyond your “job function.” It’s as simple as that. Webmasters. Designers. Developers. Content Providers. (Are you all four??) They are all busy. If you’re in all four roles, you, especially, have no extra time. It’s about planning. If you take some time up front to set up a methodology and a strategy, you’ll save time later.

Nothing worthwhile. This is just an excuse. Plain and simple. I *guarantee* if you are looking for them, your data will give you insights. There are so many ways to get them.

I know we aren’t doing brain surgery here. We aren’t saving lives or the environment. Nonetheless, especially for *customer service* type websites (university library, admissions, registrar, bursar, technical support, help desk, etc.), not using web analytics *and* using your web data to gain insights is almost certainly costing you (money, time, users, all of the above).

Department Intranets are very different from your public-facing sites. For one thing, most of them are behind some type of authentication, which can add some complexity. Some intranets may also include AJAX or other types of technology that are not the standard static html pages.

This particular topic, analytics and web 2.0 applications, has been a source of much debate in the analytics industry. This is one reason why it’s important to put every type of analysis you do on a website into context. So, for instance, page views mean nothing with AJAX because the entire page doesn’t change. So page views would be useless in this instance. There are more arguments about page views, but that’s another post for another day.

Because Intranets vary so much, it is essential that you write down the goal of your Intranet. Again, I’m beating a dead horse here, but it’s crucial. Your Intranet goals should be easier because you *are* the user! If the Intranet is for your department or unit, you should have no problem getting usability testers, survey responses, and other feedback.

I’ve been involved with some Intranet projects and I know that a lot of times one goal of the Intranet might be to take the place of company-wide announcement or “news” type internal emails. This is an easy thing to track. Are those announcements getting traffic? Do you make your *important* news more prominent than your *nice-to-know* news? If so, does that seem to make a difference in your traffic to those pages?

Segmenting on technology is also useful. Do you know the technology that your internal users are using? Unless your the IT department, probably not. Segment your analytics by browser type, flash version, OS, resolution. Have you developed a Flash movie that needs player 9.0? Are you sure you’re users are all running 9.0? Do your pages behave differently in different browsers? Again, take it into context. Are all your users on Macs using Safari or Firefox? Or, do all your users have access to Firefox? Then perhaps designing/developing with Internet Explorer in mind might not be a priority.

This is one point where your external site and your internal Intranet differ greatly. In my opinion, especially if you have a smaller number of users (0 – 500), you *should* make sure your Intranet works on all your users machines. In a previous post, I harp on designing for the majority, knowing there will be a minority of users out there who might have problems veiwing your website. This is the exception. WIth your Intranet, all your users should be able to use it.

Another great use is to see if certain *new* applications or technologies (say, your spiffy new widgets) are actually getting used. Are they too new? Do users understand how to use them? Using analytics you can get an idea if you might need to do a little user training.

Obviously you can use analytics for your Intranet a lot of the same ways you use them on your public-facing sites. First develop your website goals and build your analytics strategy around those. There should be different *rules* for your Intranet, though, and those should be kept in mind at all times.