New Screencast: Web Analytics Demystified: A Primer for Nonprofits

 

High bandwidth version available here

I'm pleased to announce that I have completed the screencast, sponsored by NTEN, on Google Analytics!  I created a companion wiki where you find lots of links to additional resources to help you learn more.  This screencast would not have been possible without all the help I got from:

• Dave Amos, Web guy at the Idealist (and Ami Dar) and Laura Whitehead, South Hams, CVS, who not only allowed me complete access to their Google Analytics stats, but answered my numerous stupid questions.
• Avinash Kaushik,  Analytics Evangelist, Google, really helped me understand the true meaning of Web Analytics 2.0 and has hopefully forgiven me for not saying his last name correctly!
• Laura Quinn for serving as my guinea pig for recording and incorporating brief interviews into screen cast (as well as her for terrific introductory article that helped me get started)
• Holly Ross for suggesting the topic and understood that it takes more than a week or two to make a screencast!
• For all my blog readers and participants on the NTEN Nonprofit Webmasters Affinity group who left comments, made suggestions, pointed me to resources, and shared screen captures of their stats.

Several months ago, I knew zip about web analytics.  I was a little scared to make a screencast about something that I knew nothing about.  (I blogged about that here)

What I discovered is that creating a screencast is a terrific personal learning environment because you can't create a media  piece unless you really know the topic.  And yes, learning is time consuming and you can't really master a topic like this in 90 minutes let alone create a media piece.   But a screencast forces you to organize your learnings, document them, and share them.   

I shared the screencast with Avinash Kaushik and frankly was a little intimidated to do so because well, he is the expert on the topic.  Here was the response: "It is wonderful. The thing like I loved about this screencast is that it is real, it is true UCG and has a human touch to it." 

I did learn one more thing that is a best practice.

One quick pointer on the date range comparison (around seven min mark). Where possible share the tip with you users that they should line up the week day of each time period if they can. Good best practice. So if your first time period starts at a Monday then just move the bars of the start date in the comparison time period to a Monday s well. This might not make for a complete month but it will ensure that for the sake of seasonality your time line compare the same week days. Else sometimes you’ll see lifts where there aren’t any.

Almost all the photos in the screencast and the music are from sources licensed with Creative Commons licenses.  I took great pains to attribute them in this section of the wiki.   In addition,  I asked for and got permission from two content sources that were "all rights reserved" including this photo by Audrey and Daniel. (Be sure to read about their connection with Cambodia)

I'd also like to thank Jeremiah Owyang who graciously allowed me to use 25 seconds from his video interview with Avinash Kaushik.

Comments

[Avinash Kaushik]

Beth:

"It is wonderful. The thing like I loved about this screencast is that it is real, it is true UCG and has a human touch to it."

:)

Seriously though this is great. I am sure people will learn a lot from it and be able start using the data for their websites.

Thanks for all the effort, having just started poking around with Camtasia I know how much work this is.

-Avinash.

[Jeremiah Owyang]

Great job with this video, I blogged it too. Fantastic resource

[Laura Quinn]

This is great stuff, Beth! I love the concrete examples against real sites.... I'm blogging it now.

[Laura Whitehead]

Great podcast Beth, I learn't so much, even though my main organisation was part of it as a case study.
We're going to take this further as a result after seeing how others use theirs. Thanks!

[Nancy Schwartz]

Beth, what a fantastic tool. I'm going to share it with Getting Attention e-news and blog readers.

It's a great way to learn how to track marketing impact...as so few nonprofit marketers do.

Best,
Nancy

[Eric T. Peterson]

Beth,

Neat screencast! I was initially drawn to the title, thinking "Hmmm, I wrote a book called Web Analytics Demystified ... I wonder what this is?" but the 'cast is a great resource.

Nice work!

Eric T. Peterson
Author, Web Analytics Demystified
http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com

[loops]

Great job with this article and screencast.

[Dharmendra]

Great info...have posted this screencast on my website...

Keep going!!

[Vijay Teach Me]

Hi Beth,
hats off to you for and I totally understands the amount of time and energy you have put in this screencast presentation for google analyst.
It gave me a new prospective on analytics arena

Vijay

[John Leeke]

Beth:

I must say, after fiddling with Google Analytics for a year and not
figuring it out, your research and screen cast has immediately helped
me get some useful info out of GA. --Thank you!

I hope you will produce a follow up report and screen cast.

John
www.HistoricHomeWorks.com

[Ayush]

Hello,
Thank you for the details on screencast, have not tried it though. Have used Google Analytics but found other tools like GoStats.com better than others to use.
Will try the screencast incase it helps.

[Marilee Taussig]

Wow, Beth, I am finally catching up on your blog (having been away). Is there ANYTHING you can't tame? I am sending this to four of my team members at Untours. Like one of your other commenters said, I have been messing about with Google Analytics for years and I learned more in the fifteen minutes of watching your screencast than the previous years. THANK YOU for being the amazing, patient, intelligent, persistent, curious miracle that you are.