Live event blog: Crash course in web analytics

By Cole Kennedy

Ready to follow along with Brad Best's talk on web analytics? There's still time to swing by RJI 100A (the Palmer Room) and sit in!

We're off! Brad is telling us a little bit about himself. He started his career in advertising and made his way over to strategic communication. He credits his interest in analytics to his use of statistics in fantasy football and baseball. He realized that the same sort of statistical principles applied to websites.

First question to ask yourself, no matter what the website is: "why does your website exist?"

• Step 1: Get "qualified" people to your website. Do you have a target audience?
• Step 2: Get them to take the desired action. What do you want visitors to do?
• Step 3: Get them to come back. Did you meet or exceed expectations?

The first news analyst: the paper boy on the corner of the street. Where did he go to sell the news, and why? He went to busy street corners, because that's where the foot traffic was. He was analyzing information to determine how to maximize his sales.

Calendar Alert: A Mobile Brown Bag with Mizzou Grads - 12 p.m, February 17

Photo courtesy of jeffgun on Flickr

Do you read news on your iPhone more often than on your computer? Are you interested in learning how to think with a mobile-first mindset? If so, join ONA Mizzou at noon Friday in Walter Williams Hall Room 35 (a conference room off the red-carpeted hallway). We'll have Amanda Bromwich and Matt Schmertz, 2011 convergence graduates, on hand to talk about their jobs at The Marketing Arm. Both work at this Dallas-based marketing agency as project managers. Topics will include mobile advertising, mobile-first publishing strategies and job hunting.

Do you have questions you’d like answered at the event? Tweet them to us now (@ONAMizzou), so we’ll have a list before the discussion starts. You can also comment below or write on our Facebook Wall.