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.

Event alert: Crash course in web analytics

Brad Best
(Photo courtesy Missouri School of Journalism) 

By Bridgit Bowden

You can’t properly manage a website if you don’t understand web metrics -- and news people are no exception.

In its "Journalists' Guide to Analytics," digital journalism blog 10,000 Words writes that these numbers are "important for every journalist to understand."

But with so many analytics tools out there and plenty of related terminology to learn, this topic can be difficult to grasp.

That's why we're here.

Join the Online News Association at Mizzou for a one-hour workshop led by Brad Best, assistant professor of strategic communication. You’ll learn what role analytics play in both e-commerce and news websites, as well as how to interpret certain metrics.

• When: 6 p.m., Thursday, April 10 
• Where: Palmer Room (100A Reynolds Journalism Institute) 

Bring a laptop to follow along with the workshop. See you there!