We like to measure things here at Converge, so we are tallying, comparing and analyzing our blogs from 2014. So here are the top five posts, based on your pageviews!

5. The Problem with Google Analytics Benchmarking in Higher Education by Becky Vardaman

The most recent post on our list, in this blog I take a deeper look into Google Analytics new (or returning) benchmarking reports but with a heavy word of caution. There’s also a quick video showing you how to access the new reports.

“One of the most common questions I’m asked at workshops is “So, what kind of numbers are other schools getting?” This makes total sense, we want to know how we stack up. I work with dozens of schools across the country and have seen their numbers, so yes, I suppose I do have the data to provide some general ranges, but here’s why I recommend you proceed with caution in benchmarking.” Read the full post.

4. What Inbound Marketing is Really All About by Doug Hooper

In this guest post, Centenary’s Doug Hooper digs into the what, how and why of inbound marketing for higher education. He gives examples, and maybe best of all, he does the return on investment (ROI) math.

“Before you dig into the next sales cycle, talk with your Enrollment team and see if there’s a way to adjust your strategy to reflect the value inbound marketing can bring to your enrollment marketing. The numbers prove it, and your customers will love you for it.” Read the full post.

3. LinkedIn’s New Undergraduate Ranking: Trick or Treat? by Barbara Coward

This post went live in October, if you can imagine, just after LinkedIn announced their inaugural undergraduate ranking. Barbara discusses the pros and cons of a ranking based on the largest career database in the world – member LinkedIn profiles.

“A rankings focused on career outcomes has the potential to be very influential. LinkedIn has cast a spell with prospective students eager to find the university that will best prepare them for their desired career path. How universities will leverage this new ranking will determine if it is a trick or a treat.” Read the full post.

2. Subdomains with Google Analytics Set Up by Becky Vardaman

This is actually one of our first Friday After Class videos! In this video, I discuss one of the biggest challenges for proper Google Analytics tracking, subdomains. It’s a huge issue in higher education especially, because we have such large, overgrown websites.

“Think of each building as a subdomain. Of course it is valuable for you to know how students move between buildings on campus. What paths they take, how long they are in each building, what rooms they visit within those buildings. And with proper set up we can learn all of those things by digging into the reporting.”Read the full post.

1. Event Tracking Google Analytics Using jQuery in 6 Steps by Laura Turner

And our top blog post of 2014, another guest post! This one comes from Lehigh University’s Laura Turner. Laura outlines how (including code!) to set up dynamic Google Analytics event tracking using jQuery.

“When I began setting up event tracking in order to create goals for our website, adding the event tracking code to the links on the pages was fairly simple. But when I started to work on tracking the more complex, interactive pieces on the pages, I was stumped. With the help of Converge, I found a solution that used jQuery and have been successfully using it to add event tracking to many types of elements on our pages.” Read the full post.

Interested in tracking Google Analytics events dynamically? Also check out Google Tag Manager.

Thanks for reading in 2014! Have an idea of something we should cover in 2015? Let us know!

BONUS: Here’s our most popular FAC: Friday After Class video of 2014!

Setting Up a Remarketing Campaign in Google AdWords by Hayley Warack

*For those of you paying close attention, #2 on our list above is an FAC. It got the most pageviews embedded in our site, but this video got the most views including YouTube.