Converge Consulting just finished leading an excellent two-day Google Analytics workshop in Chicago. Rick Allen, Jay Kelly, and Ann Oleson helped attendees gain a deeper understanding of what Google Analytics is, how it helps marketers get a grip on the ROI of online marketing efforts, and how analytics data can help web designers and developers create better experiences for web site visitors.

The workshop content was very much in line with Nick Denardis’ presentation at HighEdWeb 2012, where many of the great minds in higher education marketing gather annually to discuss web trends and practices. Nick is the Associate Director of Web Communications at Wayne State University, Host of EDU Checkup, and Curator of EDU Snippets. He delivered a presentation called Designing For Next Steps in which he argued that effective use of analytics could help web designers and developers optimize user experience for site visitors and help colleges and universities gauge the effectiveness of their web marketing.

The key points of his presentation were that:

• Using analytics on your web site can increase your traffic, identify ineffective content, and inform navigation.
• It is imperative to test early and test often. Assess analytics data continuously, always look at your website with fresh eyes, and conduct usability testing before you launch. This point is expressed at 22:45 of the video (below).

Please enjoy Nick’s presentation from HighEdWeb 2012 and don’t forget to follow him on Twitter – @nickdenardis

Questions for You:

• How are you using analytics to inform your web site design?
• Who is responsible for assessing analytics data on your marketing team?