Leveraging Web Analytics for Effective Web Design

This evening, I’m presenting at the Chicago Dreamweaver Meetup. This month’s topic is web analytics and how it should be leveraged as part of the web design process.

You can view the presentation below.

Chicago Web Analytics Meetup

Click here to check out The Chicago Web Analytics Meetup!

Kim, the organizer of the Chicago Web Analytics Meetup, offered me the role of Asst. Organizer, which I gladly accepted. Web Analytics goes hand-in-hand with web design, user experience, usability, and search engine optimization (SEO), all of which I am interested.

I sent out invitations to some polls to gather information on most convenient locations, day & time for future meet-ups. Looking forward to getting the ball rolling in September.

If you’re in the Chicagoland area and have any interest in Web Analytics, and looking to network with like-minded people, join this meetup by clicking the link to the right and create your profile.

I look forward to our first meetup in September.

Tracking Metrics Between HTML Email & Web Pages

In the past few months, I’ve grabbed a hold of my client’s Email Marketing program (well, only half a hold*) and have begun to master it. One change was to move from using established templates offered by the email provider to using custom templates that I created.

While we lost the ability for my client to edit the emails (darn, I’m heartbroken), I did gain the ability to create a branded look & feel. I also obtain a better understanding of tracking between email (HTML) and web sites, which I’d like to share with you here. Note that I’m at the beginning stages, and there may be several inaccuracies or inefficiencies. So send me a comment if things could be done better.

Specifications

• Email System: Constant Contact
• Web Analytics: Google Analytics
• Web Authoring: Dreamweaver CS3

Creating the HTML email

I use Dreamweaver to create the email, as a copy will be online as a view option (best practice). Once I finish creating the email and tagging it up with the various tracking tags, I then copy/paste the styles and HTML code into ConstantContact.