Abstract:

Websites are only as useful as they fulfil two conditions: first, they reach their target groups and second, they invite the user to return to the website and keep on using it in the way it is expected. Web e-Metrics are the usual measures that reflect how visitors are using a website. However, there are very few education and academic professionals who know how to use effectively these resources. With an adequate methodology, which is available and easy to use for everybody, academic website managers are able to use web e-Metrics for further improvement of their website, which hopefully results in better e-learning experiences. The aim of this article is to set up e-Metrics based on the tool-box and figures offered by Google Analytics for academic professionals, using basic cross-sectional data for an educational website. This analysis is conducted through an academic website case study.
This is a brief exploratory communication of a work in progress in order to open new paths of research with regard to user-friendly in-house website tracking for academics. This work presents an experiment done with the data that Google Analytics offers for a website.

References:
Plaza, Beatriz. (2009) “Monitoring web traffic source effectiveness with Google Analytics. An experiment with time series”. ASLIB PROCEEDINGS 61, No. 5, pp. 474-482.
Plaza, Beatriz. (2010) “Google Analytics for measuring website performance”. TOURISM MANAGEMENT. Forthcoming.
Plaza, Beatriz (2010) Google Analytics for Information Professionals. ONLINE. Forthcoming.

Keywords:

Google Analytics, e-learning, website evaluation, knowledge management, SEO.