Using Web Analytics in Technical Documentation: interview with an expert

This is a 10 minute extract from a 45 minute interview we carried out with Dr Chris Bose, a Web Analytics expert, on the topic of using Web Analytics in technical documentation.

It’s also a test of another way to publish a screencast – as a MP4 video. This format means the interview can be embedded into this blog. Please note, this format does not allow you to click on the tabs or to click onto the next slide. Chris’s office is actually a converted church, so the audio is a little echo-y. We’re still working on ways to improve the audio on these interviews.

We recommend maximising the video screen size when you view it. 

In this extract, we discussed:

• What is Web Analytics?
• Why is Web Analytics important?
• Should technical people treat it differently to marketing people?
• Can we use technical documents to improve a Web site’s Google ranking?
• What do people learn from analytics?

In addition to the topics above, the full interview covered:

• How do you add analytics to a page?
• Should you spend money on chargeable analytics software?
• What are the mistakes people make?
• What can you do with the statistics?
• How do evaluate any changes you make?
• Is Google AdWords relevant for technical writers?
• How do you deal with searches containing misspellings?
• Why are landing pages important?
• Do you treat other pages differently?
• Do people really search using long phrases?
• How do you dominate you niche?
• What do you do with pages that few people read?

We’ll be making the full interview available at some stage in the future.

This is the second interview we’ve published. You can view the first interview with Anne Gentle (The Social Web for Documentation, collaboration and community) here.

Let us know your experience of Web Analytics.