The key to any project is metrics — without ways to measure progress toward the goals you set, how do you know if what you are doing is working? Here are some metrics to track and why they matter:
Audience (Unique visitors, page views, visit duration, pages viewed, percentage of new visitors): These are the core metrics to track over time.
Traffic Sources (Direct, referring and search traffic to your site): Find out how people reach your site and measure the quality of the users from each referral source.
Content (Pages viewed, average time on page, percent of exits from page): Understand what is popular, what’s being read carefully, which pages users enter your site from and how long they stay.
Audience (Demographics, Location): Information on your users, down to the city level.
Audience (Mobile, Web, Devices): Find out what percentage of your audience is using mobile devices and which devices are most common.
Taken from Social Media: Strategies and Tools for News, a self-directed course by Susan Mernit at Poynter NewsU.
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