MDJ Website Analytics Report

Zoe Blank
3 November 2020

This report is a summary of Kent State University’s School of Media & Journalism website performance from
30 September 2019 - 30 September 2020.

1. Website performance metrics summary (in comparison to last year)

a. Sessions
i. This year - 97,808
ii. Last year - 46,766
b. Pageviews
i. This year - 97,808
ii. Last year - 88,127
c. Unique pageviews
i. This year - 78,929
ii. Last year - 6,442
d. Average time on page
i. This year - 3:33; 3 minutes and 33 seconds
ii. Last year - 3:26; 3 minutes and 26 seconds
e. Bounce rate
i. This year - 64.36%
ii. Last year - 42.77%
f. Recommendations
i. In comparison to last year (30 September 2018 - 30 September 2019), the number of
sessions, pageviews, unique pageviews, and average time on page have increased this
year. However, the bounce rate also increased, meaning there is a higher percentage of
single page sessions this year. We recommend adjusting the call-to-action opportunity
for engagement on all pages in order to reduce the bounce rate percentage.

2. Website Audience Data (Sept. 2019- Sept. 2020)

a. Users
i. New - 38,322 (78.4%)
ii. Returning - 10,589 (21.6%)
b. Location data
i. Kent - 11,788 sessions
ii. Cleveland - 1,039 sessions
iii. Columbus - 1,169 sessions
iv. Akron - 906 sessions

c. Audience interests

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 i. Affinity - used to reach the audience of potential customers and make them aware of the
products and services.
1. The top interest in this category is Media and Entertainment/ Movie Lovers with
5,442 users and 8,360 sessions.
ii. In-market - includes users that are more likely to purchase products or services in this
category.
1. The top interest in this category is Education and Post-Secondary Education with
2,975 users and 4,607 sessions.
iii. Other - provides data for those who don’t fit in either the Affinity category or the
In-market segment.
1. The top interest in this category is Jobs and Education/ Education/ Colleges and
Universities with 2,222 users and 3,742.

iv. Mobile vs. desktop users

1. Desktop users lead, making up 79.65% of the audience, with 37,840 users and
51,155 sessions.
2. Mobile devices run behind, making up 19.37% of the audience, with 9,203 users
and 11,611 sessions.
3. Tablet users make up only 0.97% of the audience, with 463 users and 563
sessions.

d. Comparison to previous year (Sept. 2018- Sept. 2019)

i. Returning visitors decreased by 1,643 visitors compared to the previous years. New
visitors greatly increased by 20,358 visitors compared to the previous year.

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 1. This can be adjusted with better retention efforts. Any current efforts towards
awareness and collection of new visitors seems to be working well.
ii. Locations are all the same compared to the previous year, therefore, we believe that
MDJ is doing a good job of reaching and providing to users in Ohio.
iii. Mobile vs. Desktop users are also pretty similar compared to the previous year, so we
suggest continuing to appeal to this audience.
e. Recommendations
i. In order to reduce the declining number of returning visitors, we recommend adjusting
title/dropdown menus to more popular content categories. We think this will increase
engagement and increase the likelihood of users returning to site content in the future.
ii. Because the majority of users are accessing the MDJ website via desktop, we suggest
that the website be designed mostly for desktop usage.
iii. We recommend using the audience interests to target content to users. We suggest
using affinity interest to increase MDJ awareness by focusing on the top interest, such
as media and entertainment. Based on the “in-market” and “other'' interest group data,
we believe the MDJ website is reaching the appropriate group for the services that the
site provides. The overall audience interests align with the MDJ website's purpose of
providing information within that interest category of education and colleges.

3. Website traffic (acquisition summary)

a. Channels - most traffic is coming from the direct channel, with 25,325 total users. This means
that users are accessing the site by entering the URL directly or clicking a bookmarked link.
i. Direct - traffic with no referring website; manually entering the URL or clicking
bookmarked link
1. 25,325 total users
2. 25,844 sessions
ii. Organic - traffic coming from search engine results; earned, not paid
1. 19,293 total users
2. 28,347 sessions
iii. Email - traffic from email marketing; tagged with campaign parameter
1. 32 total users
2. 52 sessions
iv. Social media - traffic from social networks; facebook, instagram, etc.
1. 1,001 total users
2. 2,918 sessions

b. Referring websites - most users are being referred by login.microsoftonline.com, with 1,429
users coming from this website.
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 i. login.microsoftonline.com - 1,429 users (39.74%)
ii. m.facebook.com - 657 users (18.27%)
iii. resourcemagonline.com - 325 users (9.04%)
c. How they are finding the site (Source/Medium) - most users are finding the site through the
direct channel, with 52.28% of users coming from this source
i. Direct/none - 25,325 users (52.28%)
ii. Google/organic search - 18,443 users (38.07%)
iii. login.microsoftonline.com/referral - 1,429 users (2.95%)
d. Recommendations
i. Social media & email are bringing in the least amount of traffic, but we see room for
potential growth. We recommend improving email marketing efforts in order to increase
the number of sessions and users accessing the site from this channel. We recommend
utilizing owned social media accounts to promote the MDJ website and increase traffic
from those channels. Facebook seems to have high referral rates, so we recommend
posting more on that platform specifically.

4. Website content summary

a. Top content
i. The top page on the JMC/MDJ website is the home page (​www.kent.edu/jmc​ or
www.kent.edu/mdj​), with 18,847 total pageviews this year (19.27%).
ii. The second most popular page on the MDJ website is the Digital Media Productions
page (​www.kent.edu/jmc/digital-media-production​), with 3,174 total pageviews this year
(3.25%).
iii. The third most popular page on the MDJ website is the Faculty & Staff page
(​www.kent.edu/jmc/faculty-staff​), with 2,664 total pageviews this year (2.72%)
b. Home page activity
i. The top landing page is the homepage (​www.kent.edu/jmc​).
1. The home page received 11,272 sessions within the set timeframe, but has a
higher bounce rate at 0.67%.
2. This page received 21,307 views within the set timeframe and 12,149 unique
page views.
ii. Megamenu container links - these are links within the main menu drop down menu. For
example, under the “Academics & Majors” menu, there are megamenu container links
for advising, graduate degrees, & various MDJ majors. (event clicks = link clicks)
1. The top 5 clicked on links on the site
2. Faculty/ staff - 1,105 event clicks
3. Graduate degrees - 379 event clicks
4. Internship Resources - 278 event clicks
5. Journalism - 274 event clicks
6. Digital Media Production - 234 event clicks

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c. Recommendations
i. The megamenu container links brought in the most home page clicks so we recommend
utilizing these topics to increase engagement on the site. We suggest adding home page
main menu options for the most clicked container links. Implementing a main menu link
for faculty/staff and graduate degrees will allow users to easily navigate to the most
popular pages and potentially reduce bounce rate. To further reduce the bounce rate, we
recommend adjusting the call-to-action opportunity for engagement on the homepage.