Digital Analytics in 2018: The Best Articles, Tools, Blogs, People, and Resources

Digital analytics are essential to measuring your marketing efforts. They can help you gain insight into what's working and what's not. Want to get better at running the numbers? Start with these resources.

Follow these blogs to stay up-to-date with the latest analytics trends.

1. Google Analytics Products

If you're running analytics to find out what Google wants then follow this blog to get the information straight from the horse's mouth.

2. Blast Analytics & Digital Marketing Tips

From setting up mobile analytics the easy way to using your data to tell a compelling story, this blog has it all.

3. Occam's Razor

Speaking of stories, Avinash Kaushik tells great ones, and they're all about putting analytics to good use.

From blogs that don't specialize in analytics, but still have some great analytics posts to share.

Master These Different Types of Testing to Make Your Website an Audience Favorite - If the word analytics still kind of makes you cringe inside, this post is for you. You'll learn what you're measuring, why you're measuring it, and how it will make your site better than ever.

How to Run a Cohort Analysis in Google Analytics to Better Segment Your Traffic - This is a seriously meaty post about using a specific report to get better results from your website. Graphs, charts, actionable instructions: it's all right here.

How to Set Up Event Tracking in Google Analytics - Step-by-step, actionable advice to help you figure out everything your users are doing on your site. This one gets a little code-intensive.

Why You're Thinking About Digital Analytics All Wrong - This intense post takes you a step beyond web analytics and dives deep into business metrics, namely: traffic, leads, and sales.

The Three Trends Driving Marketing Analytics in 2018 - This post was written in the early part of the year, but it still has a lot of good information to share. All of these trends will likely carry right on into 2019.

Using Google Demographic Data to Optimize Your PPC Account - Here's another great post that translates what you're seeing on your dashboard into what you can do with that data. In this case, making your PPC ad campaigns stronger.

B2B Marketing Analytics is Broken. Here's How to Fix It - An article which helps to bridge the gap between marketing analytics and driving revenue.

Analytics: the one discipline where tools are non-optional. Here are a few to check out.

Heatmaps from Crazyegg - See exactly how your users are interacting with your websites. You'll get insights into what they're clicking on, where they're coming from, and what makes them leave. Includes an easy-to-use A/B Testing tool.

MozPro - Offers almost every analytic you might need or want for your website. MozPro lets you understand which keywords prospects use to find you, to track your rankings, audit your site, optimize your pages and find link building opportunities all in one convenient, user-friendly package.

MixPanel - Solves the problem of getting all your data into one place and one dashboard. Can handle all the data your company can throw at it.

RavenTools - A good option for getting marketing-specific data into a single dashboard. You can access Google Analytics, AdWords, Social Media metrics, YouTube, Callrail, and the five most popular email marketing campaigns.

SEMrush - Want to get some insights into your competitors? SEMrush offers a suite of analytics tools to let you do just that.

Databox - A powerhouse tool allowing you to build dashboards capable of integrating with 65 separate platforms. You get the ability to create custom metrics, too. Built for a multitude of display options: you can stream a dashboard to your conference room TV or access it via your mobile phone.

Cyfe - This product allows you to monitor multiple departments, websites, projects, and more. Built for those who want to watch their sales teams, marketing efforts, and projects in a single location.

Follow these folks to gain even more insights.

Annie Cushing - Annie says she makes data sexy, and you ought to believe her. For example, she recently shared how to accomplish 66 common marketing tasks with just 15 tools. Her twitter feed is pretty much all data, all the time, which makes it an easy place to learn some new tricks. Check out her website here.

Peter Caputa - The CEO of Databox, an analytics dashboard software that puts a ton of power in the hands of the digital team. His insights aren't limited to what his company does. Rather, they're focused on data in general. Follow him at @pc4media.

Lea Pica - An expert in the art of data storytelling. Her Twitter feed includes "Ask me anything" dial in phone conference date, time, and phone number information in addition to her published insights. Most experts aren't so accessible!

Simo Ahava - Blogger, speaker, and thought leader in the field of web analytics development and analytics customization. Check out his website here.

When you're ready to take a deep dive.

Using Digital Marketing Analytics to Drive ROI: How the Pros Use Insights to Drive Clicks, Calls, and Customers - A free on-demand webinar. The title pretty much says it all!

PICA Protocol: A Visualization Prescription for Impactful Data Storytelling - An 11 minute Moz "Whiteboard Friday" presentation which explains how to hook stakeholders so they act on the analytics you share with them. Useful for clients, useful for the C-suite.

The Blindspots In Your Content Marketing Analytics and How to Fix Them - A free ebook from Insights. Helps you do a better job of analyzing your content.

ConversionXL Digital Analytics Mini Degree - This paid course has 3 tracks and over 140 hours of guided videos that help you zoom from beginner to advanced master of the essential digital analytics tools and up-skill your business insights games, covering Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Data Studio, Marketing Attribution and more.

Did I miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!