When you’re working on a project, and what ever the end result is, there is always going to be a value placed upon it. This means that there is a certain value placed on the work being done. This means that there is a good chance that somebody is going to want to monitor how effectively and efficiently you are working.
Lately, it seems that reporting is more about the story that comes from data, and much less about the data itself. Data is still important, as it can tell you a lot about what’s going on on the consumer end of the business. As an example, if you suddenly get a spike in traffic, it is probably due to some legitimate reason. Is it due to a great article that was posted? How about a seasonal boost in your product or services?
What then, comes after that traffic spike? a drop back to normal traffic levels. If we look at that data, you could automatically assume that that drop is a bad thing, but not necessarily. Using this data, you’ve got to look at the story. Why was there a spike to begin with? It just depends on the story.
Aaron Friedman has written a nice column that centers around storytelling through data. A project that Aaron had been working on had been disrupted due to the keyword data blockage (thanks to Google). Because of this, things had to change. Aaron had to break free from the mold of old and bad habits and change the sort of metrics and insights that were being shared with clients.
To check out more details on this change, check out Aaron’s Moz post by following the link below:
Storytelling Through Data: A New Inbound Marketing & SEO Report Structure