If you are a student who has passion for finding out why people do things on-line and would love to analyze online behavior.  Or perhaps you are part of a non-profit with an inefficient website and you wish you could communicate more clearly to those you are trying to help.  Or if you are a seasoned Web Analytics professional that wants to give back to the community and help others.  This is the perfect opportunity in which a little bit of your time and expert advice can pay huge dividends to a non-profit organization and therefore people in need.  We here at Roundarch are now participating in our 4^th project for the Analysis Exchange.   We keep going back for one main reason…it’s a rewarding experience in so many ways.

What is the Analysis Exchange?  Simply a great idea

About a year ago, the folks over at Web Analytics Demystified created a Community called The Analysis Exchange.   The community consists of three participants:

1)      Non-profits and NGO’s (Organizations)

2)      Novice Web Analysts (Students)

3)      Seasoned Web Analytic professionals (Mentors)

The Analysis Exchange offers the opportunity for students/future analysts to perform hands on analysis on real data for real organizations (awesome for your resume, also, if you do a good job, your mentor might just give you a recommendation).  For mentors, it’s an opportunity to build your leadership experience and leverage your unique skills to improve the world (it’s not every day that you can improve the world).  Finally, non-profits and NGO’s can gain valuable insights into their digital efforts without having to commit anything (IT’S FREE!) more than a few hours of your time.

Rewards for everyone

Mentors build leadership skills, students learn, and Charities grow….everyone wins!   So far, Roundarch Analysts have been mentors on three completed projects.  While each project was different, they always had two common attributes…each had excellent students and each had highly gracious and thankful charities.

One added benefit that I personally have enjoyed is getting to know the students and the people at the organizations.   They are folks that have found a noble purpose and are dedicated to pushing their cause forward and helping others.  Even after the projects are over, I found myself staying in touch, attending events and assisting them as they improve their online presence.  Also I admire the students for their dedication (about 30 hours per project) and desire to improve themselves and to help someone at the same time.

The organizations we helped and why it is so rewarding

Dannydid Foundation ( www.dannydid.org ), a wonderful organization founded in 2009 by Mike and Mariann Stanton, is turning the tragic death of their son Danny (of an epileptic seizure while sleeping) into an organization focused on advancing awareness about Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) and facilitating the improvement and distribution of monitoring devices.

Since 1972, Prevent Child Abuse America ( www.preventchildabuse.org ), has led the way in building awareness, providing education and inspiring hope to everyone involved in the effort to prevent the abuse and neglect of our nation’s children.

Center for Independent Documentary ( http://documentaries.org/ ) was founded in 1981 to collaborate with independent producers to create films and videos on issues of contemporary social and cultural concern. These programs have been broadcast nationally and locally on public and cable television, won numerous awards, and are in distribution to educational markets worldwide.

A little about the projects

While each organization needed help with Web Analytics, each had very different visitor behaviors and technical needs.  The uniqueness of each organization makes the projects interesting and leaves you longing for the next.

Dannydid.org is a young organization and has very active Facebook presence.  Its site traffic is highly dependent on FB activity.  So our analysis was more geared towards Social media.  We analyzed where traffic was coming from and more importantly where it wasn’t coming from and ideas on how to spread their wings.   This included SEO assistance and setting up basic traffic monitoring reports.

For PCAA, the project took a longer in duration than expected (but the usual amount of work) and was more centered on improving the implementation and cleaning the data.  Once we cleaned things up we were able to setup custom reports that help them track the effectiveness key goals of their site.  They are currently in the process of redesigning their site and look forward to working with them again as the new site goes live.

For CID, the site had a Google Analytics account set up but had not had time to sift through the data. The site owner wanted to know the basics of site performance as well as a deep dive analysis into the various social media referrals. The final deliverable included well thought out analyses on the basic metrics, recommended steps to improve the metric’s performance, and valuable tidbits on how CID can maximize social network authority.

The Students

With each of our projects we were fortunate to be partnered with wonderful, caring students.  They were Ann Poritzky, Cedric Williams and Tonia Thompson.  Each did a great job.  They were professional, diligent, dedicated and produced valuable insights for their respective organizations.  It was a pleasure to work with each of them.

Get involved!

Go to the Analysis Exchange and signup.

On September 12, Roundarch proudly sponsored the American Cancer Society’s Second Annual Corporate Softball Invitational, held at Manhattan’s East River Park. The softball tournament raises funds for the American Cancer Society’s outreach and lifesaving programs and services, invaluable resources for individuals and families battling cancer. As a sponsor and participating team for the second consecutive year, Roundarch recognizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and we took the field with a group of new and returning players aiming to build upon last year’s achievements. Playing under rainy skies for much of the afternoon, the Roundarch Rounders competed against other New York companies, with each of the corporate teams united in the fight against cancer.

Between games, the teams gathered in the East River Park amphitheater to reflect on personal experiences of dealing with cancer, while Jason Carpenter, a softball player and cancer survivor, shared his own story of battling the disease. During the intermission, we were thrilled to learn that, thanks to the generous fundraising efforts of all players and teams, the Second Annual Corporate Softball Invitational raised nearly $24,000 for the American Cancer Society. Inspired by the tournament’s overwhelming success, Roundarch returned to the diamond and held a two-run lead in the second game before falling just short of our goal of reaching the championship round. Roundarch looks for even more success on and off the field next season, as we proudly continue to support the American Cancer Society’s mission of research, education, advocacy and service.

The American Cancer Society accepts donations throughout the year. For information on additional ways to support the fight against cancer, please visit the American Cancer Society.