Now you get 20 of them! This is yet another great improvement for a great tool....
In this video yours truly (Manoj Jasra) discusses how it's important to incorporate analytics into your marketing and website strategy from the very beginning and how you can use the stats from your websites to drive decisions which will have a direct impact on your organization. ...
A few days ago in the Twittersphere, it's been mentioned that Google Analytics will soon be adding the number of "goals" to 20 (four groups of five), up from four only. For some, this may not be a big deal. For others, it's just fantastic and the possibilities are almost endless.
So, You have a Company Blog, are your getting the results you expected? And, what about when your company blog is NOT about your core product. Perhaps a company blog that has nothing to do with your Core Product, but everything to do with your Core Community is the best choice....
There is a product that has launched recently, which is aimed currently at the multifamily, apartment owner/operator space, but may well also extend into additional industries, such as Travel, Hotels, Wine and the like, that is worth taking a look at. I expect that some of the readers and followers of this blog may be skeptical, but I am interested in hearing your feedback....
If your boss is anything like mine, you don't just hand over reports and call it a week/month/quarter/etc. When traffic jumps or drops, you're asked to explain not only what happened, but why it happened. For any online marketer, this means a deep dive into your data. But how do you extract meaning from the numbers quickly?...
A recent study by Hubspot found that among their small business customers, those that blogged had 55% more traffic and 97% more incoming links than non-blogging small businesses.
"Best practices" is one of those dry as dust phrases that conjures up a consultant orating at you and a dozen co-workers sitting in uncomfortable chairs, each one wishing you could go back to work. If you missed Adam Audette's interesting article entitled, "SEO 'Best Practices' Are Bunk," you should pull up a chair and follow the link to read it. (I'll wait right here.) Adam alluded to my Do It Wrong Quickly concept as a way to do things right (if that isn't an oxymoron in itself), and on the whole I think he is on the right track....
Yahoo has just launched the Web Analytics Consultant Network (otherwise known as YWACN). The purpose of this YWACN is to help Yahoo Analytics clients get the best out of the tool as well as to help spread the gospel of YWA....
I promised this week that I'd stop beating the dead horse of how many keywords to target per page, and I will keep that promise. But the divergence of opinion and the deeply-held beliefs that some of us have on this issue made me realize that I violated one of my own rules with this whole discussion. I gave you my opinion about something and then argued with people when their opinions differed. I didn't take the advice that I so routinely dispense: "Data beats opinions in any decision." Yes, that includes my opinion, too....
Your business needs to determine why a bounce occurs, and evaluate that rate on a page by page basis and a keyword by keyword basis. You need to direct them from start to finish and provide an easy to use solution for why they entered your site in the first place....
What if you built a site and all the right people showed up, but none of them bought anything? What if you looked at your traffic reports and analytics and you saw traffic streaming in in droves for all the keywords that perfectly describe what you do? What if you had killer content and tens of thousands of links, but sales were flat? What if you knew you had the best prices or the most unique offerings in town and STILL no one was buying?
There are many debates as to the best way to track 404 errors. The range of tools and functions range from just being able to count the 404 errors, all the way up to tracking your 404 errors, then helping you remedy the 404 errors. As always, there is never one fix that applies to all websites. The best fit for a 404 tracking tool depends on what type of site you have, how often errors occur, and whether you need a quick way to fix these 404 errors. Once you answer those questions, take a look at this list...
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to catch up with Josh Katinger, Co-Creator of Errorlytics and President of Accession Media. During our chat I was able to get Josh's insight on Errorlytics and importance of monitoring your error pages....
In late December Web Analytics World featured a holiday contest where readers were asked to submit some of their favorite analytics tips/best practices. We received dozens of entries so I thought I would share some of my favorite submissions from our contest....
Google Analytics filters allow you manage and segment your incoming data giving you increased insight for your website. Google Analytics filters can be created for internal traffic, capturing sub domains, rewriting URLs within your reports, gaining a better understanding of referring keywords and even the exact page on Google where your traffic came from....
A few months ago Bryan Eisenberg and John Quarto-vonTivadar released an in-depth guide on testing using Google Website Optimizer called, "Always Be Testing." I had the opportunity to go through the book and thought that anyone could read it and quickly implement a testing framework using Google's website optimizer. I recently got the chance to interview co-author Bryan Eisenberg to get his thoughts on his motivations for writing the book and the benefits readers can get from it....
On the surface, the story of the week appears to be about an Emetrics survey on Search Engine Watch talking about how "60% of marketing budgets remain unchanged by the economy." If you dig a little deeper though, Sage puts emphasis on a different statistic found in the survey, that 80.4% of marketers say interest in web analytics by senior management is rising. By using analytics to your full advantage, you can "make yourself untouchable," as Sage says. Use the power of numbers to prove why upper management should stretch the budget for you....
Most of our big stories this week revolve around ads and analytics. Search Engine Land talks about how Google's AdWords now integrates images into search results; the example used is products from Blue Nile. According to Yahoo!'s blog, you are now able to geotarget your Yahoo ads by country, city or zip code, and Search Engine Roundtable announces the integration of AdSense with Google Analytics. Plus, Google analytics has added new features like advanced segmentation, customer reports, motion charts and more. Check out the video for information on Microsoft's LiveSearch Webmaster Central forum and the importance of online reviews....
Google continues its steady stream of updates to its Analytics product by unveiling numerous new features. This time Google adds features that will be quite useful to enterprise level clients. Google's intent was to add more flexibility into the reporting so that users have the ability to see data sliced & diced which ever they want...
Google gains the spotlight with the story of the week. They added a new tool under diagnostics that shows you errors for URLs in your sitemaps. Sage walks you through his Webmaster Central account, showing you how to access these errors and explaining what they mean to you and why it's important to fix them....
Clicky web analytics has just released their own campaign and goal tracking. But these aren't your grandmother's campaigns and goals. No, there are two things that make their implementation very unique...
Those of you who know me realize that I am a big fan of feedback. The very title of my book Do It Wrong Quickly is a snarky way of saying that most of what we do is wrong, and that only by looking for feedback from customers can we realize what is wrong and what actually worked. So, I should be very excited about the announcement today of Yahoo!'s new analytics tool. And mostly, I am. But I am also starting to wonder when fast gets fast enough....
Spotted a post by Michael Stebbins over at Market Motive about the roll out of Yahoo! Web Analytics to some Yahoo! store owners, developers and advertisers. While I'm still not a huge fan of analytics from the search engines, I (and most small business owners) are still pretty big fans of "free."
Matt Bailey says analytics are fun - and by the end of his presentation, you'll not only agree, but you'll probably love analytics almost as much as Matt does. In this lively and entertaining session, you'll learn the difference between people and cows, the importance of "buckets," why ranking number one for the term "UPS" might not be all it's cracked up to be, and why you might want to avoid wearing a red shirt (at least, if you're on the Starship Enterprise and Captain Kirk is looking for volunteers to beam down to the planet below). Even better, you'll...
In the current economy, many Small Business, Small Enterprise, and Marketing professionals are watching their Web spend more closely than ever. I caught up with Stephen Oachs, CTO at VisiStat Inc and got his take on how important Web analytics is today for effective online advertising and direct impact on a business's bottom line....
If you are looking for a career in web analytics and want to establish a solid foundation of skills as a part of your overall analytics training, then I recommend adding the skills below to your tool-set to help you become a very well rounded analyst before you enter the field. Taking a course on web analytics, reading a book on web analytics or subscribing to a web analytics blog are a good start, but frankly, are not good enough by themselves....
In organizations where priorities are constantly changing and everyone has a very tight deadline, there are many issues surrounding web analytics that can arise. I will mention some of these issues in a moment but the key to web analytics in a corporate culture is evangelizing it....
Can you tell someone how many visitors your blog gets every day? Do you know how many people access your blog via a feed on a daily basis? If so, great, but that's only the surface of understanding your blog's traffic.
Google is planning on offering a free webinar on July 8th covering 3 of its most useful products: Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer and Google Webmaster Tools. This trio of tools is key to the success of any business. Analytics, Landing Page & A/B testing and website configuration for organic insight are an absolute must even if you don't use Google products....
ClickTale has just launched a new analytics product called Form Analytics. Form Analytics reveals how visitors interact with online forms and provides recommendations that can increase form completion rates and shopping cart conversions....
My sixteen-year-old son posed a riddle for me the other day: "How does a white beard work?" When I gave up, he revealed the answer: "A hobo." (Should I have mentioned that my son has Down Syndrome?) Anyway, if that riddle made sense to you, then you probably love to analyze the inscrutable world of search metrics....
Let's get one thing straight: much as we like to play God, Internet marketers are not the omnipotent beings some people think we are. The Earthly truth is that we're just some really driven people with a lot of knowledge about working the web to your advantage. And most would agree that this knowledge, when put into action, is worth a few bucks. Of course, it's easier to continue believing in the omnipotent marketer. As in, if you pay someone enough money to market your business for you, then that person is accountable for your business' failure to turn a...
Ever wonder how your websites' data in your analytics reports would be affected based on the placement of your analytics code on the page? Eric Enge and his team at Stone Temple Consulting have begun answering this question by testing the placement of the same analytics code within the top and bottom of a web page....
At Search Engine Strategies in March, Tim Ash walked up to me after my speech and handed me his book. I (ashamed to say) did not know Tim and had not heard of his book before then. I leafed through it quickly and told myself, "This looks good," and promptly dumped it in my pile of books that take forever to get read. I told myself I'd eventually read it, but it took me quite a while to do so. That was a big mistake....
Over the past few days I have inexplicably come across a number of marketing tools that were new to me; I am not sure if it was by chance or a lot were just released or something. Anyway, I am still testing a few of the more promising ones but one free tool called 4Q could really help many a webmaster understand their visitors better....
Web Analytics is not easy and can take up much of you time so it's important to concentrate on the things which have the most benefit to your business. Below I have outlined the types of things you shouldn't measure as well as some areas where you could potentially end up wasting time...
Having frequently been involved with the web analytics process I have noticed some consistent issues with web analytics both from an agency and in house perspective. I am not talking about data quality or even vendor selection, I am talking about how web analytics strategically fits in within an organization....
Matt Bailey from Sitelogic presents a really informational session about analytics and how data is just data unless you apply segmentation. From page visits, to time on site, that data is useless you apply wisdom and knowledge to them....
If you're a marketer and you put content online...you want data. Data is what tells us our ideas our working. Data is also what tells us our ideas are falling short. It's what tells us who came, where they came from, how long they hung around and if they actually did anything during their visit. The problem data loving marketers are facing these days is how to reconcile new sources of traffic and exposure with an extreme lack of insight into how people are interacting with our content.
No doubt some of you looked at your calendars last week and realized you'd missed the $850 early bird price for our upcoming Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference in Houston. Don't sweat it, we've got you covered. We've spent the last six months building the perfect conference for you. We know how busy you are. Do you think we'd let you miss out on this great show just because you forget to set an alert on your calendar?
SEO, Usability, and Analytics are the best investment that you can make for your online business. In fact, dollar for dollar, these recession proof tactics should result in some of the best ROI you'll see from your web site. If you're still on the fence when it comes to investing in any of these three areas, you could be missing out on a wide-open opportunity to get the most out of your website.
Google Analytics has quickly become one of the most popular analytics software available, additionally there are numerous resources available which deal with configuration, implementation, analysis, and reporting. Below I have compiled some of the most useful resources for Google Analytics related strategies....
Sage packs this video full of everything from a new gadget on Google’s Webmaster Tools to a free website service provided by Google Sites, which was formerly the Jot Spot. Matt Cutts also gets air time this week for his article on subscribed links and how to use them, and the Harvard Business Review notices how the Internet-originated peer to peer (or P2P) business approach is influencing other societal structures, like banking....
Sage gives a thumbs up to Search Engine Guide for the site redesign! Search engine optimization continues to gain popularity according to Marketing Sherpa's latest survey; it's low cost and high return keep SEO as one of the best online tactics for budget plans. Danny Sullivan's site Search Engine Land confirms Yahoo's layoffs, and Google emails its customers so they know to link their AdWords account with their Analytics to ensure accurate results....
Most, if not every blogger, wants to write posts that are popular with their readers, and other bloggers. And while there are no foolproof ways to guarantee that others will be interested in what you write, there are several things you can do to greatly improve your chances that others will talk about, and link to your posts.
Analytics are everywhere this week with the release of Google's Urchin 6.0 and the entry of analytics player Crazy Egg. Urchin 6.0 is expensive for the average user at $2,995 after beta and geared more towards large companies that are protective of their analytics data; Crazy Egg offers some standard features but is trying to capitalize on their "visualize your visitors" approach, in which their Heat Map allows you to see where people are clicking on your site. Last but definitely not least, are the SEMMY Awards, where Rand Fishkin walks away with the big win for his SEO article, "Search Engine Rankings Factors 2.0."
One of the most common questions I hear from bloggers and businesses that blog, is 'How can I grow my blog's traffic?' This is a valid question, but bloggers shouldn't forget to focus on their blog's subscribers as well. Over the last year, I have seen first-hand what can happen when you focus on growing your blog's subscriber count.
Hitwise has just released their 2007 holiday report. Heather Dougherty, Research Director at Hitwise and author of the report does a great job covering the retail trends, traffic sources, uses of Social Networking/Email/Search, and the key findings. Below is a summary of the report....
Dennis Mortensen, COO of Index Tools and author of the blog Visual Revenue, has summarized the 18 most popular posts of 2007. His list includes posts from 6 different authorities in the Web Analytics industry including: Occam's Razor, Web Analytics Demystified, Web Metrics Guru, Visual Revenue, Web Analytics World, and Luna Metrics....
Google toolbar version 5 is out. Flickr offering stats to pro users. Only 47% of Internet users check their Google reputation.
Customers who, by all means, appear to be ready to make a purchase are often found abandoning their shopping carts before they complete their online transaction. In many cases this is part of the normal online shopping experience as the shopping cart is just used as a place to collect items of interest but which the user has no real intent to purchase. But all too often it is a failure of the shopping cart page itself that leads visitors to abandon their items which they do, in fact, wish to have.
Barry over at Search Engine Land reports Flickr has launched stats for Flickr Pro account holders. As a Flickr lover, I was pretty pumped to read this news. One of the most frustrating things about using Flickr for someone who lives and breathes marketing was the lack of access to traffic stats. I must not have been the only person who felt this way because Flickr has finally delivered a fairly nice statistics report to their users.
Today at the Google Blog, Mihai Parparita discussed the new way Google will be calculating feed subscribers. This was in response to many people noticing huge fluctations in their RSS subscribers counts. Mihai says there is a difference between how subscribers are calculated at Google compared to FeedBurner. ...
According to new numbers from a global search survey conducted by comScore, Google is the most popular search engine in the world. In fact, Google handles roughly 60% of world wide search. (37 billion) That number is even higher than the 50% of searches it handles here in the United States. The study looked at global numbers for other engines as well and listed Yahoo (8.5 billion), Baidu (3.3 billion), Microsoft (2.2 billion) and NHN (2 billion) as rounding out the top five.
Pretty much everyone loves to get something for nothing, especially when it's something you're used to paying for. That's probably why Google Analytics has gotten so popular with both SEOs and small business owners. After all, why pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for analytics programs when Google Analytic seems to give you everything you need. There are a few reasons, actually. Eric Lander explains why he thinks you should avoid Google Analytics over at Search Engine Journal.
Pretty much everyone loves to get something for nothing, especially when it's something you're used to paying for. That's probably why Google Analytics has gotten so popular with both SEOs and small business owners. After all, why pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for analytics programs when Google Analytic seems to give you everything you need. There are a few reasons, actually. Eric Lander explains why he thinks you should avoid Google Analytics over at Search Engine Journal.
What if you had the ability to launch a smarter email campaign which allowed you to determine the level of your subscribers' engagement down to individual conversions? This is essentially what ClickTracks and Lyris have done by integrating Lyris' email management platform with ClickTracks' analytics product....
The web analytics implementation process can often be a long and grueling process which includes numerous resources and environments. When you're trying to focus on items such as accurately trying to integrate with a CMS or ecommerce solutions, forgetting the little things can often occur. Here are a few items worth double checking before you declare the implementation 100% complete......
In mid July we mentioned that Google's Gmail was doing some A/B testing to help drive more Gmail registrations. During the test we noticed at least 5 or 6 different types of messaging to help lure new users to sign up. The messaging include phrases such as "Start Fresh," "Sign up for Gmail," "Pick a Name," etc...However we believe the test must be pretty close to completion as we have noticed "Pick a Name" with a dark blue background appearing fairly consistently....
Recently I connected with WebTrends' Director of Product Marketing Matt Langie in order to get some more insight on version 2 of their Marketing Lab product. In the latest version, WebTrends introduced two new additions, WebTrends Score and WebTrends Visitor Intelligence. WebTrends Score allows you to assign a score to different visitor interactions on your site and WebTrends Visitor Intelligence takes the 'engagement score' (as well as visitor behavior) and allows you to deliver customized website experiences to your visitors. Here's how it went.......
Google's Analytics Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, has just published his quarterly update for the top ten Web Analytics Blogs. Avinash uses Feed Subscribers and Technorati rankings in order to rank the Web Analytics blogs appropriately....
Aodhan Cullen, CEO of web analytics provider, StatCounter has taken home the prize of Europe's top Entrepreneur under the age of 25. The young StatCounter CEO edged out other leaders from companies such as JT International and Amsterdam's Wakoopa....
Considering Google uses A/B testing to optimize the performance of their pages, shouldn't all site owners do the same? If you haven't noticed, Google's Gmail home page has been running a small A/B test to help promote new Gmail sign-ups. In Google's case, they are running an A/B/C/D/E test....
So your web sales are down. What could be the problem? Or is there really a problem at all? I don't know which is worse - wasting time trying to solve the wrong problem, or wasting time trying to solve a non-existent problem. Fortunately, there's a solution at hand, and best of all, it's free!...
If you're looking for a great way to pinpoint conversion issues or test landing pages then consider Eye Tracking. Here are 5 reasons why you should incorporate Eye Tracking into your search marketing strategy....
Analytics provider, VisiStat, has been busy improving its web analytics software with enhancements over the last month. If you haven't used VisiStat before, I actually compared it against Google Analytics late last year....
Have you ever been suspicious that your traffic stats are overinflated? Well, you should be, especially if you use cookies to track user analytical data. According to a new press release by comScore cookie-based counting overstates the size of a web site's audience....
Google Webmaster Central has just releases a tool that allows you to check your site's backlinks. Hows that different from the link: operator? Well, this one actually works!...
According to recent press release by ComScore, overall internet usage increased 10% from Dec. '05 to '06. Also includes information on top web destinations and category growth trends....
When visitors arrive on your website, what are they doing? Is it what you want or expect them to do; or are they aimlessly wandering around and not finding what they came in looking? Are your potential customers abandoning your site just seconds after their arrival? If you are puzzled because you don't know what visitors are doing, or why, then how can you ever create a decent strategy to offer your visitors a better experience on your website?...
VisiStat has now been collecting data on my blog for about a month and a half and I thought, rather than simply talk about VisiStat's product features and its pros & cons, it would be better to compare it to another reputable product in the industry: Google Analytics....
Having analytics in place is just half of the solution, actually using them and tailoring them to provide solid information and reasoning is what separates those on the leading edge from those on the bleeding edge....
There are business owners who continually push off the purchase of analytics until their company is financially ready to make the leap and online commitment; or until over inflated marketing projections prove to be just that, and mistakes need to be quantified. Something that the majority of business doesn’t seem to realize is the immense insight and knowledge they are missing out on by waiting....
There has always been a certain buzz in the online marketing industry regarding metrics; namely, which metrics to measure and how to accurately track them? I find, more and more that many business owners are sometimes paying attention to metrics that make their business look appealing from an image perspective, rather than to metrics which actually show value to the bottom line....
Google will be receiving a wealth of consumer and marketing information from sites using the software, information that will be incorporated into Google's understanding of how users travel through sites found in its index. That kind of information is worth its weight in Google shares....
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