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Complimentary White Paper: “Next Generation Web Analytics”
To learn more about thebenefits of NetInsight,download our white paper at: www.unica.com/nextgen
www.unica.com © 2010 Unica An IBM Company. All rights reserved.
Next Generation Web Analytics Solution Drills Deeper
Drill deeper with the new NetInsight, a sophisticated behavior analysis tool that enables:
on premises, and on •demand convenience
open access to a built-in •data warehouse
the ability to extend and •integrate limitlessly
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With over 1000 downloads, the first release of our Web Intelligence Tips & Tricks eBook was quite a success. Because of these great results, we were able to publish this version just a couple months after. The amazing part is the level of interest we’ve received, in regards to both downloads/participation, from professionals all around the world.
Version 2 of our Web Intelligence eBook includes topics ranging from:
• TheWebAnalyticsecosystem• SocialMediaTextmining• TrafficAttribution• KeywordResearch• WebAnalyticsDebugging• LinkAnalysis• Click-ThroughRateOptimization• SocialMediaMeasurement• LandingPageOptimization
FutureeBooksaresomethingwewillcontinuetodo,soifyou’reinterestedinparticipat-ingorhaveanyfeedback,[email protected].
Enjoy!
Manoj Jasra
www.WebAnalyticsWorld.net www.JasraInc.com Twitter: @WaWorld
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Traditional Web Analytics Is Only 1/3 of the Story: Understand and measure the web measurement ecosystem
Topaintthecompletepictureofthecustomer,therearethreecomplementaryschoolsofwebmeasurementtotriangulateonactionandprofitability.Thetermwebanalyticshasbeenco-optedabitovertimetomeanjust“behavioral”webanalytics–themeasurementof the clicks and hits that are happening on a website. It’s both a bane and a blessing. The blessingisthatwe’reallmorecommittedtoanalytics;thebaneisthatwearehyper-focusedonjustmeasuringthe“what”andnotthe“why.”Herearethethreemeasurementdisciplines:
1. Behavioral analytics: Sometimescalledclickstreamanalytics,orsimplywebanalytics,these tools track clicks, hits, impressions and conversions.DirectwebmeasurementtoolslikeAdobe’sOmnitureandIBM’sCoremetricsandGoogleAnalyticsplayinthisspace,asdobehavioraltoolextensionslikeA/B,Multivariatetestingtoolsandbehavioraltargeting tools.This is wheremany people start their quest inmeasuring their webanalyticsadventure.Aspeoplestart tomeasurebehaviors, theyoftenreacha limit totheirtool’sabilitytoanswertheirquestions.Theywonder“why”thingsarehappening.
2. Attitudinal analytics:AlsoknownasVoiceofCustomer(VoC),attitudinalanalyticsmeasures“why”peopledowhattheydo,answeringquestionslike:Whoiscomingtomysite?Whyaretheythere?Whataretheylikelytodonext?Aretheysatisfied?Ifnot,whynot?Whatwastheirintent?Aretheysuccessful?Ifnot,whynot?Whatistheprimarydriver of satisfaction? Navigation? Price? Content? Look and Feel? Subcategories ofattitudinalanalyticsincludeSatisfactionMeasurement,Page-LevelFeedback,andSocialMediaMeasurement.
3. Observational analytics: Session recording tools allow you to visualize what isactuallyhappeningwiththebehavioral(clickstream)datainthecontextoftheattitudesthatyouarecollectingelsewhere.Thisisdisplayedinakineticform,inwhichitactsasamovietocombinethepiecesthatarenotvisuallyrepresentedotherwise.
The continuous measurement and marriage of these three elements provides a comprehensive strategytomeasurethewebecosystem–topaintthecompletepictureofyourcustomer.These three discrete elements of web measurement will help you triangulate on yourcustomers and improve customer satisfaction.
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Author Bio: Eric Feinberg is an Industry Director at ForeSee Results, the leading customer satisfaction management company with solutions based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Eric’s background includes roles as web marketing analyst at financial services company Gruntal & Co., multi-channel strategy consultant at Wheelhouse, usability specialist at Vividence (Keynote Systems) and focus group moderator at Kelton Research. As technologies and trends change and evolve, Eric maintains his awareness and command of how best to understand and motivate the online consumer on behalf of his clients.
Who’s Doing Social Marketing Well? A Look at Zappos’ Social Networking Profiles
Developingasocialmediastrategyforyourbusinessrequiresmessagingaboutwhoyouareandwhatyoudo.Whenyoucreatesocialnetworkingprofilesacrossmultiplechannels,theyneedtobeinsyncwithoneanother.Whetheryou’reononechannelormultipleonesthereneedstobeconsistency.I’vechosenZappos,theonlineshoecompanytodemonstratehowthey’rerepresentedacrossthesocialmediasphereviacompanywebsite,searchresults,Twitter,Blog,Facebook,LinkedIn,FlickrandSlideshare.
WebsiteThekeywordsanddescriptionwhichZapposhasoutlinedfortheircompanycanbefoundin
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the source code of their website:“description:FreeshippingBOTHwaysonshoes,clothing,andmore!365-dayreturnpolicy,over1000brands,24/7friendlycustomerservice.1-800-927-7671"
Search ResultsWhen a user conducts a google search for online shoes,Zapposwillcomeupinthesearchresults with a link to their corporate website and links to social networking profiles, as well—e.g. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
TwitterOntheZapposTwitterpagetheyprovidealinkbacktotheirwebsitewithakeymessage,“HeretoprovidetheZappos.comCustomerServiceExperience!”
BlogOnTheZappos.comFamilyBlogstheyincludelinkstotheirothersocialnetworkpresences,whichmakesiteasyforuserstoquicklynavigatetotheirothersocialprofiles:“Followus@Inside_Zappos, Follow our CEO @zappos, Check us out on YouTube: youtube.com/insidezappos, youtube.com/zappos.”
FacebookZapposaddslinkstomultipleurlsontheinfotaboftheirFacebook page:http://www.zappos.comhttp://jobs.zappos.comhttp://blogs.zappos.comhttp://twitter.zappos.comhttp://twitter.com/zapposhttp://youtube.com/zapposhttp://youtube.com/zapposfamilycareershttp://linkedin.com/companies/zappos.com
Theyalso include importantkeywordsabout theirbrandwithin thecompanyoverview:“Zappos.comoffers freeshippingand freereturnshippingwitha365-dayreturnpolicy.Choose fromover 1000brands, over 100,000 styles, andover 3million items fromourwarehousefullofshoes,clothing,handbags,andaccessories!”
LinkedInZapposLinkedInpageincludesbrandmessaginginthecompanyoverview:
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“TheZapposFamilyofCompanies,asubsidiaryofAmazon.com,isaleaderinonlineapparelandfootwearsalesbystrivingtoprovideshoppersthebestpossibleserviceandselection.Establishedin1999,wearecurrentlylocatedinLasVegas,NevadaaswellasShepherdsville,Kentucky,andemployapproximately1900people (andcounting!).Wecarrymillionsofproductsfromover1000footwearandapparelbrands.“
FlickrOnFlickr,Zapposphotosaretaggedwithrelevantkeywordse.g.shoes,boots.
SlideshareZapposhaspublishedslidesonslidesharewhereyoucanseehowthey’veusedthecompanymessagingwithinthecontent,e.g.“Zapposispoweredbyservice:providingthebestonlineshoppingexperiencepossible.Fast,freeshipping….”
Inmyopinion,Zapposisanexampleofacompanywhoisdoingtheirsocialmediamarketingextremelywell.Themessagesareclearandconsistentandleadvisitorstoawidespectrumof sites.Onceyouarriveonaprofilepage, there isnoquestion inyourmindabout thecompany’sproductline,missionorcorevalues.
Author Bio: Debbie Hemley is a Social Media Consultant and Blogger with a unique combination of web marketing and content creation experience that span the last 15 years. She writes about social media on her blog, AlltheNewsthat’sFittoBlog,Tweet&Post.
Use search keywords analysis and social text mining to guide your content and communication strategy
Assearchintelligencetoolsandsocialmedialisteningtoolsdeveloping,newopportunitiesareopenforthebrandtoknowwhattheconsumersreallywantandareinterestedin.
NotlimitedtothetraditionaluseofSEOorbrandawarenessmonitoring,wecanusesearch
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keywordsanalysisandsocialtextminingtoguideourcontentandcommunicationstrategy.Typically, the search keyword and social textmining are reliable sources of knowledgeofconsumers'needs, expectationand interests.Theyprovide insight thatcanhelpus torethink the content that the brand is going to produce in order to align with the consumers' expectation.
Ausercase:wehavediscoveredthetermsrelatedtoourclient'sbrandinsocialtextminingandreusedthesenotionsinourAdwordsandbanneradvertisement,whichleveragedtheCTRandconversionratebyasignificantrate.
Author Bio: Hailong XIA, web analyst in OgivyOne Paris, I work principally for international accounts such as IBM, Nestlé, Louis Vuitton etc. Specializing in web data analytics and familiar with most web analytics tools, I use also individual raw data extracted from all kinds of source like Omniture Insight, Database and campaign management tool to leverage the full potential of web data. I have extended my field to social web analytics and mobile application analytics to respond to the increasing demands from our clients. Always keeping in mind the global digital measurement principles, I’m interested only in analytics which can really provide actionable insights. (My linkedin profile page: http://fr.linkedin.com/in/xiahailong and my blog: http://we.univcite.com/scyan (in Chinese))
Use Traffic Attribution Wisely
Everwonderhowtodeterminecampaigneffectiveness inthecasewhenpeopleneedtimetothinkaboutyouroffer?Imagineasimplescenario:youhavealargee-commercewebsiteandarerunningbannercampaignsforanewAppleiMac.Manypeoplewillclickonthebanner,seetheofferandleavetothinkaboutitortodiscussitwithfamilymembers.Thentheywillcomebacktoyourwebsiteviasourcessuchasabookmark,searchengine,orbytypingthewebsite’sURLdirectlyandbuytheAppleiMac.Howdoyouassignthisconversion and sale to the original banner campaign?Here is where traffic attributioncomes in.Manywebanalytics tools likeYahoo!WebAnalyticsuse three typesof traffic
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attribution.Itcanalsobeverytricky,soyouhavetouseitwiselybecauseincorrectusagecansignificantlymisrepresentthedata.
Direct traffic attributionDirect traffic attribution assigns credit (conversion, sales) to the specific source whichpeoplearrivefromduringthesamevisit.I.e.directtrafficattributionshowsthisdata:clickonabanner–buyimmediately.Directtrafficattributionisnotrecommendedforcampaignevaluation.Itisusefulfordatasuchastrafficfromsearchenginesorfromnon-campaignreferrerstoseehowmanypeoplearecomingdirectlyfromthesesources.
Intelligent traffic attributionIntelligent trafficattribution tries todeterminewhether thevisitoriginally referredbyacampaign has visited the website again as a result of the original campaign. It can be best explainedviathefollowingexample:avisitorclicksonabanner,seesyourofferandleaves.Then,twodayslater,hevisitsagain,butthistimetypingtheURLintothebrowserdirectly.ItmeansthathehaslikelyrememberedtheURLasaresultoftheoriginalcampaign,thushisactionsonthewebsiteareattributedtothecampaign.Howeverifheclicksonabanner,seesyouroffer,leavesandtwodayslater,hevisitsyourwebsitebecauseheclickedonanotheroneofyourbanners,hewillnotbeattributedtotheoriginalcampaignbuttothesecondone.Why?Becausehehaslikelynotrememberedyourwebsiteanditwasbecauseofthesecondbannerthatreferredhimtoyourwebsiteagain.Thushisactionsonthewebsitewillbeattributedtothesecondbanner.Thistypeoftrafficattributionisoftenrecommendedtousewhenevaluatingcampaigns.Howevertherearecaseswhenthistypeoftrafficattributionmaynotbeuseful.
ImagineascenariowhenyouarerunningPPCcampaignsaswell.Frommyexperience,peopleoftentypethenameofthewebsiteorURLintothesearchenginesandthentheyclickonthefirstlink.Soanexample:avisitorsclicksonyourbanner,heleaves,talkstohisfamilyaboutyouroffer,twodayslaterhetypesthewebsitenameorURLtothesearchenginebar,clicksonyourPPCad(becauseitwaslistedfirst)comestoyourwebsiteandpurchasesaproduct.Sowhatdowehavehere?WasitthePPCcampaignwhichgeneratedthesale?No,itwasoriginally thebanner.Butboth, thedirect trafficattributionand intelligent trafficattribution,wouldattribute the sale to thePPCcampaign.So for that reason somewebanalyticstoolsofferthethirdtypeofdataattribution.WecallitOriginaltrafficattribution.
Original traffic attributionThefunctionofOriginaltrafficattributionisquitesimple.Allactionsofavisitor´svisitsare
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attributedtothesourcewhichbroughthimoriginally.Itmeansifitwasthebannercampaignthatbroughthimtoyourwebsitenomatterwherehecomesfromlater,hisactionsonthewebsitearealwaysassignedtotheoriginalsourceofhisvisit.Asmentionedabove,thisisespeciallyusefulifyouarealsorunningPPCcampaignsandyouwanttoevaluateonlythebanner campaigns.
Author bio: Jakub Drahokoupil is a social media and web analyst who believes that web analytics is the core of online presence. He focuses on connections between web analytics and social media analytics and runs a DigitalMarketing blog on the topic. He is currently working ateMerite for clients like Vodafone and Czech Airlines.
Internal Traffic – hacks to segment it out, in and shake it all about
Users of your sites who are internal to the organisation show markedly differentbehavioursthanyour“average”user.Theorganisationmayhave
• the home page set as default on internal browsers skewing page views, visits andbounce rate• developersspendinordinatelylongtimedebuggingapplicationsgivinglongonpageand site times, • CallcentrestaffuseFAQpagesrepeatedly.
Theseexamplesshowwhyyoushouldmakesomeattemptatseparatinginternaltraffic.ThedefaultmethodisbyIPaddress,butthisisnotalwayssimpletoidentify.AsmallbusinessmayhaveadynamicIPaddress,whilstlargeorganisationshaveahardtimeidentifyingonefixedaddressforthewholeorganisationduetointernalcommunicationerrors,intransigentITandotherentertainingscenariosI’msureyou’veexperienced.
Hackstotherescue!
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Itispossibletosetacookieoninternaluserscomputers,bypointinguserstoanorphanedpage(thatisonenotlinkedelsewhere)thathassomeextraanalyticscodein.
UsingGoogleAnalyticsasanexample,for ga.js you would use <body onLoad="javascript:pageTracker._setVar('internal');"> onthispageonlythatsetsacookiewithvalueinternal
fornewerasynchronousversionyouwoulduse_gaq.push(['_setVar','internal']);before_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
Andthensetupafilterthatexcludesthisvalue.
(ASIDE:Googleneedtoupdatetheirhelppagestoaccountfornewerasynchronouscode–the help page still refers to the method for ga.js)
Another option is to use campaign tracking in the formmost appropriate for the webanalyticstoolyouuse–
• createacampaigninthetoolcalledinternal,• setupafilterifnecessary• emailalinktoapagethathasthecampaignvariablesappendedtoalltheinternalstaffyouwishtoobliteratefromyourreports
Both of thesemethods rely on cookies staying the same– however someorganisationsregulardeletecookiesthroughtheirsystemswhichwouldmeanredoingtheaboveortryingthis method.
Examineserverproviderundervisitorsinyourwebanalyticstool–ifyourorganisationislargeenoughitwillshowuponhere.Thisisusefulifyouneedanaggregateofallinternalusers,andthebeautyofthismethodisifyouareaGoogleAnalyticsuser,itcanbeusedasa segment
Use Your Call CentreHavingconversationsonline,bytextor(shock,horror)inpersonwithyourcustomerscangivegreatinsightintoissueswithyouronlinepresence,orhintsatwhatcouldbeimprovedforyourbusinessasawhole.
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Talktoyourcallcentre–theyareanincrediblesourceofinformation,including:
• Qualitativedatasuchasusersrequestsandcomplaintsthatcouldeasilyberesolvedbyhaving the right content for them, • Quantitativedataoncallresponsetimes,averagecalllengthandsoon.
Usingthisdatacaninfluencechangestocontent,IA,possiblyevenwholebusinessmethod.These changes can then be tested and measured against the required outcome, which could beasstraightforwardashavingpricelistsanddescriptiveproductdetailseasilyavailableonline.
Author bio: Jon Whitehead has had web analytics as part of his role since wrestling with statcounter in the late 90’s. Attending an inspirational seminar by Hurol Inan in the early noughties on improving business outcomes with Web Analytics, Jon was hooked and has been providing web analytics services to financial and public service institutions ever since. He recently set up Metricks recognising a need for holistic online optimisation approaches for business improvement – see more at metricks.org.
An Online and an Offline Marketer Walk Into a Bar (or on the need to work more closely together) …
So,anonlineandanofflinemarketerwalkintoabar.Buttiredofalwaysdrinkingthesameoldbeer,today,theyreallywanttofigureoutwhichofthedrinksonthebar’sshelfaregoingtobetheirnewfavorite.Theobjectiveistomaximizetheirenjoyment rate.
Howdoyouthinktheonlinemarketerwillgoaboutthatvs.theofflinemarketer?
So the offlinemarketer approaches the question in theway she does all hermarketinganalytics.Shegoesaroundtoalltablesinthebar.Shemakesanoteofwhoisdrinkingandwhataretheirdemographics.Shealsorateshowhappyeachdrinkerappearstobe.
Thenshegroupsthedataintobucketsbydemographics.Shefiguresoutwhichbucketshe
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fallsintoherself.Sherankordersthe15drinksconsumedbythepeopleinherbucketvs.theirapparenthappiness.Sheordersthetop5drinksthatshepredictsshewilllikebest.Shehas a sip of each.
Et voila.
ShefiguresoutthathernewfavoredisgoingtobeaHefeweizen.Neitherparticularlyhappynor disappointed she heads back to her friend, the online marketer, to see what she came up with.
But what should she find?
Theonlinemarketerisflatoutunderatable,totallywasted,withabiggrinonherface,andheremptywalletflungintoacorner.
What happened?
Says the online marketer: mmmvvtt.
Offline marketer:Hae?
Online marketer:Mmmmvvt.
Offline marketer: What?
Online marketer: Darnyou,MVT,…,Ididmultivariatetesting.AndnowIamveryhappy.
Themoralofthatstorywasnottoinsultfriendsofmultivariatetestingfromvendorssuchas Sitespect, Autonomy, and the others. But rather to highlight that online and offlinemarketerseachhavedevelopedsophisticatedmethodsovertime.Buttheyhavenotsharedthese methods with each other.
Well,it’shightimeforthesharingtobeginnow!IwrotetheMultichannelMarketingbookinthehopesofhelpingwiththatgoal.Theonlinemarketerhasloadsofdata.Theofflinemarketermayhaveafewbetteranalyticalapproaches.Theyshoulddrinktogether,shouldn’tthey?
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Author Bio: Akin Arikan is Director of Product Strategy at Unica Corporation.
What's a web analytics STRATEGY vs. TACTIC?
"Let'sbestrategicwithourwebanalytics.Let'snotgetlostinthetacticalweeds"
OK,sowhat'sawebanalyticsstrategyvs.tacticthen?
• Thewebanalyticssolutionthatyouuseisatactic.Thestrategyisinthereportsthatyourun.• Thereportsthatyourunareatactic.Thestrategyistostartwithyourkeyperformanceindicators(KPIs)TheKPIsareatactic.Thestrategyistoequip,freeup,andincentivizeyour web analytics team so that they will focus on value generating analytics vs.lolligagging or answering to never ending reporting requests• Thewebanalyticsteamandincentivesareatactic.Thestrategyistooptimizeyourweb marketing• Optimizingwebmarketingisatactic.Thestrategyistocompeteonanalytics• Competingonanalyticsisatactic.Thestrategyistotreatyourcustomerswell• Treatingyourcustomerswellisatactic.Thestrategyistoincreasetheirlifetimevaluetoyourcompany• Yourcompanyisatactic.Thestrategyistohaveagoodcareer• Yourcareerisatactic.Thestrategyistohaveahappylife
Somepeoplewieldthewords"strategyvs.tactic"asiftheywereswingingaswordandbeingprofound.Yettheymeannotmuchmorethan"leftvs.right".
Nomatterwhereyoustand,thereisalwayssomethingtoyourleftandalwayssomethingtoyourright.
So,...thebestistohugbothofthem,thestrategyandthetactics.
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Author Bio: Akin Arikan is Director of Product Strategy at Unica Corporation, responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction with Unica's web analytics and Internet marketing solutions. Arikan has worked with analytics practitioners for more than a decade. A noted speaker and writer, he has presented at many conferences throughout the world, and in 2008 wrote the book, Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success.
7 SEO steps when launching a new website
Afriendofminejustre-launchedawebsiteandaskedmeabouttoolsheshoulduseandsteps he should take to tweak up the new site. We had a conversation with a few messages back and forth. This series of posts is a result of that conversation.
Here are a few things to keep inmindwhen approaching SEO for anew / re-designedwebsite.ThesearegeneralstepsthatI'vetried,tested,improved.Pleasenotethatthisisageneral process, and I will go into specifics of each step in future posts.
Think about your product, step 1Thekeyinsearchengineoptimizationissimple:thinkaboutit.Thinkaboutyourproductandhowpeoplecouldrefertoit.Brainstormafewcombinations.Askfriends,colleagues,clients,partners,vendors.Asaresultyou'llcomeupwithalistof5-10keyphrases.SEOTools:paper&pencil,orwhiteboardandamarker.Someofyoumaywanttostartaspreadsheet.Itmaybeusefuldowntheroad.
Keyword research, step 2Onceyouhavealistofthoseapproximatetermsit'stimetolookatwhatpeopleareactuallysearchingfor.Usetoolsthatareusuallyprovidedbymajorsearchenginesthemselvesforfree.First,testthetermsthatyou'vebrainstormedtoseeifpeoplearesearchingforthose.Lookatotherkeywordphrasesrecommendedbythetools.Thegoalshereareto1)selectthemostrelevantterms,2)selectthetermwithexistingsearchvolume,3)stayawayfrom
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supercompetitivekeywords.Thenshortenyoulistoftermsto3-5mostrelevanttoyoursite.Thesetermsandtheirvariations(forlongtailterms)willbeusedfurther.Here'sagreatreview of 20freekeywordresearchtools.
SEO Implementation, step 3There'safewthingstokeepinmind:haveonetermsfortheentiresite,and3-4othertermsforotherpagesonyoursite.Focusonoptimizingonetermsperpage.Forexample,ifyousellnaturalcosmeticsinCalgary,thenthisshouldbeyourtitleforeitherthehomepageoroneofyourotherpages.Someofthetoolsyourcanusetoanalyzeon-pagecomponentsofyourwebsite:WebsiteSEOAnalyzer, W3Optimizer, WebsiteGrader.
Search engine submission, step 4Yes,searchenginespiderscrawlthewebandwilleventuallygettoyoursite.Iliketoinformsearchenginesaboutmajorchangesonmysitesaschangeshappen.Iusewebmastertoolsthateachofmajorsearchengineshave(Google,Yahoo,Bing).HaveanXMLsitemapreadyjustincase(notsupercrucialbutdesirable).Herearewebmasterpagesformajorsearchengines: GoogleWebmasterCentral, Yahoo!SiteExplorer, BingWebmasterCenter.
Baseline performance snapshot, step 5Thisisoneofthemostimportantstepofall.Thissnapshotisastartingpointfromwhichyouwilltrackyourprogress.Thereareafewfreetoolsthatwillallowyoutotakeperformancesnapshots and measure it over time including: WebCEO, RavenTools, etc.
Link building, step 6Can'tstress thisenough.Linksaresuper important.Butdon't fall intoa trapofdoingaone-timeblastandforgettingaboutit.Theprocessshouldbecontinuous.Thelinksshouldbeonewayfromresourcesthatarerelevanttoyourindustry.Theideaisthatotherpeopleconsideryoursiteimportantandlinktoyou.Youcancheckthesitesthatlinkbacktoyouusing the follow two tools: OpenSiteExplorerbySEOmozandYahoo!SiteExplorer.
SEO maintenance, step 7SEOisnotaone-timeengagement.Searchengineschangetheiralgorithms,peoplechangetheir searchhabits, theworldchanges.So,makeahabitofcheckingonresults regularly(onceortwiceamonth).Eitherleaveasisandcontinuelinkbuilding.Ortweakyourtitlestoadd/remove/changetargetkeywords.
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Author Bio: Alexander Zagoumenov is a Calgary-based online marketing consultant who focuses on organic search marketing and social media. Alex has been freelancing as an SEO guy since 2001. He has a degree in Management (Marketing) from U of L and a particular interest in digital space. Read more: http://www.zagoumenov.com
Six Best Practices for Optimizing Your Landing Pages
Visitorsarriveatyoursitethroughavarietyofchannels:mobile,pay-per-click(PPC)andorganicsearch,e-mailoffers,andprintads,forexample.Oncethere,theyneedtofulfilltheobjectiveofactinguponapromotion,orbuyingaspecificproduct.
Iftheirentryleavesthemcoldbecausetheydon'tseeanythingrelevanttowhatdrovethemthere, they'remost likely to leave,havingwasted their timeandyourmarketingdollars.Landingpagesserveasanimportantbridgebetweenthemarketingmessagethatbroughtvisitorstothesiteandthesitefunctionalitythatenablesthemtotakeaction,suchasmakinga purchase or submitting a form.
Best practicesCreatingasuccessfullandingpageisn'tdifficult,andyoucaneasilyexperimentandlearnasyougo.First,decideonwhichpageyou'lluseasthelandingpageforaspecificcampaign.YoumayverywellhaveanexistingWebpagethatyoucanuse(onethat'smorespecificthanyourhomepage),butifyoudon't,considerpublishinganewlandingpage.Ifthat'sthecase,keepinmindthese6bestpractices:
1. Includeanimagealongwiththeofferforvisualappeal.
2.Reduce or eliminate navigation to keep visitors focused on the goal and reducedistraction.
3.Keep the look and feel of your primary web site so consumers will immediately
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recognizeyourbrand.
4.Don'tforgetacompellingcalltoactionthatshouldtieintotheoffer.Forexample,thecopyforatraveloffercouldhaveacall-to-actionsuchas"BookNow,"or"SaveMoney-ReserveNow."
5.Minimizedatacollectionasmuchaspossibletodecreaseabandonment.Ifyoumustcollectadditionalinformation,trymovingthosefieldstoaformonasecondpage.
6.Wheneveraskingforpersonalinformation,includeprivacyandsecuritystatementsto help establish trust.
Taking it up a NotchOnceyou'veadoptedlandingpagesaspartofyourmarketingtoolbox,youshouldsetyoursightsonoptimizingthemforgreatesteffectiveness.UsingA/Btesting,ormoresophisticatedmultivariate testing, you can determine exactly which combination of alternate offers,headlines,copy,imagesandcalls-to-actionaremostpersuasivetovisitors.
BeyondA/Bandmultivariatetesting,youcanalsousebehavioraltargetingtechniquestopresent visitors with landing pages that are customized based on whether the visitor is new vs.returning,timeofdayordayofweek,andsoon.Usingbehavioraltargetingalongwithtesting,youcaneasilyoptimizeoffersandotherfactorsthatwilldrivehigherconversionsandincreasedloyalty.
Landingpagesareanimportantcomponentthatshouldbeineverywebmarketer'stoolbox.By optimizing landing pages through the steps of testing and targeting, you'll not onlyincreasetheeffectivenessofyourWebmarketingdollars,butyou'llgainuniqueandvaluableinsightsintowhatpersuadesyourvisitorstotakeaction.
Author Bio: Eric Hansen is the founder and CEO of SiteSpect, and the chief architect of the firm's non-intrusive technology for multivariate testing, behavioral targeting, and digital marketing optimization. Eric is a frequent speaker at conferences covering web analytics and optimization, and writes regularly on topics dealing with the intersection of marketing and technology.
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How to Get Bounce Rate for Google Website Optimizer A/B Test Variations
Supposeyou’replanningtorunasimpleA/BtestonaWebpageandyou’dliketousebounce rate as yourmeasureof success.Canyoudo itwithGoogleWebsiteOptimizer(GWO)?
I’vehadthisissuecropupanumberoftimesrecently,soIdecidedtoresearchit.Here’swhatI found out.
Can I set bounce rate as a conversion goal within GWO?No.GWOitselfdoesnotreportbouncerate,nordoesitallowbounceratetobesetasaconversiongoal.It’spossibletoapproximatebouncerateasagoalbycodingeverysinglelinkclickoneverysingleexperimentpageasaconversionevent,butthatgivesyouexitrate,notbouncerate-plusthesetupcantakealotofeffort.
Can I get bounce rate for GWO A/B test variations from Google Analytics or Omniture?Yes.Althoughbouncerateisn’treportedwithinGWO,youcangetitfromWebanalyticstoolssuchasGoogleAnalyticsandOmniture.Integratingthedataturnsouttobeveryeasy,andinfactrequireszerocodingaslongasallexperimentpagescontainyourstandardWebanalyticspagetags.
Here’swhy it’s easy:AsGWOserves variations in anA/B test, visitors are redirected touniqueURLs(indexA.htmlvs.indexB.htmlvs.indexC.html,forexample).ThisbehaviorwascontrarytomyinitialassumptionthatallvisitorsgotthesameURL,asisthecaseforGWOmultivariatetests.SinceURLsareuniqueinanA/Btest,youcansimplyviewthepagesreportwithinyourWebanalyticstoolandfilteron(forexample)index*.htmltoseeone row per variation.
Do I need to pass any custom variables from GWO to my Web analytics tool?No.Youdon’tneedtopassanycustomvariablestogetreportingforanA/Btest.
Ifyou'rerunningamultivariatetest,ontheotherhand,youmustpasstheGWOvariationIDtoyourWebanalyticstoolasacustomvariable,sincetheURLremainsthesameforall
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variations.
If I optimize for bounce rate outside of GWO, do I still need to set up a goal within GWO?Yes,butitcanbeasimpleplaceholder.WhenyoucreateaGWOA/Btestyou’rerequiredtoprovideaconversiongoalbeforeyoucanlaunch.However,ifyou'replanningtooptimizeforbouncerateorsomeothermetricinyourstandardWebanalyticstool,youcanspoofaGWOconversiongoalbyspecifyingadummypagesomewhereonyoursite.Ineffect,you'resimplyusingGWOtomanagetheservingofpagevariations.
Author Bio: June Dershewitz is VP of Analytics at Semphonic, where she specializes in helping companies improve their day to day Web analytics practice. She is a member of the Web Analytics Association Board of Directors and is an Omniture Certified Professional. She cofounded Web Analytics Wednesdays, a global networking event series. Since joining Semphonic in 2007, Dershewitz has led implementation, analysis and training initiatives for companies including Nokia, Blue Shield, Kohler, Charles Schwab, Intuit and Delta Dental. She has spoken at conferences such as X Change, eMetrics, SMX and SES. Blog: http://june.typepad.com. Twitter: @jdersh.
10 Questions for Social Media Marketing & Measurement Success
Inorderforcompaniestorealizethemaximumbenefitfromsocialmediamarketing,there must be a certain level of understanding about the nature of online communities, social media sharing web sites and applications.
Companiesthatwanttotakefulladvantageofbettercustomerrelationships,onlinewordof mouth and social media marketing opportunities should ask themselves a few keymeasurement questions:
1.Whatgoalsdoyouhopetoachievefromasocialmediamarketingeffort?
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2. What measures of success will be used to evaluate a social media marketing program?
3. Isthereastrategicplanforcoordinatingandmeasuringsocialmediaeffortsacrossthe organization?
4. Is the business conducting a formal effort at monitoring social channels using asocialmediamonitoring/analysissoftwareapplication?(Ex:TechrigySM2,ScoutLabs,Trackur,Vocus,SocialRadar,Radian6)
5. Is there a particular business unit, division or product that can serve as a test case?
6. Ifactive,howlonghasthecompanyparticipatedwithsocialmediasitesandwhich?Blogging, Facebook,MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube,Wikis, Delicious,Digg,StumbleUpon,etc
7. Is a dashboard and campaign management tool used for social media contentpromotion?
8.Whatuniquevaluedocurrentsocialmediaeffortsofferclients/prospectiveclients?Whatneeddotheysatisfybetterthanthecompetition?
9. What departments, business units, cost centers and approval entities would be involvedwiththeSocialMediaprogram?Isthereaninternalsocialmediacouncil?
10.Whatinternalhumanresourcesareavailablewithinthecompanyforsupportandimplementation of social media marketing initiatives? (Content creation, networkdevelopment,promotion,monitoring&analytics,communityengagement)
Everycompanyandtheircustomersareunique,butthequestionsabovecanprovidevaluableinsightintoacompany’sstateofsocialmediamarketingreadinessaswellasprovokingnewthoughts and direction. The more informed companies are about planning for the social web,themoresuccessfultheywillbe.
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Author Bio: Lee Odden is CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, an integrated search, social media and content marketing agency. Odden’s 12 years of consulting experience includes Fortune 50 companies HP & McKesson and trusted marketing industry brands like PRWeb. Odden has written for Mashable & ClickZ and is editor of OnlineMarketingBlog with over 40,000 subscribers.
Use Link Analysis to Uncover Content Ideas and Untapped Link Equity
InSEO,mostsearchmarketersarehyper-focusedonanalyzingthelinkprofilesofothersites.ButoneofmyfavoritetipsforSEO,linkbuildingandcontentstrategyinvolveslinkanalysisofmyownsite,particularlymyblogcontent.Byanalyzingthelinkprofileofmyblog I can discover:
• Whichpostshaveattractedthemostlinks• Whichtopicsorthemesonmyblogarethemostpopular(fromalinkingperspective)
HerearethestepsIusetoanalyzemyblog'slinkprofile.
1.DownloadAaronWall’sfreeFirefoxplugin and activate it
2.RunasearchoperatorinGoogle,forexample“site:mysite.com/blog.”
3.Clickonthe“100”link(beneaththequerybox),whichgivesyou100SERPresultsratherthanjust10(Note:youcanalsoappendthequeryURLwith“&num=100&pws=0”toget100results)
4.Clickonthe“CSV”link(beneaththequerybox)andexporttheSERPdatatoExcel
5. Sortyourdatabythe“Y!PageLinks”column(thiscolumnshowsthelinkspointingtoaspecificpage),largesttosmallest
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Nowyou'vegotalinkintelligencedashboardwithanextensivelistofallyourblogposts(theonesindexedinGoogle,anyway)orderedhierarchicallybylinktotalsthatlookslikethis:
Thenextstepistoleveragethisinformationtodevelopacontentandlinkstrategybasedontheblogpostsfromyoursitethathaveproventobethemostpopular"linkmagnets."
Content StrategyUsingthisdata,youcanobservehigh-levelpatternsanddiscoverwhichblogposttopicsareyourlinkmagnets.Forexample,I'vedonethisformyownsite(WordStream.com)andrealized that the best performers are blog posts about the topic keywordresearch.Sologicwoulddictatethatifmyaudiencelikesmyarticlesaboutkeywordresearch,thenIshouldcreatemorecontent tomatch their interests.Toexpandoncontent ideas foryourmostlinked to topics, youcanuse theWordStreamFreeKeywordToolandpluginyour seedkeywordstofindmorerelatedtermstocraftcontentaround.
Internal Link Flow StrategyThelinkdatayou'veobtainedalsoshowswhichblogpostsonyoursitehaveacquiredthemostlinksandamassedthemostlinkjuice.Thenextstepistodrainthatlinkjuicefromthe"linkrich"pagesandpushittoyourweaker,link-less"linkpoor"pages,therebyflowingyourlinkequitythroughoutyoursite,therebyimprovingtheauthorityofthosepages.Youdothisbyrevisitingthemost-linkedtopagesandaddinganchortextlinksbacktoyourlinkpoorpages.Toreadfurtheraboutthisstrategy,seemypostAnEasyWaytoGetMoreLinkJuice.
Author Bio: Ken Lyons is Senior Online Acquisition Marketing Manager at WordStream,Inc. a provider of Internet marketing software, including SEO and PPCtools. Ken also provides SEO services and blog strategy consulting through his Boston-based company, MetaRocketSEO.
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Analytics Debugging with Fiddler
DebuggingWebAnalyticsReportingcanbearealnightmare.Anerrorcanoccurinthetaggingorinthereportingconfiguration.Howcanyoufindout,whetherthetrackingisworkingasexpected?Mosttrackingtoolshaveadelayofafewminutes–waitingforyourtest requests to arrive gets tedious.
Fiddler is a freeWeb Debugging Proxy. After starting it shows all HTTP connectionstogetherwithsendparameters,HTTPheaders,etc.Youseeataglance,whatissendtoaserverandwhatisreceived.Youseethetagscalledbytheloadedpagebutalsocallsfromtaggedlinksorforms,evenflash.Becausetherecanbealotoftrafficgoingonyoucanfilterthetrafficbyhost,atextstringorlistentotrafficfromaspecialprocess.
The biggest advantage of Fiddler over i.e. Firebug is that it is browser independent. It works thesamewithIE,FirefoxorChrome–onWindows.Therearemanymorehelpfulfeatures:usingdifferentuseragentstrings,debugginghttpstraffic,simulatemodemspeed.Itreportsonrawdata,ifarequestdoesnotshowupitsimplywasnotfired.
FiddlermaynotbeascomfortableasWASP.Butformosttoolsitprovidesyouwithsufficientinformationonyourtagging–atnocharge.
Author Bio: Markus Vollmert is partner and Head of Web Analytics at the online marketing agency luna-park, located in Cologne, Germany. Over the last years he worked with different tracking systems. He is member of the WAA and blogs at econtrolling.de
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The Web is dead…Track your App
NowafteryearsofWebAnalytics,youtrackeverythingaboutyourvisitors:gender,age,loyalty,etc.YouknowwhatissaidaboutyouandyourcompetitorsonFacebook,Twitter,YouTube.YouarestartingtoknowthevisitorsfromBlackBerry,iPhone,iPad.Butprobably,youareignoringapartofyourusers,the24%ofpeoplethatusesappseveryday.
Doyouknowhowmanyusersarereallyusingtheappaftertheydownloadedit(no-zombieapp)?Whichisthefrequencyusageperweek?Wherearetheusersfrom?Whatarethemostusedfeaturesofyourapp?Whyistheappuninstalled?ThisiscalledIn-AppAnalytics!
TheIn-AppAnalyticsallowsyoutoassociatetheuserinteractiontohissocio-demographicinformation that provides better accuracy compared to anonymous visitors of WebAnalytics.“Whotheyare”,“wheretheyare”and“howtheyuseapp”aretheheartoftheIn-AppAnalytics.
Theactualandfuturespreadofsmartphonesmustberidden.Infact,everydaynewpeopleusefreeorpaidappstoreadnews,tochecktheweather,tofindarestaurant...Somebasicstats, suchasdownloadsor impressions,areprovidedbyappstores,butnothing is saidabouttheappusage.Ifyouwanttoknowhowusersinteractwithyourapp,itisnecessarytothinkaboutatrackingsystemforapps.AdobeSiteCatalystandothervendorsprovideanentirelibraryforthisparticulartypeoftracking.Itisalsopossibletotracktheappinacustomway,choosingwhatdatatocaptureandanalyze,andhowtobreakdownuserdataon the basis of their behavior.
Bytheway,typicalmetricsofstandardWebAnalyticslosetheirmeaningwhenappliedtoin-appAnalytics.Itisnecessarytorethinkmetrics,touseanotherlanguage,toswitchfrom“click”to“touch”.
Slideviewsrather thanpageviews;downloaders,users,activeusersrather thanvisitors;timespentonappratherthantimespentonsite;bouncerateassingleeventvisitratherthanbouncerateassinglepagevisit;loyaltybasedonthecombinationbetweenthefrequencyusageperweek and the retentionover 90days rather than loyalty basedonnumber of
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orders. “UniqueVisitor” fanswill behappy to know that in-aAppAnalytics visitors arereallyunique.Thismetricisnolongerbasedoncookies,butratheronthephone’suniqueID.
Moreoveritbecomesfundamentaltorethinktheuserprofile:geo-segmentationisnolongerbasedonIPaddressbutontheGPSandCheck-Inlocation,demographicdataisnolongerprovidedbyaform(typicallyfakeinfo)butbasedonrealdataprovidedduringthephonepurchase or the app download.
Lastbutnot least,anydoubtaboutofflineapps?Noproblem,itwillbepossibletotrackthemtoo!
Author Bio: Moira Fascioli is a Senior Web Analyst in BitBang (Bologna-Italy), BitBang is a company leader in Italy into web analytics and web marketing solutions from 2003.
The Most Important Web Analytics Document You'll Ever Write
Ifyoumanagesomeonewhoconductswebanalyticsinyourorganization,orifyouareboththemanagerandpractitionerofwebanalytics,thereisonlyonedocumentthatyouabsolutely,positivelymustdevelop.
It's called a StandardOperatingProcedure(SOP).Originallyamilitarytermandconcept,theyaretypicallyyusedinITorganizationstoensurethatprocessesarestandardizedaroundsystems.Iliketothinkofthemasinsurancepoliciesthatyou'llneedwhenthepersondoingwebanalyticsforyourorganizationultimatelyfindsanotherjob.
AwebanalyticsSOPshouldincludestep-by-stepinstructionsforallprocesses,methodsandpracticesrequiredtomanagewebanalytics;sothatsomeonecomingintothejobknowsspecificallywhattomanageandmaintain.Forexample:
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• Data collection, such as page tag variables, data filters, tagging specifications forarticles, downloads, campaigns, audio and video.• Administrativesettingsandpermissionsstructureforusergroups• Vendorcontractdetails• Reportsetdefinitions• Metrics/KPIcalculations• Reportdistributionsettingsandschedule• Contactlistsforallstakeholders,organizational,vendorandconsultantsupport• Scheduledpresentationstostakeholdersandmanagementwithexamplesprovided• Processesfordevelopingnewmetricsandreports• Processesthatstakeholdersneedtofollowtorequestnewdatacollectionandreporting
ThebeautifulthingaboutanSOPisthatitisadocumentthatitreliesoninputfromanyoneusingandsupportingwebanalyticsinordertobecomprehensive.Becauseofthis,issuesandchallengesaroundwebanalyticsneedtobeexamined,sortedoutandresolved...especiallythose issues regarding process and support.
AnothergreatbenefitofanSOPisthatit'snota"oneanddone"effort.Itshouldbereviewedandupdatedonanongoingbasistostaycurrent.
Doneright,theSOPforwebanalyticswillkeepyourinitiativemovingalong,organizedandplannedevenwhileyouexperienceresourceturnover.
Author Bio: Phil Kemelor leads Semphonic’s strategic planning, government and non-profit practices. In his role as Semphonic’s practice manager for the Washington DC office, he leads strategic and implementation engagements for organizations such as the National Cancer Institute, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Consumers Union, AARP, Nature Conservancy and National Geographic.
Phil also serves as the lead analyst for TheCMSWatchWebAnalyticsReport, an annual evaluation of web analytics software vendors. Phil’s 13 year career in web analytics includes founding of one of the world’s first web analytics program office at Bell Atlantic (currently Verizon), serving as Principal Consultant for NetGenesis, a first-generation web analytics software company, and writing The Executive’s Guide to Web Site Measurement and Testing.
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[email protected]@philkemelor
Leveraging Social Media Offline
Socialmediacontactscanspreadoffline,too.Don’tstopathomepagelinkstoFacebookandTwitter. Asmuch aswe embraceLinked In connections, professionals still rely onbusiness cards in face to face meetings and events.
Putyoursocialmediacontactinformationonyourbusinesscards.Peoplewillrecognizeactualiconsofthetell-talebubblelettertorlower-casefinsteadofwritingout“Twitter”and“Facebook.”Justbecauseyoucan’tclickthrough,don’tsecond-guessatleastonepersonacting on it.
Ifyouare fortunateenough topresent in frontofa livegroup (thinkwebinarsor smallnetworkingevent),includeyourtwittername(@SpyFu)atthebeginningofyourpresentationand all theway through. Manypresentersmake themistake of holding off on sharingtheircontactinformationuntiltheend.However,Enthusiaststweetlivehappenings,soifsomeoneisgoingtoquoteyou,getproperTwittercreditforit.
Don’tforgetitonyoureventnametag,either.Onceyouconnectonline,that’sthenamemanywillassociatewithyouwhenyoumeetinperson.
Author bio: Sidra [email protected]/in/sidracondron
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The Importance of Campaign Evaluation and Internal SearchEvaluating Campaigns
Whenevaluatingacampaign,siteownersoftenlookatrevenue.Highrevenueequalsagreatcampaign.Mediaagenciesoftenevaluatethemlookingatclicksonly.
Ibelievecampaignsshouldbeevaluatedlookinguponmanyparameters.Fore-commercesites it would be, product views, add to cart and signups showing that users are interested inyourproductsandofcauseordersandrevenue,sincethatispayingfortheadsandyoursalary.
Ifyoudon’thaveane-commercesite,youshouldevaluatecampaignsby lookingat leadgeneration(naturally)andaswellasmetricssuchastimespentonsite,numberofpagesviewed and usage of contact pages.
Bylookingatmorethanonemetric,greatlyimproveyourabilitytooptimizeyourcampaignsandyoursite.Byraisingusers’interestinyourproductorservices,youwillautomaticallyachieveagreaterconversionrateandabetterROI.
Internal SearchThefirstthingyoushouldmakesureyoushoulddowhenimplementingawebanalyticsstrategyistotracktheusageofinternalsearch–it’ssuchasimpleandeffectivewin.Makesure that you trackwhatusers are typing intoyour site searchandanalyze the typesofsearchresultsthatarebeingdisplayed.
Secondly,startfocusingonallofthesearchesthatreturnzeroresultsandorganizethelistintothefollowinggroups:Misspellings,Competitorsproduct/servicenamesandother.Ifyourproductsorservicesappearwhenuserssearchforcompetitorproducts,thenyouaremorelikelytohaveagreaterconversionrate.Thesamerulesapplyifyoumakesurethatuserswhoareaccidentlymisspellingqueriesaregettingwhattheyarelookingfor.
Fortheremainingsearches,getinspiredtoaddmoreproductsorservicestoyourportfolio.RemembertoleveragetheknowledgeyoureceivefromanalyzingyourinternalsearchengineandwhenyoucreateonlineadssuchasGoogleAdwordsorYahoo!SearchMarketing.
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Author Bio: Thomas has been working with online marketing since 2003. First he worked with technical SEO for some years, before he changed to work for 2 different analytics tool vendors. Today he is working as an independent analytics consultant, helping large companies optimizing their online communication, such as ad campaigns, as well as onsite optimization to achieve a higher ROI.
Optimize Your Micro Conversions in 3 Simple Steps
Since the humble beginnings of web analytics back in 1994, there has always beenan unhealthy fixation on the conversion rate as a website’s keymetric. Understandablyso,ecommercesitesoftenmeasurethesuccessoftheirwebsitebytheamountofvisitorswhofinallypurchaseaproduct.However,thereareamyriadofotherimportant“micro”conversionsonyoursitethatyoualsoneedtobefocusingon.
Inordertoimprovethevalueofyoursitetoyourvisitors,itisessentialtounderstandwhytheycometoyoursiteinthefirstplace.AllvisitorsareNOTcreatedequal.Eachonehashisorherownreasonforcomingtoyoursiteandwhatheorshewishestogainfromit.Remember,mostofyourvisitorsprobablydonotcometomakeapurchase.Ifyouhaveaproductsite,visitorscouldbetryingtofindpricecomparisons,productinformation,youraddressoropeningtimes,allpreparingforanin-storepurchase.
Ifavisitor landsonyoursiteandsignsupforanewsletter,requestsaproductdemo,orfills out a contact us form, then these actions might be worth more than a simple one time conversion. You’ve now got them sticking around for a long term commitment as opposed toashorttermtransaction.EverytimeavisitorcreatesbuzzaboutyourwebsitethroughasocialnetworksuchasFacebookorTwitter,youshouldcountitasamicroconversion.Often,microconversionslikethesecanaffectyourbottomlinemuchmorethanasinglemacro conversion alone.
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1. Find out what your visitors want.Donotsimplymonitorhowmanyvisitorslandwhereyouwantthemtolandanddowhatyouwantthemtodo.Instead,findoutwhichwebpagestheywanttogotoandwhattheywanttoachieve.Definewhichconversionsbesidesyour“macro”conversionwouldbebeneficialtoyourbusiness.
2. Find out which micro conversions work.Youwanttohighlighttheconversionsthatfulfillbothyourvisitors’needsandyourown.Ifyounoticethatmanynewslettersubscribersenduppurchasingaproduct,thenmakeiteasierforvisitorstosignuptoyournewsletter.Ifyougetalotoftrafficfromsocialmedia,makesurecustomerscaneffortlesslypromoteyoursiteonTwitterandFacebook.
3. Study your successes.Mostconversionsareamulti-stepprocess,evenmicroones,sostartbyevaluatingeachstep.Ifitiseasiertogetvisitorsto“tweetthissite”thantomakeapurchase,thenthatiswhereyourfocusshouldlie.Itmaytakelongertoseeareturn,butRomewasnotbuiltinadayandnoristheperfectwebsite.
Author Bio: Shmuli Goldberg is the Director of Marketing and Communications for ClickTale
What is In-Page Analytics?
Most web analytics solutions capture visitors landing on a web page and monitortheir movement from page to page within a site. This is great for collecting quantitative informationaboutyourwebsitetraffic,withpageviews,numberofvisitorsandtimeonpagebeing thekeymetrics.However, this traditionalapproach towebanalyticscan’t tellyoumuch about what visitors do once inside these pages.
That’s where In-Page analytics comes in. It focuses on visitor interactions inside these
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pages,recordingeverythingfrommousemovesandclickstoactualkeystrokes.Thisgivesamuchmorequalitative,almostintimate,viewintowhatyourvisitorsarefocusingonandinteracting with inside the pages themselves.
Someexamples:
When running a campaign with a landing page, traditionalanalyticswill tellyouhowmanypeoplecametoyourlandingpageandwhatpagestheylookedat.InPageanalyticswilltellyouhowtheyengagedwiththepage,whatcontenttheylookedat,andwhatelementstheyinteractedwith.
When optimizing an online form, traditional analyticswill tell you howmany peoplesuccessfullycompletedordroppedoutoftheform.InPageanalyticswilltellyouatwhichfieldswithintheformcustomersdropout,howmuchtimetheyspentfillingineachfield,whichfieldstheyleftblank,etc…
When analyzing a conversion funnel,traditionalanalyticswilltellyouwherepeopledropoutofthefunnel.InPageanalyticswillvisuallyshowyouwhatvisitorsdidwithinthepage,soyoucangaininsightintowhytheyleft.
How to measure successForstarters,youneedtodefineyourKPIsbyeachpage’sobjective.Forexample:
If you have an ecommerce website,yourperformancecanbedefinedbyhowmanyvisitorssawyourcalltoactionbuttons,readproductdescriptionsorwereabletofindtheproducttheywerelookingfor.Withinproductpages,howmanypeoplewereabletofindthe“addtocart”button,andwithinyourcheckoutform,howmanypeoplewereabletoquicklyandeasilypurchaseaproduct.
If you have a content rich blog or news site,you’llwanttolookatheatmapstofindoutwhichheadlinesandimagesgrabbedyourvisitors’attention,whatparagraphsgetthemostinterestandwhatarticlesareactuallybeingreadasopposedtosimplyscrolledthough.A“successful”articlewouldbeonewithhighengagementtimesandlong,consistentscrollrates.
Whatever your site,InPageanalyticsletsyoupeekintothesubconsciousmindsofyourvisitors. This takes a substantial amount of guesswork out of web design and testing, allowing
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youtobuildandoptimizewebsitesbasedonyourvisitors’actualInPagebrowsingbehavior.
Author Bio: Shmuli Goldberg is the Director of Marketing and Communications for ClickTale, the industry leader in Customer Experience Analytics. A self proclaimed “web analytics geek”, Shmuli has spent an unhealthy amount of time focusing on web analytics, conversion rates and website usability. Through his obsession, he aspires to help websites worldwide reach their maximum potential and obtain the love of their visitors. London born and bred, Shmuli has studied in the London School of Advertising and the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzlia. He now lives in Israel, where the ClickTale head office is based
Leveraging the Placement Report in Adwords
Oneof themostoverlookedreportswithinGoogleAnalytics iswithin theAdWordsBeta: the placement report:
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Withinthisreportyoucandrilldowntofindsomeleadingindicatorsthatasitemaybewasting youmoneybefore you’ve spent toomuchon it.You canusebounce rate as anindication of visitor intent and get a feel for which placements are sending unqualified traffic,evenbeforeyou’vespentoverlymuchonthem.Also,byleveragingthe“weightedsort”checkboxabovethedatayoucanhavethingsthatarebeingclickedfrequentlyandbounceoftenfloatedtothetop:againofferingyouanadditionalKPIbeyondconversiontohelpyouanalyzetheplacementsthataresendingyoutraffic.
Author Bio: Tom Demers is the Director of Marketing at WordStream. Tom's worked in-house as an SEO specialist and SEO manager, has worked as an SEO at an agency, and regularly engages in both paid and organic search marketing consulting. As Director of Marketing, Tom is responsible for coordinating a variety of demand generation programs at WordStream.
How to optimize page Titles and improve click through rates
Titles are considered important both for the users and for the search engines. This week we’lldiscusssomepracticaltipsonhowtooptimizetheTitlesofyoursiteandonhowtoboostyoursearchengineresultsandclickthroughrates.
First of all let’s see what Titles are and what is their impact on a website’s performance. The Title tag isa specialHTMLelement that isplacedwithin theHTMLHead tagand thatcontains a brief descriptionofthepage.TheTitlesareconsideredveryimportantfortheSearchEnginesandthustheyaffectthe SEO campaignofyourWebsite.
Whenauser searches foraparticular termonaSearchEngine,he/she receivesaSERP(SearchEngineResultsPage)thatincludesthetitles, the snippets(abriefdescription)andthe URLsofthefirst10results.Afterscanningthepage,theuserselectsthemostrelevant pages based on the above information. Thus the title of a webpage is one of the most crucial elements thataffectnotonly theSEOcampaignbutalsotheclick through rate and the
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User experience.
Write brief, descriptive and attractive TitlesTheTitleshouldbebrief(lessthan65-70characters)anddescriptive,itshouldincorporatetheimportantkeywordsofthepageanditshouldbeattractivefortheusers.ForExample:
Xbox360SlimConsole250GBHDD–Games&Consoles–ExampleStore
Or
Xbox360SlimConsole250GBHDD|Games&Consoles|ExampleStore
Notethatboth|and–aregreatwaystoseparatewordsandphrases.
Should you include your Brand name?OneofthemostcontroversialtopicsaboutHTMLTitlesandSEOiswhetheroneshouldincorporate in the title the brand nameofhiscompany.Ontheonehandbydoingsoyouaffectyourbrandawarenessbutontheotherhandyouuseless targetedtitles.Ifyoudecidetoaddyourbrandnameinallthetitlesofyoursite,anotherimportantquestioniswhereshouldyouaddit,atthebeginning or at the end of the Title?
Inordertoanswerthosequestionsyoumustdecidewhatisimportantforyouandwhatis themain target of yourmarketing campaign. If youwantmuch targeted and highly optimizedpagesyoumightwanttoavoidusingyourbrandnameinthetitlesofyoursiteandintheanchortextofyourbacklinksduringlinkbuilding.Ontheotherhandifyouwanttoincreaseyourbrand awareness orifyourbrandnameisverywell knowninyourindustryyouprobablywanttoadditinordertoincreasetheclickthrough rate.Thusit’spositiondependsonyourgoals,onyourbrandawarenessandonyourcurrentposition in the market.
For those of you thatwant a straight answer on how they should form their titles,mysuggestion is to add the brand name at the end of the title. This is the most common and the best practice for most companies:
Exampleproductorservice|TheExampleShop
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Add your important keywords firstDescriptive,attractiveandhighlytargetedTitlesnotonlyaffecttheSEObutalsotheclickthroughrateintheSERPs.Usuallyitishighlyrecommendedtowritebrieftitlesandtoplacethe most important words first.Haveinmindthatuser’seyeisscanningtheresultsfromleft to right butitismainlyfocusedontheleft partinsteadoftheentiretitle.AdditionallyhaveinmindthatSearchEnginesusuallypaymoreattentiononthefirst couple of words of the title.
Soforexampleifyoutargetfortheterm“HotelinMykonos”itisrecommendedtousethistitle:
LuxuryHotelinMykonos–HotelGreece–ExampleHotel
Instead of this:
HotelGreece–LuxuryHotelinMykonos–ExampleHotel
Use the right SEO Tools, rightLastbutnot least,make sureyouuse the rightSEOToolsproperly.ScanyourPagesbyusing the Keyword Analyzer tool, ensure your Title Relevance percentage is high, the KeywordRank of the important terms iswithin the green area and that you receivenoPossibleKeywordStuffingwarnings.RememberthatyoushouldneveroveroptimizeyourTitlesandthatyoushouldavoid keyword stuffing at all costs.
Author Bio: Vasilis Vryniotis is the co-founder of WebSEOAnalytics.com, an Internet Marketing Company that provides SEO Tools and Online Marketing Resources.
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Bridging the Online to Offline Gap
Intoday’s“whathaveyoudoneformelately”worldofadvertising,proofofperformanceiseverything.Trackingonlineeventsandactionssuchasaformsubmissionorshoppingcart purchase can provide insight to online lead-generation and sales activity, butwhathappenswhenyourcustomersmoveofflinetothetelephone?
AccordingtoindustrystudiesbyYahoo,Comscoreandotherresearchauthoritiesupwardsof70%ofallonlinesearchesresultinanofflineconversion.
There are basic methods for tracking phone calls to discrete campaigns or ad sources, such asdynamicallyinsertinguniquetoll-freeorlocalnumbersonalandingpagebasedonthereferringtrafficsource.Yetforcompaniesinvestingincost-per-clickorothercost-per-actionadvertising,theabilitytomeasuretheimpactofuniquesearchactivity,keywords,andadcopyacrossonlineandofflineconversionsandsalesengagementsiscriticaltogeneratingacceptableROI.
To maximize advertising effectiveness, businesses can look to innovative services likeKeyMetric®(www.keymetric.net)todeliveractionable,real-timephonecallandconversionanalyticswith traffic source, campaign, keyword, andorganic search query detail.WithKeyMetricbusinessestrackofflinephonecallswiththesameeaseandaccuracyastrackingclick-throughs.
• IncreaseadvertisingROIbyidentifyingwhichsearchactivity,keywords,andadcopyare delivering phone calls and conversions.• Trackeveryppckeywordtoidentifywhichkeywordsdeliverconversionsandsales,andwhichkeywordsonlyyieldcostlyclick-throughs.• Effectivelyoptimizekeywordlists,matchtypes,andbiddingtoproducemorephonecalls and conversions.• CapturecostandothercriticalcampaigndatafromGoogle,Bing,andYahoo.• Identify"niche"keywordsandphrases fromactualsearchactivity to integrate intocampaigns,adcopy,andwebsitecontent.• Registerthesalesorleadvalueforeveryconversiontoaccuratelydeterminereturn-on-investment(ROI)acrosscost-per-call,cost-per-lead,andcost-per-sale.
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• Measuretheimpactofonlineadvertisingsegmentsincludingsearchengines,socialmedia,contentandaffiliatenetworks,pressandmedia,andmoreusingkeyperformanceindicators(KPIs).
UsingKeyMetric,businesseshaveincreasedofflineandonlineconversionratesbyasmuchas900%whilesignificantlyloweringcost-per-lead,cost-per-call,andcost-per-acquisitionrates.
Inadditiontomarketersandagencies,supportandcallcentersrelyheavilyonKeyMetricanalyticstohelplowerinboundcallvolumesandMPIrates.Byknowingthesearchactivityof customers prior to them picking up the phone, customer support and service groups canimproveonlineself-helpcontenttoeffectivelydisplaceupwardsof25%ofallincomingsupport enquiries.
Gainingaclearerpictureofyouradvertisinginvestmentsdoesnotneedtobecomplexorcostly.Andnowitcanincorporateinvaluableinsightintotheonline-to-offlineactivityaswell-allbutguaranteeingsmarterdecision-makingcycles.
Author Bio: Michael Turta is the CEO of KeyMetric – an innovative market leader in phone call and conversion analytics for marketers, agencies, and media publishers. Mr. Turta is an active member of multiple industry groups and executive councils, and is a regular speaker and panelist at industry events and shows.
