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Yahoo Acquires IndexTools
Just a short note of congratulations to Dennis Mortensen of IndexTools. The company was acquired by Yahoo as they plan to take on Google Analytics and Microsoft AdCenter Analytics (aka Project Gatineau).
Personally, I never understood why Microsoft chose to build vs. buy. Correction: Dennis kindly reminded me that they bought DeepMetrix. I still think Yahoo will be able to leapfrog AdCenter in features and functionality. Though not an enterprise class tool, Google is still leading the pack of free vendors.
I’m curious who might step in to fill the mid-market space that IndexTools once occupied. Many people are not comfortable providing any paid search company with their data for fear it could lead to higher CPCs. Plus, it’s unlikely that any of the engines will allow you to import cost data into a competing engine’s analytics tool, which somewhat defeats the purpose of analytics.
Following on the heels of Omnitures acquisition of Visual Sciences, this just goes to show you that web analytics and multivariate testing are hot, hot, hot!
Dennis’ post is here.
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Following up on my 30 interactive marketing tips series, I’m starting a new regular post: 15 Days to More Profitable Ecommerce!
I will post a new ecommerce tip every Tuesday for the next 15 weeks. These are best practices culled from my own experience, web analysis and the community of smart internet marketers.
You can expect a wide range of posts on conversion, user experience, search marketing and testing. Catch them all by subscribing.
Tip #1 - Stop The Madness: No More Registration!
Much is made of funnel analysis for your shopping cart–examining how many people abandon at each step before order confirmation. Some of this fallout is a natural byproduct of how people use a cart (to “bookmark” items, for example). The rest is money you’re leaving on the table.
Many seemingly well intentioned marketing ideas get baked into the shopping cart only to trip up prospects and hinder sales. None is more poisonous that the dreaded registration page.
The likely rationale is that you want people to register so you can continue to communicate with them. You might also think that you’re helping them out by gathering their data once so they never have to type it again.
Wrong.
Continue reading ‘15 Days to More Profitable Ecommerce’
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In the short and varied time that I’ve been analyzing web and ecommerce data, I’ve found that the same 4 questions can still drive the vast majority of your analysis.
These questions work, because they force you to focus your diagnoses, interpretation and communication around action and executive summary.
Thus, I present the only 4 web analysis questions you need.
#1 - What Happened?
Simply describe the trends in terms of your KPIs–revenue, conversion rate, traffic, etc. The goal here is to pull out the most important and meaningful trends.
These are usually either notable bits of data that stand out or they relate to some activity you’ve recently taken (new campaign, site redesign, etc.)
#2 - Why Did It Happen?
“What” is fairly shallow. “Why” is much deeper. This is the analysis.
It’s a matter of looking at past your KPIs to your diagnostic measures.
It’s moving away from averages and toward segmentation.
There’s no perfect guidebook for this. You just have to keep going until you can clearly explain the root cause.
Continue reading ‘The Only 4 Web Analysis Questions You Need’
Read One of These Similar Posts:Digital Alex Around The Web
Looking for more marketing optimization tips? Check out 3 recent articles I wrote elsewhere:
- I interviewed Dennis Mortenson of IndexTools about SEO, analytics, paid search automation and more!
- The Web Analytics Association asked me to write about the Top 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started in Web Analytics.
- If you’re looking for some keyword ideas or just hope to improve your user experience, don’t forget to enable site search analytics.
If you have a popular blog, magazine or email newsletter than needs content, get in touch: alex @ alexlcohen . com
Read One of These Similar Posts:In my last post about campaign tagging, I forgot the most important part– the “?” character! Hmm… maybe it’s too much late night blogging.
I corrected it, but just for the record: You start the string of parameters with the ?
www.alexlcohen.com/?utm_medium=email
You then use “&” to connect other parameters:
www.alexlcohen.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=weekly-032808
Ok, now you should be all set. Sorry about that. Check out the updated article on campaign tagging and tracking with Google Analytics.
Read One of These Similar Posts:“We spent $25,000 on a blue widgets campaign, what was the return?” It’s a seemingly simple question, but if you don’t track your marketing properly, you may never get the answer.
What I’m talking about is campaign tagging - the ability of your web analytics program to associate activity (and revenue) with different sources of visitors.
In this post, I’m focusing only on campaign tagging with Google Analytics. I’ve seen campaign tracking butchered so many times that I wanted to set the record straight once and for all.
There are 3 areas that matter for campaign tagging with Google Analytics (or Urchin):
- Parameters
- Parameter values
- Destination URLs
#1 - Parameters for Google Analytics
Parameter is a geeky word for a part of the URL after the question mark (?) or ampersand (&). Take this example:
http://www.alexlcohen.com/?utm_medium=example
If you have multiple parameters, any ones past the first are separated by “&”:
www.alexlcohen.com/?utm_medium=example&utm_source=second-url
In that URL, utm_source is the parameter. Google Analytics recognizes 5 specific parameters for measuring campaigns:
- utm_medium
- utm_source
- utm_campaign
- utm_content
- utm_term
Parameters exist to track campaigns. Each parameter has a different purpose and requires different values (more on that later).
utm_medium is used to designate the channel of this particular marketing. This includes large sources of visitors like:
- Paid search
- Affiliate
- Offline Ads
utm_source should differentiate sources of traffic within a given channel. If you have an affiliate program, you could separate out traffic from Linkshare from Commission Junction. In paid search, you’d want to distinguish Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Continue reading ‘Campaign Tagging with Google Analytics’
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Sometimes text and pictures are just not enough to persuade your visitors. They’re flat and one-way.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that investing in expensive media or similar tactics will pay off. I’ve gathered 3 free ways to connect with your customers, so you can begin experimenting.
#1 - Product Demos with Jing
Helping people understand the “look and feel” of your product is harder online. But, video can help you bridge the presentation gap.
Video is great for highlighting product features, doing value add demonstrations (ex: how to carve a turkey with an expensive knife), and explaining difficult concepts.
The folks at Camtasia have a project called Jing that lets you capture, host and share video all for $0.
#2 - Webinars/Screenshare with Yugma
Sometimes a more interactive presentation that lets your visitors ask questions is a better way to connect. This is especially true if:
- Your product involves training (such as software)
- Education about your value is important (such as services) or
- You have a noteworthy spokesperson (Rachel Ray excluded)
In this case, a webinar is simple and inexpensive way to tell as story about your business. It’s usually in the for of a slide presentation (which you can create free with Google Presentation, part of Google Docs), product demo (see above) or a simple screen share.
Regardless of the content, Yugma is a good way to get started. Presentations with a small audience (up to 10) are free and you get 15 days of full access when you join for the first time.
(Thanks for the tip Drew!)
Continue reading ‘Stop Yelling: 3 Free Ways to Connect with Your Customers’
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One tool may not be enough to fully measure paid search. This is especially true if you’re trying to track paid search ad variation performance and rely on Google Analytics.
As I mentioned in my previous post, 3 Ways Google Analytics Fails Paid Search Marketers, Google Analytics only shows you the ad title of your ad variation. This doesn’t tell you much if you’re testing the other lines or display URL.
You’ll have to supplement your web analytics program with the Google AdWords conversion tracking. Full documentation about AdWords conversion tracking and the place to get the code are here (you need to be logged into AdWords).
Unfortunately, Google AdWords conversion tracking and your analytics tools won’t always report the same results. You’ll never get them to match exactly but here are:
5 Tips to Improve the Accuracy of AdWords Conversion Tracking
1. Put The Codes on the Same Page - I know this one is fairly obvious. Your AdWords and Google Analytics code need to be on the same page.
2. Users First, Conversion Second - The generally accepted standard is that you place web analytics code at the bottom of a page. That way, the page code that matters most to the user loads first. Even Google agrees:
The code snippet should be placed between the <body> tags, closer to the </body> tag so that the image appears further down the page. You should NOT place the code in the header or footer of your page. This could overstate your conversion statistics and defeat the purpose of tracking.
3. Place The Codes Near Each Other - Just as both tracking codes, both Google AdWords and Google Analytics conversion code should be as close to each other as possible. Any distance between them could jar the count.
4. Pick the Right Code - AdWords gives you a variety of choices of code. Make sure you pick the one that’s right for your site goals. In particular, remember that secure pages require that you select the secure (https) code snippet from AdWords.
5. See No Image, Get No Tracking - Google AdWords conversion tracking produces as small image on your conversion page. Make sure the verification image is showing up.
Read One of These Similar Posts:If you believe the research, targeted email advertising is hot:
83% of surveyed marketing executives worldwide used email, ahead of display ads, paid search and online video. - The McKinsey Quarterly (2007)
80% of Marketers Report Email Is Strongest Performing Media Buy Ahead of Search and Display. - Datran Media, “Marketing & Media Survey” (2008)
If you want to get the biggest bang for your email advertising bucks, you have to avoid the pitfalls.
If you want to make the most of your email marketing, here’s a simple checklist of ways to boost your results. It covers:
- Rendering
- Landing Pages
- Tracking
- Creative/Merchandising
- Deliverability/Sender Reputation Management
- User Experience
- Testing
Each section is designed you can print it out or bookmark this page and review it before you send out an email.
Checklist for Better Email Marketing
Rendering
If people can’t see or read what you’re trying to say, you’re emails will be ineffective. Popular email programs like Hotmail and Gmail turn off images by default. Even if images render, they may appear distorted in one program vs. another.
__ Renders properly in different programs - Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007, Thunderbird, etc.
__ Images render as expected in different providers - AOL, Hotmail, etc.
__ Copy is visible without images
__ Calls to action appear in text
__ Includes a link to view the email online, e.g. “Can see this email? Click here to view it online.”
Landing pages
Make the email to website transition seamless. It seems like an obvious recommendation, but by verifying that what people see when they get to your site is what they expect, you can avoid careless mistakes.
__ All product image and text links go to product pages
__ “Click here to see…” links go to relevant category and subcategory pages
__ Header and other navigational links function (ex: Men’s Tops, etc.)
__ Theme or landing pages work as expected and match the look and feel of the email.
Continue reading ‘A Checklist for Targeted Email Advertising’
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