SES Chicago - December 7-11, 2009

November 3, 2009

Digging into Google Analytics for Mobile Applications

Last week, Google Analytics expanded to offer reporting features for mobile applications on the iPhone and Android. But how does it work for mobile applications (or parts of mobile apps) that don't render HTML pages?

Google says mobile app developers can tell Google Analytics what actions taken by users would trigger the analytics tracking. Google uses those triggers to determine views, session lengths, and bounce rates.

Developers can also use Event Tracking to track actions such as watching a video, clicking a button or conducting a download.

The data provided by Google Analytics for mobile apps can be highly useful for developers as they choose to enhance and update their apps over time. It can also inform future app development by helping developers meet customer needs and desires.

Check out this video on how online real estate brokerage Redfin used Google Analytics to track their mobile application.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 5, 2009

Go to SES Berlin or SES Chicago for "Four Keynote Themes"

During the past three weeks, I've given you three great reasons for going to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. For those who want to catch up, they were "three key trends", "two early birds," and "a ranking in the top three."

This week, I'll focus on a fourth compelling reason -- and it isn't to hear "four calling birds."

You should plan to attend SES Berlin or Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009 to hear "four keynote themes."

Let's start with SES Chicago 2009, where there will be three keynote themes well worth hearing.

On Day 1, the opening keynote is being given by Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? He is associate professor and director of the interactive journalism program at the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism. He is also consulting editor and a partner at Daylife, a news startup.

Jarvis writes about media, technology and business on his blog, BuzzMachine. A former TV critic for TV Guide and People magazine, as well as the creator and founding editor of Entertainment Weekly, he has also been assistant city editor and reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a reporter for Chicago Today.

"My keynote, like my book, isn't really about Google," says Jarvis. "It will be about the profound changes in the economy and society brought on by the Internet -- as seen through the success of the one company that has figured out and exploited them better than any other: Google."

Jarvis adds, "We'll have fun discussing the impact of search and the Google economy on every sector from media to advertising to restaurants to government.

On Day 2 of Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2009, the keynote speaker is Peter Morville, author of the best-sellers Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become and Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites. He is also the President of Semantic Studios and blogs at findability.org.

During his keynote, Morville is expected to expand on the themes found in his published works, including the idea of findability and the importance of a navigable and friendly user interface.

"At SES Chicago, this will be my first opportunity to talk about ideas in my new book - about the future of search and discovery," says Morville. "In addition to exploring the relationships between information architecture, ambient findability, and search engine optimization, we'll also be covering mobile search, decision engines, augmented reality, and emerging technologies that will change the way we find everything from answers and articles to products and people."

On Day 3, the keynote speaker is Dan Siroker, the web entrepreneur known for leading the analytics team for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. He also served as the Deputy Director of New Media on the presidential transition team.

Siroker's team of software engineers and analysts were responsible for optimizing the effectiveness of the Obama campaign's online operations that ended up raising over half a billion dollars, registering over 2 million voters, and enabling 3 million phone calls to be made in the final four days of the campaign.

Before joining the Obama campaign, Siroker was a Product Manager for Google Chrome and, before that, he worked as a Product Manager for Google AdWords.

"SES Chicago is, of course, in the President's hometown, so I'm really looking forward to sharing the lessons my team and I learned during the Obama campaign and how these practices can be applied to any data-driven decision," says Siroker. "Whether you're a developer, designer or marketer, if you're building a product or selling an idea, you can use data to do it better."

The fourth keynote theme will be delivered by Bill Hunt, the President of Back Azimuth Consulting and co-author of the best selling book "Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site", who will be the opening keynote speaker at Search Engine Strategies Berlin.

Hunt is currently on the Board of Directors of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization and writes Bill Hunt's Rants & Raves blog, which provides digital marketing commentary from a global marketing road warrior.

Hunt firmly believes that when we understand the searcher's intent, where a searcher is in the buying cycle or even understanding the type of search they are doing, advertisers can better intersect with the current demand for their type of products and services to increase sales. That's a keynote theme worth going to SES Berlin to hear.

Next week, we'll look at more reasons to go to either Search Engine Strategies Berlin or SES Chicago 2009. In the meantime, keep singing "four keynote themes, three key trends, two early birds, and a ranking in the top three."

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 29, 2009

Omniture Launches Facebook Analytics Solution

Omniture has created a new tool designed to measure the success of Facebook applications. Dubbed App Measurement for Facebook, it utilizes the reporting capabilities of the company's online analytics solution SiteCatalyst.

With App Measurement for Facebook, marketers can view users by how many members they have, see which parts of the app are most popular, monitor video sharing, and observe which users invited their friends to the app.

Check out more screenshots of the tool at Omniture's Flickr stream.

Facebook apps are an increasingly popular way for companies to leverage social media in their online marketing campaigns.

"With more than 200 million active users, marketers are intrigued by the potential of Facebook to help them connect with consumers in personalized and meaningful ways," said Brett Error, CTO and executive vice president, products at Omniture.

But unlike SEO and SEM, social media has been notoriously difficult to measure. App Measurement for Facebook attempts to fill this void.

"The relatively young phenomenon of social media has forced marketers to rely on experimentation to tap into that potential," said Error. "The App Measurement for Facebook solution will deliver actionable insight concerning Facebook applications and help marketers develop data-driven social media marketing strategies that support and positively affect efforts across other online channels."

The tool is now available for SiteCatalyst customers and is part of the Omniture Online Marketing Suite.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 6, 2009

Webtrends Proposes Digital Marketing Measurement Standards

Webtrends is offering up The Digital Marketing Maturity Model (DM3) as a model for standards in digital media measurement. Webtrends says the model will help organizations:

  • Measure the maturity of digital marketing programs in six core areas (measurement strategy, analytics resources and domain expertise, data integration and visualization, data analysis and insight, adoption and governance, ongoing optimization).
  • Assess measurement programs across all digital channels, including web sites, search engine marketing, online advertising, social media and other digital marketing channels.
  • Pinpoint the skills, staffing and other investments needed to advance within the model's four levels of maturity.

"For online marketing to continue to grow and mature, there needs to be standardized, structured approaches for organizations to ensure they are getting the most bang for their digital marketing buck," said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Webtrends vice president of marketing. "We hope this model leads to consensus about how to build and maintain mature measurement programs across all types of digital marketing investments."

Related Reading: WebTrends Taps Microsoft, Yahoo Vet as VP of Marketing WebTrends Releases New Online Analytics Tool WebTrends Launches New Service to Reduce Wasted Ad Dollars

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 18, 2008

TNS Unveils Next Generation of Online Advertising Monitoring Tools

TNS has launched the next generation of its online advertising monitoring tools. The TNS Digital Suites combines cookie tracking with the TNS 6th Dimension Panel for what they say is a unique analysis of online ad consumption. TNS says current tools overestimate audience sizes, but that their updated online ad tool provides target audience insight with little interference to the user experience.

Mike Saxon, Senior Vice President, Brand and Communications, TNS, explains the need for new measurement and monitoring systems, "For digital advertising, current tools are not meeting the industry demands because the fundamental relationship between advertising and the media that carries it has changed. TNS Digital Suite surveys our panelists, not site visitors, delivering the same kind of accountability and rigorous analysis for online advertising that our customers expect for traditional advertising."

TNS is touting the benefits of the new tool as:

  • No more unpopular pop-up surveys
  • Control for cookie deletion, capturing ad exposure on multiple computers (home/work/school) for each panelist
  • Accurate ad effectiveness measures for the target audience, using the 6th Dimension panelists profiles (over 150 panelists characteristics)
  • Advanced analysis through longer surveys (up to 30 minutes long against 7-8 minutes)
  • Surveys taken at the convenience of the panelists instead of the current proximate surveys which occur immediately after ad exposure
  • Analysis available based on frequency and time since last exposure

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Related Reading: TNS Surrenders to WPP Takeover Compete Acquired by TNS Compete Unveils Premium Version of Analytics Product

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 30, 2008

WebTrends Releases New Online Analytics Tool

WebTrends is rolling out a new feature to help web markters and developers track specific analytics. The tool is called TagBuilder. It's online, it's free and it generates WebTrends data collection tags, which have been rewritten as standardized, object-oriented JavaScript code.

Here's what you can do with TagBuilder:

  • Access automated click-event tracking for download links, offsite links, form submissions, image maps and navigation areas
  • Automate parameter mapping and the capture of information from custom META tags for detailed reporting
  • Flexibly define the site with options for single or multiple first-party cookies and the choice of single or multiple on-site domains for accurate cross-domain tracking
  • Integrate conversion tracking with WebTrends Ad Director, an automated search marketing optimization service
  • Easily create cookies compliant with the U.S. Office of Management & Budget policies for federal government web sites

“WebTrends TagBuilder greatly simplifies one of the most arduous, error-prone tasks of web analytics,” said Eric Rickson, product manager for WebTrends. “This free utility lowers the barriers to rich reporting and analysis by providing our customers with a direct way to take advantage of our innovations in data collection.”

What do you think of this new tool? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading: WebTrends Launches New Service to Reduce Wasted Ad Dollars

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 23, 2008

Web Analytics Association Asks for Public Comment on New Standard Definitions

The Web Analytics Association is asking for public comment on a new and revised standard definitions for metrics regarding visits, content, and conversion. The WAA is hosting a blog where the analytics community may give comment. They will be accepting comment through early 2009. Discussion of the new standards will also take place at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit in Washington, DC October 20-23.

You can access the new and revised definitions here.

An addition to the definitions is an "Ask Your Vendor" denotation, which will provide questions that can be asked of vendors when terms differ among vendors. The WAA is, however, asking vendors to standardize the definitions. The "Ask Your Vendor" denotation is a provision to address confusion in the meantime.

Related Reading: Web Analytics Association Adds Yahoo's Mortenson to Board of Directors New Board of Directors for the Web Analytics Association

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 10, 2008

New Analytics Tool Aids Shift from Print Yellow Pages to Online Advertising

Most of the time when discussions arise about yellow pages advertisers shifting from print to online, the talk is in generalities. But not all markets are the same. Certainly, some have shifted online in greater numbers than others.

An Oregon search marketing company seeks to aid companies in managing their yellow pages across different markets with a new analytics tool.

G5 Search Marketing today launched their Yellow Pages Analytics Tool, which is added to their Local Marketing Platform. The tool provides analysis showing how many customers would be lost by cutting print yellow pages or offset by engaging an online campaign.

"We have clients looking to cut millions of dollars per year in print yellow page advertising,” said G5 CEO Dan Hobin. “The issue becomes when to cut as you don't want to cut too soon. For businesses with multiple locations, every market is different. Our tool enables our clients to cut advertising in major metros while keeping the smaller markets where yellow pages still perform.”

Projections from Borrell Associates have local advertisers shifting $13.1 billion to online advertising from various offline media. A look at average CPMs explains why. The average internet CPM is $3.65 while the average yellow pages CPM is $9.29.

What do you think about this new tool? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading Top 10 Yellow Pages Searches According to Yellow Pages Association

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

August 27, 2008

SEW Experts: A Challenge to our Attention-Challenged Generation

Nothing important ever gets invented, created or built without putting in some serious time. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "A Challenge to our Attention-Challenged Generation," Eric Enge reminds us that if we want to get some real work done, we need to stop accepting interruptions from the Internet, e-mail, cell phone, texts, IM, and other technologies.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 11, 2008

SEW Experts: Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 1

How do you find problems with your landing page hidden in your test results? Instead of waiting only for good news, filter it out instead. In today's By the Numbers column, "Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 1," Tim Ash shows you that the key is to accentuate the negative, focusing on problems and things that are askew.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

SEW Experts: The Top 3 Reasons PPC Lead Gen Campaigns Miss Volume Targets - Part 2

Understanding how to analyze keywords using a waterfall analysis can give you a great deal of insight into what's happening with your campaign, and bring a sharp focus to the nature of the opportunities available to you. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "The Top 3 Reasons PPC Lead Gen Campaigns Miss Volume Targets - Part 2," Eric Enge outlines the steps involved, and the opportunities keyword waterfall analysis can reveal.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 22, 2008

Coremetrics Announces Advanced Attribution Management

Yesterday Kevin Heisler and I spoke with Chad Baldwin, a product manager at Coremetrics. We learned about the announcement being made by Coremetrics today. There is some very interesting stuff in this announcement.

For those of you who are heavy into PPC, you may also be used to treating your campaigns in a direct response model. Someone came in by clicking on your ad after searching on a particular keyword within a search engine. So did they convert? Did enough convert to justify the cost for the keyword?

But the world has changed, and dramatically so. More and more purchases are being made only after multiple visits, and multiple purchases. A classic sequence of searches may be "digital camera", followed by "Sony digital camera", followed by "Sony cyber-shot DSC-W70". Only after that 3rd search did the customer in this example finally purchase.

One of the clasic bid management problems has been that we have always provided all the credit to the last click (in this case Sony cyber-shot DSC-W70). However, if the user came to your site for all 3 of these searches, surely some credit should go to the earlier searches. Yet classic web analytics packages and bid management systems don't allow you to handle this.

How this hurts you in your PPC campaigns is that your bid management solution might tell you to turn off that broad keyword (digital camera) because it is not profitable in a direct response model. But, when you do, your total margin goes down.

With this new announcement by Coremetrics, a unique new solution to this problem is available. Now you can associate the revenue with the last click, the first click, average it across all clicks, or setup a custom allocation across the various clicks. This allows advertisers to balance the allocation of revenue in the manner that best fits their business.

Better still, Coremetrics' announcement also includes detailed tracking and attribution of clicks that come in from display advertising campaigns, including those that come through from Google AdSense advertising you might be doing. So, if you are running AdSense, and a click on your ad comes in from About.com, you can attribute some of the revenue to that campaign, even though the purchase does not occur until 2 visits later after 2 click throughs from regular search ads.

This is really cool too. A while back I did an article on Search Engine Watch with the help of Dustin Engel of Range Online Media. This article outlined one element of the relationship between display advertising and search advertising. It recommended a cyclical approach to emphasizing display versus search spend. It just illustrated one element of how diplay and search advertising interact. Now with this Coremetrics announcement you can begin to truly measure some of the interactions.

Ultimately, the key to this announcement is the recognition that user sessions may in fact span multiple visits. You want to be able to track the cumulative behavior across all of a user's visits, and to understand the interactions between them. This is a new frontier that top marketers are major brands are already embracing. Coremetrics is now offering the tools to be able to look at this more closely than ever before.

Posted by at 8:00 AM | Permalink

April 9, 2008

IndexTools acquired by Yahoo!

Yahoo has acquired IndexTools, a leading web analytics company. For another take on this, check out Eric Peterson's post on the topic. As Eric notes, one of the interesting things about this is that IndexTools is a tool that arguably has the power of the top tier tools (see my review of IndexTools here), but has been offered traditionally at a much lower price point.

However, IndexTools has been slow to gain broad market exposure due to its headquarters location in Hungary. But now that has changed in a fundamental way. Yahoo can bring a new level of visibility to IndexTools, and could quite possibly take the E-Business edition of IndexTools away as a free product. Such a move would put a powerful stake in the ground in competition with Google Analytics and Microsoft's Gatineau solution. You can also imagine what will happen when the IndexTools Enterprise edition gets pushed through Yahoo's sales channels.

So congratulations to Dennis Mortensen and his team. I have gotten to know the IndexTools team quite well over the past year, and they truly have earned this new opportunity.

Posted by at 7:40 AM | Permalink

March 12, 2008

SEW Experts: Google Analytics' Cross-Channel Measurement

By comparing site analytics data with its Audio Ads campaign data, Google has greatly improved measurement of offline ads driving visitors online. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "Google Analytics' Cross-Channel Measurement," Eric Enge compares Google's methods to other traditional methods for offline marketing measurement.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:11 AM | Permalink

February 22, 2008

SEW Experts: The Ginsu Guide to Search Analytics

The ability to track online (and in many cases offline) advertising to offline conversions has been the biggest hurdle in measuring ROI for many Web-based or Web-involved businesses. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "The Ginsu Guide to Search Analytics," Frank Watson shares some search analytics strategies from his SES London presentation.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

January 31, 2008

CrazyEgg: Free SEM/SEO Analytics Tool Blows My Mind

I'm constantly on the lookout for software tools and services that help us serve our clients better. Since I've been a closet geek and software junkie my entire life, I get a mild kick when I come across software that's well-designed and provides value and features that really stand out. Yesterday I was tipped off to one that almost literally knocked me out of my chair.

It's called CrazyEgg, and it analyzes site visitor behavior in ways I didn't think possible -- and presents the results in a strikingly powerful, engaging manner.

The thing is so chock full of features that time and blog space don't allow me to go into too much depth. In a nutshell it lets you see exactly what elements a site page visitor clicks on - in various graphically-rich ways - like a scatter-map (they call it "confetti"), or a "heat map," or a variety of other views.

It also allows you to test page variations against each other in novel ways - absolute gold for conversion optimizing.

Best of all, it delivers tremendous value, available elsewhere at a much higher cost. But they're giving away most of the valuable functions for free.

Run, don't walk.

P.S. Rumor has it a search industry luminary is behind the service.

Posted by David Szetela at 10:28 AM | Permalink

January 18, 2008

RSS Feed Subscription Bonanza Was Fool's Gold…Bummer!

Imagine the unbridled joy last night as RSS publishers went to bed absolutely giddy over massive boosts in RSS subscriptions to their website or blog. Too bad it wasn't real. RSS feeds are a critical measure of website's popularity and the impact of marketing. An increasing feed subscription count can be a key metric, speaking to the success of search marketing efforts-or not.

My company blog, aimClearBlog, jammed from our normal RSS subscription count to around 2700 subscribers in about 3 hours, resulting in our opening a slightly better bottle of wine than usual as congratulations emails from supporters trickled in.

Popular RSS to email-blast subscription service FeedBlitz is to blame. The subscription tally is getting back to normal though the FeedBlitz subscription count is still somewhat inflated.

Similar reports are rolling in from all over the Internet. The phony Feed count bonanza is covered in this support posting from FeedBurner.

Posted by Marty Weintraub at 8:19 AM | Permalink

October 10, 2007

SEW Experts: The Tarot of Search Engines: Demographic Data Divining

What if you could gauge a company's marketing strategies by delving into Internet statistics? In today's By the Numbers column, "The Tarot of Search Engines: Demographic Data Divining," Eric Enge shows you how you can read search engine tea leaves using public data.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

September 26, 2007

SEW Experts: Mobile Search Fortune Seekers

The year of mobile search seems to be forever a few months away. In today's By the Numbers column, "Mobile Search Fortune Seekers," Eric Enge shows that even if mobile search doesn't hit the ad revenue jackpot this year, marketers need to know how to secure a seat at the table.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

September 17, 2007

We Like ‘Em Both

Both SEO and SEM are equally effective online tactics, according to nearly 2,500 marketers surveyed by Marketing Sherpa. Some 54% said SEO produced strong/good returns while 51% claimed the same thing about their SEM spends. Online display ads did not perform well, with only 19% of marketers reporting decent returns.

While that trust in search optimization and marketing is commendable, it supports what we already know about the value of targeted, online tactics. On the other hand, there's a sizeable group who aren't satisfied yet.

Over a quarter, or 28%, of marketers discovered their SEM returns were highly variable vs. 17% who found SEO returns varied too. Meanwhile 21% of respondents claimed SEO results were hard to gauge; by contrast, just 9% said SEM created any tracking challenges. Online banners again were non-performers, with 43% of marketers calling them a low-value tactic.

How to react to these outcomes?

Well, consider the sources. These respondents “conduct or supervise search marketing for their own companies” and likely have a vested interest in producing decent SEO and SEM results. It makes sense that over half of marketers are pleased with their efforts -- though we may wish for more. The survey asked about marketing tactics independently. Thus any connections among the different online (and offline) tactics aren't here. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on the ROI non-performers quite yet. As we know, any awareness can also drive search activities down the line.

Posted by at 10:55 AM | Permalink

August 27, 2007

Compete announces Best-In-Show SES 2007 Awards

Alex Patriquin has posted the winner's of the Best-In-Show 2007 SES Awards on the Compete Blog. Selected by Compete, it honors "our fellow exhibitors who impressed us with their awesome marketing genius."

(The envelope, please.)

For Best Short-Attention-Span Toy, the winner was No More Landing Pages! They gave away the classic Paddle Ball game. According to Compete, "The retro toy landed in the tchotchkes totes of SES 2007's most discriminating schwag masters."

In the category of Best Tongue-In-Cheek Giveaway, the winner was Omniture! The company handed out chocolate chip cookies for SES. "The web analytics company, which cookies visitors for tracking purposes, served up persistently tasty treats for attendees with a sweet tooth for incisive data," said the judges from Compete.

The winner in the Best Giant Gold Panhandle category was iProspect! Compete thinks, "iProspect struck it rich with a larger-than-life recreation of every search marketer's ultimate dream: a pan full of gigantic gold nuggets."

The Best “Show Me the Money” Experience award went to Adapt! According to Compete, "Adapt offered adventurous SES attendees the chance to grab thousands in search marketing promotions, if they dared to become an 'SEM-in-a-Box' by stepping into a wind chamber where discount flyers flew fast and furious."

Finally, the Best On-The-Spot LifeHack went to Jingle Networks 1-800-Free411! According to Compete, they were winners for "offering out-of-town SES attendees a free connection to local services from a bevy of translucent tangerine phones."

Now, I don't know if PricewaterhouseCoopers ensured the secrecy of the Best-In-Show 2007 SES Awards voting process. But I do think it's high time that the exhibitors at SES started to get a little more attention from the small army of online journalists and bloggers that now cover the show.

Hey, even I found some "news nuggets" on the trade show floor. But, that's an article for another day.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 4:56 PM | Permalink

August 15, 2007

SEW Experts: Survey-Based Customer Satisfaction Tool

In today's By the Numbers column, "Survey-Based Customer Satisfaction Tool," Eric Enge tells you about a Web-based tool that can help you learn what customers think about your site, and which areas are in need of an upgrade.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

August 8, 2007

SEW Experts: SEO Site Design Improves User Experience and Site Performance

In today's By the Numbers column, "SEO Site Design Improves User Experience and Site Performance," Eric Enge shows you the value of improving the user experience by implementing SEO in your site design while testing design elements with analytics.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

May 23, 2007

Strategic Analytics Consulting from Eric T. Peterson

Eric T. Peterson recently left Visual Sciences to focus his attention on strategic consulting through his company Web Analytics Demystified. I spoke with Eric yesterday about his new focus.

Eric said that his focus on strategic consulting came about because he saw problems with how companies were utilizing web analytics. He indicated that "part of organizations are good at web analytics", but "very few organizations are good at web analytics throughout the organization". This speaks to a failure to get the best ROI from a company's web analytics investment.

It's common for organizations that invest in web analytics to setup a team that focuses on analytics, and then does a good job with it within that team. But the value of analytics does not stop there. For example, getting the marketing team engaged and benefiting from analytics is something that is often not done as well as it could be. In addition, getting senior management buy in for ongoing investments in analytics is usually quite a bit easier if they are being fed the metrics for the business that they are looking for.

These are the types of areas that Web Analytics Demystified is going to focus on. This enables them to focus on the strategic view, and therefore work with other companies that provide services such as web vendor selection, implementation assistance, and business analysis of the analytics data as it comes in.

In addition, Web Analytics Demystified recently announced a partnership with Aquent, the world's largest marketing staffing firm. This partner will help Eric's new venture gain steam fast.

Aquent works with something like 90% of the Fortune 100, and will frequently receive requests from it's clients for people to staff an analytics team. Eric can then help ensure that Aquent's clients get the most out of their analytics investment by providing strategic consulting.

Posted by at 10:25 AM | Permalink

April 3, 2007

Compete Develops Attention-Based Metrics

With the interactive Web, the value of the page view as a metric is debatable since the user can in fact change the page without leaving it. What begs for meaningful measurement is engagement. To address this Compete, an online consumer market research firm, has developed and launched attention-based web metrics. Now the new metrics fuse engagement (measured by time) and traffic (measured by unique visitors).

Updated daily, Compete's new attention metrics, available for free through the Compete site include:

-- Attention: The total time spent on a site as a percentage of the total time spent online by all U.S. internet users; -- Velocity: The relative change in daily Attention; velocity is used to determine the relative growth of a website compared to other sites.

The challenges of measuring new media and the flexible Web are the focus a major research initiative underway through the Web Analytics Association's Research Committee. The preliminary results of this research, which focuses on the evolving best practices in measuring new media are being released in podcast form.

Posted by Amanda Watlington at 9:52 AM | Permalink

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