Stats Reloaded

In today’s difficult economic environment it is critical for businesses to show the value of their marketing effort in hopes to avoid drastic budget cuts and staff reductions. Marketers must continue to deliver measurable marketing programs and demonstrate how these programs support the business objectives. It is not enough to simply show the return-on-investment, but also to communicate what marketing programs work and key findings to establish internal best practices or benchmarks. In search engine marketing (SEM), there are a number of methods and approaches to help businesses deliver the value of SEM.

Search Engine Marketing refers to both organic and paid search marketing. Paid Search Marketing (Pay-per-Click) refers to search engine results that are determined by the amount a business pays to appear in sponsorship banners or placement at the top of search engine pages such as Google, MSN, or Yahoo. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of adjusting web content, design structure, indexing, descriptive tags, and page titles to gain higher placement in the search engine results. Search Engine Optimization (organic) is a non paying tactic utilized to attract more visitors to your website. In addition, web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage.

How can SEM & Web Analytics help your business?

Through SEM & Web Analytics, businesses can control cost, target demographics, testing advertisements, improve web traffic, and unite the results to establish metrics or best practices. For example, a local business could use pay-per-click advertising to target a 15 mile radius, manage the daily expense, and increase traffic to your site by over 30%. Furthermore, the previous implementation of SEO could reduce your business’s overall cost-per-click (CPC). Google Analytics (web analytics application) can gather traffic information, guidance to enhance customer experience, develop custom reports, and implement advanced segmentation to show which ads/segments are responsible for generating sales or specific activities (conversions).

There are several advantages to using SEM with Web Analytics. Most SEM services provide the opportunity to implement A/B or Multivariate testing and the ability to determine which advertisements lead to a purchase. The web analytics application can test the responses to improve purchase or engagement of landing pages used in SEM campaigns.

Why Testing & Measuring Matters?

The ability to test and measure SEM programs can save you time, money, improve efficiency, and productivity. Once there are established results from a campaign, it should be easier to implement improvements and modifications to improve similar campaigns. There is also an opportunity to develop best practice for future campaigns. The result of your organization’s efforts will provide benchmarks for other campaigns and a basis for vendors, partners, or affiliates. The bottom line is saving and a bigger bang for marketing campaigns.

Where to go from here?

It is important that your business evaluates their internal resources especially IT, Web Development, and Marketing teams. Remember that this is an investment and it will not produce instant results. The implementation of SEM and Web Analytics will require communication among all business units. The business must “buy in” or use a SEM vendor but be sure to take into consideration external and internal factors for success.

The first step would be to determine which web analytics application to use. A popular application is Google Analytics and it’s free. There are other web analytics such as Omniture, Coremetrics, Webtrends, and more. Our suggestion would be to do a little research on the best option available based on functionality, cost, feature, and type of industry your business is in. All of these systems have their advantages and disadvantages but it is important to understand how they collect data and whether or not you want to purchase the software versus on-demand services.
The next step would be to determine which SEM services provide to use based on target audience, visibility, and testing options. Our suggestion would be to test the performance of the campaign with two different service providers and eliminate one of the options based on the campaign’s success. Be sure to carefully monitor ad variations, keyword effectiveness, and most importantly “conversions” (purchases or registrations).

Finally, we would recommend that the business develop a process to implement and communicate SEM & Web Analytics services. The communication of SEM and Web Analytics services will be important for all of the key stakeholders to understand these services and their role in supporting the business objectives. The implementation process will help to “flush out” any potential challenges and reduce the cost.

Conclusion

Many organizations have difficulty communicating across business units and effectively implementing changes within their company. Be clear in communicating how SEM & Web Analytics can help the business. Remember that testing and measuring search engine marketing will reduce cost, increase marketing efficiency, and improve productivity among business units. The challenge of embarking on the journey to implement SEM & Web Analytics will be filled with obstacles so be specific in your objectives and show the value of your programs.

Author: Daniel Laws
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Beading Necklace

These days, installing a good website analytics program on your website is simple and costs nothing. Still, there are many small business websites that have not taken advantage of the amazing information they can retrieve through an integrated analytics package.

Here are my top five reasons for installing an analytics package on your business website.

Reason #1: Navigation Path Analysis

While your homepage is probably your most viewed page, realize that people will also land on other pages deeper within your site.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see the navigation path visitors take when they first hit your site? You might assume they are taking one path when, in reality, they are taking a very different one that lowers the chance of conversion.

If you don’t know how people move through your website, it will be very difficult to tune your site to improve visitor experience.

Reason #2: Traffic Referral Monitoring

How do people actually find your business website? How much traffic is Google or Yahoo sending your way? Is your online advertising actually driving traffic back to your site?

An analytics package will tell you which sites people were at before coming to yours. In addition, you’ll learn what people typed into the various search engines to find your web pages. This information is critical to help you discover what is driving traffic so that you can do more of the things that work and less of things that don’t!

Reason #3: Page Content

Did you just write a great new content article for your site? A good analytics package will show you how often pages get viewed relative to others on your site. You’ll also know exactly how long people stayed at a particular page.

This information can help you decide how popular your pages are. If you know which pages your visitors tend to linger on, you can adjust any advertising or monetization strategies for higher profits.

Reason #4: Key Performance Indicators

A good analytics package will allow you to set up and monitor user-defined goals. By defining and monitoring your key performance indicators, you’ll always know how effective your page elements are in enticing and converting your visitors.

The real power comes from combining an analytics package with A/B Split and multivariate testing. By using these two tools together, you will be able to not only monitor your conversions rates, but test the various page elements that lead to higher conversions.

Reason #5: Trend Monitoring

Trend monitoring lets you look at any single performance indicator over time. Seeing how your conversion rates and other indicators change over time will give you a quick indication of the overall health of your business.

Trends that are useful to monitor over time include:

- Average time on site (i.e., visitor engagement)

- Depth of visit (How many total pages are viewed?)

- Unique visitors

- Repeat visitors

- Bounce rate (# people that leave after viewing only 1 page)

While there are many types of analytics packages available, for ease of installation and use, I recommend Google Analytics. The program is free and has several years of real-world testing. In addition, there are a lot of good books available that show how to setup the package on your website.

Installing Google Analytics on your website is simply a matter of pasting a little tracking code on each of your pages and then having Google verify the installation. Once Google picks up on your tracking code, you’ll be presented with an analytics Dashboard upon signing into your account.

There are also many paid-for analytics packages that have their own advantages and drawbacks. Take the time to research the best package for your needs.

You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. A good analytics package can help identify what needs to be improved. Start monitoring your web visitors today and you’ll be well on your way to improving both your site and your profits.

Author: Corte Swearingen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rates

Analyzing your Website traffic is the key to evaluating your online marketing initiatives. Google Analytics training can show you how to take full advantage of the free – and powerful -analytics tool made by search engine giant, Google.

Why Web Analytics Matter

You cannot know the effectiveness of your marketing if you don’t measure its impact. The ability to obtain detailed statistics easily and quickly is one of the major benefits of Internet marketing.

While there are many tools designed to measure your website visits and provide other relevant statistics, Google Analytics has arguably the most user-friendly interface. The fact that is costs nothing to install is another bonus.

With an analytics tool like the one from Google, you can get immediate access to data about your site’s visitors, and discover where they came from, how they found you and what they did once they entered your site.

You can look at the data in myriad ways and drill down to the finest detail. Consider geography – one of the most basic data sets. Not only can you see where visitors came from by city, you can compare how each city performed in a number of criteria, including average time on site, percentage of new visits, and bounce rate. From these simple graphs alone you can: see which regions are drawing the most traffic; decide which areas need to be targeted more intensively; and determine whether efforts to focus on a particular region were successful.

Why You Need Google Analytics Training

The Google Analytics interface is easy to use, of that there is no doubt. But the sheer depth of numbers available can overwhelm even the most knowledgeable user. Equally daunting is the setting of conversion goals and analyzing the many statistics that accompany these goals.

In addition to deciphering standard statistics, there are always new features being added to Google Analytics. Finding the time to figure these out is next to impossible for most business owners.

New features available right now include the Beta version of Custom Reporting and Advanced Segments. The latter enables you to use Boolean logic to compare site metrics of your own choosing.

Google Analytics training can keep you up to speed on all of the changes and show you how to use the many standard features, like customizing the dashboard and exporting data.

Google AdWords and Analytics Together

If you are a user of Google AdWords, then there is another great advantage to using Analytics – Adwords integration. Your training in Google Analytics will show you how to use the application to quickly and easily gauge which of your Google AdWords are most profitable.

Make the Most of This Free Analytics Tool

Google Analytics is a comprehensive website analysis tool. The fact that it costs nothing makes it even better. But even at that price, if you don’t know how to use it effectively, it will have little or no value. Google Analytics training is a wise investment that will help you strengthen your ability to analyze your site’s performance and improve your online marketing.

Author: Diane G Salema
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card

How many businesses use an analytics consultant to help them gauge the effectiveness of their online marketing? Surprisingly few.

According to a recent survey by UK firm Alterian, less than half (47%) of businesses that market online use analytics to measure their success. This low number proves just how challenging it has been for businesses to get a clear picture of the ROI for their online marketing campaigns. One expert likens this to “marketing in the dark.”

Analytics Consultants Make Sense of it All

When you consider the sheer volume of data in your average Web analytics report, it is not really all that surprising that businesses tend to overlook these statistics.

Website analytics are confusing for the average business owner – no doubt about it. Absolute unique visitors, bounce rates, landing pages, exit pages – collating all of these numbers into something meaningful is really beyond the capabilities of most people, save for the analytics consultants who not only understand the numbers, but can act on what these numbers are telling them.

With your data in hand, a consultant can tell you – in plain language – how your SEO and PPC campaigns are doing, where the weaknesses are, and how to improve on your results. They can analyze your campaign against your marketing goals to give you a clear picture of your ROI. Then they can take all of this information and build a strategy to help you reach new markets, expand your business and plan for future growth.

How Web Analytics Work

To track data on the visitors to your site, you need a specialized analytics tool. There are a variety of tools available, but Google Analytics is considered the industry leader.

Analytics consultants use software like Google Analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your Website as a marketing tool. It offers consultants a clear picture of everything about your site visitors: where in the world they came from, how they found you, where they went on your site, and how long they stayed.

The data provided by analytics software enables your consultant to carry out detailed keyword research. They can tell you the success rate of the popular keywords you may be using to attract your target audience. More importantly, this analysis can introduce you to more specific and obscure keywords – the kind that can open new doors for your business and offer ways to attract a whole new audience.

Website analytics can also give you valuable information about the revenue you’ve earned and the conversion rate you’ve achieved. As you well know, attracting visitors is one thing, converting them into paying customers is quite another. Tracking your visitor data is the first step in improving your conversion rate.

Speak with an Analytics Consultant to Improve Your Online Marketing

In good and bad economic times, you need to know that you are realizing maximum ROI with your online marketing efforts. If you’ve been marketing in the dark, it’s time to contact an analytics consultant and shine a light on your Web statistics.

Author: Diane G Salema
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Credit card currency-exchange fees

In the year 2005 Google acquired Urchin and used their software to their Google Analytics tracking. It is used for tracking and creating business plans for free. There are three different types of in Google Analytics web tracking. There are executive Google Analytics accounts, marketer (GA) accounts, and webmaster (GA accounts). You can also choose between marketing optimization and content optimization within your Google Analytics tracking account. Google Analytics offers a vast amount of data including, where in the world came from, keyword reports, search engine reports, visits, page views, direct visits (visits from search engine queries), referral visits (visits from other websites that link to you), time on the site, and more.
Google Analytics is easily integrated with Google Adwords campaigns and Google AdSense campaigns. You can track your data using conversion tracking. This is crucial to success with your campaigns.

Google Analytics is known for not showing the spider (bots that crawl the internet) searches in their web site statistical reports. This is a question that I have often heard from clients at my hotel web marketing company that I work for. They ask, “Why do other online analytical reporting software like Statcounter, Urchin, Web Trends, Hitwize, and Statssheet.com, show such different results than Google Analytics?” The answer lies in the fact that Google knows their own search bots/spiders, and these aren’t counted in the statistical reports. Also, definitions are different between different reporting programs. A page visit in GA may be counted as something different in another program. Google Analytics counts a page visit as one even if the user visits the site twice within a half hour time span as long as the browser that the user is on is still open. This could differ in other programs. There are two types to methods that Analytics web site programs use. Cookie based web site reporting and IP based web site reporting. With Cookie reporting, (Google Analytics uses cookies based web site tracking) web sites that have cookies turned off in their browser will not show up in the reports. Also, search engine bots and spiders will not be counted. With IP based tracking, more page visits are going to be counted.

Google Analytics is a great way to track web site hits and varies greatly from different web traffic reporting programs. I will explain each program more in detail and other ways in which they differ in part two of this article. Keep reading to follow along.

Author: Joe Fanning
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

You recently revamped your firm’s website or are planning an online marketing campaign, but are not really sure what you’ll gain in return? Website analytics is a science whose aim is to answer such questions.

In this piece, we’ll take a look at the benefits of web analytics and ways to optimize its tools.

Bet you’re already thinking this is geeky stuff! But if we get rid of the jargon, website analytics simply means the study of the impact that a website has on its users. For example, what are the pages that most visitors spend time on? Which products sell best online? Is the registration process a turn-off?

But that’s not all. Web analytics software can provide a whole lot of information in fine detail, thereby bringing valuable insight to marketers looking to refine their online strategy.

Things you can do using website analytics

Understand visitor behavior: Monitor the number of visitors and where they come from, understand how they navigate your site and what keywords they like, or get a feel of whether your site is meaty enough to hold their attention. An extreme example would be a study of visitor behavior on BBCi Search Service, which found that 1 in 12 search terms were misspelled!

Study advertising effectiveness: The U.S. online advertising market is booming, and set to cross US$ 16 billion 2009. That is almost twice what it was in 2004! Sooner or later, you’ll find yourself contemplating an Internet driven campaign. Website analytics will enable you to find out how your website shows up in organic and paid searches, which banners are being clicked on the most and which affiliate sites work best. It could also help you review the performance of different keywords and judge whether you need to tweak those that haven’t delivered.

Evaluate online sales: Let’s face it! Your ultimate objective is to drive sales, and you’d rather put your money elsewhere if your online initiatives are not turning the cash registers. Your web analytics software will create reports that can tell you what kind of sales are being generated, how many customers return, who are the prospects and so on. And from that, you can calculate the ROI of your campaign.

On the flip side, website analytics may also tell you if your competitor is inflating your advertising costs by repeatedly clicking on your “pay per click” banner!

How to make the most of your web analytics reports

Choose carefully: Identifying an appropriate analytics vendor is paramount. Check their credentials – while there are lots of free sites, they might provide nothing other than visitor counts. Quality suppliers offer a basket of products – tailored to clients’ specific business needs. Among the leading vendors of website analytics are and

Ask why: While analytics software can be a very effective tool, it’s important to know how to use the insight that is generated. That’s no different from say, a supermarket, where candy is placed near the checkout, because experience has shown that customers will buy it on impulse. Let’s assume for a moment that your analytics report says that lots of people drop out before reaching the “buy now” page. Could this be due to a technical error which makes the page unreadable on some browsers? Or is it just too cumbersome to complete a transaction?

Take a second opinion: It is a good idea to have your website analyzed by a professional (in case you don’t have the expertise) to see if the analytics reports suggest the need for a change in site layout. Often, a format that facilitates intuitive browsing will work better than a rich but intricate structure.

Know where you’re headed: Most important, clearly define your website’s objectives. Do you want it to provide information or prompt a specific action? Are you looking to generate leads or close a sale? The answers to these questions will determine the depth of your requirements. Only when you’re sure of where you’re going, will website analytics be a useful navigator!

Author: Akhil Shahani
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Excise Tax

Finally the much awaited Google Analytics version 2 was finally launched, with several new visualization tools and data sharing tools. The package is basically an extension of Google’s AdWords program, which lets site owners buy words that link to various segments of their site via contextual ads that show up on Google or associate search engine results.

The new Analytics design looks to be more user-friendly and observant. The design has a more of a Web 2.0 feel to it, more in tune with current web trends. Though it’s too early to pass judgement, some features appear to be very clear-cut and versatile. The new tools are supposed to give Web site owners a free and straightforward system to keep track of how users are accessing content of their site including of tracking of content. This includes the tracking of popular content, time spent by users and number of hits by time of day. The new features are purported to make it easier for web site owners to find and share t data so they can make informed decisions. One thing is definite the new version does present data more clearly and is more applicable, as a single report contains all the necessary data. New Features

Key new features are:

Customizable Dashboards

The Analytics dashboard is now absolutely customizable and has simplified data presentation. Users can relocate, add, and remove the various data widgets, in a similar fashion to that of iGoogle. The new dashboard illustrates Site Usage, visitor usage, map overlay, traffic sources overview, content overview and goal overview. No more digging through reports, in the new dashboard you can simply put all the information you need and email it to others.

Emailing of reports

One of the major weaknesses of Google Analytics was the lack of a means to email out reports. This feature has now been added to this new release. You can now e-mail or export reports as PDFs that can be scheduled to be sent out automatically every day, week, month or quarter using the in-built calendar.

Improved Segmentation Capabilities

Segmentation capabilities have been also added, which allows you to independently measure the actions of different groups of visitors. This is an awesome concept which will have a great impact on a site’s SEO opportunities……

With the Trend and Date Slider you can compare time periods and select date ranges while keeping track of long term trends.

The Ecommerce Tracking lets you trace transactions to campaigns and keywords, get loyalty and latency metrics, and identify your revenue sources.

Funnel Visualization lets you find out which pages result in lost conversions and where your would-be customers go.

Site Overlay lets you see traffic and conversion information for every link as you browse your site, without any downloading.

Redesigned User Interface

The Google Analytics user interface has been redesigned extensively for greater customization and collaboration. Data summaries and improved tracking analysis complement navigational clarity and intuitive connections among related data. It is definitely more user friendly and contemporary Enhanced Map

The new Map is enhanced to allow users to target in on the individual cities of the site’s visitors. The map overlay even tracks where your users are, precisely down to the city they live in. With this you can find out where your users come from and identify your most lucrative geographic markets.

Keyword and Campaign Comparison

The new keywords features is a boon for site owners, as it drives traffic through the website by dividing the entrance keywords for each page of the site and showing these keywords in a very accessible manner.

Purported Benefits

Google Analytics is supposed to uncover what keywords attract your most desirable prospects, what advertising copy pulled the most responses, and what landing pages and content make the most money for you with its.

Sophisticated Analytics

Google Analytics provides tightly integrated AdWords support, so you can view AdWords ROI metrics without having to import cost data or add keyword tracking codes.

Easy to use

Google Analytics is easy to use for novice marketers, while delivering all of the capabilities that experienced web analytics professionals expect.

Scalable for any size site

Google Analytics is a hosted service that runs on the same servers that power Google, so you can expect the consistent service for large, high-traffic corporate sites to small sites.

Integrated with AdWords

If you have an AdWords account, you can use Google Analytics directly from the AdWords interface.

Tracks all campaigns

Google Analytics tracks all online campaigns, from emails to keywords, regardless of search engine or referral source. The new Analytics will be out over the next month. For the first month, both the old and the new versions will be available to ease the transition. As I mentioned before it’s too early to pass judgement on the Google Analytics V2, but being a Google product expectations are high. So lets keep our fingers crossed.

Author: Vishal V Verma
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Import duty tariff

Google has put in place a great business plan tailored for success. One of the ways in which Google aims to retain its loyalty base is by offering its users free Google analytics. Success is always dependant on long term symbiotic relationships and Google knows that you need to give a little to take a little.

So, since 2005 when Google acquired Urchin it is offering analytical software for free. The software benefits small businesses and offer a comprehensive statistical program that can be used to construct future business plans on.

The first step in the process is to sign up. Once registered Google will begin to gather data.

Google analytics has three reporting types: Executive, Marketer, and Webmaster. Each type has a comprehensive set of reports that can be used by the business to understand the user or consumer needs and view the direction the business is proceeding in.

Apart for the three categories, Google Analytics has two additional options: Marketing Optimization and Content Optimization.

Google Analytics is a dream come true for webmasters as it brings at the click of a mouse for no cost quality reporting. For e-businesses Google Analytics gives insights on who buys, what they spend, what people are looking for, and what keywords are used by the World Wide Web Surfers.

The service shows you how surfers have used your website and gives you ideas on how you can enhance user experience. They give tips on how your e-business can make money.

To benefit from Google Analytics you need to have a Google AdSense account and the sign up is by invitation only. The Google Analytics software creates a detailed report on: the performance of your site, visits by new and returning visitors, where in the world your visitors are originating from, which search engine they are using, and whether or not they are using any web site referral. The analytics software gives a thorough breakdown of the top five referring sites, the search engine keywords used, as well as campaigns. Google Analytics covers the referral, direct as well as organic. The site overlay mechanism will tell you how efficient your web pages are and whether the page design and content are perfect. It will also earmark which pages on your website are popular with visitors.

All the data generated can be used in the creation of marketing strategies and future business plans. The greatest advantage of Google analytics over industry giants like Webtrends or Web Side Story is that it offers immense statistical analysis for free.

One drawback of Google Analytics according to experts is that it cannot capture spiders. And so it will not tell you how spiders are mapping your site at any point of time. If one could determine how a spider maps your pages then you would be able to spider perfect your site. And incase you have pages behind firewalls then Google Analytics will not view these pages.
To benefit from Google Analytics you need to use the data generated. And you must use the tool effectively with Google Adwords and Adsense. Google Analytics can help further your position in the ongoing SEO wars. If you need help there are workshops on getting the most out of Google Analytics, which train you on using the data to increase profitability.

Author: Aaron Brooks
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Creditcard Currency Conversion Fee

Urchin visitor tracking is now renamed ‘Google Analytics’ and is available to everyone for free! For those of you lucky enough to have signed up in the early stages, Google Analytics will open up a world of information you probably never knew about visitors on your site. For those not so lucky, you’ll have to wait till Google gets their act together and reopens the doors for new sign-ups to the analytics system.

Why you need Google Analytics website visitor tracking

Google Analytics provides free information about the way visitors to your site interact with it. It is an invaluable tool that all webmasters should use if they don’t already have some form of visitor tracking solution in place. Here’s 10 reasons why you need Google Analytics on your site:

1. It is free. And it offers just as much if not more functionality than most expensive visitor tracking solutions!

2. You need Analytics to understand how visitors use your site

3. You can identify where visitors leave your check-out or sign-up process and modify it to prevent losing leads

4. You can identify which pages and links visitors click on most and spend most time on, and position these pages and links appropriately

5. Analytics also tells you which sites users came to your site from

6. You can find out the most popular keywords users type into a search engine to find your site, thereby helping your search engine optimisation efforts

7. Visitor segmentation by new vs returning users, geography and referral source will offer invaluable insight when planning future business

8. Analytics integrates seamlessly with Google AdWords so that you can have almost end-to-end visibility in your search advertising results

9. Analytics allows tracking of other non-search-engine marketing media

10. Analytics will save you money and help you gain more customers

Pros and cons of Google Analytics

The benefits of using the Google Analytics solution are numerous. The fact that it’s free is mere icing on the cake.

* The setup is very straightforward and takes hardly any time

* It is a great solution providing a wide range of reports with a lot of flexibility

* Multiple sites to be tracked under one login

* Tracking campaigns from a wide variety of media is possible

* A/B ad testing is easy

* It integrates with all marketing media and can be used as a single portal to track multiple campaigns

* In depth reports on site navigation and use are invaluable

* Ecommerce tracking is included

Whilst the Google Analytics package provides a vast number of useful bits of information, it lacks two major features which most search engine marketers need – the ability to track individual user activity or trace activity back to an individual user level and the ability to track activity akin to click fraud. The eCommerce tracking features are not very straightforward to use.

Most irritatingly, though, just like any other Google product offering, the customer service associated with Google Analytics is abysmal, if not completely non-existant!
How Google Analytics might change search engine optimisation

By offering a free web site analytics solution, google have made a very sneaky and superbly calculated move in the war for search engine supremacy. Now that they have visibility not only into how Google users search for your site and whether they convert into sales on it, but also into how all visitors, even from Yahoo and MSN reach your site, how they use your site and whether they leave your site without making a purchase. Armed with that sort of usability information, Google could not only undermine all your search engine optimisation efforts, but also use the data they collect about MSN and Yahoo! search results with respect to your site and use it to strengthen their stronghold on the search landscape.

Author: Farhad Divecha
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Make PCB Assembly

Attending Omnitures Web Analytics Summit has made me realize the extent of segmentation and analysis an analytics suite can provide for an organization. As stated in a previous article, about half of search marketers use analytics. This is a surprisingly low figure; however, of this 50%, how many online marketers are aware of the advanced features that can help focus and drive their overall search marketing strategies? Having analytics in place is just half of the solution, actually using them and tailoring them to provide solid information and reasoning is what separates those on the leading edge from those on the bleeding edge.

In this article I will provide some insight into some of the complex analytics features that are not readily apparent to many of the marketing professionals in the search industry. (Please note that the topics discussed are a little advanced, but continue reading because they can be applied to any search marketing strategy, large or small, and will undoubtedly lead to you making the right decisions more often than not.)

Testing

Finding the best solution doesnt always happen right out of the gate; if that were the case, having a career .300 batting average wouldnt be a sure way into Cooperstown. What does separate the winners from the losers is the constant re-evaluation of the norm and never being satisfied with the status quo. A/B and Multivariate testing can be crucial in helping you find better ways to engage your customers so that they spend more time on your site, increasing conversion and retention rates.

Take for instance; introducing a new landing page in a sponsored campaign. A/B testing, or running the two landing pages concurrently, can quantify users preferences and help you choose the best landing page for any given ad title or description.

But what about a new homepage design? Without using multivariate testing, how can you ever truly know the best layout, design, or content? Nobody has the time to conduct A/B testing on these scenarios, making minor adjustments with each iteration and waiting for the traffic or lack of traffic to come rolling in; because in the online medium, timeliness is too much of a necessity to be wasting it waiting too long for the numbers necessary to make informed decisions. Thats probably why so many online marketers blindly jump into new designs when things go stale, crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. But reconfiguring your analytics can make it possible to run multiple homepage designs at the same time, each getting the same amount of traffic, in order to quantify and determine the optimum design choice. (Once the tests are complete, I highly recommend that you run some confirmations on how these changes affect the rest of your site, to see if there were any side effects [i.e.: decreased conversions, visitors, page views] in different site sections.)

Too many online marketers fail to quantify user behavior patterns, but the fact of the matter is that by utilizing the advanced features in your Analytics you can put numbers to user preferences and numbers very rarely lie or lead you astray. In short, A/B and Multivariate testing can help you deliver the right experience for your customers and the best and timeliest return for you, but only if you are tracking all the key variables properly with your Analytics software.

Tracking Media Content

Media content such as audio, video, Flash, and AJAX are quickly becoming the most popular features on websites. Although less search engine friendly than plain text, these media variations play a key role in enticing users to stay and interact with your website. But is the benefit worth the cost? How can you ever know without using Analytics? Search marketers can use their Analytics to track KPIs like impressions, time spent on page, and percent completion to lend real numbers to the decision making process. By developing custom media players and using analytics software such as SiteCatalyst, site owners and marketers have the ability to track abandonment rates within the audio or video files by running pathing reports. Wouldnt it be useful to determine that of all the visitors who listen or watch your media file, half of them drop out at 30% completion and only 2% of those finish it entirely? Previously, when tracking Flash, we used to only be able to see the number of page views the container page had; however, with recent Analytics software updates and the increased demand of users, we are now able to track various functions within Flash like the popularity of links, video, and other form elements.

Using Internal Search as a Marketing Tool

Internal search is another common feature on many websites today. But internal search is as much a marketing tool as it is a navigation alternative for users, all you need to do is use your Analytics. Capturing internal search terms is an excellent way to determine how users perceive your website. By understanding what users are searching for or associating your website with, site owners should be able to establish site adaptations or re-workings that give their target market exactly what they are looking for. For example, if you have a research website, and after analyzing your sites search terms you determine 1,200 visitors searched for whitepapers you can simultaneously modify conversion paths so that the whitepapers are more easily accessible from the most popular point of entry. Imagine that, being able to retrofit your website based on actual user preference instead of what focus groups or consultants think you need. From an implementation perspective, capturing internal search terms is relatively easy so there is no reason why you shouldnt be tracking them and using that information to guide any site redesigns or content improvements.

Every individual Analytics program is a little bit different in how it is set-up or configured, but most have advanced features that offer so much more than you are probably using. With a little investigation and work, you too can start to get the most bang out of your Analytics and start making the right decision more often. In other words, these advanced features are the surest way for any online marketer or site owner to get into the online equivalent of Cooperstown: larger returns.

Try to remember, every good search marketing campaign is powered by intensive Analytics analysis.

Author: Manoj Jasra
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Benefits of electric pressure cooker