Web Analytics: An Invaluable Tool

Websites have become the new storefront. Every year, more and more product and service transactions are completed over the internet. With this increase comes the need for functional and visually appealing websites.

The tactics that web design and marketing organizations have taken over the past decade have varied with trends. For a while, the emphasis was placed on having creative, visually appealing websites using platforms such as Flash. These sites were slick and cutting-edge, demonstrating that the company was in-tune with the latest and greatest technologies. All too often, however, this approach affected the usability and functionality of the website across the board. Different browsers handled Flash differently (if at all), and the hardware requirements to actually view it properly were often too steep for large amounts of the visitor base. Perhaps the greatest factor of all was the fact that the websites were not laid out logically, and often sacrificed functionality in the name of style and vanity.

Nowadays, Flash-based sites and the like have gone by the wayside, being replaced with designs that are more functional. Flash has been replaced largely by sites using CSS and Javascript. Companies have gone for designs that maximize the amount of transactions or allow the user to find exactly what they are looking for in the least amount of time. So if a company has designed a website that fits all of their functional and cosmetic needs, they are good to go, right?

Wrong!

The success of that website can and should be tracked. Think about this: Virtually every product (tangible and intangible) ever created and sold has been tested in some way to ensure its success. If your company’s reputation and even a fraction of its success rely on its presence on the internet, you should definitely make sure that website is doing what it should! One of the best ways to do this is to track who is visiting your site and how they are using it. Using tools such as Google Analytics, you can not only view these usage statistics, but also manipulate and present them in a way that you can determine what improvements you can make to your website in order to increase your traffic.

The common misconception is that a web design project is complete after it has been implemented and has gone live. The reality is that it is an ongoing process. Something that may have worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. This is why usage should constantly be tracked and analyzed. The internet is always changing, as is how people use it. Logically, this usage should be monitored so you can act on it immediately. Even if you are not literally selling a service or product, you are still presenting or “selling” an idea or information via your website.

5 Social Media Tips for Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB)

When stepping into the realm of social media as a small business you should have a plan. I suggest that you take your time and generate clear goals and objectives for your social media marketing strategy before you do anything. Once you have done this; check out our social media optimization and marketing tips for SMB’s.

1. Take Advantage of the Big 3: Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
2. Blog: Create and Participate
3. Make Sharing and Bookmarking Easy
4. Mobile Social Networks and Local Networks
5. Track and Monitor

Social Media is a great marketing tool for small and medium businesses to use and I hope our tips will help you when implementing social media to your business.

Social Media Marketing is Not Free!

I have heard many businesses say that “social media marketing is free”, but that’s not true! There is this little elephant in the room called “opportunity cost”. Opportunity cost is the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. In other words, these are the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.

This concept is not exclusively applied to social media marketing. It also applies to businesses that allocate resources to Pay Per Click advertising, Search Engine Optimization, or even Web Analytical reporting.

It Pays to Listen to Your Social Media Conversation

Every business plan or marketing plan has a section allocated to customer analysis, identifying the target market, and market research. Social media monitoring provides businesses with the ability to listen to what customers& prospects have to say about their experience with your company or product. Combined with web analytics, social media monitoring can provide your business with the numerical data as well customer feedback.

In the end, this information provides businesses and marketers with the information to improve products and services. Through social media monitoring, you’ll have the opportunity to see the real impact of tweets, blogging, press releases, and social sharing tools. Furthermore, it will provide insight into which segments to target, and avoid costly marketing campaigns. The question is “Are you looking for ways to capitalize on what customers and prospects are saying?

Are You Using Social Media to Increase Your Business Exposure?

Social media marketing is being used to increase awareness for organizations within their target market. According to eMarketer.com, businesses have been accomplishing their goals regarding social media marketing tactics. For the most part, social media is a useful tool for increasing awareness, attracting new customers, and engaging with current customers.

The most important part is whether or not the tactics are aligned with the business goals and objectives. Businesses have achieved their objectives, but are you seeing the value in generating leads, sales, and revenue for the business? What is the ROI for your social media marketing campaign? Doing the social networking and getting a customer to become a fan of your business on Facebook is great, but are you seeing the benefits in your wallet?

Back to the Basics with Testing for Internet Marketers

It seems like business owners have forgotten the fundamentals of marketing and that it includes testing. “Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly, and finally by a test campaign, said Claude Hopkins the author of Scientific Advertising (1923). Although the book is dated, scientific advertising is critical to SEO, Pay per Click, Website Design, and Email Marketing. It is not just important to determine what works but also learning what doesn’t work to helped the business get to the point of generating leads and converting them into sales. In today’s environment, web analytics and conversion optimization are linked to scientific advertising or marketing. Continue to test your landing pages, ad copy, and call to action.

For more information, read “Always Be Testing” for tips, guidance, and tools.

Web Analytics an Integrated Service

According to the US Web Analytics Forecast, 73% of businesses are currently using or piloting Web Analytics technologies. Not all businesses are effectively utilizing the information and employing actionable feedback. The data has and will continue to be the commodity. Web analytics is just the tool that has the potential to improve marketing effectiveness, elevate customer satisfaction and identify new revenue opportunities. The fact is that businesses either fail to recognize the ROI or do not apply the data.

DaBrian Marketing Group has identified 4 elements that organizations must have to successfully leverage web analytics: money (investment), human resources, communication, and action. For the most part, businesses can implement Google Analytics so the cost of the investment has been minimized. The biggest issue is human resources that require analyzing the data and translating the information into business action. It requires a will, desire, and talent to understand the business, web analytics, and the variable that can impact measurement or analysis. Communication is critical because the business must effectively communicate to understand the value of web analytics as well as recognize the impact that the information has on marketing effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth in order to fund the department or web analytics technology. This will also help to get people to act on the information and deliver it in order to see results.

As technology improves there will be increase in complex marketing challenges. Many marketers struggle to uncover the insight within their web analytics and to keep up with new measurement issues. The existing expertise will continue to be needed by web analytics agencies and the importance of integration will more to the forefront.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Myths & Misconceptions that the Best SEOs Rank at the Top of a Google Search for SEO

While it's very hard to convince some people otherwise, with the exception of top level SEO consultants, the results for "SEO" at Google are substandard. Even SEOToday was ironically not listed on the first page of Google on October 16, 2010, and several of the United States Top SEOs were not listed within the first 3 pages of Google. Why not? SEO considers the company, branding, messaging, and positioning statements. SEO consultants look to identify keywords and phrases that not only increase visibility, but also increase the probability of conversions (leads or sales). This request intensive keyword researches both quantitative and qualitative data usually in the form of web analytics, keyword tools and customer feedback. SEO starts with keyword research, which leads to an understanding of your client’s goals, objectives, strategies, and target audience.

This is a job for an SEO or SEM agency, not for a web design firm. In some cases, web design firms can provide most businesses with a title, keywords, and descriptions; however, the lack of expertise or human resources to allocate time and applied knowledge to keyword research, conversion optimization, keyword ranking monitoring, crawling issues, continuous on-page optimization and link building for a campaign can be detrimental. In general, their area of expertise is in creativity, user experience, and developing great user interfaces, not developing or enhancing a site for search engines. There is an evident difference, one is more creative and one is more research-oriented or analytical. You would not ask an artist to analyze and diagnose your businesses financial statements, would you?

Reading PA SEO

Is Your Interactive Agency Delivering Results?

Many clients are too busy to evaluate whether or not their interactive agency is delivering results, but it could cost you in the long run. If your agency is not testing, measuring, refining, and reacting to your marketing tactics, then they are not delivering results. The ability to improve your marketing results requires continuous evaluation and communication with your agency.

1. Do you discuss your marketing results? This may give your agency quantitative and qualitative results to leverage.
2. Does your agency provide specific information when discussing the progress of your interactive marketing campaign? In general, specificity signals ownership, intention, and a plan of action to drive results.
3. Have you or your agency learned from the marketing and reporting? You and your agency should have details on what works and what does not work. Going forward, this should reduce marketing cost and lead to actions that drive results.
4. Does your agency push for deeper web analytics, continuously test banners and ad copy, and work to integrate interactive and traditional marketing for optimum results?

The only time your interactive agency should cruise or stop seeking better results is when you discontinue the relationship!

Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance Update

In late August, Yahoo! completed the transition of the back-end technology for English-language Yahoo! organic search results in the U.S. and Canada. There is now consistency of the organic search results between Yahoo! and Bing. In our opinion, there is still a gap in relevant search results when compared to Google. It’s our assumption that Yahoo! and Bing will make additional modifications to the search algorithm after the holiday season. As for the paid search results, advertisers can start transitioning their paid Yahoo! Search Marketing account to Bing now. The Yahoo! ad serving transition is expected to start mid-October. For additional tips on how to prepare for the search alliance, check out our recent search engine marketing article.

Google AdWords Update

Over the past few weeks, Google has made several enhancements to AdWords or tools used to manage PPC campaigns. Below are a few of these enhancements and brief descriptions.

YouTube Enhancements: YouTube launched features that give select advertisers the ability to voluntarily age-restrict their videos and exclude individuals and channels from your Pay per Click campaigns that advertisers are running.

Free AdWords Webinar: Google recently announced the launch of Enhanced CPC, a new automatic bidding feature designed to increase your conversions and return on investment in your Max CPC campaigns. This webinar will provide detailed information on the features and benefits of Enhanced CPC bidding for your search engine marketing campaigns.

AdWords Editor 8.0.1 Update: AdWords Editor is a free Google application that can help search engine marketers, PPC managers, and advertisers manage their AdWords Campaigns. AdWords Editor has been updated to support locations extensions and some additional panel features.

For additional information on Google AdWords features and benefits, contact your PPC manager. If you need PPC management services, contact a Google AdWords Certified Partner for opportunities to increase your ROI on your AdWords campaigns.

Progress Ramps Up for the Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance

Yahoo has currently started to move their back end technology over to the Bing platform. This transition is being made to give users more relevant organic search results by combining the Yahoo and Microsoft reach. The alliance encourages users to stay current with this progress and to be prepared for the eventual finished product.

Yahoo is also making strides in the realm of Paid Search Marketing. In the weeks ahead, MS Advertisers with Yahoo search marketing accounts will be able to import existing campaigns into the Microsoft ad Center via a “transition portal”. Yahoo will notify all search advertisers by e-mail when their current accounts will be eligible to transition over to the Microsoft ad Center.

The complete transition for the Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance could be complete for the 2010 Holiday season; however parties from both sides agree that they will not rush the transition, so do not be surprised if the finished product is not ready until 2011.

Here at DaBrian Marketing, we are excited to see how the complete transition will affect the Search landscape!

Google Analytics Flash Tracking Tip

We recently received questions regarding how to track flash banner advertising with Google Analytics from one of our current clients. The process uses the Google Analytics Component for Flash.

For instructions on how to download and install this feature, refer to the link below:

http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/flashTrackingSetupFlash.html#getComponent

We highly recommend that you create a duplicate profile, filter the profile to track only these pageviews related to the specific banner, and use the URL builder to track the clicks for the banner ads.

You can also test landing pages by implementing Google Webiste Optimizer.

Check Out Web Analytics TV for more information!

Internet Marketing Lead Generation to Maximize ROI

In a recent article from eMarketer.com, companies worldwide stated that email was the best lead generation program based on quantity and the quality of the leads. Email blasts were followed by live events, webinars, and website registrations. “The effectiveness of online channels, coupled with the fact that prospects indicate the web is the first place they look for more information, makes it natural for companies to be increasing their investments in web design, email marketing and search engine optimization.”

“As more lead generation efforts shift to the Internet, tools to help develop, execute, and track campaign effectiveness will become a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have,’” said the report.

This is a clear sign that email marketing will continue to be a powerful marketing method. With that being said, the integration of social media marketing into email blasts will increase the possibility for your information to evolve within the social networks. Leveraging email marketing, social media marketing, SEO, and Pay-Per-Click will help with lead generation and brand awareness. Not all customers are in a position to purchase today, so brand awareness and a diversified campaign will pay off in the long-run. The ability to integrate internet marketing with traditional marketing methods will continue to be important as well.