2008 November

SES Chicago 08: My Agenda

November 29, 2008 By John W Ellis Leave a Comment

(Guest Post)

Search Engine Strategies Chicago is just around the corner. As I prepare for my session, Getting Vertical Search Right, I am also preparing my agenda.

SES events are always a great time to catch up with fell SEM friends and meet new ones.

As always, I find it best to have an action plan going into the conference. Thanks to the use of Twitter and other social media efforts, we are able to quickly get a feel for how well a session is going.

You can find me in SES Chicago at the sessions bellow. However, I plan to keep a close eye on the Twitter buzz as well.

Day 1 – Monday, December 8

10:30am-11:30am – Universal & Blended Search

11:45am-12:45pm – Social Responsibility in a 2.0 World

3:00pm-4:00pm – Igniting Viral Campaigns

4:30pm-5:30pm – Semantic Search: How Will it Change Our Lives?

Day 2 – Tuesday, December 9

10:30am-11:45am – Advanced Keyword Research

2:45pm-3:45pm – Google Site Search: Fast, Relevant, Customized Search Results for Your Website

4:15pm-5:30pm – Advanced Link Building

Day 3 – Wednesday, December 10

10:30am-11:45am – SEO Through Blogs & Feeds

12:45pm-2:00pm – Getting Vertical Search Right

2:15pm-3:30pm – Storyteller Marketing

4:00pm-5:15pm – Advanced Paid Search Techniques

** John Ellis is the Senior Online Marketing Manager for ResortQuest Vacation Rentals

Filed Under: Chicago, john ellis, Search Engine Strategies, SES

Orkut Preferred over Facebook

November 28, 2008 By Manoj Jasra 2 Comments

I conducted a poll a while back asking my readers whether they prefer Orkut or Facebook and after 1100 votes the winner is….Orkut!

Poll: Which do you prefer, Facebook or Orkut?

-	Answer Text	Votes	%	-
	Orkut	621	55%
	Facebook	478	42%
	Other…	31	3%
-	-	1134	-	-

Below I have also specified a breakdown of the regions my readers originate from:

Filed Under: Facebook, Social Networking

Google Website Optimizer Added to Seminars for Success Series

November 27, 2008 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Google continues to grow its Seminars for Success by adding a new session for Google Website Optimizer. Google is now offering Website Optimizer Seminars for Success with four sessions scheduled around the US:

Washington DC – December 4

Seattle, WA – December 10

Las Vegas, NV – January 23

San Jose, CA – February 11

Here’s What’s Covered

The Big Picture and how Website Optimization fits in

The conversion life-cycle
Introduction to post-click optimization
Introduction to landing pages
What is a landing page?
The economics of poor landing pages
Top mistakes in landing page design and how to fix them
Best practices to increase conversions

Introduction to Testing

What is testing?
How does testing work?
Understanding the two types of testing: A/B and Multivariate

Introduction to Google Website Optimizer

How Google Website Optimizer works
How to Run an Experiment
Picking the right pages to test
Implementing tags
Reading and understanding reports
Lab Session- Implementation
Implement Website Optimizer on your own page or observe instructor implementing Website Optimizer on an existing website

Advanced Testing Strategies

Advanced implementation
Running multi-page tests
Google Analytics Integration
More best practices and tips and tricks

Filed Under: Google

Rogers.com Toronto Looking for Web Data Analyst

November 26, 2008 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Web Analytics the Web Data Analyst is responsible for the day-to-day data gathering, reporting and analysis of customer traffic and transactions on Rogers.com and helps direct and manage a variety of web analytics and database resources and projects.

Following a standard reporting schedule, the Web Data Analyst reports on Site Traffic, Sales and Service results using tools such as Coremetrics Analytics, Microsoft Access, Cognos 8 Report Studio. In addition, the Web Data Analyst will produce ad-hoc, custom reports for various stakeholders and is responsible for supporting the offline reporting system (ORS) and for developing, implementing, and overseeing database policies and procedures.

Knowledge & Experience

Strong background in Online Marketing.
3 – 5 years experience in Web Analytics, including reporting and analysis strategies, tactics and tools (i.e. Coremetrics, Omniture, WebTrends, Google Analytics, etc).
Strong knowledge of Microsoft Access and Excel.
Expertise with BI tools, such as Cognos 8 Report Studio or Business Objects.
Experience with Oracle, MS SQL Server, Crystal, SAP, Teradata, etc. a plus.

Personal Attributes

Proven analytical and problem-solving abilities.
Good interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.
Highly self-motivated and directed, with keen attention to detail.
Able to prioritize and execute tasks in a high-pressure environment.
Experience working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment.

Formal Education & Certification

College diploma or University Degree in the field of computer science or related field and/or 3 years equivalent work experience.

If interested, please send your resume and cover letter to:

Robb MacDonald
robb.macdonald@rci.rogers.com
Senior Manager, Web Analytics
e-Business
Rogers Communications Inc.

Filed Under: Web Analytics, Web Analytics Jobs

Alaska Air Web Analyst Job Openings

November 25, 2008 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Alaskaair.com Web Analyst Job Description

Alaska Airlines is looking for two web analysts to help our alaskaair.com Web Analytics initiative take flight. This is a fun and dynamic team that supports alaskaair.com, a five time winner of the Best Airline Web Site industry Freddie Award. With alaskaair.com providing over $1billion in revenue you’ll have opportunities to drive strategy, affect change, and educate the internal community about the power of data in our push to drive traffic and improve conversion.

Applicants must have at least 6 months of experience with Omniture’s Site Catalyst. Experience in Omniture’s Discover and Test & Target/Offermatica is a bonus. These are long-term contract positions with a goal to convert to perm.

Principal duties and Responsibilities:

Provide statistical and analytical support of customer information for alaskaair.com and broader Marketing Organization; conduct ad-hoc reporting as required.
Help with implementation and data integrity testing of web analytics tool.
Maintain and upkeep monthly scorecards/dashboards gathering various data point from the web analytics software as well as other internal databases. Also initiate new strategic reports and dashboards.
Develop, analyze, and interpret, large data sets to research trends in customer perception, preferences, and behaviors across the website; condense into conclusions with actionable recommendations.
Create and perform analysis to facilitate the best return on investment (ROI) for marketing, projects and promotional campaigns. Work with Marketing and IT teams to execute and measure.
Interact with Marketing and IT teams to determine data requirements and usage.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Excellent quantitative and statistical skills.
Familiarity with web analytics tools as well as experience working with data from these tools.
Ability to apply analytical methodologies, interpret and present findings in a clear, concise manner, including creation and use of tables, charts, graphics to summarize results. Knowledge e-commerce business models, Omniture web analytics, and Optimization testing methods preferred.
Proficient in Microsoft Excel
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, ability to prioritize and multi-task.

Education and Experience :

Bachelors degree or certificate in any of the following: Internet Marketing, Business Analytics or minimum of 6 months experience in web analytics preferred

Prior experience in the web analytics and/or airline industry preferred. Position is in Seattle, contact: Jeanne.Jones@alaskaair.com

Filed Under: Web Analytics Jobs

Search & Information Access Report – CMS Watch

November 25, 2008 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Enterprise search technology is no longer such a secret, according to new research from CMS Watch, an independent analyst firm that evaluates content technologies. The componentized nature of modern search offerings, combined with the availability of improved administrative tools and APIs, has had the effect of demystifying what was once a rather obscure technology.

This conclusion stems from today’s release of The Search & Information Access Report 2009, in which CMS Watch interviews enterprise search customers around the globe to evaluate twenty solutions in the marketplace.

In addition to more openness about the technology behind search, CMS Watch finds several trends emerging in the search technology marketplace:

- Renewed Focus on Ease of Set-Up and Maintenance — Vendors who do not provide a single setup file, an intelligible web-based administrative interface with full control over the software, as well as complete reporting and analytics, will have a very hard time convincing buyers they have real value to add over the apparent ease of use of a Google Appliance.

- More Out-of-the-Box Functionality — It’s now no longer acceptable that implementing search & information access should require a year of custom development on top of an “infrastructure” that consists of different loosely coupled modules. Vendors that can’t prove they’ll be able to index disparate repositories within a three-month proof of concept fall off short lists.

“As technology buyers look at new solutions, it is more imperative than ever to understand what lies at the core of these technologies,” comments CMS Watch analyst Kas Thomas. “They can’t just decide based on marketing support materials and the number of boxes that are ticked — they’ll have to explore what makes the solutions really tick — fortunately, there is now more transparency here.”

The Search & Information Access Report 2009 provides a comprehensive overview of twenty search technology products and identifies current best practices. The Report is available for purchase online from CMS Watch (http://www.cmswatch.com).

Filed Under: CMS, CMS Watch

Omniture Releases Mobile Application for SiteCatalyst

November 24, 2008 By Manoj Jasra 2 Comments

Omniture, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMTR), today announced the availability of a new mobile application for Omniture SiteCatalyst designed to work on mobile devices running Google Android. Omniture SiteCatalyst for Google Android is the first online business analytics application for tracking web, mobile and video analytics now available on Android Market.

I had a chance to catch up with Matthew Langie, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Omniture regarding the new SiteCatalyst Mobile Application:

[Manoj]: How did Omniture go about assessing the need for a web analytics application for Google Android?

[Matt]: Omniture develops product and services based on customer demand and changing market dynamics. The iPhone and Google Android phones represent new internet ‘platforms” that provide our customers with opportunities to create differentiated ways to engage their customers. In turn, our goal is to provide marketers with the leading web analytics found in SiteCatalyst on their mobile devices such as the Google Android phone so they can make decisions on the go to remain competitive.

[Manoj]: With SiteCatalyst being an enterprise level solution, what kind of user is the new application targeted towards?

[Matt]: Omniture effectively serves both the most demanding online enterprises requiring a broad suite of solutions as well as mid-market companies seeking best-of-breed web analytics with SiteCatalyst. The users we are seeing with SiteCatalyst for iPhone and our newest SiteCatalyst for Android include web analysts, online marketers, and even senior executives who want to stay closely connected to the performance of their online business while on the go.

[Manoj]: In the future, will Omniture release benchmark data (# of users, reports viewed etc…) between iPhone and Google Android Phones?

[Matt: We do not disclose future product or service plans, but we will provide information that benefits our customers as they serve their site visitors using iPhone and Google Android devices.

Read the rest of the press release below:

Omniture customers have an increasing number of options to receive real-time, remote access to their SiteCatalyst reports, bookmarks and dashboards for up-to-the-minute results of their online business. In July, Omniture began providing SiteCatalyst reports to online marketers via their Internet-enabled mobile phone. In October, Omniture announced that marketers could begin receiving their web analytics reports and access their SiteCatalyst bookmarks and dashboards with a native application built specifically for the iPhone. SiteCatalyst for Google Android extends the innovation curve by giving marketers access to the same detailed information using mobile devices running Google Android.

Omniture SiteCatalyst provides marketers with actionable, real-time intelligence about online strategies and marketing initiatives. SiteCatalyst helps marketers more quickly identify the most profitable paths through their Web site, determine where visitors are navigating away from their site, and identify critical success metrics for online marketing campaigns. SiteCatalyst is the foundation of the Omniture online marketing suite of applications.

“In a rapidly changing business environment, marketers need to be able to make decisions quickly to remain competitive,” said Aseem Chandra, senior vice president of product marketing at Omniture. “With this release we continue to help our customers mobilize their marketing with on-the-go, real-time, on-demand access to analytics, further enabling our customers to make timely business decisions that can dramatically impact marketing effectiveness and return on investment.”

SiteCatalyst for Google Android is a free application available to existing Omniture SiteCatalyst customers using their SiteCatalyst username and login. Customers may find and download the application to their mobile device by going to Android Market and scrolling through the “Productivity” category.

Filed Under: Mobile Analytics, Omniture, Web Analytics