Technology Leaders, will offer its customers immediate access to ALERT, a powerful analytics alerting and monitoring product that delivers real-time alerts via email as well as the ability to quickly locate the most dynamic reports.

“Our ALERT product innovates the way customers interact with analytics reporting,” said Andrew Edwards, a Managing Partner at Technology Leaders. “ALERT gives you the news about your analytics”. Using ALERT, a customer can receive emails about reports that have changed from their historical norms; then click through to the most dynamic reports. They can adjust the sensitivity of the alerting function. Additionally, they can locate new trends otherwise hidden from typical dashboards and ‘top pages’ reporting. “ALERT saves analysts time,” said Edwards, “by letting them find important trends in minutes, not hours.”

Rand Schulman, a Boardmember at Technology Leaders adds, “Having been a senior executive at analytics vendors like WebTrends, WebSideStory and KeyLime, I know that the market has been looking for a product like ALERT for a long time.”

“We’ve been working closely with analytics customers since 2003,” adds Edwards. “We have identified that the most pressing need was for timely, actionable data. We created ALERT to enable customers to focus only on the data that matters.”

ALERT is designed to work in conjunction with leading web analytics tools.

Labels: Web Analytics

In addition to the intelligence agencies, Google's government customers include the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the state of Alabama and Washington, D.C.

Many of the contracts are for search appliances - servers for storing and searching internal documents. Agencies can use the devices to create their own mini-Googles on intranets made up entirely of government data.

Additionally, Google has had success licensing a souped-up version of its aerial mapping service, Google Earth. Agencies can use it to plot scientific data and chart the U.S. coastline, for example, giving ships another tool to navigate safely.

Spy agencies are using Google equipment as the backbone of Intellipedia, a network aimed at helping agents share intelligence. Rather than hoarding information, spies and analysts are being encouraged to post what they learn on a secure online forum where colleagues can read it and add comments.

Labels: Google

source comScore: General Motors was the top online advertiser among auto manufacturers in January, delivering nearly 1.7 billion total display ad views in the U.S., followed by Toyota (1.4 billion) and Ford Motor Company (1.1 billion). General Motors also led in reach, with approximately 103 million unique individuals receiving their display ads during the month, followed by Ford which reached 95 million people and Toyota which reached 62 million. But, both General Motors and Ford were outmuscled by Toyota in terms of ads delivered per person reached. Toyota delivered a frequency of 22 ads per person during the month, compared to 16 for General Motors and 11 for Ford.

Top Auto Manufacturer Online Advertisers by Total Display Ad Views January 2008 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Ad Metrix
Advertiser	Total Display Ad Views (000)	Share of Voice*	Ad-Exposed Unique Visitors (000)	Average Frequency
General Motors	1,687,065	32.8%	102,574	16.4
Toyota	1,356,782	26.4%	62,428	21.7
Ford Motor Company	1,075,831	20.9%	94,987	11.3
Honda	377,863	7.3%	57,923	6.5
Nissan	291,666	5.7%	31,262	9.3
Chrysler LLC	123,868	2.4%	22,142	5.6
Hyundai Motors Inc.	95,246	1.9%	16,723	5.7
Volkswagen	60,498	1.2%	7,126	8.5
Suzuki Motor Corporation	42,491	0.8%	15,389	2.8
Harley Davidson	35,287	0.7%	6,109	5.8

Labels: CMS, CMS Watch

Coming from an agency, there are often times when there is need to perform a competitive analysis for a client in order to better understand the client's position in the competitive landscape. The main purpose of a competitive analysis should be to gain awareness of the competitive factors analyzed and to leverage the client's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to their advantage. So what kind of factors should be included in an online competitive analysis? Below are a few that I feel should always make the competitive analysis list:

• Domain Age: The age of your domain can have an affect in the way search engine determine authoritativeness for your site. Theoretically, the longer the domain has been active, the more value it receives from search engines. Webconfs has a great tool for calculating the age of your domain and your competitors' http://www.webconfs.com/domain-age.php.
• Search Engine Visibility: Take your vertical's main keyword basket and analyze how visible your site is compared to its competitors in Google, Yahoo, MSN, ASK and AOL. Comparing the number of top X rankings can give you a sense of your keyword market share.
• Site Traffic: This one is difficult to compare unless you have access to your competitors' analytics, however Compete.com's search analytics does a fairly decent job of providing some insight.
• In Bound Link Quality: Using a combination of Yahoo Site Explorer and a batch PageRank checker you can begin to determine the quality of back-links for a given domain. The quality of links is more important than the quantity.
• In Bound Link Anchor Text: The quality of links is partially based on the theme of the linking site as well as the anchor text that is linking to you. Image or branded links aren't as high quality as keyword rich links. http://www.webconfs.com/anchor-text-analysis.php
• Meta Tags: This maybe considered simplistic and old school but meta description and title tags are still important in SEO. Analyzing description and title tags can help you determine which competing sites best differentiate themselves as well as the messaging the site is providing visitors.
• Paid Search Campaigns: On the other side of the fence their is sponsored campaigns and a tool like SpyFu can give you some insight on PPC competitors and keyword costs.
• Blogs: Got a blog? Check out Blog Juice from Text Link Ads, which looks at Bloglines, Alexa and Technorati to compute a "juice" score.

Labels: SEO

1. How graphics can act as barriers to website user navigation.
2. How graphics can coax users towards essential website information.
3. If multimedia on a website creates a “wow” factor or a trap.

Download Now!

Labels: Enquiro, Eye Tracking

• even faster interface
• group chat from the browser
• streamlined contact manager
• colored message labels
• improved keyboard shortcuts
• bookmarkable messages and searches

Labels: Gmail, Google News

Labels: SEO

A new service that gives bloggers and other online publishers access to copyrighted news and creative images free to use alongside their editorial content, is available in public beta at http://www.picapp.com/.

PicApp enables bloggers to choose from extensive collections of millions of copyrighted images being updated by the thousands each day that have been licensed from Getty Images, Corbis and other prestigious image agencies to visualize the content on their web sites. Each image is accompanied by a non-intrusive ad to drive royalties to the related content partners, instead of the traditional license fees.

Bloggers covering the day-to-day trials and tribulations of the U.S. presidential race, for instance, could find up-to-the-minute photos of the candidates on the campaign trail at PicApp.com. Celebrity junkies can get their fix of Hollywood photos from PicApp. Sports writers can get play-by-play action photos of current superstars, like Tiger Woods or Roger Federer, as they make history to supplement a news story.

Plenty of topical photographs, such as themed images for the passing St. Patrick's or upcoming Mother's Days, are also available.

Interested bloggers can go to www.picapp.com to start getting images to enhance the content at their sites right away. Since the start of closed beta, PicApp has had an enthusiastic response from bloggers, according to Gura. Usability of the service has also increased, as bloggers have provided their feedback.

Labels: Industry News

Many online marketers were busy attending Search Engine Strategies New York this week and this included some interesting news stories from there. Additionally there was a lot of buzz everywhere else as well, below are this week's must reads in search marketing:

• Traffick: The Long Tail Not Always Good, If Quality Score Is Your Thing
• SE Round Table: Poll: Would You Want To Work At Google?
• Bruce Clay Inc.: Top Search Trends
• SEO Space: In-Bound Linking Vs. On-Page SEO
• Clickz: Web Analytics and Hippos
• Wassup: The 7 Web Analytics Sins
• semPhonic: The Future of Web Analytics
• Media Post: Segmenting Email With Web Analytics
• Google Blog: Using data to help prevent fraud
• Yahoo Blog: The Yahoo! Search Open Ecosystem
• Web Pro News: March Madness Driving Fans Online
• Search Newz: Yahoo Answers Down but Dominating Q&A
• Internet Financial News: Microsoft Meets with Yahoo to Make Its Case

Labels: Must Reads

The market share of U.S. visits to a custom category of Question and Answer websites has increased 118 percent for the week ending Mar. 15, 2008, compared to the same week in 2007, Hitwise reported today. Over the past two years, U.S. visits to this category have increased 889 percent comparing Feb. 2008 versus Feb. 2006.

The most visited website within the Questions and Answers category last week was Yahoo! Answers (answers.yahoo.com), which received 74.05 percent of the market share of U.S. visits. Wiki.Answers.com was the second most visited website receiving 18.35 percent of visits, followed by Answerbag.com, which received 4.42 percent of visits. WikiAnswers, launched in June 2007 has seen its U.S. visits increase 125 percent comparing the week ending Jun. 9, 2007 versus Mar. 15, 2008.

Top 5 Question and Answer Websites ranked by Market Share of U.S. Visits
Rank	Name	Domain	U.S. Visits w/e Mar. 15, 2008	U.S. Visits w/e Mar. 17, 2007	Percent Change
1	Yahoo! Answers	answers.yahoo.com	74.05%	94.25%	-21%
2	WikiAnswers	wiki.answers.com	18.35%	NA	NA
3	Answerbag	www.answerbag.com	4.51%	2.46%	83%
4	Ask MetaFilter	ask.metafilter.com	1.80%	1.88%	-4%
5	Askville	www.askville.com	0.85%	0.20%	316%
Note - the Hitwise data is based on a custom category of eight of the leading Answer websites ranked by U.S. market share of visits as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users. Hitwise measures more than 1 million unique websites on a daily basis, including sub-domains of larger websites. Hitwise categorizes websites into industries on the basis of subject matter and content, as well as market orientation and competitive context. The market share of visits percentage does not include traffic for all sub-domains of certain websites which could be reported on separately.
Source: Hitwise

Labels: Yahoo

Widemile Inc., recently announced the beta availability of its third-generation optimization platform, a browser-based application which helps online marketers maximize campaign performance by testing and optimizing landing pages and other web content for higher conversion rates. Widemile also announced thirteen (13) industry partners who will use the new platform on behalf of their clients. Partners participating in the initial platform rollout include Ascentium, Avenue A Razorfish, Brand Digital, Closed Loop Marketing, DDB in Seattle, Palazzo Intercreative, POP, Portent Interactive, Red Bricks Media, SolutionSet, Stratigent, TMP Directional Marketing, and ZeroDash1.

Late last week I had a great chat with the CEO of WideMile, Robert Bergquist regarding the new optimization platform:


[Manoj]: Please start with an overview of the optimization platform including the main benefits

[Robert Bergquist]: Widemile is introducing its third-generation optimization platform, a browser-based application which makes every advertising dollar work harder and become more productive by increasing conversion rates, overall campaign performance, and return on ad spend. For interactive agencies, benefits include: (1) Extension of their services offerings to include optimization and realize incremental revenue; (2) Enhanced performance of their client campaigns; (3) Inclusion of process and methodology - critical to client success; (4) Cost-effective licensing and business model that scales with their business activity; and (5) Eliminating demands on IT staff for implementation and support.

[Manoj]: Who is the target market for your platform?

[Robert Bergquist]: Interactive agencies, SEM and SEO firms, and other marketing service organizations serving online advertisers.

[Manoj]: How does the Widemile platform integrate with a person's web property?

[Robert Bergquist]: A small encrypted JavaScript tag is attached to the page to be optimized, typically residing on the advertiser's domain. This tag provides the instructions for the calls to the Widemile platform for tracking and rotation of content elements, which are overlaid onto the page in a matter of microseconds. Each user sees one specific content combination, which is consistent upon subsequent visits. The testing program is invisible from a user perspective. Importantly, SEO quality scores and activities will not be impacted.

[Manoj]: What kind of support is available with your product?

[Robert Bergquist]: Partners will receive a combination of online documentation and reference materials, phone and email support, training, and access to Widemile creative, optimization, and implementation resources.

[Manoj]: How were the media firms you partnered with approached?

[Robert Bergquist]: Widemile identified a broad cross-section of different types of agencies - large and small, media or creative-focused, SEM specialists, traditional, and broad-based interactive. We then targeted the leading firms within these subsets to start a dialog on our new platform and engagement model, and how it can help their clients. The response was overwhelmingly positive and exceeded our expectations.

[Manoj]: What is the approx. cost for your service?

[Robert Bergquist]: Widemile's goal with pricing is to reduce barriers to optimization. Widemile has taken the approach for agencies to easily get started on Widemile's Optimization platform. Platform license fees scale with amount of optimization activity, which is highly aligned with agency and client success.

The new Widemile optimization solution allows agencies to help their clients maximize campaign performance and return on ad spend. Widemile has honed its advanced multivariate testing and other proprietary analytic techniques, which are embedded in the application to scientifically determine the best performing set of advertising content — whether on a landing page, microsite or other web page. Marketers are able to simultaneously test a variety of offers, text, images, and other key variables, quickly and efficiently.

“Widemile’s third-generation software-as-a-service (SaaS) multivariate optimization system was specifically designed using open software and systems to meet enterprise standards for security, stability and performance,” said Dean Kimball, Widemile co-founder and CTO. “Developed with partners in mind, the Widemile optimization system contains a wide range of testing, reporting and client management capabilities within an easy-to-use browser-based application, and provides a level of performance and interactivity that has previously only been possible with desktop applications.”

Optimization can be challenging to execute, requiring both expertise and technology for client success. In addition to integrated “help” wizards within the application, Widemile provides partners with training and support, including proven best practices. The Widemile solution is designed to integrate with and complement partners' other applications and services to maximize results for their clients.

Labels: multivariate testing, Web Analytics

Google Analytics has quickly become one of the most popular analytics software available, additionally there are numerous resources available which deal with configuration, implementation, analysis, and reporting. Below I have compiled some of the most useful resources for Google Analytics related strategies.

• EpikOne: Improving the quality of your report’s data
• EpikOne: Google Analytics E-Commerce Tracking Pt. 1: How It Works
• EpikOne: Google Analytics E-Commerce Tracking Pt. 2: Installation & Setup
• ROI Revolution: Google Analytics ROI Calculation Macro
• ROI Revolution: Should You Join the Migration? urchin.js Migrates to ga.js
• ROI Revolution: Tracking Secondary Sources and Autoresponders Using Site Search
• Google Analytics Blog: Where Did My Paid Search Traffic Go?
• Google Analytics Blog: Site Search Now Available
• YouTube - Alex Ortiz: Advanced Techniques in Google Analytics
• YouTube - Avinash Kaushik: Google Analytics -Context and actionability in web analytics
• YouTube - Nick Mahailovski: Tracking Offline to Online Campaigns
• YouTube - Google Analytics Interface Tutorial
• Wilson Web: 10 Tips for Getting Better Data from Google Analytics
• Top Rank Blog: Google Analytics Tips - 5 Analytics Features You May Not Know ...
• Daily Tips: Top 5 Google Analytics Reports for Bloggers
• Marketing Power: Landing Page Optimization: A Process using Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer
• A-SFUG: Flash website tracking with Google Analytics
• LisTrak: Using Google Analytics to Increase Reporting Capabilities of Email ...
• BtoB Online: Can Google Analytics help my e-mail marketing?
• SEO 24: Lead Generation Form Optimization Tips and Tricks - Google Analytics
• Conversion Counts: Installing Google Analytics in 5 Basic Steps

Labels: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

NetPlus Marketing, a top digital marketing agency, announced today the results of an exclusive roundtable study designed to solicit timely and valuable feedback to ascertain the current and desired status of online data measurement among experienced online marketers. This survey was completed by a small convenience sample of informed veterans in online marketing, each of whom completed an anonymous online survey. Areas of focus include features in demand for measurement tools, data points measured, challenges and barriers to entry.

Marketing experts and veterans provided general insight into their own measurement practices, as well as wants and needs. Responses indicated that, when evaluating measurement tools, marketers look for accuracy, aggregation, timeliness, insightfulness, flexibility and customization. Regarding what they are measuring, the study found that most marketers go for low-hanging fruit -- tactics that are easy to measure. There is a significant gap between tactics used and tactics measured and that gap widens with the use of more recent channels.

The survey also discovered that the top methods of measurement are site side reporting, third party ad serving and customer surveys and feedback. Integration of data points across tactics is desired but for most, not a reality. At 83 percent of respondents each, paid search results, email and media (display, banners and rich media ads) were the top tactics measured by marketers, followed closely by Web site data at 77 percent.

The study also attempted to examine the challenges and frustrations marketers see with reporting methods and technologies. There was a wide spectrum of responses, relating to a variety of aspects from infrastructure and communication to inaccuracy and limitations to ease of interpretation and the ability to act on the information in a timely manner. Going a step further, participants were also asked what factors have prevented them from even attempting to measure campaigns. 50 percent of respondents cited a lack of actionable data as their main reason, while 37.5 percent each also cited reliability of data and lack of budget as factors.

"In our 12 years in the digital marketing space, we have been in a position to see just how important measurement and analytics are to a successful marketing campaign, and as such, are constantly advocating testing to our clients while advancing our capabilities to provide actionable insights," said Robin Neifield, CEO of NetPlus Marketing. "The results of this study demonstrate that even the savviest of marketers, on whom we focused our survey, are still struggling with the best ways to implement analytics. Search, display and email are still the major players, and marketers are unsure how to integrate data points to make it actionable. Agency partners and analytics companies need to make testing a priority and the ability to integrate multiple data points to take measurement to the next level."

Labels: Web Analytics

• Site-Targeting
• Content Ads
• Display type ads
• Video Ads
• Display retargeting

• Video Uploading: the process of publishing videos to video search engines on a per vide basis (most popular)
• RSS media: Require submission of content via xml
• Video Crawler: actively crawl the web for video content

Agencies can further monetize their offerings by utilizing video optimization as a formal service line which includes optimization, creative build, tracking and reporting.

Publishers are innovating video ads through engaging, rich media experiences that do not turn off customers. Interactive Ads on Yahoo or In Video Ads served within the creative content of videos on Google (Adsense) are going to become frequently used advertising formats.

Publishers are innovating video ads through engaging, rich media experiences that do not turn off customers. Interactive Ads on Yahoo or In Video Ads served within the creative content of videos on Google (Adsense) are going to become frequently used advertising formats.

[Manoj]: How will marketers have to adjust their budgets to compensate for the upcoming changes?

[Jeffrey Pruitt]:Some of the budgets will be pulled from traditional sources. More and more you will see advertisers relying on performance marketing, especially if there is an economic down turn. Understanding these trends will help drive this change.

[Manoj]: How important is it to understand all the online touch-points of your visitors?

[Jeffrey Pruitt]: Very important. Everything on line starts with research of your customers and what journey's they have both off line and on-line. Search sits at the center of digital and the insight that can be gained from Search and then utilized across the marketing mix is endless.

[Manoj]: What are some sessions as at SES New York that you recommend attendees should check out?

[Jeffrey Pruitt]:
MONDAY

• Redefining the Customer
• Video Made the SMB Star

TUESDAY

• Microsoft Search Tips and tricks for delivering great results and campaigns with Live Search
• Earning Money From Contextual Ads

WEDNESDAY

• Big Brand Search Strategies: Build Connections and Fuel Online Promotions
• Searcher Behavior Research Update
• Ad Exchanges Are Changing Everything

• The SEMPO Survey: 2007 State of the Market
• Video Search Optimization

Labels: SEM

Amethon Solutions, a specialist in web analytics for the mobile communications industry, has secured the first deployment of its Mobile Analytics platform in the United States with go2 Media™, a major provider of local, personalized mobile content in the U.S.

Labels: Mobile Analytics

SEMPO, today released the results of its annual State of the Market Survey and the results indicate that the search marketing industry has exceeded the project spending allocations that were expected in 2007 and that the overall consensus from marketers it that the industry will continue to positive growth.

Here are key findings from SEMPO's State of the Market Survey:

- The North American SEM industry grew from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.2 billion in 2007, exceeding earlier projections of $11.5 billion for 2007

- North American SEM spending is now projected to grow to $25.2 billion in 2011, up significantly from the $18.6 billion forecast a year ago.

- Marketers are finding more search dollars by poaching budget from print magazine spending, web site development, direct mail and other marketing programs.

- Paid placement captures 87.4% of 2007 spending; organic SEO, 10.5%; paid inclusion, .07%, and technology investment, 1.4%.

- Google AdWords remains the most popular search advertising program, but both Google and Yahoo sponsored search spending has decreased from a year ago.

Labels: SEM

Similar to the Google AdWords Seminars for Success, Google now offers for Google Analytics. These seminars are lead by Google Analytics consultants such as Justin Cutroni, Michael Harrison, Anastasia Holdren, Timothy Seward and many other great professionals.

The analytics session features 2 tracks: Introduction & User Training and Advanced Technical Implementation, both of which can be completed in one day (per track). The advanced technical implementation looked very interesting to me, here is an overview of what you can expect to learn there:

Morning session	Afternoon session
Intro: Successful web analytics approaches/Creating a data driven culture Overview Architecture and process Intro: the .js file Managing Profiles Review: Emailing and Exporting Advanced Filters Case Study Goals and Funnels Dynamic Goals Cross-domain tracking Shopping Cart Funnels RegEx Advanced Profile/Filter Combos Segmenting Traffic Testing Raw Data profiles & other advanced situations	Advanced tracking Marketing campaign tracking Custom segmentation Event Tracking: Tracking Flash, Ajax, Javascript, Rich Internet Application Outbound link tracking Checkout integration Site Search report Code Customizations 3rd party developed Unsupported techniques and .js additions or modifications Introduction to Urchin Software

Analytics Seminars will be coming to the following cities in the next few months:

• March 25 - San Francisco Bay Area - Analytics: Introduction & User Training
• March 25 - Raleigh - Analytics: Introduction & User Training
• March 26 - San Francisco Bay Area - Analytics: Advanced Technical Implementation
• March 26 - Raleigh - Analytics: Advanced Technical Implementation

Labels: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

In the last couple of days one of the biggest stories has been the purchase of Social Network Giant, Bebo by AOL. With approximately 5% search market share and being one of the most visited sites on the planet, can Bebo really help make a difference to a search property which is been fairly average for the last few years? Here's some coverage of the Bebo purchase around the Internet:

• Bebo on Board: AOL Pays Big
• Bebo on Board: AOL Pays Big
• AOL inks deal to buy social-networking website Bebo
• AOL pays $850 million in cash for Bebo
• Bebo acquisition could boost AOL
• Breaking down Bebo’s purchase price
• AOL Adopts a Bebo

So what does 850 million dollars get you these days, below are some Bebo stats from Hitwise to help quantify AOL's purchase:

• Bebo ranked 4th among a custom category of 55 social networks, after MySpace, Facebook and MyYearbook for Feb-08 receiving 1.15% of all U.S. visits to the category.
• MySpace's share of U.S. Internet visits was 67 times larger compared with Bebo and Facebook's share of US Internet visits (among all categories) was 11x that of Bebo in Feb-08.
• Bebo's share of U.S. Internet visits is down year on year. Share of U.S. Internet visits (among All Categories) to Bebo were down 23% last week and down 22% in Feb-08.
• The average time spent on Bebo in Feb-08, was 30 minutes and 26 seconds, more than both MySpace (30m7s) and Facebook (21m0s). The average time spent on the site is flat year-over-year, MySpace is slightly down and Facebook is up 69%.
• 22.15% of U.S visits to Bebo last week came from MySpace last week.
• Of 'www.bebo.com's total upstream traffic in Feb-08, 17.37% consisted of new visitors and 82.63% consisted of returning visitors.
• In the UK, Bebo is the most searched-for brand (ahead of eBay and Facebook) and has enormous brand equity.

Labels: AOL, Social Networking

Before starting my post on the Web Analytics World Blog, I would like to thanks Manoj for inviting me to contribute! Let me present myself; I’m the CEO of Streametrics: a new generation of metrics for online video. My partners and I are bringing strong background of expertise in Web analytics, video streaming and Internet TV. We love what we’re doing and we’re here to help the online video industry grow!

A new generation of Web analytics or what we should call “online video metrics” is emerging in a growing space! Do not fall into the trap of searching for “video analytics” in Google! You might find solutions out of context related to camera i.e. Intelligent Video Surveillance ;-)

We, at Streametrics believe that online video requires new key performance indicators (KPI) to measure and analyze how video content is consumed. Before thinking of measuring video content and trying to monetize it with video advertising models, or tempting to find the right model of video revenue sharing and royalties with producers and majors, we need to establish what is it that we need to measure! …Why?

Because it is the metrics, not just in terms of traffic but also in terms of engagement that give medias credibility to attract advertisers!
Because it is how people interact with video content that will help advertisers introduce new way of reaching the audience without impacting viewers experience!
Because numbers talk when it’s time to validate the deal!

Dear readers, we have to wake up! Online video metrics are now available to measure, analyze and monetize the success of online video content.
I still see a lot of video play lists with counters that show video views?!? This is the easy part and it is completely biased! Counters measure the page every time it’s loaded without necessarily counting if the video started!

What medias will need to know for understanding how video is consumed and probably what they will need to show to advertisers and producers is more than clicks on play! It’s all about engagement, consumption and how viewers interact with their content. Let me introduce you with new key performance indicators KPI:

Labels: Internet video metrics, Online video metrics, Streametrics, Vstat, Web video metrics

We usually cover the organic side of search marketing here at Web Analytics World but today it's all about Paid Search Marketing (sponsored search or PPC). Below we have compiled a list of some of the ultimate Paid search marketing tips and strategies:

• Marketing Sherpa: Landing Page Handbook
• Clickz: Affiliate PPC Brand Bidding: Right For You?
• Clickz: PPC Search: Create, Influence, Capture, and Harvest Demand
• Ryan Gibson: Starting from Scratch: A Paid Search Primer
• Wilson Web: Paid Search Strategies for High Cost, Slow Conversion Products
• e-Consultancy: Five reasons why you need a paid search strategy
• Clear Saleing: 6 Advanced Paid Search Strategies used by the Internet Retailer top 500
• Search Engine Guide: Important Steps In 2008 Paid Search Planning
• Search Engine Guide: Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign
• John Ellis: Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers
• 10e20: Paid Search For Big Sites
• My Agent of Value: Combining Organic and Paid Search Strategies
• e-Consultancy: Paid Search Marketing (PPC) - Best Practice Guide
• Chief Marketer: Your Brand and Paid Search: What You Need to Know
• SEOMoz: 17 Most Common PPC Mistakes Web Marketers Make
• SEOMoz: Create Your Own "Bullet Train" to PPC Optimization
• High Rankings: 5 Keyword Strategies for B2B PPC Campaigns
• Search Engine Land: Eight Essentials For Crafting Killer Paid Search Ad Copy
• Search Engine Land: The Anatomy Of Compelling Search Ad Copy
• Marketing Pilgrim: 9 Cost-Effective PPC Branding Strategies
• Vertical Leap UK: Load-time can now influence your Adwords quality score
• SE Round Table: Paid Search Fundamentals
• PPC Hero: Selling PPC Services: How to Present PPC to C-Level Executives
• Shoe Money: Google Adwords Arrow Trick To Increase Click Through Rates
• James Zolman: NUDE: AdWords Keyword Data Exposed With Google Analytics!
• Enquiro: CONTIKI - Geo Targeting Increases Ad Campaign Effectiveness

Have a resource that should be added? Leave a comment and I will review it

Labels: ppc

Labels: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

MarketingSherpa is set to host it's 8th annual Selling Online Subscriptions Summit on May 12-13, 2008 in New York City. The unique thing about this conference is that there will be no vendor presentations, rather companies who have succeeded in online subscription selling and will be sharing their case studies/trade secrets.

Register before March 15th and receive $600 Off

This year’s Summit offers:

• Advanced Case Studies that focus on successful strategies for a softening economy, subscription building forecasting, and more the economy of paid search - detailed and practical information that even the most seasoned veteran can use to increase subscription sales.
• Panel discussions on revenue strategies to support changing business models and Web 2.0 strategies for acquisition and retention.
• New Expert Online Subscription Marketing Package which includes Landing Page Optimization for Subscriptions Certification Course, a 6-session online and on demand course proven to help you increase conversions.

Case Studies will be provided on the topics of A/B Testing, Paid Search, Landing Page Testing, Segmentation/Usability by the following companies:

• Magazines.com
• ShareFile
• American Greetings
• Informa
• TheLadders.com

Labels: SEM Conferences

Searchme lets you see what you're searching for. As you start typing, categories appear that relate to your query. Choose a category, and you'll see pictures of web pages that answer your search. You can review these pages quickly to find just the information you're looking for, before you click through.

Searchme Intro:



Searchme Demo

Labels: SEO

comScore released a new study in which they claim that people who blog also tend to strongly engage with content at news and entertainment websites. This makes a lot of sense because I would imagine bloggers would look to news/entertainment websites to help motivate their own writing. Additionally, bloggers are the types of people who spend longer than normal sessions on the Internet, therefore having more potential to browse to news/entertainment websites. Among the top websites bloggers engage with include Digg.com and PerezHilton.com

For purposes of this study, heavy bloggers are defined as the heaviest 20
percent of blog visitors who account for 84 percent of all the time spent on
blogging sites.Given that blogs can often be described as both informative and
entertaining, it is not surprising that heavy users of blog sites are more likely than the average Internet user to consume news and entertainment content online. They are significantly more likely to consume content at politics and general news sites, and also consume a disproportionate amount of content on entertainment news, humor, movies and photo-sharing sites.

Highest Site Engagement among Heavy Bloggers (Excluding Sites in the Blogs Category) January 2008 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University LocationsSource: comScore Segment Metrix
Category	Composition Index - Page Views*
Total Internet	100
DIGG.COM	358
PEREZHILTON.COM	320
CTVGlobeMedia	310
RapidShare AG	303
DRUDGEREPORT.COM	295
MEGAUPLOAD.COM	288
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM	285
SALON.COM	283
ABCNEWS DIGITAL	278
CollegeHumor Network	270

*Composition Index - Page Views = number of page views among heavy bloggers/number of page views among total Internet audience x 100; Index of 100 represents parity.

Labels: Blogging

Labels: Compete, Facebook, MySpace, Social Networking

Following the release of benchmarking, Google Analytics now has the ability to measure the performance of Audio Ads. Below is a portion of the release from the Google Analytics blog:

We're excited to announce that Google Audio Ads advertisers can now see how their campaign metrics for impressions, ad plays, markets, and CPM correlate with their website traffic data provided by Google Analytics, such as conversions, revenue, and transactions. Customers can see if their audio campaigns resulted in greater amounts of traffic and conversions on a regional basis.

Take a look at the two metrics in the over-time graph in the below screenshot. Audio impressions - the number of times listeners hear your ad at the time it airs - is plotted along with visits. This data helps you correlate the impact of your audio campaign to your website traffic, and decrease the guesswork about offline-to-online ROI.

The Audio Campaign report

The Audio Campaigns report allows you to compare website visits to your Audio Ads campaign metrics, including: impressions, ad plays, markets, cost, and CPM. You can even compare website visits to Audio impressions that your target DMA or market receives. In order to access the Audio Campaign report, you need to have the AdWords account containing your Audio Ads campaign linked to your Google Analytics account.

To access the Audio Campaigns report from within your Analytics account, please follow these steps:

• Sign in to your Analytics account at http://www.google.com/analytics.
• Select the profile that contains the website related to your audio ad.
• Click Traffic Sources.
• Select AdWords, then Audio Campaigns.

If you've linked your AdWords account to Analytics, you can also access the report from the Analytics tab in your AdWords account.

Labels: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

Here are few pictures and videos of the Omniture Summit 2008 in Salt Lake City including a one minute clip of Lance Armstrong's keynote.


Lance Armstrong - Omniture Summit 2008


Omniture Summit - Grand Ball Room

Labels: Omniture, Web Analytics

Omniture, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMTR), today announced that the technologies of TouchClarity and Offermatica have been combined into a single solution and will be marketed as Omniture Test&Target™. The new name underscores the need for marketers to have a toolkit of testing and targeting solutions that include A/B testing, multivariate testing (MVT), segment-based targeting and one-to-one behavioral targeting to optimise conversion for each customer interaction.

Omniture Test&Target puts the power and control in the hands of marketers to not only test and target traditional content including text, graphics, creative and navigation, but also richer information formats such as widgets, video and streaming media that are becoming an integral part of today’s customer experience.

“Omniture Test&Target has returned our autonomy and put our productivity back in our own hands – we now have up to 30 tests running at any one time and we’ve witnessed the conversion rates on some of our product category pages rise by up to 15 percent,” said Peter Ahl, CEO, Serenata Flowers. “In terms of overall sales, we’ve witnessed a lift in revenue of four percent. Considering the relatively low cost to generate this lift, we believe it represents a compelling return on investment. For ease of use, speed and flexibility, we believe Omniture provides the best online testing platform on the market.”

Labels: Omniture, Web Analytics

Omniture, Inc. (NASDAQ:OMTR), today announced that Adobe Systems and Baidu.com have joined the Omniture Genesis Network, which has now reached 130 partners. Omniture SiteCatalyst will now provide greater measurement of rich media for applications built with Adobe® Flash®, Adobe Flex™ and Adobe AIR™. The Baidu.com partnership will provide integration of Baidu.com search advertising metrics in Omniture SearchCenter to increase the performance of online campaigns. Genesis provides one of the most expansive offerings of marketing applications, ecommerce platforms, and technology integrations available for online business optimization.

“Joining the Omniture Genesis Network is another step in the collaborative multi-year history of Adobe and Omniture,” said Michele Turner, vice president of product marketing and product management, platform business unit at Adobe. “Omniture SiteCatalyst 14 expands capabilities in rich Internet applications built with Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex and those deployed on Adobe AIR, enabling companies to more quickly and easily measure rich media usage and incorporate the data into their overall online strategy. We look forward to expanding our relationship with Omniture to find more ways to add value to our customers."

“This strategic partnership with Omniture will enable Baidu.com advertisers to increase the performance of their online campaigns,” said Haoyu Shen, Baidu.com's vice president of business operations. “By integrating our search metrics with Omniture, online marketers will not only be able to measure campaigns but also improve conversion by making the end-to-end search experience more relevant. Companies tapping the Chinese market will now be able to reach Baidu.com customers more easily.”

In addition to the technology alliances being announced today, the global Omniture Genesis partner network benefits customers through a broad set of applications that integrate with Omniture solutions including ad networks, ad serving, content management, CRM, ecommerce, email marketing, site search, media, mobile, rich media, search marketing, site optimization, search engine optimization, user experience and many others. Because Genesis is a “Plug and Play” solution, it reduces complexity by automating the integration of marketing applications and provides a single dashboard for customers to measure marketing results and take action.

Labels: Baidu, Omniture, Web Analytics

Labels: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

Labels: Omniture, Web Analytics

• How to Drive Adoption of Your SFA Solution: Get your employees to embrace SFA with these tips.
• Developing an Effective Sales Process for the Enterprise: Use this tutorial to learn how to create sales processes that work.
• Sales Force Management System: This reference from Wikipedia offers an in-depth look at SFA.
• Keeping Pace with the Sales Force Evolution: Learn how to stay on top with this article.

Tools

• NetSuite CRM+: Manage your customers and sales team with this solution.
• Nsite Quote and Proposal Management: Automate the proposal process with this software.
• Salesforce.com: Salesforce.com offers solutions for SFA, relationship management and customer service.
• Oracle Siebel CRM On Demand: Oracle Corp.'s subscription-based service covers sales, service, marketing and contact operations.

• SFA: Cost Considerations: Make your SFA solution work with your budget using this white paper's advice.
• Sales Effectiveness Through Knowledge: See how knowledge can help you take your sales to the next level.
• Turning Sales Into Science: See how the sales 2.0 era is being ushered in.
• Sales Force Automation FAQ: Learn the basics of SFA in this article.

Case Studies

• Endeca Extends Salesforce Throughout Enterprise for Accurate Reports, Forecasts and Company Tracking: Find out how this company transitioned from its outgrown contact-management software to a thriving sales-force-management solution.
• Portal to the Future: Postini Increases Productivity Tenfold Without Increasing Staffing Levels: With an SFA system, Postini got better productivity and faster response times.
• Case Study: Sales Force Automation with PocketPC: See how this company found an efficient way to collect sales information from its distributors.
• Beyond Contact Management: Learn about how this carpet maker uses mobile software to process orders.

Books

• "Sales Automation Done Right": Explore every aspect of SFA and learn how to improve its effectiveness with this book.
• "Perormance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business": This book will teach you how to use dashboard technology for automation and optimization.

Source: http://www.insidecrm.com/features/ultimate-sfa-guide-030408/

Labels: salesforce