2011

It’s Salary Review Time! Online; Social; Designers; Developers

November 10, 2011 By DG 2 Comments

Back in August we posted on the “average advertised salaries” of a range of USA located jobs based on their job title. (We will be publishing our very own comprehensive UK Salary index next month)

So what do our updated graphics tell us about the state of the job market? Well, despite a general economic backdrop that is being described by almost all “experts” and media commentators as so hopeless that I’m sure many people struggle to get out of their beds in the morning… this sector appears to be holding up fairly well.

We have updated the 6 popular job titles and used the analysis tool on “indeed” (indeed.com is an online job advert aggregator). We included the “Personal Assistant” job title simply as a “sense check” – it is of course not directly related to online/internet marketing or website creation.

The figures are based on a snapshot of live advertised salaries for jobs with these words in their title. It would appear that Indeed “scale up” contract rates to an equivalent annual salary – the figures for jobs such as Web Developer may be influenced by this more than others however it also reflects the high value being placed on those with key skillsets. The title “Copywriter” will have pulled in a number of jobs that might not be directly digital/internet marketing related however we have included it simply because high quality content is so important for almost all organizations as they seek to spread their “digital PR” messages.

In summary it would appear that SEO experts, Designers and Developers are holding their ground very well. It will be interesting to revisit this again in a few months to check if the drops in some of the other levels will continue or reverse.

How are these Online Marketing and Developer salaries trending?

The graph shows trends of salaries as measured against Indeed’s index of all job titles.

Web Developer Jobs, Web Design and SEO Specialist Jobs have held up well in terms of salary. It would be reasonable to assume that increasingly job seekers will look to increase their skill levels and experience in these growth areas and yet the supply/demand equation does not yet appear to have created any downward salary pressure even in these challenging economic times. Perhaps the increasingly complex nature of these jobs and the move for many organizations to hire the best talent on a contract or short term basis is helping to keep the trends on an uptick …. If you are directly involved in the industry we would very much welcome your views and insights. You can post a comment here or on Facebook or tweet us @waworld using the hashtag #MarketingSalaries.

Filed Under: online marketing salaries

Build it and they will come – five steps to reduce forum spam

November 7, 2011 By Angela Wilkinson Leave a Comment

Since joining the Web Analytics World team I’ve had the opportunity to work on a number of different websites, from existing ones getting a revamp to brand new start ups and websites with forums attached. I’ve been a member of forums in the past but this year has seen me join the admin team on a forum and it’s been a steep but most excellent and enjoyable learning curve.

Forums, or any online community or message board, allows like-minded, or even opposing, individuals who have a shared interest to: discuss and share information related to that interest, gain solutions to problems from those with differing experiences, alert each other to breaking news and join in on off-topic chat.

As we looked at in last month’s post on comment spam, if you allow web visitors to enter information that can be seen by others or indexed by search engines, you will unfortunately gain your share of spammers. Forums provide more than the opportunity to post just a single comment:

forum members have profile fields (signatures, home pages)
members can post multiple times
members can create image albums, groups
members are able to send private messages to other members.

The spammer or spambot will register as a new forum member and may then:

never complete the registration – you’ll see them as “users awaiting email confirmation”
leave the account dormant
not include any spam links and in fact start to post non-spammy content
include a hyperlink or links in one of the profile fields and perhaps post spammy or non spammy content.

Image of banning reasons on a forum, all spam Dormant accounts can be left as they are for months with no spam links and then, perhaps when it’s anticipated that the forum moderators and admin’s attentions will have moved onto newer members, the account is edited to include links.

Spammers posting non spammy content can, once they’ve built up their posts, then edit their profile to include spam links in the signature (which is then displayed against each of their posts).

This is just a few examples of spam activity but the aim is the same as with comment spam; to increase the linked site’s search engine rank or gain visitors by enticing the forum’s members to click on the links provided.

Don’t waste your time and don’t take it personally

No one wants a perfectly spam free forum if it means that you as the admin or moderator have to spend all your time reviewing every post or new member. Perhaps it may be feasible if you have a small forum, but what about one with over 5,000 members, 20,000 threads and 600, 000 posts? The good news is that there are steps you can take to reduce the level of spammers that post spam, or include profile spam, without spending hours on reviewing profiles and posts.

The majority of the time the spammers are hitting your forum because the member page is in essence a form – a place where they can enter spam. I’ve seen very specialised communities get hit with spammers and bots, who then become non-completes or non active members as they can’t easily post or include spam links on their membership fields.

Where to spend your time

Settings – use your forum’s admin settings against spam

Check out how you are getting users to register as new members. Make full use of captcha and questions designed to catch out spam bots, recently I’ve seen CAPTCHAs where the user has to turn a picture the correct way up, or click and drag the image of a cat out of four random images into a circle. Remember to think to about accessibility if you are using CAPTCHA and provide an alternative interface for users who cannot see the screen.
Look at the user permissions e.g. not allowing new members to have access to their signature field or putting new users first posts into auto moderation until they have achieved a set number that have passed and been published

User search – this is so simple, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought about it earlier! Rather than keeping a manual list of potential spammers, I just run a weekly check on active accounts, sorted in ascended order by number of posts and can scan it quickly for those accounts now featuring signature and home page spam links.
Plug-ins – I have seen a huge reduction in my admin time by the use of StopForumSpam and GlowHost’s Spam-O-Matic. As the first line of defence they make for excellent gatekeepers and the StopForumSpam forum provides first rate advice and support. As a new forum admin it is understandable that I am all sparkly-eyed and enthusiastic about new shiny helpful tools but even our Technical expert/legend has been impressed at their effectiveness.
The Community – your members are against spam too, so encourage users to flag posts that are spammy or alert you if they are receiving spam private messages from other forum members.
Moderators – Use your Forum Moderators to act on reports of spam by members and to take action when they spot spammer activity themselves.

Final thoughts

My tactics have improved as I’ve got more knowledgeable about forum spam and I’m sure they will have evolved/changed by this time next year but there are two valuable lessons which I don’t see changing:

Trust my instinct – I’ve spent all my life working with people, and even though I’m just reading posts…the user behaviour which doesn’t sit right, results in a spammer identification over 90% of the time.
I’m human – I won’t ever get the forum 100% free from spam and I will make a very occasional mistake. It’s not a disaster if I ban someone who shouldn’t be – bans can be lifted. So I just have to ensure that members have another route to reach our admin team e.g. via contact form.

We may alter our tactics in the future but so far we’re happy with how it’s working. How about you? – We’re keen to hear about your experience with forum spam and any hints or tips that you can share with our readers.

Filed Under: Blogging, Spam

Google Reader – the shunned social community

November 3, 2011 By Angela Wilkinson Leave a Comment

Unlike my usual “where’s the catch” outlook when faced with Google+ or Facebook changes, my initial reaction was positive when the news came out that Google Reader was getting updated. Reader was getting a new design and being brought closer together with Google+, sounds good.

However I’m not an expert Reader user; yes I’ll visit it regularly during the week and I couldn’t manage to scan read or store the amount of information that I do using another tool. It is the easiest way I know to scan read and store lots of information from many blogs and feeds, my on line library of all manner of articles from arts & craft through to anti-spam measures.

My initial, “ah that makes sense getting to integrate Google+ for sharing”, gave way to “doh! there’s the catch” and then “oh darn it, that sucks” when I realised that:

the sharing activities like friending, following and sharing were going to be “retired”
there was a whole world of communities sharing news and stories via Google Reader
for countries like where social networks are banned, Reader was essentially a news feed and social network

So basically, as described by Google Operating System

Having now read more articles about Google Reader, I understand the value that users gained from Reader and appreciate why so many are upset at these changes. Thanks goes to Sarah Perez from TechCrunch, it was your article that got me reading more about the reaction to the planned changes.

What is harder to understand is why Google is forcing sharing through Google+. Yes Google wants to focus on fewer areas but how does shutting down sharing help that, or is this the first step in “retiring” the Reader? It’s worth noting at this point that I’m not even going to talk about the new design, (it’s going to take some getting used to, and I miss the colours), so I’m including this link to a review by Brian Shih, ex-PM on Google Reader. Check out the updated and comments at the end of the article to see how to share via Google+ without publicly +1-ing everything.

Google made it clear from the first announcement that they expected losses as some may not want to continue with the Product and flagged that they would be extending the Reader’s export feature; allowing users to take their data with them. But I’ve realised that Google has missed the point: these users have years of experience invested in using Google Reader and the sharing networks/communities that they have helped grow…and more importantly, these users don’t want to go and are taking action.

Some are marching to occupy Google Reader, some are looking at other readers, Francis Cleary is creating HiveMined (an RSS feed with some social bits) and the rest of us are are looking at the best ways to share both via and avoiding Google+.

I’ve also joined the 14,000+ who’ve signed the Save Google Reader Petition.

**If you are trying to work out how to find your previously shared items – check out Alex Chitu’s post**

Filed Under: Google, Google+, RSS

Google Secures User Data: Mixed Messages, Mixed Feelings

October 31, 2011 By David Fothergill 2 Comments

Google recently announced changes which will see them redirect all logged in users to https://www.google.com. The reason given for this change given by Google is that it will make search data more secure for it’s users, ensuring private data remains that way.

From a web analytics point of view the main impact is that no keyword referral data will be passed for organic searches in the above circumstances. Although Google played down the impact, stating that this would affect less than 10% of data, there was much uproar from the whole SEM community (I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many comments on an GA blog post or reaction blog posts), with much of the ire being directed towards what has been dubbed a highly hypocritical move: not applying the same user protection to keyword data for users clicking on AdWords ads. If user data protection is priority number one, then Google should have the courage to stick to it’s principles, especially when money is involved.

The reason for doing this is obvious – a great selling point of advertising through AdWords is the ability to accurately measure ROI and optimize performance at keyword level. To take this away would surely lead to a huge drop in revenue from the cornerstone of Google’s financial strength.

This lack of consistency is at the root of the frustration for the SEO community: by not committing fully to the cause which they give as the reason for the change, it clearly shows that Google is merely paying lip service to need to to show they are serious privacy issues. The move has all the hallmarks of a compromise; finding a middle ground to keep everyone within the Google team happy.

I specifically choose to say ‘reason’ rather than ‘defence’ in previous paragraph – in the big picture this is a positive move as you cannot deny that any move towards increasing the security of data around the web is hugely important. For anyone outside the SEM industry, it would be hard to find any negatives to this change. Ill feeling at this point from a minority voice is surely collateral damage that was expected and accepted before the changes was publicly announced.

With my web analytics hat back in place, I have to draw the conclusion that this change merely pays lip service to the idea that they are prioritizing the protection of user data.

This is a real shame, but I get the impression that no amount of outcry will change the stance Google has taken.

Change happens all the time and at the end of the day the best thing to do is to accept it, adapt and continue to do the best job possible with what data we do have. As Stephen Hawking wisely said “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”.

Filed Under: analytics, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, SEM, Web Analytics

Tracking on-site campaigns with Google Analytics: Part 1 – The pros and cons of In-Page Analytics

October 27, 2011 By Lukas Oldenburg Leave a Comment

Your homepage is usually your most important landing page. But it is not an easy task to find out how the page’s teasers or “on-site” or “internal campaigns” are performing, especially for content-heavy websites. In the first part of this series on how to track on-site campaigns, we will look at some general issues and then show you 5 pros and 9 cons for Google Analytics’ “In-Page Analytics”.

I work for a company that has a homepage clogged with teasers and links. It looks like this:

Image of e-fellows.net website

The teasers change once a week, so every week there’s the question: How well did each teaser perform?

If it were teaser links in an email campaign, the solution would be easy: Just tag all the links with your campaign parameters, and make sure your email service provider offers click tracking.

Why shouldn’t I use regular campaign tags?

Some people also use these normal campaign tags (utm_source etc.) in their on-site campaigns. That is not recommended because you lose the original source of the visitor as soon as she clicks on an on-site campaign link: The original source gets overridden by the parameters of that link.

Paid solutions: Mouse Movement and Click Heat Maps

So what is the solution? You can of course resort to full-scale click-tracking tools like CrazyEgg or PicNet Mouse Eye Tracking (both are paid solutions, PicNet offers a free trial on some pages). Be aware though that this means putting a lot more Javascript on your page which often needs IT buy-in (often hard to get), can impact the page loading time, and you have to use yet another tool. I also think it’s a little obtrusive to track each and every click and mouse movement of your visitor even if they are not (easily) individually identifiable.

Analyzing teaser performance with Google Analytics

You’re not lost if you just want to stick to Google Analytics. In my opinion, there are several proven methods to analyze on-site teaser performance:

In-Page Analytics (a.k.a. “Website Overlay”)
Event Tracking or Virtual Pageviews (actually two methods, but they work similarly)
URL parameters that specify the referring link (like http:\\www.mydomain.com/article?ref=home)

All have their pros and cons. To spoil the show, I use In-Page Analytics for some purposes and Event Tracking for others. I used URL parameters for a while, but almost entirely stopped doing so because it makes reporting a lot more complex and causes other issues. But depending on your goals and your resources, all three solutions may be viable options for you.

In this series on how to track on-site campaigns, we’ll look at all three methods in detail. This first post will focus on In-Page Analytics – a powerful and often neglected tool that is available out of the box and can help tremendously on most websites, although it also has many downsides especially when you have dynamic content, outbound links or links to subdomains. To read the full article, visit “Tracking on-site campaigns” with Google Analytics in Web Analytics World’s guides pages.”

Filed Under: analytics, Google Analytics, Web Analytics, Web Analytics Implementation, web analytics tools, Website Optimization

Website – Recommended Legal Requirements

October 24, 2011 By Irene Bodle 2 Comments

Following on from my previous article on the mandatory legal requirements for UK websites, I recommend adding the following non-mandatory information to your website.

Terms of Use/Disclaimer

Set out the rules applicable to persons using and accessing the goods and services on your website. For example state who may access the website e.g. consumers, businesses, over 18s.

You should also aim to limit your liability for information on the website. For example state which law applies, your limits on liability etc. However, please note that you cannot exclude or limit certain liabilities in particular circumstances – particularly in relation to consumers, injuries caused by or defects in your goods and services.

Copyright Notice

Protect the information on your website by inserting a copyright notice “© company name 2010. All rights reserved.” Without this notice, it may be difficult in some countries to take any action against a copyright infringement.

Mandatory Legal Requirements - a shortened list is shown below, click to see the full mandatory requirements

About Us/Contact Information
Registration under the Data Protection Act
Privacy Policy
Disabled Access to your Website
Trade Marks and Logos
Copyright
Online Payment

Filed Under: Internet Law, Web Design

How To Use Internet Video Successfully

October 20, 2011 By Andy Havard 4 Comments

Online marketers across the web have been using Internet video in their marketing strategies to try and boost their SEO, increase their conversion rates and improve traffic to their website. Although, just because they are attempting to use Internet video in this way, doesn’t mean they’re being successful. So, how do you use Internet video successfully? The following article explores the real ins and outs of Internet video, and how you can use it to benefit your marketing goals for your brand, business or blog.

Understand The Nature of Video

In order to create and market Internet video successfully you have to understand what makes Internet video tick. Why is Internet video popular as a medium? Why do online users watch over 2 billion YouTube Internet videos a day? The answer is quite simple, it’s because audiences enjoy video.

Video by nature is an incredibly engaging form of media. It has a fantastic ability to convey complicated messages and communicate information simply and efficiently with its viewing audience. Audiences find video content very easy to relate to, connecting with the on screen activity taking place between real individuals and vibrant animations. It is these qualities that video possesses that makes it such a popular and easily accessible medium to universal online audiences.

Research What Videos Work Well

Internet videos don’t automatically receive a popular and interactive online audience. In fact many Internet videos fall completely flat and become virtually unmarketable. If you want to use Internet video successfully you’re going to need to research what videos actually work well online.

Online users turn to video for two reasons; for entertainment and for education. The Internet is rich with instructional, how-to videos, giving audiences quick access to information they can understand easily. If you can create a video that can cater to the needs of audiences in your niche, and help them to better understand or better use a service/product you’ll be able to ensure your Internet video begins to receive a receptive and appreciative audience.

Viral videos ranging from exciting flash mobs, engaging interactive videos and peculiar dogs on skateboards, all come to receive such widespread viral statuses due to their entertaining content. Internet users love to be entertained, whether it’s amazing them with creativity, making them laugh or baffling them with magic. If your Internet video can entertain a wide audience, or just captivate your niche, then you’ll be rapidly putting your video on the track to online success.

Market Your Video Socially

One of the biggest ways to generate a successful Internet video is to embrace socially active websites. Sharing and promoting your video on social media sites like Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn are great ways of getting your Internet video a high viewership and a large abundance of interaction. The more interaction you can stir up around your content the more shares, Likes and Comments it will receive. If you can ‘wow’ a social media audience you’ll be able to get those users passing on your content to their audiences, where your video could reach an almost limitless social audience.

Don’t forget, social medias aren’t the only social hotspot for Internet video. Video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo are full of users Liking/Disliking, Commenting, Video Responding and Subscribing to all kinds of Internet video content. Engaging with the social video communities on these websites will work wonders for the social marketing of your video, and the interaction it receives can even help it climb up the YouTube and Google search engine rankings.

Track Your Videos Performance

The only way you can achieve success with Internet video is to determine and measure what ‘success’ actually means to your marketing campaign. Are you trying to boost your social media Likes and Followers? Are you trying to increase your search engine ranking? Or are you trying to improve your conversion rates? The only way to know the true success of your Internet video is to track it.

If you’re determining the success of your strategy via video views, geographical brand awareness and directing viewers to your video content, then free video analytics from the likes of YouTube Insight and Tube Mogul are the best tools for the job.

Social media growth can be an essential piece of data to track for brands, businesses and bloggers as it can help to show brand awareness, audience interaction and how many users are talking about what you do to other users. Great ways of tracking this type of data is through Facebook Insight and Hoot Suite. Facebook Insight is a quick, informative free tool, whereas Hoot Suite will cost you a few pennies for its very efficient service.

Perhaps the most important piece of data to track if you’re all about ecommerce and increasing traffic generation, is the analytics of your website. Google Analytics is one of the best free tools for locating this information, although it has just released a very extensive, and very expensive Premium package for larger companies. Google Analytics allows you to track traffic to your site, where users found your website, how long they stay on your page, and how many leads turn into real transactions.

Only by monitoring the performance of your Internet video on a regular basis can you really know if it’s becoming successful. Keep a careful eye on the goals your video has set out to achieve, and allow time to make amendments to your content if your tracking is showing up some marketing red flags.

Summary

By understanding the true nature of Internet video, by learning what videos work well online, and by marketing it on the most prosperous and engaging platforms, you can make your Internet video a real success on the web. However, only by managing a thorough and consistent tracking schedule will you be able to determine if your video strategy is staying on track, and how it’s progressing towards your much sought after goals and marketing targets.

Filed Under: Video Analytics, Video Optimization