The definition of what an online 'scenario' is depends on whether you ask a techie or a marketer. Bryan Eisenberg recently wrote an outstanding article on this subject, "What Exactly is a Scenario?" that outlines the different views on what a scenario is and the key components of the persuasion scenario.

In his article, the 'techie' definition of a scenario "is a series of steps a visitor must take to complete a funnel process", and the marketer thinks "in terms of narrating how a visitor could participate in a conversion action".

Continue reading "The Definition and Importance of a 'Scenario'" »

Update 7/12/2006: With the introduction of the Google Analytics "AdWords Analysis" report, the methodology described below is no longer necessary to track AdWords Ad Creatives using A/B Split tests. Instead, please refer to our post about using the new AdWords Analysis report (be sure to scroll closer to the bottom of the article to learn about tracking AdWords ad creatives using A/B split tests).

No matter the goal of your Google Adwords campaign one thing is always necessary; constant optimization! While Google's "Auto Tagging" option is an easy way to get basic tracking data, with just a little more effort it is possible to take your tracking to a higher level!

By adding additional tracking codes to your referral URL link and turning off auto tagging, you are able to drill down even further in Google Analytics, allowing you to make the most out of every advertising dollar.

UTM, which stands for Urchin Traffic Monitor, are tags which are added to the end of your destination URL in order to add specific data to your paid tracking within Google Analytics. These tags identify such variables as campaign, source, medium, content, and search term.

Currently with the Google AdWords "Auto Tagging" feature the utm_content variable identifies each ad by the first line of text. This can cause problems if you are trying to implement A/B split testing because Auto-Tagging simply passes the ad text headline to the utm_content variable. This makes it impossible to differentiate tracking data from two different ads that share the same headline.

Continue reading "How to Use Google Analytics to Measure Google AdWords Ad Creative using A/B Split Tests:" »

Why is conversion rate (or the percentage of your traffic that completes a purchase) being bandied about like it is the new panacea for web analytics? Is it really all that great? The first thing to look at is there are three main ways to increase the revenue coming from your website: increase the traffic, increase spending level, or increase the conversion rate.

The main reason to increase traffic is the assumption that the percentage of people who make purchases will remain stable and so more traffic means more people making purchases, which isn't always the case. Most ways for increasing traffic cost money: pay-per-click campaigns, banner ads, promotions, public relation campaigns, etc.

Increasing the level of spending entails getting your current customers to spend more. Sounds great, doesn't it? This can be done in a variety of ways like packaging services or products or cross-selling.

Continue reading "The Conversion Rate Hype: What's the Real Deal?" »

The ad:tech 1MPACT show is cris-crossing the USA and I am looking forward to the Atlanta show on Tuesday 3/14. Jim Sterne, is going to be the keynote and is a big reason I am looking forward to this one-day show.

According to his bio on the 1MPACT site:

Sterne has written six books on Internet advertising, marketing and customer service including, "Web Metrics; Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success." Sterne is the producer of the annual Emetrics Summit and is the Founding President of the Web Analytics Association.

I will be arriving early and staying afterwards for a couple of hours so if anyone would like to get together and talk Google Analytics, please send me a quick note.

Interesting article on the web analytics market (focusing on the market after Google Analytics made it's Nov 14 debut) from yesterday's edition of Investor's Business Daily.

The market for web analytics software is projected to grow north of present numbers according to the article:

Web analytics software emerged in the 1990s. The software helps companies learn just who is visiting their Web sites and just what those visitors are doing on those sites. The software helps companies measure how well their Web sites are meeting corporate goals. It also aims to help companies improve their online sales and ad campaigns.

As more businesses seek to bolster their Web presence, the Web analytics market is poised to grow. U.S. sales of such software and services are expected to rise to nearly $1 billion in 2009 from $565 million this year, says Jupiter Research.

Continue reading "Investor's Business Daily article explores web analytics market" »