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The ROI Revolution Blog
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Google Analytics: Get More Out of It
February 28, 2007
For home repairs and odd jobs, I pretty much just need a hammer and a screwdriver. Yup, that's it. I can make those two tools do just about everything I need. Maybe that hammer isn't supposed to be used to make that stubborn jigsaw puzzle piece fit, but by golly it's GOING to fit in that spot!
Google Analytics is kind of similar. If you know what you are doing, you can wring pretty much any piece of information you could ever want or need out of it.
One of the main aspects that allow you such a wide range of flexibility is the Analysis Options feature. Sadly, this super-cool feature is normally underused. To access the Analysis Options, just click on the little purple icon (shown here) 
next to the information you want to know more about.
Posted by Ben Ronnenberg, PPC Specialist at 9:25 AM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology
Google Analytics Link Tagging 102
February 19, 2007
In this article, I'd like to take a look at how to choose the best language for your tagging efforts. With manual tagging you pick variables to help you tag: Source, Medium, Campaign, and if you're tracking paid keywords, Term.
You might want to reference the previous article that Michael Harrison wrote on how to tag, Google Analytics Link Tagging 101.
How do you choose what to call these variables? Whatever you choose, it is imperative that you are consistent. When you are tagging a banner ad, do not list the Medium as 'banner' for one ad and 'bannerad' for another. This will prevent you from being able to make the comparisons that really make tagging worthwhile in the first place.
Posted by Ben Ronnenberg, PPC Specialist at 2:32 PM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology
Yahoo! Stores and Google Analytics: Huh, That's Funny
February 14, 2007
ROI Revolution has worked with a lot of different clients over time, and we often get people with Yahoo! Stores who call us up because they have noticed some problems.
See, the way Google Analytics interacts with a Yahoo! Store prevents referral data from the Yahoo! Store from correctly flowing into Google Analytics.
You may have been using Google Analytics on your Yahoo! Store for some time and not noticed anything wrong right away. As it turns out, there are a few holes that need to be filled in. It just so happens that those 'holes' represent some of the most important information that Google Analytics can provide for you: referral data that is associated with actual products and transaction amounts.
Posted by Ben Ronnenberg, PPC Specialist at 10:27 AM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology
Tracking PayPal Transactions in Google Analytics
February 13, 2007
We've had a lot of people enrolled in our Google Analytics Quick-Start Courses asking about PayPal. We've helped a few of our clients track PayPal e-commerce within Google Analytics, thanks to the Payment Data Transfer function and a bit of scripting on the back-end.
This method has only been tested with Buy Now buttons, and in all fairness, isn't much more than a hack. There are a couple of drawbacks. Because you cannot tag PayPal pages with the Google Analytics JavaScript, you will not have accurate funnel data for your e-commerce conversion goal. All converting visitors will leave your site (and move to PayPal) before coming back and registering their transaction. This will also result in an artificial hike in your total visits. That being said, it gets PayPal transaction data into Google Analytics, and is also relatively easy for those who are familiar with HTML, scripting, and general web development. Not everyone is going to understand this stuff, and if you find the whole mess a little too much, we're happy to help out with one of our Google Analytics support plans. Otherwise, read on and learn about how to track your PayPal transactions in Google Analytics.
Posted by Michael Harrison, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 7:00 PM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Technology, Tracking
Campaign ROI Calculation Spreadsheet
February 7, 2007
Click on the image to see the full report
*NOTE: This article is out of date. Please visit the updated article here.
One of the major problems with using Google Analytics is that it does not yet allow you to input cost data for your non-AdWords sources. While there are several ways to go about doing this manually, we've come up with a quick, simple tool you can use to help speed the process along.
Posted by Shawn Purtell, Analytics and Optimization Specialist at 6:54 PM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Improving Conversion, Reports
Defining Bounce Rate
February 6, 2007
It is easy to take certain words and phrases for granted until something happens to make you question it, kinda like this old joke back from 4th grade:
"(sniff) My nose is running."
"Oh, yeah? Where's it running TO? Haha!"
Ok, that was much funnier in the 4th grade, trust me. Anyways, another word that I have been taking for granted is 'bounce'. This was brought to my attention when several people who are enrolled in our Google Analytics Quick-Start Course asked us about 'bounce' and 'bounce rate'.
Wikipedia defines a bounce as occurring "when a website visitor immediately leaves a website after viewing only a single page...The Bounce Rate for a website is the number of web site visitors who visit only a single page of a website per session divided by the total number of website visitors."
Posted by Meredith Smith at 12:46 PM
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Filed under: Analytics
Tagged as: Analytics Basics
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