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The ROI Revolution Blog

Analytics

Upcoming Google Analytics Seminar LIVE in Atlanta, GA, Apr. 14-15

February 3, 2010

Join fellow Google Analytics peers in learning how to use and implement Analytics this spring in Atlanta, Georgia, April 14-15.

Wednesday, April 14th, the Introduction & User Training day is designed for the beginner in Google Analytics and is primarily for non-technical users such as marketers and analysts. It is designed to give a broad and solid introduction to the reporting features of Google Analytics. A large part of the day focuses on the reports available and how to use them. The intent is to present reports, explain what they mean and how they might be used with a site. While covering the reports, the various tools (the calendar, different chart views, tabs, etc.) are explained in context.

Thursday, April 15th, the Advanced Technical Implementation day is primarily for the technical user who installs and configures Google Analytics. Familiarity with JavaScript, HTML, and cookie management is assumed.

Location: Courtyard Atlanta Vinings, 2857 Paces Ferry Road SE, Atlanta, GA 30339

Cost: $499 each day or $898 for both days (a savings of $100 for attending both days!). For attending a session you'll receive a $50 AdWords credit (so you'd receive $100 in AdWords credit for attending both sessions; limit 2 per company).

Agenda: Instruction begins each day at 9am (with registration at 8:45am to get your training materials, the seat of your choice and coffee!) and goes until 5pm with a one hour break at noon for lunch on your own. Both sessions feature multiple question and answer sessions. These seminars are officially sponsored by Google, so you can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for Google Analytics.

See what previous attendees had to say about the in-person seminars:

Keep Reading »

Custom Variables in Google Analytics

February 2, 2010

Last fall Google announced the release of the much anticipated Custom Variables in Google Analytics. Previously the only out of the box way to segment visitors on your site using custom metrics was to use the User Defined variable. While the User Defined method was useful for segmenting traffic into members vs non members, and for things like Michael's Exact Keyword Tracking script, Analytics users requested more options, customizations, and more control. Well, Google listened.

Unlike the User Defined variable, the Custom Variables allow you to determine the scope of the visitor engagement. Basically that means in addition to setting just a visitor level segment, you can also set session level segments, which will persist while the visitor is active on the site, and page level segments, which correspond to pageviews and events on the site. This allows you to get much more detailed with the information you're gathering and storing in the custom variable. For example, you could separate different sections of the site by using the page level scope, or you could track if a visitor has completed a particular action during their session with the session level scope.

Keep Reading »

Updated: Urchin 6 Demonstration Webinar

January 5, 2010

We've updated our Urchin 6 Demonstration webinar to include examples of Urchin's CPC integration (AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing), tracking and reporting for the next presentation on Tuesday, January 12th at 2:00pm ET.

During this 35-40 minute webinar we'll be reviewing a few of Urchin's signature features along with pricing and upgrade information. The webinar will be conducted online and over the phone for your convenience (this is a live event, no recordings will be available). The presentation will be followed by Q&A, so don't miss out on the chance to bring your Urchin 6 product questions to the experts!

The updates we'll be going over include:

The Cost Per Click (CPC) Data Import Manager allows you to create CPC Sources. It enables automatic extraction of CPC Campaign Data from AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM). The CPC Sources can be linked to existing profiles and this will enable automatic inclusion of the CPC Data into Urchin reports.

Once the data has been imported, Urchin has the following features to manage your CPC campaigns:

• The Keyword Generation Tool allows you to generate and manage keywords and to see their performance information.
  
• Direct links to AdWords allow you to navigate directly from Urchin to the appropriate screen in your AdWords account.
  
• The Urchin Tag Manager inserts a dynamic keyword insertion tag {keyword} in ad destination URLs. This feature simplifies the URL tagging experience and allows you to seamlessly import AdWords cost data into Urchin.
  
• A CPC Structure group of reports has been added under the Advertisement Optimization section.
  

Join us live by registering for our free Urchin 6 webinar.

Our 8 Most Popular Analytics Posts of 2009

December 29, 2009

The end of the year is a nice time to take a look back over all that was accomplished throughout the year. To that end, I'm going to give you a list of our top 8 Analytics Blog Posts of 2009. As we go through the list, I'll give you a short description of each post as well as any random thoughts I have about the post.

Enjoy the posts and have a Happy New Year!

Keep Reading »

New GA Feature: Annotations

December 8, 2009

Keeping up with the changes on your site can be nearly impossible. Equally challenging is keeping up with those changes in your Google Analytics reports. Yesterday Google announced a new feature called Annotations to help you remember what happened on your site, who did it, and when it happened.

Any user with Google Analytics access can write comments on the over-time graph to indicate any notes they have for that particular event. This will save a lot of time for companies where the tasks are distributed between numerous people, which means you the analyst will no longer have to spend hours figuring out why all your data has changed. Just view the annotations to see if any major updates or changes were made!

In addition to this new feature, Google also released the ability to use the Custom Variables in Advanced Segments and Custom Reports, and the new Tracking Code Setup Wizard. To view more information about these you can visit the Google Analytics blog.

LAST CHANCE To Attend Google™ Analytics Seminar in Charlotte, NC

December 1, 2009

Just 10 Advanced day seats left for the downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, Google Analytics Seminar for Success!

This is it, your last chance to join fellow Google Analytics users in the Charlotte area to learn more about this great tool and ask your questions to qualified experts. Google Seminars for Success is officially sponsored by Google, you can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for Google Analytics.

Who each day is geared for:

• The Introduction and User Training, on Wednesday, December 9th, is designed for the beginner in Google Analytics and is primarily for non-technical users such as marketers and analysts. A large part of the day focuses on the reports available and how to use them. The intent is to present reports, explain what they mean and how they might be used with a site. While explaining the reports, the various tools (the calendar, different chart views, tabs, etc.) are explained in context.
• The Advanced Technical Implementation Training, on Thursday, December 10th, is is primarily for the technical user who installs and configures Google Analytics. Familiarity with JavaScript, HTML, and cookie management is assumed.
• You can see all of the content here.

Each seminar costs $499 (or $898 for both sessions, a savings of $100!).

Keep Reading »

Get More from the Navigation Summary and Pivot Tables

Back in August, a tip was released on the Official Google Analytics Blog that allows you to export more than 500 rows from a report. In the post, this technique was used to export more than 500 rows worth of keyword data. Here we often use this technique to export more than 500 rows worth of pages from the Top Content report.

What you may not realize is that you can also use this trick to export more than 10 previous and next pages from the Navigation Summary report. As you may recall, the navigation summary report looks something like this:

In some case, 10 previous and next pages may be just what you need. But what if you want more?

Keep Reading »

Are Long Page Load Times Driving Your Visitors Away?

November 25, 2009

You're always checking on your landing pages, right? You read the blogs, run experiments, and generally try to make your site as user-friendly as possible.

But chances are, if you're reading the ROI Revolution blog, you're on a high speed internet connection. If your webpages are loading in nanoseconds with your T1, how are they faring for those visitors who aren't as lucky as you? You know, the ones on crappy cable modems and DSL and (gasp!) the dreaded dial-up?

Does it matter? Well, it depends. If you're a gaming website or Internet marketing blog, most of your audience is probably on broadband. But if you're running a site for a retirement community in Florida, then my grandma is hitting your Flash-encrusted site in her AOL browser and she's waiting. And waiting. And waiting. She's a patient old gal, my Meemaw, but she's not going to wait all day. She's going to point her browser and her pension elsewhere.

Aside from your visitors, your site's load time is also important to Google. Not only does page load time affect your AdWords Quality Score, but according to Matt Cutts, it's going to be playing a bigger role in the organic search ranking.

So read on to learn how to optimize your landing pages' load times, and maybe make a few bucks off my Meemaw.

Keep Reading »

Funnels on the Fly in Google Analytics

November 18, 2009

So there you are - you're all ready to put more oil in your car, or maybe you're trying to fill your sugar jar. Maybe you're all set to do some ironing, but you need to put some water in the iron. Whatever the reason, it immediately hits you that you'll be needing a funnel - but... OH SNAP!

You don't have one. Or you can't find it. What do you do? You improvise of course!

Quickly and with a MacGyver-like moment of inspiration, you grab a 2-liter bottle from your recycling bin and cut the top off. Phew - that was a close one! Now you won't have oil on your driveway, or water all over your bedroom carpet, and you can go about your day feeling like a secret genius.

Now, a funnel would have still been the best tool for the job, but sometimes it's just not available. What the heck does this have to do with Google Analytics?

Well, Google Analytics has a great built-in Funnel Visualization report, but the problem is that it only works if you have the foresight to build it ahead of time. Funnels are never retroactive - they will only start working the moment you create them. What if you have multiple landing pages? Moreover, what if you only want to look at AdWords traffic? Well, you would need a separate profile in addition to a properly set up funnel, and all of this has to be set up ahead of time.

The problem is that often you won't know what kind of funnel you need until it's too late. Having 20 goals in Google Analytics is great, but you could have a million and it wouldn't make a difference.

The good news is there's hope. That hope is called Advanced Segments. Here's how you do it:

Keep Reading »

7 Common (Newbie) Google Analytics Mistakes

November 9, 2009

Everyone's new at some point right? Well if you're just starting out with Google Analytics, here are a few things you can watch out for to stay ahead of the game.

1. Missing Page Tags
Probably one of the most common mistakes that can cause problems in your Google Analytics data is missing page tags. Yes, the Google Analytics code needs to be on all pages of the site. It doesn't matter that someone in sales told you that "all we need are metrics from one or two pages." You're setting up Google Analytics already, so you might as well do it right and get accurate data. If any of your sites pages are missing the Google Analytics Tracking Code, you'll start seeing self referrals (where the real source information is overwritten with your site information) and a variety of other issues will occur as well. Comb through the site a few times and make sure you aren't skipping any pages and that every page will register with Google Analytics.

2. Mixing urchin.js and ga.js code
For those of you inheriting Google Analytics projects, you may be faced with the task of maintaining or updating a site that was previously tracked using the urchin.js version of the tracking code. Although Google states it is possible to use both the urchin and ga versions of the code as long as they aren't on the same page, my suggestion is to update the entire site to the new ga.js version of the tracking code. Mixing the two can cause some complications that are better left avoided. Save yourself some future headaches and update everything at once. Plus you'll get some cool new features with ga.js anyway, so why wouldn't you want to upgrade?

Keep Reading »

Need Your Own Google Analytics Greasemonkey Script?

I write most of my Greasemonkey scripts with the idea that they will be useful to as many Google Analytics admins and users as possible.

But what if you need a script that's very specific to your business needs? Or maybe you've heard about the Google Analytics API and you'd like to use it to tie your Google Analytics report data with data from your back end. You might even just need some custom modifications to your Google Analytics Tracking Code and general setup to get that one bit of data that can make or break your business.

At ROI Revolution, we offer support plans that can be used for nearly any type of Google Analytics project you can think up. You can also use your support time to have us help you effectively configure optimal tracking for your business goals, get a second opinion on that those thorny configuration issues, or just to audit your Google Analytics account setup and make sure everything's working just as it should.

And if you just want your own Greasemonkey script, we can make that happen too.

Learn more about our Google Analytics technical support offerings.

ROI Revolution Attends 3rd Annual GAAC Summit

October 30, 2009

Every year when autumn rolls around, you'll find the ROI Revolution Analytics Team hard at work planning our strategy. Not for clients (we do that all year 'round, of course) but for the strange and fun activities planned at the annual Google Analytics Authorized Consultant Summit. Last year, it was Rock Band. This year, trampoline dodgeball.

Not all of our time at Google is spent jumping around on trampolines and pegging each other with balls. For four days, Google Partners from around the world convene in Mountain View to talk about the state of analytics and optimization, learn from one another, and push the limit when it comes to supporting our favorite free analytics platform.

Click for a rundown of what we covered...

Keep Reading »

Universal Conversion Code For Google Website Optimizer

October 13, 2009

We've been using a piece of code for a while that makes it easier to set up multiple Google Website Optimizer experiments. These experiments could be one right after the other, or even several experiments running simultaneously. The only requirement is that you should have a single conversion point for all of your Google Website Optimizer experiments. You may be able to adapt this code to situations with multiple conversion points, but that's likely to get rather complicated. So why use this code? Oftentimes your conversion point is a page that you're not really wanting to edit a lot, or may even be able to edit a lot. Instead of having to update your conversion page every time you set up a new experiment, you just add this code to your conversion page once and forget about it. It will register a conversion for all current and future experiments, and will even accommodate visitors who may be part of more than one experiment. So here's the code:

Keep Reading »

Check Landing Page Performance by Browser

October 6, 2009

Every browser is different.* Ask any web designer about their craft and you'll eventually get them talking passionately about these differences. How Internet Explorer 6 renders CSS pseudo-elements (badly) and handles padding and spaces (randomly). How IE7 ignores CSS drop shadows. How floating divs never seem to work the same way in any of the browsers. These peculiarities have driven many a developer to strong drink.

When it comes to testing new webpage designs in Google Website Optimizer, speed can be essential. You want to get the experiment out the door as soon as possible so you can get preliminary data. Sometimes this means that things slip through QA. Browser testing is exceptionally finicky and time consuming. Not every office has a spare Mac sitting around, and with three different versions of Internet Explorer still in wide use—and no easy way to install all three versions on a single PC—it's no small feat to make your page variations all work perfectly in every popular browser.

With just a few Google Analytics Advanced Segments in your arsenal, however, you'll be able to see whether or not your new pages are functioning fine in all the right browsers. Hit the jump for details.

Keep Reading »

Five Google Analytics FAILS

August 21, 2009

Here at the ROI Revolution blog, we usually strive to provide you with helpful how-tos and the best examples on making your Google Analytics accounts lean, clean, and useful. Today, we're going a different route in the hope that instead of teaching by example, we can show what not to do.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you our top five Google Analytics FAILs. These are real life examples that our intrepid Google Analytics support staff have encountered in the line of duty. They are not pretty. You have been warned.

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1. There Can Be Only One: utm_nooverride=1

We've talked at length about utm_nooverride before. We're big fans of using the utm_nooverride query parameter to make sure that branded and email traffic doesn't overwrite more important long tail referral data.

But there's really only one parameter value to use in this situation. One. It's one. The only one is one. Does that make sense?

No? Ok. Well, see the screenshot to the left? That's what you shouldn't use.

First of all, you should never see the utm_nooverride parameter in your Google Analytics reports. Secondly, you should spell it correctly. Third, don't pass "2" as a value. It doesn't work. Just follow Shawn's instructions in his three-part series on using utm_nooverride and you won't FAIL.

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2. You Are Not Selling Medium Green T-Shirts

At the very least, you're not selling only medium green t-shirts, right? Well, maybe you are. Who am I to judge?

The example provided in the Google Analytics Help Center article on e-commerce is just that: an example. But I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't seen people cut and paste that example script right onto their receipt pages, then called it a day.

Google Analytics can't figure out what you've sold unless you tell it. You need to roll up your sleeves and find the variables that contain a visitor's transaction data. Then pass that data to Google Analytics. It's like a relay race, except you're passing product names and revenue figures.

Place a test order. If you view your receipt page's source code and you don't see the correct order total or the products you purchased (or if your code says you bought a medium green t-shirt), then you've got more work to do.

You'll probably also want to check out the values you're passing. We've seen some pretty hinky stuff show up in the Google Analytics e-commerce reports because someone threw too many numbers into the revenue or shipping fields (see left).

Start by checking out Caitlin's article about de-stressing your Google Analytics e-commerce setup. If you're still mired in FAIL, you can always hire us.

Hit the jump for three more epic Google Analytics FAILures.

Keep Reading »

Announcing Google Analytics Seminars for Success in Charlotte, NC, December 9-10

August 12, 2009

You are cordially invited to ROI Revolution's Google Analytics Seminar For Success in Charlotte, NC this December.

WHAT: Wednesday, December 9th is the Introduction & User Training Session designed to help users explore and understand their data in Google Analytics. See what you'll learn in our Google Analytics introduction and user training day.

Thursday, December 10th is our Google Analytics Advanced Technical Implementation day and will cover installation and customization techniques to suit the needs of your business. This day is perfect if you're the webmaster for your site and are comfortable working with html and JavaScript. Learn more about what is covered.

Both sessions feature multiple question and answer sessions so you can get your specific Google Analytics questions answered. Google Seminars for Success is officially sponsored by Google, so you can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for Google Analytics.

WHERE: The seminar will be held at the Holiday Inn Center City in Charlotte, NC.

WHEN: Instruction begins each day at 9am (with registration at 8:45am to get your training materials, the seat of your choice and coffee!) and goes until 5pm with a one hour break at noon for lunch on your own.

COST: The cost to attend the seminar is $499 each day or $998 for both days. For attending a session you'll receive a $50 AdWords credit (so you'd receive $100 in AdWords credit for attending both sessions; limit 2 per company).

Don't pass up the opportunity to learn from the experts what you have to know about Google Analytics in one (maybe two) days! Save your seat for either Google Analytics seminar day here.

See you in Charlotte, NC this December 9th and 10th!

P.S. Just a reminder that we're also teaching our Google Analytics seminar in downtown Chicago, IL on September 16th and 17th if you'd rather not wait until December. Find out the details here.

Copy Filters in Google Analytics

August 6, 2009

The Copy Profiles Greasemonkey script now allows you to copy filters from one Google Analytics account to another. Simply go to the Google Analytics account that has the filters you want to copy. Go to the Filter Manager. Check off the boxes for the filters you wish to copy and hit the "Copy" link located in the column header.

Once you've done this, navigate to the Google Analytics account that you want to paste the filters into. Go to the Filter Manager again and click the "Paste Filters" button.

Now sit back and watch it go.

Again, this script is actually an addition to the Copy Profiles script. If you already have the Copy Profiles script, you'll want to download it again to get the filter copy feature. Here are the steps for everyone else:

1. Get Firefox
2. Get Greasemonkey
3. Get the Copy Profiles script

Both this post and the previous post will give you the same script. For those who haven't been following along, this script is a separate script from the GARE, at least for now.

That's it! I'm fresh out of scripts. If you think of an improvement to this script or find a bug, let me know. I wouldn't mind hearing from you if you've just plain found this script useful either :)

Copy Profiles in Google Analytics

I've written a Greasemonkey script that allows you to copy and paste profile settings from one profile to another. This includes main website profile information, goals, filters, and users. Hopefully this will save you some time in situations where you need to create multiple profiles that share a lot of the same attributes.

The best way to understand exactly what this script does is to download it and try it out:

1. Get Firefox
2. Get Greasemonkey
3. Get the Copy Profiles script

The profiles have to be in the same account, but hopefully that won't be too limiting to anyone. I actually spent a significant amount of time getting this to work across accounts, but decided that wouldn't be the best for several reasons:

• The main profile settings are rarely the same for profiles across accounts.
• The goals are rarely the same for profiles across account. If you want to copy goals across accounts, I would recommend getting Lunametrics' Goal Copy add-on.
• Some filters may be the same across accounts, but there's a danger of accidentally copying filters that reveal too much about a particular account if you simply copy all filters from one profile to the other.
• Ditto for users.

If you think I'm wrong and you'd really like to be able to copy profiles across accounts, let me know why and I'll see what I can do. Or if you're into writing Greasemonkey scripts, you could always write the script yourself. I'd be very interested to see it when you get done.

I purposefully wrote this script so that it wouldn't break in the way that these types of scripts would normally break. It's possible it could break in other ways, so let me know if you see any issues.

You should have no problems using this alongside the GARE. It will most likely be included at some point depending on the response I get.

I have one additional script idea that I may release today, tomorrow, later, or not at all. It might be easier to guess this one.

Refresh Rate: the latest addition to the GARE

August 5, 2009

As some of you may have noticed (Amit), there has recently been a new addition to the Google Analytics Report Enhancer. Refresh Rate is a new metric that was conceived of by Caleb Whitmore of Google Analytics Authorized Consulting firm Analytics Pros. This metric gives you a great way to measure user engagement at the pageview level. I could say more, but Caleb has written a fantastic post that gives the whole story on Refresh Rate, of which the inclusion into the Report Enhancer is but a small part.

Now that Refresh Rate has joined the GARE family, it's a great time to download the latest version of the Report Enhancer. Here are the steps:

1. Get Firefox
2. Get Greasemonkey
3. Get the GARE

The latest updates to the GARE include:

• Refresh Rate
• New Dimensions:
  • Market (Thanks to Caleb again for this one)
  • Hour of the day
  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
• Additional Segments for Secondary Segmentation and Pivot Tables
• Improved Advanced Segment handling
• Improved Data Sampling Handling
• Deselect All Visits for two or more Advanced Segments

And just in case that wasn't enough for some of you (Amit), I'm planning on doing another post either late today or early tomorrow to reveal a new Greasemonkey script that I've decided to release independently of the GARE for now. So you may want to stay tuned :)

Viewing A/B Experiments in Google Analytics

July 24, 2009

I've written a few articles before about the power of integrating Google Website Optimizer with Google Analytics, but the landscape has changed considerably in the past few months. I thought it would be a good idea to provide an update as to how you can view Google Website Optimizer and other kinds of experiment data within Google Analytics as it has become much easier with the addition of a magnificent feature called Advanced Segments.

As the title implies, this article will focus on finding data quickly and easily for A/B (or A/B/C/D, etc.) experiments, whether they be Google Website Optimizer experiments, or just some testing that you're doing on your own.

First, why would you want to do this? Doesn't Google Website Optimizer (or AdWords, etc.) provide you with Conversion Rate already? Sure it does! But I maintain that an aggregated Conversion Rate (for a single goal no less) is simply not enough. I demand more from my experiments, and by looking at my experiment data within Google Analytics, I can get a great idea of how the experiment is working for different segments of visits and for every goal on my site. What's even better is that by using Google Analytics, I'll also have access to transaction and revenue data, along with any powerful customizations that I'm already using to get the most out of my tracking.

Here are some of the benefits to using Google Analytics to measure your A/B experiment results:

• Segmenting the data
• Seeing statistics for more than one goal
• Looking at transaction and revenue data
• Excluding internal traffic
• Flexibility and the ability to customize data
• Custom reports, emailing and exporting reports, all of the other fun features in Google Analytics

I hope you'll agree there these are some pretty massive benefits. So enough of my gabbing, here's how to do all of this for an A/B test in two simple steps:

Keep Reading »

Google Analytics Seminars for Success is coming to Downtown Chicago!

July 20, 2009

Be sure to take advantage of our LIVE in person Seminars for Success where we share our Google Analytics™ knowledge with you!

When we attend conferences the remark we hear most often is that finding the time for an analytics course is the most difficult part. We also hear that some people just "get it" better IN PERSON. Well, we're always trying to make Analytics training more accessible, so in answer to these comments, we're thrilled to offer Analytics Seminars for Success for those of you who really WANT tracking on your website to get the actionable data you NEED for key business decisions.

Stop letting your schedule get in the way! You can get the training you need during this live event. In these two full day sessions we cover a broad range of topics for those who only need user training on the different reports to implementing regular expressions on the technical side. For a full detailed list of all that's included in each session check out the content for the Introduction and Advanced sessions.

Don't pass up the opportunity to learn from the experts what you have to know about Google Analytics in one (maybe two) days!

--Location and Cost--

The seminar will be at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza. Click here for the street address.

The cost to attend the seminar is $499 each day or $998 for both days. For attending a session you'll receive a $50 AdWords credit (so you'd receive $100 in AdWords credit for attending both sessions; limit 2 per company).

Instruction begins each day at 9am (with registration at 8:45am to get your training materials, the seat of your choice and coffee!) and goes until 5pm with a one hour break at noon for lunch on your own.

Sign up quickly as registration will be limited due to space and the supplies that come packaged with the training seminar such as workbooks and tasty snacks during breaks. Space is restricted but we want YOU, so click over to register for the Seminars for Success! You can register right away, because even if you have to cancel, we can offer you a full refund up to 8 days before the event. After that you can transfer your registration to someone else if necessary.

Don't miss out! Register at least one week in advance to receive the $50 AdWords™ credit ($100 AdWords™ credit if you register for both sessions; limit 2 per company)* Google graciously offers to all Seminars for Success attendees!

Keep Reading »

Site Architecture & Google Analytics

July 8, 2009

Typically when someone decides to use Google Analytics on their website they grab the code and paste it on the site without thinking too much about what they're doing. Many of those who are new (and even some not so new) to Google Analytics don't understand how site structure will affect Google Analytics. If you are thinking about installing Google Analytics or if things aren't quite working like you expected, consider mapping out your site architecture to see where you can simplify things before you get in too deep.

Domains:
If you can help it, one domain will make the Google Analytics setup and tracking much easier. By increasing the number of domains, you will complicate the tracking process. Because Google Analytics uses first party cookies, each time your visitor travels to another domain, you have to pass along all the information about who they are and where they came from. Doing this again and again could potentially result in a loss of data and your referral information might not make it to the final destination. That means that if you are running paid advertising campaigns you won't be able to attribute the sale or conversion to its correct source, which might make it look like you're losing money when actually your paid campaigns are very profitable. By simplifying the number of domains on your site you will not only save yourself some headaches with the Google Analytics Tracking Code, but typically it will make for a much better user experience since the user will know where they are at all times.

Keep Reading »

Latest Urchin Version 6.6 Ready and Available for Download!

June 29, 2009

Urchin has done it again! Version 6.6 is available for purchase, as an update to your already purchased license and for trial.

Version 6.6 introduces some really great improvements to the software including:

• A deeper integration with Google AdWords, including Budget Alerts, a Keyword Generation Tool, direct links to AdWords (so you don't have to switch between programs), an Urchin Tag Manager, AdWords Optimizer, and a Copy Campaign Tool!

New Reporting:

• Time On Site Report under Content Optimization, Content Performance, Engagement Metrics
• An entirely new reporting section called Advertiser View and Section (If you're upgrading from an older version of Urchin, you'll need to reprocess your data to populate these reports.)
• Click here for a complete list of Urchin 6 Reports

Keep Reading »

Tie It All Together: Linking Google Analytics Goals With AdWords

June 19, 2009

Isn't it annoying when you have to click back and forth between your Google AdWords account and your Google Analytics account to see which campaigns, ad groups, and keywords are bringing the most profit bearing conversions for you? Well I have good news... You don't have put up with that headache any longer!

We've seen it in our client accounts for some time now, but Google has just announced that it is now possible to import your goals and transactions from Google Analytics into your AdWords account.

To be able to do this, you must first have your Google AdWords account linked with your Google Analytics account. Once that is set up, you just have to make a few clicks, and you're done.

In the new user interface, you can find conversion tracking under the tools tab.

Keep Reading »

Last Chance To Attend Miami Google™ Analytics Seminars For Success!

May 31, 2009

Register Before Midnight on Tuesday, June 9th To Save YOUR Seat For The Miami Google Analytics Classroom Training!

One last post before our June 10-11, 2009 seminars in Miami, to remind you that there is still time to take advantage of Seminars for Success, where we share our Google Analytics knowledge with you in person!

Which Google Analytics seminar day is for you?

The Introduction and User Training, on Wednesday, June 10th, is for you if you generate and interpret the reports in Analytics and would like some in depth user training so you can better understand how to really leverage Google Analytics as a powerful website and online marketing reporting tool.

The Advanced Technical Implementation Training, on Thursday, June 11th, is for you if you are the webmaster for your website, are comfortable working with html and javascript, and you either need the technical set up of Analytics explained/shown to you or you have an analytics account, but are not satisfied with the results from a technical setup viewpoint.

There will be plenty of time for Q&A so you can get all your questions answered in a dedicated learning environment.

Keep Reading »

Understanding Correlations in Google Analytics

May 28, 2009

Website traffic does not exist in a vacuum. Here's a simple example: Jack comes to your website on Monday after seeing one of your AdWords content ads and he likes what he sees. He's a careful shopper though, so he's not ready to commit quite yet and leaves the site for the day. He takes some time and does some comparison shopping throughout the week, talks to some of his friends and comes back to your site again after typing your company name into Google and clicking on an organic result. He sees an offer for a 10% off coupon if he signs up for your newsletter, so he does, and then leaves the site again. In a week, he gets an email about a sale you are having, and clicks on a link within the email, finally making a purchase on this, his third visit.

So the big question is - how does this show up in Google Analytics? Does AdWords get any credit for the sale? The simple answer is no. Depending on if you are tracking your emails in Google Analytics (and how you are doing it), you'll either see a conversion for the email, the organic branded search or even a direct visit. Wouldn't it be nice to know that at one point AdWords had something to do with the sale? Better yet, wouldn't you like to know the Campaign, Ad Group and Keyword that was responsible?

Jack's example is a very common one, and pretty simple in comparison to the way a lot of people use the Internet, so it is important to try and understand the relationships between your different traffic sources.

Still don't care? Let me give you a real-world example of what can happen if you ignore it:

Case Study: A company that deals in a software product noticed that it was getting what looked like a pretty poor return on Content Network traffic from AdWords (responsible for what Google Analytics reported as roughly 5% of daily revenue). In an attempt to reduce costs, they decided to pause this traffic completely. The result was that almost immediately they noticed a 15-20% drop in daily revenue!

What the heck happened? Well, it turns out a large percentage of that content traffic was coming back as either organic branded traffic or direct traffic. They never bothered to look at the relationship between their content traffic and other traffic sources, and it cost them.

Conversely, by understanding this relationship, they have been able to not only gain back the 15-20% that they lost, but improve the return even further!

So how can you learn from their mistake? Here are a few things you can do, ranging from fairly simple to more complex, to help you grasp the relationship between your marketing sources and mediums:

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Tracking Transactions back to the Initial Referrer with Google Analytics

May 21, 2009

Google Analytics, by default, will attribute transactions to the last referrer. While this is all fine and good, there are some situations where you would really like to be able to track these transactions back to the initial referrer rather than the last referrer. For example, you may be spending money on AdWords traffic to get visitors to the site initially, but many of the actual transactions aren't occurring until later when they've returned to the site organically. You can change your Google Analytics Tracking Code so that it credits these transactions to the initial referrer rather than the last referrer, allowing you to get a better handle on the return for your paid marketing efforts. One issue with changing your Google Analytics code so that it gives transaction credit to the first referrer rather than the last referrer, however, is that this is a permanent change affecting all profiles. You can't have one profile that gives first referrer credit and another profile that gives last referrer credit because both profiles will use the same set of cookies, even if those profiles use separate account numbers. You can work around this, however, by using a local, modified version of ga.js. The original ga.js modification and idea comes from John Henson at Lunametrics, though I've tweaked a few things for my own purposes. His post that I'm referencing isn't directly related to this modification, but there are some tie-ins to the overall idea of using different cookies. If you want to switch all of your profiles over to track initial referrer rather than last referrer, you can just use the following code:

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5 Advanced Segments for Ecommerce Analysis

May 15, 2009

Back in the day when I was but a wee web analyst, if I wanted to segment my website traffic data with Google Analytics, I had to use filters. This meant a lot of upfront work, a flimsy and fragile analysis environment, and way too many profiles.

It was also pretty limited. I could segment by dimensions and a select handful of metrics only. If I wanted to see only the traffic that came from a specific source and then bought a high priced item from my online store, I was out of luck.

Now, though... Now we have Advanced Segments. You kids are so lucky these days with your iPhones and text messages and Advanced Segments. Why, in my time we had to work for our segmentation.

Instead of complaining about the past, though, I guess I'll just look to the future with five advanced segments that can help you breeze through your own analytics ecommerce data. Hit the jump for more information on how you can start slicing and dicing your way toward better insights about your sales.

Keep Reading »

Stressing About Your Google Analytics Ecommerce Variables?

May 7, 2009

Whether or not you have the pressure of reporting revenue information to others, if you're running an ecommerce site you should be tracking your ecommerce with Google Analytics. What the helpful articles on setting up ecommerce don't tell you, is that if you use 3rd party shopping carts or CMS' - setting up ecommerce can be quite a challenging task.


Google Analytics provides you with the ecommerce template that is used to pass data to the reports. What it doesn't give you is a breakdown of the necessary pieces - what's required and what isn't? Before we jump into that, lets first take a look at the Google Analytics ecommerce code:

pageTracker._addTrans("order-id", "affiliate", "total", "tax", "shipping", "city", "state", "country");

pageTracker._addItem("order-id", "SKU", "product name", "category", "price", "quantity");

That's a lot of information! 13 separate pieces of information you need about your customer and their transaction! If you use an internal or in-house shopping cart, getting the actual transaction variables to pass in should be fairly easy. But instead let's say you're using a 3rd party shopping cart that doesn't offer an easy plug-in. What variables do you need to pass to this ecommerce code on the thank you page to get the data you need into Google Analytics? Let's break down the two methods of the Google Analytics ecommerce script: the addTrans method and the addItem method.

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LIVE Google Analytics Training Event: June 10th-11th, 2009 in Miami, FL

April 30, 2009

ROI Revolution will be hosting Google Analytics Seminars for Success June 10th and 11th in Miami, Florida.

Google Seminars for Success is officially sponsored by Google. You can trust that you are receiving the most accurate and up-to-date information on the best practices for Google Analytics.

Wednesday, June 10th will be the Introduction and User Training session which helps users explore and understand their data in Google Analytics. Bottom Line: Take this class if you want to learn how to use Google Analytics to improve the results from your website and marketing campaigns.

Thursday, June 11th will be the Advanced Technical Implementation session which covers installation and customization techniques to suit the needs of your business. Bottom Line: Take this class if you are the webmaster and need to learn how to install and optimally configure Google Analytics on your website and are comfortable with html and javascript.

--Location and Cost--

• The seminar will be at the Embassy Suites Miami - International Airport.
• The cost to attend the seminar is $499 each day or $998 for both days.
• For attending a session you'll receive a $50 AdWords credit (so you'd receive $100 in AdWords credit for attending both sessions)

--Date & Agenda--

Wednesday, June 10th: Introduction and User Training	Thursday, June 11th: Advanced Technical Implementation
This session is designed to help users explore and understand their data in Google Analytics.	This session covers installation and customization techniques to suit the needs of your business.
Introduction to the Google Analytics Interface - Google Analytics Features - Parts of the Interface Understanding Google Analytics Terms and Concepts - Parts of a Visit - Profiles - Filters - Goals and Funnels Best Practices - Data Types - KPIs - Segmenting Data - Trends vs. Accuracy - Testing Visitor Reporting - Overview Reports - Visitor Information - Visitor Interaction - Ecommerce Traffic Source Reporing - Overview Reports - Direct Traffic - Referring Sites - Organic Traffic - Pay-Per-Click Traffic - Custom Traffic Measurement Other Marketing Reports - Landing Pages - Ads - Advanced Segmentation - Custom Reports Testing with Google Analytics - Scientific Method - Setting Benchmarks - Measuring Results Audience Question & Answer will be taken all day throughout the session.	How Google Analytics Works - Architecture and Google Analytics - Drawing a Site Map Profiles - Creating Profiles - Configuring Profiles - Setting up Site Search Adding Tracking Code to the Website - The Basic Code - Subdomain Tracking - Multiple Domain Tracking - Setting up Ecommerce - Event Tracking Goals and Funnels - Creating a Goal - Setting up a Funnel - Regular Expressions - Advanced Goal Setup Filters - Exclude Filters - Include Filters - Search and Replace - Advanced Filters Tagging Campaigns - Online Campaigns - Offline Campaigns Advanced Tracking Methods - Custom Tracking Parameters - Custom Segmentation - Changing Session Timeouts - Nontraditional Ecommerce Further Customizations - Advanced Filters - Javascript Workarounds Additional Tools - Google Website Optimizer - FeedBurner - Google Webmaster Tools - 4Q/Kamplye - Urchin Audience Question & Answer will be taken all day throughout the session.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn how to best use and implement Google Analytics for your site!

Register now to save your seat for the June Google Analytics Seminar for Success in Miami, FL! You can register now in confidence, because even if you have to cancel for any reason, we will refund your money in full until 8 days before the event. After that, you can transfer your registration to someone else, if you need to.

6 Tools You Can Use to Troubleshoot Google Analytics Yourself

April 17, 2009

It's nice to be able to find the tools you need when you need them. It's true for farmers and it's true for web analysts. Even if you aren't a web analyst, you have access to a lot of great tools on the web that can help you figure out if Google Analytics is working properly on your site. While my last article focused on tools you can use to get the most out of the reports in Google Analytics, this article is more for those of you that want to make sure that the data is right before it even gets there.

Bury your Google Analytics problems.

Read on for a list of 6 tools that you can use to find out for yourself what's going on with Google Analytics.

Keep Reading »

Live Google Analytics Training Event in Miami, FL on June 10th-11th, 2009

April 1, 2009

To help you choose which Google Analytics Seminar for Success session is for you, I've broken down a few characteristics of the audience each session best matches up with below.

Wednesday, June 10th is the Google Analytics Introduction and User Training.

You are most suited for this training if you meet any of the following bullets:

• You are considering using Google Analytics and need an introduction.
• You are new to an established Google Analytics account and need user training.
• You are in a marketing role and you need to understand Google Analytics as a reporting tool.
• You have a configured Google Analytics account already and need to better understand the reports.

Keep Reading »

Google Analytics Seminar For Success in Miami, FL June 10th & 11th!

March 4, 2009

ROI Revolution is an Analytics Seminar Leader, authorized to conduct LIVE Google Analytics training. We'll be offering two full day seminars in Miami.

The first seminar is to help users explore and understand their data in Google Analytics. The second seminar covers installation and customization techniques to suit the needs of your business. Both sessions feature multiple Q&A sessions so you can get your specific Google Analytics questions answered.

--Location and Cost--

• The seminar will be at the Embassy Suites Miami - International Airport.
  
• The cost to attend the seminar is $499 each day or $998 for both days.

--Curriculum--

Keep Reading »

6 Tools Every Google Analytics User Should Have

January 30, 2009

Google Analytics is a fantastic tool as it is - and it's always improving, but there are a lot of people out there that have created tools to make it even better.

In an effort to make everyone aware of these fantastic and easy-to-use tools, I've compiled a list of the ones we use everyday. If we missed one, or if you've got a great tool that we should add to the list, please let us know! We're always looking for ways to make Google Analytics easier to install and use. I hope you find them as useful as I do, and a big thank you goes out to each of the people responsible for these fantastic time-saving tools.

Here's the full list:

Keep Reading »

Get ga.js code for your Google Website Optimizer experiments

January 9, 2009

As part of the expanding scope of the Google Analytics Report Enhancer, you will now be able to see the ga.js equivalent code for your Google Website Optimizer experiments.

In addition, I have also added checkboxes that will allow many of your to quickly modify your code for tracking across subdomains and/or multiple domains. These options will also be available whenever you create new profiles in Google Analytics or check the status of your profile data.

This is an extension of Shawn's valuable post on installing Website Optimizer if you use Google Analytics. The Google Analytics Report Enhancer can simplify this process, but you should still refer to the post for additional details on where everything goes, how everything works, and handling specific situations.

If you need the latest version of the GAREnhancer, click here.

The GAREnhancer is a Greasemonkey script. If you don't have Greasemonkey, you can get it by clicking here.

If you have no clue what the GAREnhancer does, you can read the original article by clicking here

I have also added a feature to alert you if a critical update for the script is available. If you see the words "Update Needed!" next to the Report Enhancer logo in the header, you can click them to download the latest version of the script. Once you've installed the updated script and refreshed the page, the image should no longer be visible.

There's probably a lot of ways this new feature can be improved, so leave a comment if you think something else should be added, or if you found this script particularly useful.

If you would like some additional help with the topics discussed today, you might want to check out the versatile Support Plans we offer.

UPDATE: Urchin 6.5 Is Released For Download!

December 31, 2008

This minor update to Urchin 6 software is giving users quite a few benefits. We’ve listed a few below for your information:

1. Cost Per Click (CPC) Data Import Manager: This new feature allows users to create "CPC Sources". This update enables automatic extraction of CPC Campaign Data from Google AdWords and automatic inclusion of the CPC Data into Urchin reports.

2. Urchin Recognizes: "Chrome" as a browser and "Android" as a platform.

3. Geo-DB Download History: The Geo-DB download history has been moved to the separate screen. Also, the Geo-DB has been updated to include up to December 2008 data.

4. Extended Functionality Of The Uconf-Manager Utility: Now, in addition to 'uusers' table, it also operates on several other Urchin tables.

5. Supported Operating Systems now include:

• FreeBSD 5.3+
• FreeBSD 6.2+
• Linux with 2.4 or 2.6 kernel
• Windows: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows 2008 Server, Vista

To get your hands on the latest version of Urchin, download a FREE 30-day Trial here!

Excluding Robot Traffic in Urchin 6

December 19, 2008

If you are using the IP+User+Agent method to track visitors in Urchin 6, you've probably noticed that quite a bit of your traffic is actually robot traffic:

While it's interesting to see this activity broken out, most of the time you're better off excluding it from your reports.

Keep Reading »

Google Analytics Report Enhancer Updates

October 21, 2008

BREAKING UPDATE! I had to make an update to the GAREnhancer Monday, March 9 at 10:00am ET due to recent interface changes. If the script is broken is broken for you, re-download the script and you should be all set.

I've decided to create a separate entry for some of the latest updates to the GAREnhancer Greasemonkey script. Most of these are just small things that can make your Google Analytics (and now Google Website Optimizer) life a little easier.

If you need the latest version of the GAREnhancer, click here.

The GAREnhancer is a Greasemonkey script. If you don't have Greasemonkey, you can get it by clicking here.

If you have no clue what the GAREnhancer does, you can read the original article by clicking here

Here's a quick summary of the most recent changes:

Keep Reading »

Tracking a Section with Google Analytics

October 16, 2008

If you've read Shawn's Article about tracking autoresponders, you know that Google Analytics' Site Search tool can be utilized to track secondary sources. Toward the end of this post I'll give you a way to use Site Search to track the effectiveness and value of a section, such as a blog section, as well as a page's contribution to conversion rate as a member of that section.

But first, a little background info:

If you've spent any time in the Google Analytics reports, you've probably noticed the $index field in the Top Content reports that somehow represents a page's relative worth. This field can be a great way to get an idea of a page's contribution to the success of your goals and ecommerce revenue.

But where do the numbers for $index even come from? If you click the question mark button next to $Index in the Top Content report, you will receive the following explanation:

"The average value of this page or set of pages. $Index is (Ecommerce revenue + Total Goal Value) divided by Pageviews for the page(s)."

Now it turns out that there are a few subtleties that are not indicated by the definition. For starters, the formula is actually using unique pageviews rather than pageviews.

Second, if you look at the $index of a page and compare it to the Per Visit Goal Value or Per Visit Value of that page (depending on whether you have a lead gen site or an ecommerce site) after drilling down into the page and segmenting by source (or medium, or source/medium if you've installed my Greasemonkey script), chances are very good that the two values are relatively close, but certainly not equal.

Why is that? Here's why:

Keep Reading »

Installing Website Optimizer if you use Google Analytics

September 17, 2008

Ok, so back when I declared that Google Website Optimizer and Google Analytics represented 'A Perfect Marriage', I was overlooking some of the early bumps the newlyweds would experience before they lived happily ever after.

That being said, there are some things to look out for if you are using Google Analytics and are considering Google Website Optimizer as your testing platform of choice. Or maybe you have already noticed some strange things trying to use them together?

Here are the things to look out for:
1. Are you using urchin.js or ga.js?
2a. Are you setting _udn="something" (for urchin.js) or _setDomainName('something') (for ga.js)?
2b. Are you setting _uhash="off" (for urchin.js) or _setAllowHash(false) (for ga.js)?
3. If you are using urchin.js, are you tracking Ecommerce?

As long as you've got the above four things accounted for, everything should work fine. So I'm going to address each one in detail so that you know exactly what to do.

Keep Reading »

Google Analytics Classroom-Style Training Coming to Columbus, Ohio!

August 28, 2008

October 22-23 will be our Google Analytics User and Implementation Training Seminars in Columbus, Ohio, which you can attend for $249 per day (includes $50 AdWords™ credit*). We'll be at the Embassy Suites right by the airport in Columbus (click here for location).

We've held a few previous live trainings over the past few months (Thanks to those who attended Raleigh, Chicago and Orlando!). They've all received great feedback and we're eager to present again! We have so much material to cover that I can't possibly list it all here, but there is a content list on the user and implementation registration pages.

Basically User Training is for you if you generate and interpret the reports all the time and could use some pointers on what reports are really key. And the Implementation Training is for you if you are adding the code to the pages and want new ideas for cracking those sticky setups!

These trainings are extra special because they're Seminars for Success, an educational program designed by Google to help people learn their products in a classroom setting. Google feels so strongly about this program that they've graciously offer $50 AdWords credits* to all attendees. They also made ROI Revolution Seminar Leaders and we're really proud of that! No kidding around here, you can even see our name and the schedule for these events on Google's site!

So all that reading aside, what are the main points of this blog post:

• Live Classroom Google Analytics Training from ROI Revolution (Experienced Google Analytics Experts)
• October 22-23, Columbus, Ohio, $249 each - Register NOW for either User or Implementation or both!
• You'll get a $50 AdWords Credit* for showing up!

Got it? Great, see you in Ohio in October!

*Promotional credit must be applied to an AdWords account within 30 days of attending a seminar and is valid only for Google AdWords customers with self-managed signup. Advertisers will be charged for advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. Advertisers will need to suspend their ads if they do not wish to receive additional charges beyond the free credit amount. Subject to ad approval, valid registration and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. The promotional credit is non-transferable and may not be sold or bartered. Offer may be revoked at any time for any reason by Google Inc. One promotional credit per AdWords account. New advertisers with self-managed signup accounts are subject to an $5 activation fee that will be deducted from the promotional credit. Expires 30 days after Advertiser's registered seminar session. Void where restricted or prohibited by law.

Avoiding Calamity: Google AdWords/Analytics User Access

August 19, 2008

One of my best mates recently tied the knot onboard a cruise ship. The day before the boat left dock, destined for international waters, the unfortunate groom discovered that he had overlooked one all-important detail. It was just one detail out of thousands, but one that nonetheless had the potential to scupper months and months of planning for the big day...

It turned out that he had failed to pack his passport! So while he should have been enjoying the company of his mates the day before the big event, he actually spent the time racing back home (a 10 hour round trip) to save his marriage even before it had started!

Why do I relay the events of this poor unfortunate? Because in the frenetic world of online marketing we often deal with so much information that we fail to stop, take a breather, and make sure that we have not overlooked one all important detail that might sink months and months of planning and implementation.

Last week I received a call from a client reminding me of this fact...

Almost a year ago, the client had granted administrative access to the Google Analytics reports to a trusted employee. For whatever reason, the relationship between employer and employee soured over the next 6 months and the employee ended up leaving the organization.

Keep Reading »

Internal Site Search Reporting

August 11, 2008

Google Analytics provides you with a lot of information regarding the way visitors search to get to your site. What could be more important? Well, try asking yourself, "Are my visitors finding what they need once they get to my site?" This can actually be measured in several different ways, but one of the most insightful ways is to use the internal site search reports.

If you are using an internal site search tool (for example Google's Custom Search engine) you can track the searches that your visitors place on your site. By doing this, you can gain valuable insights into what your visitor is thinking, by actually having them tell you!

Not only can you see the keywords people are searching for (located in the Search Terms report) , but you can also gain more context by looking at the page from which they are searching.

Keep Reading »

Announcing ROI Revolution's Urchin 6 Administration Manual!

August 8, 2008

Due to overwhelming demand for a one-stop documentation on Urchin 6, ROI Revolution is pleased to present our Urchin 6 administration manual, version 1.0. We're learning more about Urchin 6 all the time and Urchin 6 has been updated!

In two chapters this manual covers the basics of installing or upgrading to Urchin 6 and the initial configuration. Getting Urchin 6 up and running on your system can be a challenge and we want as many people as possible to be able to try Urchin 6 via the free 30 day trial. This manual is designed to answer basic questions regarding installation and configuration in an in-depth manner.

To get your FREE copy of ROI Revolution's Urchin 6 Administration Manual, click on this link and submit your information. Soon you'll receive instructions via email on where to download the PDF version of the manual.

Have a great weekend!

Urchin 6 Update

August 7, 2008

Google has just released Urchin 6 - Service Pack 1. There are some very important additions to this new version of Urchin 6.

First, several of the old Urchin 5 helper scripts have been revised and modified for Urchin 6:

Email Yourself Reports!
u6data_extractor.pl - You can use this script to retrieve data from the urchin.cgi engine and print a text-based report, which can be emailed, converted to HTML, etc.

Discover Processing Errors
u6scan_history.pl - This script will parse the Urchin 6 scheduler history file for errors for a particular date and print a notification if any profile exits with a non-zero exit status.If desired, the runtime output from each failed task can be printed inline.

Manage Your Logs!
weblog_rotate.pl - If you are in need of a system of log management, this script will be very handy. This script rotates the specified logs and names them with yesterday's date. The script also restarts the web server with a specified command and optionally compresses old logs and removes them after a certain period.

In addition to these scripts, a totally new feature has been added which enables you to perform user management at the command line. Using the uconf-manager, you can add, delete, and update user records without having to go into the Urchin Administration Interface.

The uconf-manager also allows you to reset the admin password and move users to a different account, tasks that cannot be done using the Urchin Administration Interface. You can also use the uconf-manager to automate the process of user creation, saving you valuable time and eliminating frustration.

ROI Revolution is an Urchin 6 reseller and so if you are ready for Urchin 6, go to www.roirevolution.com/urchin/urchin-six.htm to purchase or upgrade to Urchin 6 today!

Google Analytics Report Enhancer

June 26, 2008

UPDATE: You can read about the most recent updates to the GAREnhancer here, but the same script is available from both this post and the new one.

A few weeks ago, Shawn wrote an article on true time on site and how you can calculate it. You may also know that for a while, Google Analytics actually calculated time on site using this method before reverting back to the calculation method used now.Several weeks ago I came out with an article on a Greasemonkey script I'd written which added several segments to the usual segment drop down.

I'm about to tie all of these together.

Introducing, the Google Analytics Report Enhancer!

Keep Reading »

Time on Page and Time on Site - How Confident Are You?

May 29, 2008

Ah, Average Time on Page and Average Time on Site - what strange metrics. They sound so simple, but as I hope to point out in this article, both must be treated with caution. Due to the way Time on Page/Site are measured, there is a certain amount of error that goes along with them. Fortunately, there's a way to measure this error.

In the interest of getting to the point, I've provided two versions of this article. The first version is the short version. No proof, just the final answer. For those of you who demand proof (as I hope you do) - I've also provided the long version, with diagrams and Algebra and everything. Feel free to choose the version that suits you!

SHORT VERSION

Time on Page is more credible when a page has a lower Exit Rate, and Time on Site is more reliable when a source/medium/etc. has a lower Bounce Rate.

Confidence in Time on Page
Applies only to a page or group of pages

Example: The Exit % for my home page, /index.htm, is 30%, so confidence in Time on Page is 70%.

In other words, the Time on Page only applies to 70% of my home page views, and I know absolutely nothing about the other 30% - other than they all resulted in exits.

True Time on Site
Applies to any source, medium, campaign, keyword, ad, or user defined value

Example: My AdWords traffic has a Bounce Rate of 40%, and Google Analytics has my Avg. Time on Site for AdWords as 00:01:00 (1 minute)

So:

True Time on Site is 1/(1-.40) = 1/.6 = 1.67 = 1m 40s

My True Time on Site is 1m 40s, which represents 60% of my AdWords traffic.

Also, the Time on Site is unknown for 40% of my AdWords traffic.

END OF SHORT VERSION

I don't expect anyone to take my word for any of this, and I love to talk about these kinds of things, so I've provided a longer version for those that might be interested in how I came to the above conclusions.

Keep Reading »

Author Eric Peterson Coming to Cary, NC for Web Analytics Wednesday

May 16, 2008

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 6:00pm EST, Eric Peterson, the Chief Executive Officer & Principal Consultant at Web Analytics Demystified, Inc. will be presenting at SAS.

Eric is the author of Web Analytics Demystified, Web Site Measurement Hacks and The Big Book of Key Performance Indicators. He is a long-time member of the web analytics community and a frequent speaker who is often cited in articles about web analytics.

Eric will be here for our own Web Analytics Wednesday. He will be giving a presentation on The Future of Web Analytics and taking questions from the audience followed by food and drinks.

SAS Institute, Inc. has graciously agreed to sponsor this event! It will be located in the SAS Atrium Located in Building R on SAS Campus and beer, wine and light hors d'oeuvres will also be provided by SAS.

The host of this event is none other than Richard Foley, the World Wide Product Manager at SAS, and Former President Web Analytics Association.

Join us. Register today if you live in the Research Triangle Park, NC area.

Directions:
Getting to Bldg R
Go through the main gate located near Umstead Hotel, take the 3rd right (just follow the signs).
Go over a bump and take the next Right into the main parking lot. (You are there)
Enter the tall white building and welcome to the SAS Campus Bldg R
(If you experience problems finding the building call Richard Foley at 919-624-7163)

Orlando Vacation PLUS Google Analytics Training?

May 15, 2008

How could your 2008 summer be the best summer EVER? Possibly by combining Google® Analytics Training and a family vacation? Yes, it can be done! This June, Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th to be exact, ROI Revolution is presenting Analytics Seminars for Success in Orlando, Florida!

We know how important it is to be able to use and implement Google Analytics, so we tried to think of a great location to work… but then we remembered that we like to have fun too, so we wanted a location to play… voilá, Orlando! I mean, if you can write off the flight to business (tax deduction), but still spend some time on vacation, why not, right?

And there you have it: June 24th is the Introduction and User Training Seminar and June 25th is the Advanced Technical Implementation Seminar, pick one or both depending on your needs, so that you can work during the week and then take an extra day or two off plus the weekend to relax on vacation!

--About the Training--
Analytics Seminars for Success will help you better leverage the insights found in your Analytics report by covering topics such as setup tips, best practices, and analysis techniques. Seminar leaders will use in-depth course materials, hands-on exercises and valuable tips from their years of managing Analytics accounts to teach you how to achieve your goals.

We can't wait to share our Google Analytics knowledge with you in person, so register today! Don't miss out on this great event designed to help you get the most out of your website's traffic!

--Location and Cost--
ORLANDO, June 24-25: The seminar will be right by the Renaissance Orlando Hotel Airport is located in Orlando, Florida, minutes away from the Orlando International Airport (MCO). If you will be staying overnight at the Renaissance, please call 1-800-228-9290 and ask for the “ROI Revolution, Inc. rate” for a discount.

Each day costs $249 or $498 if you register for both sessions. Each seminars will be a full day from 8am to 5pm EST. Register at least one week in advance to receive a $50 AdWords™ credit* per session (i.e. attend both days and get two $50 AdWords™ credits) that Google graciously offers to all Seminars for Success attendees!

Sign up quickly as registration will be limited due to space and the supplies that come packaged with the training seminar such as workbooks and tasty snacks during breaks. Space is restricted but we want YOU, so click over to register for the Seminars for Success!

You can register right away, because even if you have to cancel, we can offer you a full refund up to 8 days before the event. After that you can transfer your registration to someone else if necessary.

--Last Chance--
Just in case you hadn't already heard, the Analytics Seminars for Success will be in CHICAGO, June 2-3!

See the original blog post for Chicago here. There's still time to register if you can't wait until late June for your in person training or if you prefer the Chicago location!

*Promotional credit must be applied to an AdWords account within 30 days of attending a seminar and is valid only for Google AdWords customers with self-managed signup. Advertisers will be charged for advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. Advertisers will need to suspend their ads if they do not wish to receive additional charges beyond the free credit amount. Subject to ad approval, valid registration and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. The promotional credit is non-transferable and may not be sold or bartered. Offer may be revoked at any time for any reason by Google Inc. One promotional credit per AdWords account. New advertisers with self-managed signup accounts are subject to an $5 activation fee that will be deducted from the promotional credit. Expires 30 days after Advertiser's registered seminar session. Void where restricted or prohibited by law.

Segmenting by Source/Medium and other stories

May 9, 2008

UPDATE: This script has been superseded by the GAREnhancer. All future updates will be made to this new script.

Have you ever gone to segment the content detail of a page by source/medium, only to find that you can segment by source or medium, but not both? Well those days of frustration are over, thanks to a Greasemonkey script I wrote just the other day.

Not only that, but you will also be able to segment by transaction, adgroup, and referral path anytime a segmenting opportunity comes up. Now you can see exactly which transactions are attributed to each source, medium, source/medium, keyword, campaign, new or returning visitors, and more. I'm sure everyone can think of some good uses for this.

To expand your segmenting abilities, first download the latest greasemonkey firefox add-on. Then download my script right here. You should be able to just click and install it if you already have the Greasemonkey firefox add-on installed.

A couple notes here about the script:

1. If you segment by one of the fields, then try and segment by another field, you may find that your options are once again limited. To fix this, segment by "none" first and then you should get the additional fields back. UPDATE: This issue has been resolved as of 06/06/08. Just re-download the script.
2. You can also segment by Product, Product SKU, and Product Category, but this may not work as well as anticipated. If that's the case, you can drill down into a product and segment by source/medium or whatever report you were looking at and see the data from the other direction.

If you've found this tool useful or if you have any suggestions for improvement, please leave a comment. Thanks!

UPDATE: I have a new script which adds a few additional fields to segment by, such as exit pages, page titles, browser and OS combined, and others. There are also some more obscure fields whose purpose is not obvious, so if you find one of them useful then let me know how you used it! Here's the script.

Note that if you have both scripts enabled at the same time, the second script in the list will override the first. Also, this second script makes your segment drop down rather long, so you may just want to stick with the first. I felt I should provide it, though, for completeness.

Google Analytics for Blogger in Private Beta

May 2, 2008

On Wednesday, Google announced that there will be a new Google Analytics interface for Blogger.

Measure Map, which was acquired by Google in February of 2007, has already done quite a bit for Google Analytics, which had its interface completely revamped. It looks like now the team is applying some of its lessons from that experience over to the blogosphere.

Although Google Analytics is already available to everyone, as a blog writer it's nice to have easy access to metrics that are tailored to your specific needs. Google seems to be addressing these needs with a new Google Analytics integration designed specifically for Blogger users.

According to Jeff Veen, Measure Map will be available 'as an integrated feature of both Google Analytics and Blogger'. That sounds pretty exciting to those of us that are obsessed with our blog statistics. And if the integration is being designed by the same folks that brought us the new Google Analytics interface, that means it should be simple to navigate and extremely useful.

This new interface is now in private beta (which means you probably won't notice it yet), but it looks like Google has plans to migrate all existing Measure Map users over to the new Google Analytics system. That means it could be a few months or even a year before it's rolled out to everyone - there's really no way to know at this stage. Since it's in beta, there's a good chance there will be some kinks to iron out.

So if you use Blogger for your blog, be sure to stay on the lookout for this neat new feature!

Urchin 6: Official Release!

April 16, 2008

It's officially here! Urchin 6 has been released for purchase today, April 16th, 2008!

Timeline: In October, Urchin 6 was released in limited beta and then in February, the Urchin 6 beta became available to the public and TODAY it's finally available for purchase!

Features: The interface is now similar to Google Analytics, and there is a greater focus on the usability aspect. Up to 1,000 profiles (domains), log sources, e-commerce, and campaign tracking are all included with this one time purchase.

Urchin 6 will include individual visitor-level tracking, report cross-segmentation and a full suite of geo-targeting reports! The campaign tracking features in Urchin 6 have also been re-engineered to be easier for somebody who is looking to track their SEO/SEM efforts.

Price: Urchin 6 is available for $2,995, and this price includes the full functionality of the software. That means you no longer need to worry about purchasing all those different types of modules. With Urchin 6, you can run e-commerce and campaign tracking functionality on multiple servers with no extra cost!

Upgrading: For owners of standard Urchin 5 licenses, Urchin Software is available for a discounted price. The amount paid for the Urchin 5 installation will be applied towards the cost of Urchin 6 Software. For example, if you purchased the base module of Urchin 5 for $895, then Urchin 6 Software would cost $2,100 ($2995 - $895).

Benefits: Those who might benefit from Urchin the most would be those who prefer to keep their data on machines they can control, those who would like to process historical data, those who need their data audited by third parties, and those who would like to track on an intranet.

ROI Revolution is an Urchin 6 reseller and so if you are ready for Urchin 6, go to www.roirevolution.com/urchin/urchin-six.htm to purchase or upgrade to Urchin 6 today!

Updates: If you would like to receive up to the minute information only about Urchin, sign up for the Urchin Update List!

Products and Keywords in Google Analytics

April 11, 2008

In Google Analytics, there are a couple different ways to match up the products you sell with the keywords that brought users to your site.

The first method is already built right in to Google Analytics. All you need to do is look under the Ecommerce section of your Google Analytics profile and expand the Product Performance section. There you'll find a report called Product Overview. In this report, you'll see a list of all the products that were sold for the given date range. You can click on an individual product and segment it by Keyword to see which keywords were responsible for the product sale.

But what about when you want to see things the other way around? In other words, for each keyword, can you see which products were sold? Well, if you use the above method, you'd have to segment each and every product. That's not very efficient.

Luckily, you can use filters to find this information pretty easily. Here's how:

Keep Reading »

New Graphing Options

April 4, 2008

Today Google released new graphing features to help make trends more visible. Previously, you could only view day-to-day trends in the timeline. Now in addition to viewing the data by day,

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you can now see the data by week...

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and by month...

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This will help you compare long-term trends and make visualizing these trends much easier. You can also use these new graphing features to compare metrics. You can compare the last two weeks to the next two weeks, or even on a year to year basis.

These graphing features are found right below the date selection tool, above the timeline, and can be found on all reports within Google Analytics.

For more information on these features you can check out the Google Analytics Blog.

All About Historical Data

April 2, 2008

Everybody makes mistakes at some point, but there are ways to help prevent those mistakes from making their way into your Google Analytics reports.

With Google Analytics, you do not have the option to reprocess data like you do with log file analytics systems, so it's important that you are cautious with the changes you're making to your profiles.

If you set up a new filter incorrectly and no one notices for two weeks that you are collecting the wrong data, there is no way to go back and reprocess that data. It's gone and it's not coming back. Because of this, it is highly recommended that you make your filter, goal, and/or funnel changes to a test profile before making them to your main profile. By collecting the results in a test profile, you can gauge whether or not you are receiving the outcome you anticipated.

Likewise, if you create a new filter or goal, it will only affect the data from that point moving forward. For example, if you only want to include visitor traffic to a specific subdirectory, your historical data will still include visitor traffic to the rest of your site. This can also make things tricky with goals and funnels.

Also, if you create a new profile for an existing domain, you will not have access to historical data within that new profile. Profiles only collect data that is processed after they were created, so you may want to create several profiles at once if you think you may want to use the historical data in a later profile.

Recently, Google Analytics had introduced a new feature called Benchmarking, where you can see your stats compared to others' in your industry. If you decide to opt-in to data sharing, Google Analytics will include historical data up to a month before your opt-in date.

And for those of you who haven't switched over from urchin.js yet, historical data will be kept when you move your site over to ga.js, so don't worry.

So don't forget to test before you implement anything new to your main profile, and consider keeping a change log of the changes to your profiles. Remember that any changes you make won't change your historical data.

Tracking Subdomains

March 27, 2008

One of the most important things to consider when trying to set up Google Analytics for your site is the integrity of your visitors' source/medium data. Keeping this data as accurate as possible will go a long way to helping you make useful decisions about your marketing efforts.

That being said, there is a silent enemy threatening to destroy the harmony of your Google Analytics data: the self-referral. You may first see it rear its ugly in head in the All Traffic Sources report. Not only is it rather disconcerting to see your own site as a visitor's referrer, but this entry in your reports represents irrevocably lost data. What's worse, you may even notice that the conversion rate for this segment of traffic is actually quite good. You may be putting lots of time and money in SEO, paid online adversing, e-mail campaigns and print ads, but when someone asks which of these was responsible for the conversion, you really don't know. Some of those sources may be getting overwritten by your self-referrals.

If your site has subdomains (domain.com and blog.domain.com, for instance), this might be causing the self-referrals to show up in your reports. The standard Google Analytics Tracking code is only good for sites with a single domain and no other structural complications. Anything beyond this and you'll need to make some kind of modification to the script. Subdomains are one such complication.

Whenever a visitor comes to your site, the Google Analytics Tracking Code on your pages asks the visitor's browser a question:

Keep Reading »

Some Basic Information About Lowercase Filters

March 20, 2008

Google Analytics allows you to create numerous filters. So how do you know which ones you need to implement for your site? Well, one you might want to explore is a lowercase filter. So what is a lowercase filter and what precisely does it do?

Lowercase filters change the selected field to all lowercase letters. If duplicate entries of the same page are appearing in your reports, one that contains uppercase letters and one that does not, you probably should set your lowercase filter. For example, if you have a page on your site that can be accessed by going to www.mysite.com/Products.htm but you could also access the same page by typing www.mysite.com/products.htm Google Analytics would track these as two separate pages.

Obviously, if these are the same page they should be tracked as a single entry in Google Analytics. Therefore, creating a lowercase filter will change the former URI to all lowercase letters. This can greatly affect your Google Analytics reports and prevent duplicate entries from appearing.

So how do you set up a lowercase filter?

Within Google Analytics on the Add Filter to Profile page select the filter type Custom. Then Click the radio button next to the lowercase filter. Select the filter field that you want to apply the lowercase filter to and click Finish. Your new lowercase filter has been applied! NOTE: This will only affect the data from this point forward, not the historical data that has already been collected. Your filtered results will begin to show up in the reports from this point forward.

So in the above example the lowercase filter was applied to the request URI but you can apply the lowercase filter to other fields. If you apply the filter to the Campaign Term field it will prevent, for example Cars, cars, and CARS from showing up as different fields within the keyword reports. You can also apply the lowercase filter to the User Defined Value to prevent duplicate entries with those as well.

Hopefully this has given you a quick insight into lowercase filters and how useful they can be for your site.

Google Analytics Benchmarking in Beta

March 5, 2008

Today, Google announced new benchmarking functionality within Google Analytics. Combined with a new data-sharing option, this will allow Google Analytics users to compare their site's data against aggregate data from other sites in various industries. These two new features are in beta, but should begin to show up in all Google Analytics accounts throughout the day.

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Also briefly mentioned was the unveiling of the Audio Ads integration, with an official blog post to come tomorrow.

For more information, check out the official announcement at the Google Analytics blog, the benchmarking FAQs, and the data-sharing FAQs.

ANNOUNCING: Seminars For Success That Will Provide the Classroom Google® Analytics Training to Turn Your Website Into Your Best Salesman!

February 25, 2008

Finally, the wait is over! Get your Google Analytics Training in person! Make the most out of your data by analyzing YOUR website's traffic with a fully configured Google Analytics account!

When? Where? Keep reading, it's all here :).

Two Days for Two Sessions
On March 25th and 26th ROI Revolution will be presenting Analytics Seminars for Success in Durham, NC. This two day event will offer one session on each day. March 25th will be the Introduction and User Training Analytics session, while March 26th will be the Advanced Technical Implementation session. You have the opportunity to register for one or both depending on your needs. Click here for more information on what each session covers and which is right for you.

Limited Acceptance
Sign up quickly as registration will be limited to the first 40 people to apply for each session. This is a hard limit due to space and the supplies that come packaged with the training seminar such as workbooks and tasty snacks during breaks. Signing up in advance comes with a perk too! Registering by March 18th, 2008 entitles you to a $50 AdWords™ Credit* from Google.

Location and Cost
The seminar will be at the Solution Center located in Durham, North Carolina, minutes away from the International RDU Airport. Street address and directions available here. Each day costs $249 or $498 if you register for both sessions. The seminars will be a full day from 8am to 5pm EST. Lunch will not be provided, but morning and afternoon breaks will be offered.

What's in it for YOU
Analytics Seminars for Success will help you better leverage the insights found in your Analytics report by covering topics such as setup tips, best practices, and analysis techniques. Seminar leaders will use in-depth course materials, hands-on exercises and valuable tips from their years of managing Analytics accounts to teach you how to achieve your goals.

We can't wait to share our Google Analytics knowledge with you in person, so register today! Don't miss out on this great event designed to help you get the most out of your website's traffic!

*Promotional credit must be applied to an AdWords account within 30 days of attending a seminar and is valid only for Google AdWords customers with self-managed signup. Advertisers will be charged for advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. Advertisers will need to suspend their ads if they do not wish to receive additional charges beyond the free credit amount. Subject to ad approval, valid registration and acceptance of the Google AdWords Program standard terms and conditions. The promotional credit is non-transferable and may not be sold or bartered. Offer may be revoked at any time for any reason by Google Inc. One promotional credit per AdWords account. New advertisers with self-managed signup accounts are subject to an $5 activation fee that will be deducted from the promotional credit. Expires 30 days after Advertiser's registered seminar session. Void where restricted or prohibited by law.

Tracking Secondary Sources and Autoresponders Using Site Search

February 22, 2008

One of the many challenges when using any web analytics application is making sure that it meets your business needs. Many different sales cycles exist in the online market - some opt for a direct-to-sales approach, while others employ a model that takes advantage of autoresponders, teleseminars, webinars, and all sorts of creative methods for drawing potential and return customers back to the website.

Most web analytics applications allow you to track your marketing campaigns using a variety of different methods, usually involving adding some query parameters to your campaign URLs. The problem with this method is that most of these systems will allow you to measure the success of your original sources (like the AdWords ad that first caught a users eye), but lack the ability to simultaneously track the effectiveness of your secondary methods like email blasts, teleseminars and their siblings.

Google Analytics is no different. Out-of-the-box, it is a system designed to match each visit to a single source - the most recent source, so that it's very easy to lose sight of what brought the visitor to the website in the first place. In short, you could easily track either the effectiveness of your keywords to the final goal or your autoresponders to the ultimate goal, but not both.

That's not to say there haven't been attempts to get around this. One method was to make sure that each secondary source brought the user to a unique landing page. For example, teleseminars would use www.site.com/offera, while an online webinar would use www.site.com/offerb. Email autoresponders would also follow this system, with each email in the sequence using its own unique landing page.

If this seems like a lot of work, it is. Making a unique landing page for each type of secondary source can be time-consuming, confusing, and downright impossible to maintain. Adding a simple email to a sequence can turn into a real pain. To top it all off, finding the information you are looking for based on landing pages can get a little sticky if you're not a Google Analytics expert. Other existing methods use the User Defined variable creatively (which I like to reserve for Michael's awesome exact keyword tool), or get creative with custom tracking codes, neither of which is a particularly easy method to implement.

Why am I telling you this? Because I believe we've found a way out of this particular quagmire.

Keep Reading »

ONE TIME OFFER: Free Google Analytics 2-Day Classroom Training for Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organizations

February 18, 2008

ROI Revolution is thrilled to present a totally free Google Analytics 2-Day Classroom Training Course for the non-profit community on March 19-20, 2008!

We've taken our 6 week Google Analytics training course and created a totally free two day classroom workshop for the benefit of full-time employees of 501(c)(3) organizations!

What the Training Seminar Covers
This seminar will cover an introduction to Google Analytics plus tips on how to use Google Analytics for practical improvement on the first day. The second day of the seminar will progress to advanced implementation of Google Analytics, including how to setup goals, funnels, custom filters, and more. For a more detailed agenda, please see our Google Analytics training series online version here, as we will cover 100% of what we cover in our online version.

Limited to the First 20 People to be Accepted
Sign up fast because this special 2-Day Training Seminar for the non-profit community is a ONE-time event and will be limited to the first 20 people to be accepted. This is a hard limit due to limited meeting space. Up to a maximum of two full-time employees per non-profit organization will be eligible.

The seminar will be held on March 19-20, 2008 in the Research Triangle Park area of Durham, North Carolina (details delivered upon acceptance) and will last the full two days from 8am to 5pm EST. Lunch will be on your own, but breakfast, refreshments and afternoon breaks will be provided.

We are able to offer this event to you with the help of our co-sponsors, the good people at iContact and Preation.

Don't miss the in person Google Analytics 2-Day Classroom Training Course for the non-profit community! Contact Kathy to register TODAY! Simply include your name and position at your organization and your contact information. We'll take it from there and contact you about saving your seat.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Update to Matching Specific Transactions to Specific Keywords

Shawn wrote an article back in May which showed you how to use filters in Google Analytics to modify your transaction list to see source, medium and keyword data for each transaction. As many of you have noticed by now, there have been some issues since January 15th involving custom fields which have caused this and other advanced filters to stop working.

Since then, we have found a way around using custom fields for this particular set of filters. Your reports will look and function as before.

Here are the details:

Keep Reading »

Exact Keyword Tracking with ga.js

February 14, 2008

Last April, I posted a script that allowed paid search advertisers to view the exact search queries of their visitors. This was essentially a free tool that gave website owners the ability to weed out ineffective keywords and put more money toward the precise phrases that were really driving their business.

Google Analytics doesn't do this out of the box. It will tell you exact search queries for visits from organic listings, but for paid search, you're stuck with the keywords that you're bidding on. With broad and phrase matching, these could vary pretty drastically from what the visitors typed into the search engine.

We've gotten a lot of requests to update the script for the new version of the Google Analytics JavaScript, ga.js. Always happy to oblige, we've been hard at work on our new version of the Google Analytics Keyword Sleuth. Call it a Valentine's Day gift from ROI Revolution to you.

Keep Reading »

Urchin 6: Now In OPEN Beta!

February 1, 2008

Happy days! The Urchin 6 beta is now open to everybody who wants to participate!

Starting back on October 16th, we shared the news that Urchin 6 was available in a pretty limited release. If you wanted a beta version of Urchin 6, you had to apply for it and hope you made it in time. Now all you have to do is click the "download" button.

Happily the Urchin 6 beta is still a 90-day trial, so you'll have plenty of time to give it a test-drive. The interface is now similar to Google Analytics, and there is a greater focus on the usability aspect.

Urchin 6 even includes such beloved Google Analytics-like features as funnel analysis, site overlay, and geo-targeting! The navigation of Urchin 6 has also been re-engineered to be easier for somebody who is looking to optimize their marketing.

Urchin 6 will be $2,995, and this price includes the full functionality of the software. That means you no longer need to worry about the headache of purchasing all those different modules. With Urchin 6, you can run e-commerce and campaign tracking functionality on a bunch of servers with no extra cost!

For owners of standard Urchin 5 licenses, Urchin Software is available for a discounted price. The amount paid for the Urchin 5 installation will be applied towards the cost of Urchin 6 Software. For example, if you purchased the base module of Urchin 5 for $895, then Urchin 6 Software would cost $2,100 ($2995 - $895).

Urchin has recently made both the Campaign Tracking Module and the Profit Suite $2,995, so if you are purchasing Urchin 5 now with an eye to upgrade to Urchin 6 once the full version is out you'll be all set, and can seamlessly transition to the new version.

The date the full version of Urchin 6 will be released hasn't been announced yet, but if you want to be one of the very first to know, then you can sign up for our Urchin Update List.

Keep Track of Changes to Your Profiles

January 16, 2008

It's hard to get things right the first time. You may come up with a brilliant plan for your Google Analytics setup and think that you've thought of everything, only to have the data start coming in and realize that things are not looking quite like you hoped they would. Or perhaps your analytics just need a modification and you need to change your goal steps or create new ones. When these kinds of things happen, you may need to alter your Google Analytics profile settings.

And that's OK. While we recommend setting up a "sandbox" profile where you can test what effect changes to your profile might have on your data before editing your main profile, at some point you'll have to make those changes live in order to reap the benefits of cleaner, better data. When this happens, you will want to record those changes.

Keep Reading »