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 Westin O'Hare located in Rosemont, Illinois, minutes away from the O'Hare International Airport. The Westin provides complimentary shuttle service that departs the hotel approximately every 20 minutes. For the street address see http://www.roirevolution.com/analytics-seminar.

Each day costs $249 or $498 if you register for both sessions. The seminars will be a full day from 8am to 5pm EST on both June 2nd and 3rd. In order to keep the cost of the seminar as low as possible, lunch will not be provided, but morning and afternoon breaks will be offered.

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)* Google graciously offers to all Seminars for Success attendees!

http://www.roirevolution.com/promos/
analytics-seminar.htm#11

*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.

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!

They grow up so fast, don't they? Today at ad:tech in San Francisco, Google announced that its multivariate testing tool, Google Website Optimizer, was coming out of beta and getting its own digs. Here's the official announcement.

Up until recently, the only way to use Google's free tool to test and improve your website's content was through a tab in AdWords. Now that Google Website Optimizer has moved on to the big leagues, it has a new standalone website independent of AdWords, where you can log on and start running tests right away.

Here's a look at the new multivariate walkthrough:

Read on for a list of new improvements and support options...

Continue reading "Google Website Optimizer Graduates from Google Beta" »

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.

Find The Secret To Solid, Sustainable Improvements To Your Website
Learn the insider secrets to making more money from your website than ever before – Guaranteed! Get started right away with the Google Analytics Training Course..

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.

Find The Secret To Solid, Sustainable Improvements To Your Website
Learn the insider secrets to making more money from your website than ever before – Guaranteed! Get started right away with the Google Analytics Training Course..

A few weeks ago the Nickelback Summer "All the Right Reasons" 2007 tour arrived here in Raleigh, NC. My brother-in-law is good friends with the lead singer (Wes) for one of the supporting acts for the Nickelback tour, Puddle of Mudd. One of the perks of having a family member know a 'rock star' so well is access to a couple of backstage passes. Our pass allowed us full access to the restricted areas back stage including the dressing rooms, the band-member's catering area, and in the case of the Puddle of Mudd performance, right on stage while the band performed.

Here at ROI Revolution we have an immediate opening for a single backstage pass to one of our 'rock star' Pay Per Click teams.

Here are the details from our the careers section of our website:

Continue reading "Pay Per Click 'Rock Star' Wanted" »

Google Analytics' Alden DeSoto points out that Google continues to add new features to its amazing (free) analytics.

Here's the scoop from the Google Analytics Blog:

Today, we're excited to announce that we're adding a few more of your most requested features.

The following improvements are available in your account now:

- We've added a "Go to:" box to all reports that have tables so you can jump directly to a specific row. If you have 5,000 referring sources and you want to see row 3,456, you can jump right to it.

- The Map Overlay report view now defaults to Country instead of Subcontinent.

- Content reports now have a Segment menu so you can cross-segment pages and sets of pages by referral source, keyword, visitor type, and other visitor segments.

- Many of you prefer the more readable Content by Title report over the URL-based Content Drilldown and Top Content reports. However, drilling down on a specific title in the Content by Title report hasn't allowed you to find (and therefore analyze and fix) URLs sharing the title. Until today.

Alden then goes on to point out that the previous Google Analytics interface is no longer available as previously announced.

Sponsored Link: Unlock the power of the new Google Analytics interface with our newly updated Online Google Analytics Training Course. The six part Google Analytics training event (featuring six weekly sessions taught live, two jammed packed workbooks, voice Q&A and real time chat) begins at 1:30 pm on Thursday August 9, 2007. Register today.

As first reported on the Official Google Analytics Blog, and then picked up pretty much everywhere else other than our own blog here, Google Analytics has seen its first minor feature update since the launch of the new user interface. While we certainly weren't first to break the news†, due mostly to putting the finishing touches on our updated Google Analytics training series, I did want to post my top three favorite improvements after the jump.

Continue reading "New Google Analytics Features" »

We at ROI Revolution are searching for a talented, creative individual with at least six months experience with pay-per-click advertising to join our team in Raleigh, NC.

Well, I bet you are wondering what it is like to work at ROI. Let me share some of my personal experience with you.

I started working at ROI in September of 2006 and have never looked back. I completely set up pay-per-click campaigns from start-to-finish—from researching industries and keywords, to writing ad text, to campaign strategy, to bidding. It's great because I have the control to do work without someone standing over my shoulder. I can take my own creative liberties, but I have the comfort of working in a team—so if I need input or assistance from a teammate, there is always someone there!

Plus, there is prestige in working here as ROI is 1 of only 11 authorized Google Analytics consulting firms in the nation.

Continue reading "Searching For Experienced PPC Specialist" »

You may have read my previous article on the subject of combining Google Website Optimizer with Google Analytics. With the new Google Analytics interface, of course, there are some changes I'd like to address.

First things first, the integration remains unchanged. You can refer back to my previous post for these instructions.

Finding the information, however, is now a little different. Since there is no more Dynamic Content report (*sniff*), finding the data takes a couple steps. But don't fret, it's not too bad.

Here's how:

Continue reading "Website Optimizer Integration in the New Analytics Interface" »

Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager, Google Analytics posts on the Official Google Analytics Blog that everyone has access to the new Google Analytics.

Further, you'll be able to use the previous version of Google Analytics until July 18, 2007 (that's nearly two whole month's worth for the procrastinator deep inside!).

But why wait until July to make the switch?

Brett covers a few pointers to make the transition to the new design a little easier:

If there are specific reports in the previous version of Google Analytics that you'd like to find in the new interface, try using the Report Finder tool. If you haven't viewed the Tour, you may find it to be a helpful introduction to the new Google Analytics.

Just as Brett did, I'm going to point out a few posts on the new Google Analytics you may find helpful:

ROI Revolution's Michael Harrison covers the introduction in his post entitled "Google Analytics: Extreme Makeover Edition" and a tip on how to view entire referring URL's in the new Google Analytics.

Justin Cutroni has a over a half-dozen posts covering the new features, Avanish Kaushik's post discusses the first five things you should do the first time you log into Google Analytics V2, and Adam Ostrow gushes about the 27 features that make Google Analytics best of breed.

Continue reading "Everyone has access to the new Google Analytics now" »

Michael Mattis from the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog just announced a very cool conversion tracking feature I'd love to see in a future edition of Google Analytics: conversion analytics designed to help track your "conversion assists".

What on earth is a "conversion assist"?

While a "conversion" occurs when someone completes an action of value on your website, such as a purchase, a lead submission or subscription transaction, a "conversion assist" occurs when a PPC keyword phrase has contributed to a conversion that was credited to the keyword phrase used by the searcher just prior to their conversion.

Here's an example to illustrate this Michael offers:

Let's say that a user came to your Sci-Fi collectibles site and bought a "tribble" plush toy. He or she might actually have been searching on "United Federation of Planets". The user might have viewed the ad with the keyword, "United Federation of Planets" first, then later viewed the ad with the keyword, "quadro-triticale" and then finally converted on the ad displaying the keyword, "tribble." The system records this trail of clicks, or "lead events," crediting both "United Federation of Planets" and "quadro-triticale" with an assist and "tribble" with the conversion. This way you'll know that your keywords are leading to conversions, even if the relationship is not a direct one.

Michael notes that the system will show up to 30 lead events per conversion over a 45 day period provided the user has cookies enabled.

You can get more help with the new Yahoo! conversion-only analytics option here.

Sponsored Link: Unlock the power of the new Google Analytics interface with our newly updated Online Google Analytics Training Course. The six part Google Analytics training event (featuring six weekly sessions taught live, two jammed packed workbooks, voice Q&A and real time chat) begins at 1:30 pm on Thursday August 9, 2007. Register today.

Yes, Google Analytics has been redesigned. Please do not panic.

As several folks noticed last week, Google has redesigned Google Analytics. Log into your account and you'll be met by an announcement:

Over the next several weeks, we will be migrating all existing Analytics accounts to the new Google Analytics interface. You will be notified by email once your account has been migrated. For an entire month you will be able to access both the original interface and the new interface. During the migration, you should experience no interruption in service and you’ll be able to see all of your data regardless of which interface you use. For a sneak peek at the new Google Analytics, take a look at the following resources.

Change can be a tough thing to come to terms with. Some people might wonder why Google is changing everything just as they've started to get used to it.

We loved the old interface, too. Don't get me wrong. It's kind of like those ridiculous makeover shows on TV. Sure, you love your mom before she gets her wardrobe rebooted, but no one's complaining when she comes back minus the muumuu.

Let me assure you, this redesign is a very good thing. We've been using the new interface for over two months now, and it's made day-to-day analysis a breeze. I've had lots of time working with both, and the new one is superior in almost every way.

Continue reading "Google Analytics: Extreme Makeover Edition" »

Congratulations to our Elite Eight Contest winner Brian Saxe.

Brian was correct on 13 of his 15 selections, and is the lucky winner of the pearl necklace prize from Magnum's Jewelers!

On average, contestants registered about 8.73 correct choices.

Please keep an eye out for any future contests!

Continue reading "Elite Eight Contest Winner!" »

Updated June 14, 2007

Alright everyone, you may want to grab a drink and a comfy seat before we begin - this article's a whopper. So you may have heard about Google's new Website Optimizer tool that is available through Google AdWords. Google Website Optimizer uses a single metric, conversion rate, to determine which combination of variations is king.

But what about other metrics that may be just as valuable, like Page Value, Avg. Time, Conversion Rates for multiple goals, Bounce Rate, Exit %, and Full Navigation Analysis? What if you want to segment your traffic or filter out internal hits? Well, now you can find out just about everything you want to know about combinations by using Google Analytics! We're still just starting to understand how powerful this method is, but I can say that I'm extremely excited about it (hopefully not just because I developed it).

So kick back and read on to find out how...

Continue reading "Google Website Optimizer and Google Analytics: A Perfect Marriage" »

Whew! The announcement of Google's new Website Optimizer tool now gives us the opportunity to spill the beans about our experiences with the Beta test, and tell you about our free webinar for those of you who are looking for more information about the tool.

My experience with the Website Optimizer has been a little up and down, but I'm happy to admit that I've ended on the upswing. The limitations and annoyances that were present in the tool at the very beginning of the Beta have since been either removed or fixed, leaving only an extremely powerful and easy-to-use tool that no website owner should be without.

Here's the scoop:

Continue reading "Google Website Optimizer: Finally, it's for Everyone!" »

If you're following the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, then you're probably well aware of how crazy the weekend was. Hopefully you've also entered our Elite Eight Contest and, if you're doing better than I am with your picks, you've got a good chance to win a really beautiful pearl necklace from Magnum's Jewelers. It's worth $500, so even if you're not a huge basketball fan, you really have no excuse not to enter.

Saturday saw three games that went into OT, but Sunday came with the sad realization (at least for Shawn and I) that the upsets were not to be. Aside from UNLV's win over Wisconsin and perhaps Vanderbilt's narrow triumph over Washington State in the Battle of the Derricks (Byars and and Low), it was par for the course. To put my own spin on a common sports writer's cliche, Goliath went home with David's little slingshot as a trophy.

Continue reading "NCAA Tournament Contest Update" »