Google Analytics has a feature called "Advanced Segments" that allows you to separate your data into groups of interest. Perhaps you want to analyze or compare your paid search traffic against your non-paid search traffic. Google Analytics allows you to do just that with the Advanced Segments feature. You can select up to four segments to use in your reports. Advanced Segments easily organizes your data for analysis. This provides the benefit of seeing different groups of data, so you can pinpoint where you need to focus efforts with specific groups of visitors and traffic.

Different groups may behave differently when they visit your site. You want to better target your programs based on the differences between these groups. For example, through segmenting and comparing your paid and non paid search traffic, you learn that you are gaining much higher conversions with your non-paid traffic. This will lead you to look at your paid campaign more thoroughly and spot keywords and ads to revise that you may have missed if you only looked at the overall picture. Looking at segmented data helps you find specific problems so you can better target your audiences.

With Google Analytics Advanced Segments you have the option to organize your data using a list of pre-defined default segments or you can create custom segments for your data.

Advanced Segments are on the right side of the screen on all your reports (see the yellow highlighted box below).


The default segments that Google Analytics currently sets include:

• All visits - this includes all available data and is the default setting.

• New visitors - allows you to look strictly at the behavior of new visitors who have not been to your site before.

• Returning visitors - tracks behavior of visitors who have previously been to your site and returned.

• Paid search traffic - shows only visitor data that came from paid search results.

• Non-paid search traffic - shows visitor data that came from non-paid search results.

• Search traffic - see visits that came from search engines.

• Direct traffic - visits where the user came directly to your site by typing in your URL or coming via a bookmark.

• Referral traffic - see data for all visits that were referred to your Web site from another Web site.

• Visits with conversions - visits that have turned into conversions or sales.

• Visits from iPhones - shows data for visits that came strictly from iPhones.

• Non bounce visits - visits where the visitor went to more than one page of your Web site.

You can utilize Advanced Segments to compare two different types of traffic or visitors. For example, if you want to compare paid search traffic with non-paid search traffic, you simply click to check the boxes next to both paid and non-paid search, then click "apply". Google Analytics will automatically show you separate information for all traffic, paid search traffic and non-paid search traffic.

Segments help you pinpoint where your trouble groups are. For example, when comparing paid and non-paid traffic, you notice that your paid traffic has a much higher bounce rate than your non paid traffic. You can then drill down into your keyword report and see your paid keywords that are attracting visitors with high bounce rates.

Using Advanced Segments will better organize your data so that you can filter the traffic and visitors that are qualified, as well as see which areas need adjustments. You can gain a better understanding of your customers, identify trends in similar groups, and analyze behaviors that occur in particular groups of visitors. Advanced segments allow you to more accurately predict patterns of behavior so you can be proactive and more efficient with your online marketing program.

Advanced Segments is a powerful tool to analyze your visitors and traffic. Whether you use this feature to compare segments or to single out segments of interest, this tool allows you to analyze the effectiveness at attracting qualified visitors and traffic on a group level.

Labels: Google Analytics

Filters can be a great addition to your Google Analytics accounts and profiles. They allow you to exclude or include certain data so that your profile reports are more accurate. They also help decrease the amount of data sifting that you would need to do after your reports were already produced.

For example, maybe you want to filter out internal traffic or maybe you want to only see traffic to specific subdirectories on your site in individual profiles. Filters can make this easy.

To set up a filter in Google Analytics, you first need to go into your account and edit the profile settings for the profile you are looking to filter. Remember to always leave a backup profile that remains unaltered, since you cannot recover data once it has been filtered. Once you are in profile settings you will see "Main Profile Website information"," Goals" and below your goals you will see an area that says "Filters Applied to Profile." Click on "+ Add Filter", you will now see the "Create a New Filter" screen.


Here you can choose whether you want to add a new filter to your profile or whether you want to add an existing filter to your profile. The "Apply Existing Filter to Profile" option allows you to add the same filter across profiles. For example, you may want to filter out your internal traffic on all of your profiles, so only relevant traffic shows up in your reports.

You also have the option to add a new filter to the profile in which you will create this new filter. You will want to name your filter something descriptive so you know what it is, like "only traffic from subdirectory A" or "excluding internal traffic". You will then specify whether you want to use a predefined filter or a custom filter (we will touch on custom filters in a future post). Predefined filters give you the option to include or exclude traffic from specific domains, traffic from IP addresses and traffic to specific subdirectories. You will then choose whether you want the data you filter to be equal to, to begin with, to end with, or to contain the domain or IP address that you enter. Then you have to fill in the domain, subdirectory or IP addresses that you want to include or exclude traffic to or from.

These options allow you to be flexible with how you include or exclude data. For example, if you want to include traffic to a specific subdirectory, but it has a dynamic URL for a sub directory, "/mydir/", you can choose the option "that begins with" and it will include all traffic where the URL begins with "/mydir/" any visit where the URI begins with "/mydir/" will be included or excluded from your traffic reports. So visits to "/mydir/31", "mydir/221", "/mydir/3984" and so on, would all be included in your traffic data.


Using filters is a great way to get more specific data, which in turn can lead to better data for decision making. Filters can be simple to use and they offer many options for how you want to see your data.

Labels: Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a valuable tool that helps you better understand your Web site and the behavior of the people who visit it. Learn more about how Google Analytics can help you on our What Can Google Analytics do for me page. Understanding how your users interact with your Web site and how your Web site is performing is crucial to your online success. After all, how can you improve your Web site without knowing what is and isn't working for you? Google Analytics allows you to analyze your visitors' behavior and your Web site so that you can determine how to improve your online presence. Google Analytics helps you make better decisions regarding your Web site, and it gives you the tools to improve your site for increased success.

"The Basics of Google Analytics" White Paper was written to give new users an idea of how to install and use Google Analytics in a basic and easy to follow format. The paper details installation procedures beginning with account set up. "The Basics of Google Analytics" White Paper from E-Power Marketing should teach you all you need to know about getting a basic Google Analytics program up and running. The White Paper also explains how to work with the Google Analytics interface and how to gain a better understanding of the data that you gather from Google Analytics. Check out the White Paper now and learn how to get your Google Analytics program up and running!

Let E-Power Marketing provide you with Google Analytics Implementation and Support to install and start utilizing Google Analytics to improve your Web site performance.

Labels: Google Analytics

Do you ever look at your Google Analytics data and wonder what happened two weeks ago that caused your traffic to spike or drop? Maybe a new campaign was launched or a technical issue was corrected on the site. Unless you wrote it down or have notes about what you did two weeks ago you may have a hard time remembering what happened that day. If you did write it down you may have a problem sharing that information with everyone who has access to your Google Analytics profile because of the where you keep the notes. This causes an issue keeping all of your departments and partners in the loop with developments on your site, updates with your PPC campaigns, and online marketing program.

Google Analytics has taken care of this problem by adding Annotations to their growing list of features. You can now add Annotations to specific dates in your Google Analytics profiles to mark any significant changes or developments. Now, when you want to launch a new campaign or your site goes under construction you can annotate those days in your Analytics account. This is a very useful and simple tool that will allow better communication among your Google Analytics account users. If your IT department or your SEO firm makes a change to your site, they can now annotate the date the changes or events occurred so you can see exactly when something happened and who was responsible for the changes as long as they have access to the profiles in question. Since Annotations are automatically associated with the login responsible for the Annotation, it is easy to see who created the Annotation and when.

Annotations can be made public or private. Use public Annotations to note events and changes that affect multiple departments or use private Annotations to put a note in about when a report was run. Public Annotations can be seen by anyone who has access to the profile.

Google Analytics Annotations are also a great way to explain automatic and custom alerts from your Google Analytics Intelligence. Annotations can be used to explain a specific alert so everyone who has access to the profile can see why a significant change occurred.

Below is a video from the Google Analytics Blog on Annotations:



Using Annotations is a great way to make communication easier across departments and other users of your Google Analytics accounts. It is also a great way to save time and better understand changes that occur with your Google Analytics data.

Labels: Google Analytics

As your buyers shift to the Internet, you will find that your online marketing budget can outperform the traditional advertising you had been buying. Not only can online marketing generate more sales than traditional advertising, it also allows you to use tools that will improve your Return on Investment on an ongoing basis.

Web Analytics measures Web site traffic and visitor activity. Analytics identifies from which search engine or Web site a buyer or lead came from, the search words used by the buyer to find your Web site, and the Web page that motivated the buyer to take action. You can see how many pages visitors are viewing and how long they stay on your site. These are important metrics for understanding how well your site is engaging visitors.

Analytics identifies the online marketing activities that are generating the best Return on Investment. You will know which money-making efforts to focus on, while scaling back or eliminating efforts that do not yield sales or leads.

Google offers an excellent Web Analytics system that is free of charge. Google Analytics provides comprehensive statistics giving you a window into the behavior of your visitors. It provides information to guide your efforts to boost your Web site's functionality, lead generation and sales conversions.

How can Analytics improve your Web sales? You can track where your sales came from for a better understanding of ROI. Use it to identify when and what page people leave your site from. What can you do to keep them longer? Is navigation guiding visitors to take the actions you want? Where in the sales process are potential buyers leaving, and what can be done to change this?

Take advantage of Web Analytics to measure and improve your Web site's results. You will be rewarded with more return from your marketing budget.

Labels: Google Analytics, SEM Back to Basics

Looking for your "sweet spot" in Google AdWords? Google Analytics can help! Google Analytics allows you to gather information about your Google AdWords Campaigns that Google AdWords alonedoes not provide. Google Analytics and Google AdWords can be integrated to greatly improve the analysis of your Pay Per Click (PPC) programs. In Google Analytics as in Google AdWords, you can see what keywords are driving your conversions (lead generation or sales) as well as how many conversions are occurring because of each individual keyword. This information can have positive effects on your PPC campaigns and can help you find your ?sweet spot?.

Basic uses of Google Analytics with Google AdWords

Google Analytics can show your conversions by keyword which is an invaluable resource for Google AdWords users. Here you can see which keywords are creating the most conversions and which keywords aren?t creating any. Keywords that are creating a high number of conversions are a great place to focus your resources. You may be focusing money on keywords that don?t create any conversions. Doesn?t that seem like a waste of time and money?

In the "Ad Versions" report you can compare metrics for each ad. Here you can see how your ad is performing in relation to goal conversions, site usage, and eCommerce. You see which ads are achieving the most goals, the most visits, the longest time on the site, the highest number of pages per visit, the lowest bounce rate, and the percent of new visits. Looking at the bounce rate can give you insight into whether your ads are relevant to the audience that is clicking on them.

Additionally you can use the "keywords positions" report in Google Analytics to see how the position of your ad affected your performance. Are your ads in the best possible position given your budget to produce the ROI you are looking for? Maybe simply moving your ad will give you a better ROI.

Google Analytics Can Go Above and Beyond the Information Google AdWords Provides

Do you want your campaigns to be more specific by targeting a more localized audience? Use Map Overlay to see where your visitors are coming from geographically. This will give you an idea, in picture form, of where you can target your audience using location-specific campaigns. This is a great tool for refining your campaign to meet local needs and not available unless Google Analytics integration is properly set up.

Another way to refine your campaign is to place your ads within the Content Network of Google AdWords. You can hand select these sites within Google AdWords or you can use Google Analytics to capitalize on sites that are already sending you organic traffic using the "referring sites" report. This report gives you a list of all the sites that drive organic traffic to your Web site. You can then take this list of referring sites and place them in the "List URLs" option under "Target Your Ad: Identify Placement." Now you can advertise within the Content Network on sites that you know already refer organic traffic to your Web site, allowing you to further increase your exposure on an already relevant site.

Of course, like other Google Analytics data, you need to focus on trends. Don?t throw all of your money into a keyword that had great conversions one month but showed poor conversions every other month of the year. You want to look for keywords that show consistency in conversions. You also want to look at the trends in keywords. Some become more popular or less popular with time. You can't always put all of your resources into one keyword forever. Google Analytics can help you see these trends and help you make better PPC decisions.

Sources:
http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/?hl=en
http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/?hl=en
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-do-i-actually-use-analytics-to.html

Labels: Google Analytics

Google Analytics Intelligence is a great new feature that alerts you of significant deviations in your Google Analytics data. This feature tracks the trends in your data and flags any changes in data that are not typical of your site.

For example, if your traffic rises 400% in one day and this is not a normal spike in your data, Google Analytics Intelligence will place an alert on that day's data. These alerts allow you to stay updated with your Google Analytics program. Google Analytics Intelligence eliminates the hassle of checking each of your reports to find out if something strange is going on with your Web site.

You have the option to set both automatic alerts and/or custom alerts to. These alerts flag your data anytime something happens with your Web site that is not a "normal" part of the trend in your data.

Automatic alerts are pre set by Google Analytics Intelligence to alert you when there is a drastic change in any of your data. Without alerts, you may miss something important that occurred on your Web site. Once you set alerts, Google Analytics Intelligence also goes back and puts alerts into your historical data.



In this example, an alert showed because there was 190% increase in Pageviews for a particular day.



Google Intelligence also tells you what the expected range is for your data, so you know when an alert will be triggered. In this example the expected range is 26-95 Pageviews. Since there were 236 page views, which is not in the range, the alert was triggered.

Perhaps a page isn't working properly or displaying a "404 Page Not Found" error and your Bounce Rate spikes on that page. Without an alert you may not discover right away that a page isn't working properly and you could potentially lose business because of it. Google Analytics Intelligence cannot tell you why something abnormal occurred in your data, but it can alert you when something happens. You can then go back and diagnose why the unusual activity occurred and how to correct it.

You also have the option to set custom alerts for your Web site. Choose your traffic source and a metric and create as many alerts as you would like. You have the ability to apply the same custom alert across multiple accounts and profiles, so you don't need to create alerts in each individual profile.



Perhaps you want to be alerted when your visits drop to a certain level or when a bounce rate increases by more than 25% on a Landing Page compared to the previous day.



Google Analytics Intelligence allows you to get specific with your alerts. Another great feature is the option to receive an e-mail notification when an alert is activated so you don't need to repeatedly check your accounts. Google Analytics Intelligence will do that for you.

Setting up alerts with Google Analytics Intelligence is a great way to keep updated on Web site activity without looking through large amounts of data. Set up e-mail alerts so you can be the first to know when something changes with your Web site. Try it out and see what your Web site is up to!

Labels: Google Analytics

Google has recently made some improvements to Analytics that are making many users very happy. The days of four goals per profile are over! This is just one of the new improvements that Google has made in Analytics.

You can now place up to 20 goals in a single profile on Analytics. These goals are then organized into 4 sets with 5 goals in each. You can add even move goals across sets (assuming there is room). This is an exciting new addition for all of those users who needed to create multiple profiles just to cover the goals they wanted to track. Moving all goals into a single profile can make reading reports significantly easier. However, remember if you move goals into a single profile that historical data does not transfer between profiles, so it is wise not to delete old profiles with historical data in them until you are finished with the data.

The sets are great because they can be organized any way you want. Organizing by business functions or different types of goals can make analysis that much easier. Since so many goals are now allowed, Google has also added goal tabs for each set of goals on the Analytics reports. This makes it easier to navigate through the reports into different sets of goals.

In addition to allowing more goals per profile, Google has also added new types of goals. You can now set goals based on how many pages are viewed in a single visit or for time on site. Both of these goals are set up so a user can set the number of visits or time on site to be greater than or less than some number. Time on site can be set to hours, minutes, seconds or a combination of the three. Number of pages per visit is set by any number of pages you choose.

It seems a little strange that you can set your goals to be less than a certain number, however, this is a great way to measure failure and can give you a great amount of insight on your site and its visitors. For example, you can set a goal for time on site to be less than 5 seconds and have a visual of how many visitors leave your site within 5 seconds. Then you can analyze other Google Analytics metrics and determine what action steps are necessary to help improve your site.

These new changes to Google Analytics have made it an even more efficient and user friendly way to monitor your website's performance!

Labels: Google Analytics

Within the past couple months Google has offered up a slew of new reporting features via Custom Reports. One new feature segments Google AdWords activities by time of day. I have been griping about not being able to track hourly traffic for some time. The feature is finally available, albeit it not within Google AdWords as I would have liked, but within Google Analytics.

This Custom Reporting feature within Google Analytics allows you to segment marketing campaigns by time of day, allowing you to assess your AdWords budget (or any other campaign for that matter) by conversions, spend and hour of day. This makes the day parting (ad scheduling) feature from AdWords that much better. Not only can you pick what time of day and set costs by time of day, but you can now analyze your conversion by time of day! This custom report can also be setup to analyze your PPC campaigns for Yahoo Search Marketing, MSN AdCenter and any other online advertising tool that lets you use day parting.

Below is a screenshot of one way to set up this custom report, allowing you to see conversion by time of day.


How will this help my search marketing program?

Since Google AdWords hourly reports are not available for conversion tracking, this new Analytics custom report allows you to refine your budget based on actual measurable ROI.

For example, if you are converting more during a certain time period then you could utilize advanced ad scheduling to raise bids during only this time period. The opposite is also true, performing poorly during a certain time period, then lower your bids with advanced ad scheduling. You can use advanced ad scheduling to set up to six separate bids throughout the day.

Labels: Google Analytics, PPC Advertising

As the year draws to a close, many people are looking back on 2008 and reflecting on SEM efforts, successes and goals. It's time to look forward to the New Year, and what 2009 will bring for you and your business.

It's no secret that we are using the Internet more and more for decision making and purchasing, and that trend is sure to continue. Consequently using Search Engine Marketing as a means to succeed in a tough economy will be a smart move for 2009.

A well-implemented SEM campaign will give you the competitive edge in the challenging economy we're facing as we ring in the New Year. Obviously in today's economy budgets are getting cut, money is being redistributed, and changes are happening.

But SEM is budget that should not be cut. In fact, you should consider increasing it. Well-implemented SEM is cost-effective, measurable, and highly successful. With the Internet growing, traditional marketing channels are losing effectiveness. As a result you need a strong presence on Google and other search engines to maintain sales and to position your business to take advantage of opportunities when the economy turns around. More than ever, people are finding companies, services and products online. Will they be able to find you in 2009?

Why do I think SEM is going to get even bigger in 2009? Just think about it...

• Lead Generation: Finding leads has never been an easy task. As people are being more cautious with their money and time, it can be harder and harder for companies to find prospective leads. SEM has the tools that allow you to generate leads as well as find out where leads are coming from. Once you know where the best traffic is coming from, you can focus your budget on the most lucrative avenues. Those who invest in a solid SEM campaign in 2009 will use their marketing budget more effectively and have better results generating leads that will turn into sales.

• Social Media Marketing: At its core, SEM is following in the footsteps of traditional, effective marketing practices. We all know how interactive the Internet is, making some classic marketing ploys worthless, while creating the perfect environment for new, creative forms of marketing to develop. Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a relatively new chapter in the Marketing book. This platform can engage your target audience when they are interacting online. SMM can increase Web site traffic, market interest, link popularity and search visibility. Whether you're looking for Social Networking help, Blog optimization, or a broad SMM campaign, SMM is becoming a specialization all its own, and I see that continuing in 2009. With the complex and time consuming tactics that go along with Social Media Marketing, it will be important to work with specialized professionals in the future to allow for the best chance of success with this strategy in 2009.

• Pay Per Click Advertising: PPC on Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter is a fast way to generate search visibility, traffic and sales. A successful PPC campaign doesn't only bring traffic; it should deliver qualified buyers. Measurement tools allow you to identify which keywords and ads lead to sales. You can take this data to optimize your PPC program to continually improve your sales and your bottom-line. So what will the trends be in 2009? As more and more companies implement PPC campaigns, there will higher competition for important key phrases, this will make professional PPC management necessary as campaigns will need to be stepped up to remain competitive. The mix of increase in competition and tighter budgets will make it hard for PPC campaigns to be run effectively without professional help.

• Local Results: An October 2008 Press Release from TMP reports that people use search engines more than Yellow Pages to find businesses. Not only that, but the rise in popularity of mobile devices is on the rise, and that trend will continue throughout the New Year. People are using the Internet to find what's close. Being found online is becoming more and more important to reach your local audience. In 2009 more businesses will look to SEM to make sure they're found online.

• Reporting: SEM efforts can and should be reported. Documenting SEM efforts, showing both the successes and struggles is one of the core reasons that SEM has the ability to grow in 2009. As the economy struggles, it is becoming more and more important to know exactly what your money is getting you. With tight budgets and the need to justify spending money, the ability to effectively and regularly report the progress of an SEM campaign will make SEM a go-to strategy for 2009.

• Cost: SEM campaigns are adjustable. You have the ability to manipulate the budget as necessary. Want to see even better results from your SEM campaign? You will have the data to guide you. Ranking for keywords without PPC efforts? Reduce what you spend on PPC and shift the budget to search optimization. SEM tactics, whether PPC or SEO, can be easily measured and tracked. You can see where your budget is going and what is getting results. This will be an important factor in making SEM thrive in uncertain times, like we' sure to see as we enter the New Year.

2009 may begin with tight budgets and uncertainty, but SEM is the marketing strategy that can transcend those challenges. Don't cut SEM out of your budget or avoid a new SEM campaign in the New Year. There are many reasons why I believe SEM is going to see growth in 2009. SEM has the potential to grow your business even when the economy stinks.

The New Year is a good time to evaluate your company's online marketing potential and needs. Do you have a strong SEM campaign in place? Are you happy with the results? Have you thought about SEM before, but are hesitating on taking the next step? Now is the time. SEM will grow in 2009; your competitors will be jumping on board. Will you?

Make SEM your business' New Year's Resolution. Make sure you're happy with your current campaign, or get started on finding the right SEM solution to implement. Don't get left behind as others will implement SEM, the potential for growth is a huge one, make sure your company doesn't get left in the dust.

Labels: Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

You are part of a successful company. You've established a solid team, developed valuable products or services, and you've done alright for yourself so far. However, in today's world doing alright isn't always enough. Search engine marketing has gone from being an advantage to a competitive necessity. SEM, including Search Engine Optimization and Pay Per Click initiatives have become the foundation for effective Web site marketing.

Last month, comScore, an online Internet measurement service, published the August 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings. They state that Americans conducted 11.7 billion searches in August. If you haven't implemented an SEM campaign yet, you are losing out on customers and sales. Potential customers are using search engines to find products and services. Are they finding your company?

When you're tired of seeing quality traffic and high search engine rankings pass you by, it's time to hire an SEM firm. This step will mean change for some of your employees, and too often, change is met with resistance. Employees are especially resistant to change when they feel their jobs may be affected. In some cases, an SEM firm may lighten the workload of some, while it may add to the workload of others. No matter why your employees feel resistant to an SEM firm, that resistance can harm your company and your SEM campaign.

An SEM firm often works with a variety of employees from different departments. Here is a short list of departments that SEM firms commonly work with. It is important to understand how and why these teams or individuals may view an SEM firm as something to resist.

• Executives: Typically this is the group that initiates or at least approves hiring an SEM specialist. Executive buy-in to the program is the first step to effective implementation. Executive support is necessary; but it isn't the only thing they must provide. In some cases, executives do not fully understand the purpose or need for an SEM firm, and that can cause tension. It is important for executives to learn about SEM, and serve as a resource when introducing an SEM firm into a company. Many employees will watch executives to see how the SEM firm should be treated. When the Execs respond positively and professionally, the rest of the company is more likely to follow suit.

• Marketing specialists: The Marketing department is often an integral part of an SEM campaign. At E-Power, we've often seen an SEM firm come in to enhance the work a Marketing team has been doing online. Very often Marketing teams understand some SEM basics, and have been building their online presence on those fundamentals. When an SEM firm is hired, some problems can arise when Marketing teams feel that they are being replaced, when in reality, their groundwork is being built upon and improved. In the same way that an SEM firm couldn't do your Marketers jobs at the highest level, it takes specialized SEM professionals to get top results for your company online. In the end, it takes team work between both Marketing specialists and SEM professionals to create and effectively implement the latest and most beneficial SEM strategies for your business.

• Technology professionals: A company's Tech team is another vital piece of the SEM team effort. Tech teams are often responsible for following through with an SEM campaign and implementing technical changes to company Web sites or perform other important responsibilities. This may disrupt the current work flow of the department, and may cause some hard feelings. At E-Power, we've unfortunately seen our work get tabled by a Tech department who didn't understand the need for the changes. It is important for the Tech team to understand the benefits a specialized SEM firm can provide. An SEM firm often values the roles of Technology professionals, but it is necessary for a Tech department to recognize the roles of SEM specialists as well.

It takes solid leadership and a strong commitment to overcome the resistance to change. Last month, I wrote about Corporate Culture, SEM, and You, and how to smooth the transition when bringing an SEM firm in. Those tips are very relevant when faced with resistance, especially now that you have a better understanding of how and why different departments may react to the news that your company will be utilizing an SEM firm. Ultimately, a professional and comfortable environment must be established for everyone involved in the SEM campaign. It is extremely important for your company that all employees, both from the SEM firm and within your company, are held accountable for their portion of the work. Your company's future is at stake. Are you taking the appropriate steps to move forward?

Labels: Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, Social Marketing

In my previous post I discussed how to Set Up Goals in Google Analytics. As some of you may know, a Google Analytics account only allows you to setup up 20 goals. Well what if you need to measure more than 20 goals? The answer is Sub Accounts, and the set up is quite simple. Google Analytics now allows you to have up to 100 sub accounts; meaning, you can now measure up to 2000 distinct goals using the original Google Analytics code that was installed on your site!

Steps to Setting Up Sub Accounts

1. Once logged into Google Analytics, navigate to the Add Website Profile Link.

2. Select the radio button labeled "Add a Profile for an existing domain."

3. If you have Google AdWords don't forget to select the box to "Apply Cost Data" as it will allow you to see what goals are being hit from your Google AdWords PPC Campaigns.

4. Name your new Sub Account. It helps to name the Sub Account for the type of goals you are measuring. Example ? E-Power Marketing Newsletter Signups

5. Check the status of your new Sub Account by clicking on the "Check Status Link"

You have now set up a sub account under your original domain allowing you to track up to 20 more goals! Now all you need to do is set up Google Analytics Goals.

Labels: Google Analytics

In a previous tip I briefly touched on Optimizng AdWords ROI which helped measure your Pay Per Click Program's performance within Google Analytics by applying cost data and auto tagging destination URL's to allow for better PPC Optimization. So now that you have more information in Analytics on how your paid programs are doing, how about we discuss setting up Goals in Google Analytics to measure your organic and referral traffic?

What is a Goal?

Goals are a way within Google Analytics to measure activities or conversions that take place on your website.

What to Measure?

What can you measure by setting up Google Analytics Goals? Well the possibilities are almost endless but some of the common goals measured include product purchases, downloads and contact forms. Each activity usually ends with some sort of "thank you" page telling the visitor that they have competed an action on your site.

The Set Up Process

There are different ways to set up goals depending on the needs and complexity of your site. So below are simple steps to setting up and creating a simple goal in Google Analytics.

1) Log into Google Analytics and click on the "Edit Settings" link.

2) Navigate to the "Conversion Goals and Funnel" box and click Edit in the settings column for Goal one (G1).

3) This will bring you to the Goal Settings interface which will allow you to set up your first goal. On this page you need to make sure the Active Goal radio button is set to On. Next you need to set the "Match Type" settings. You have several options to choose from, the most basic being "Exact Match" which is used if the goal URL is not dynamic. If your goal URL is dynamic you need to switch the setting to "Regular Expression Match" and leave out the unique values at the end of the URL such as user id's. If you are using different sub domains and want to track trailing parameters or a particular stem within a URL then use "Regular Expression Match." For most users, the basic match type setting will suffice.

4) From here you need to paste the Goal Page URL you wish to track into the Goal URL field. This Goal URL should be after the user on your site has completed an action like a thank you page, registration confirmation page, completed checkout or any other completed action you wish to track.

5) After that is done you need to name your goal. Name your goal after the type of action you are tracking so that you can distinguish it in the actual Google Analytics interface.

6) Define a value for your goal. Do you want to assign a basic monetary value to each whitepaper downloaded? Or do you just want to track the number of completed contact forms?

That's it, you have completed setting up a basic goal within Google Analytics. Setting up more advanced goals using "Regular Expression Match" or ecommerce tracking can get a bit more complicated. You can also take the basic goal process further by defining a "funnel" for your goal. We will touch on that area another day.

Labels: Google Analytics

Alright you have set up Google Analytics, but the key is to get the most accurate data possible. Excluding yourself and/or your company, or any one who is working with on or with your site is going to give you a more accurate picture of how your site is performing?

How do you know if you have already filtered internal traffic?

Well if your domain name is something like www.sellbluewidgetstoday.com/ and you have tons of direct traffic to your site, than odds are you have not filtered out internal traffic as not too many visitors are going to be coming from type in traffic.

How do you filter internal traffic from Google Analytics?

Well there are two ways to do this. The first, and broadest, way to filter internal traffic is by setting an exclude filter for your company?s IP address. This will filter out all traffic in Google Analytics from that specific IP address.

The second way, which is a bit more complicated, is to set up a custom user defined filter. There are two steps to setting up a custom user defined filter. The first step is to add a custom segment cookie to any and all computers that you wish to exclude from Google Analytics. This can be done by creating an HTML form that you upload to your server. All employees you want to filter out must then use this form. The second step is to create the custom user defined filter in Google Analytics. You can do this by navigating to the ?Filter Manager? section within Google Analytics and selecting add new filter. Then select a custom filter type in the drop down menu. Continue to set up as defined below. Make sure you use whatever you type in the "filter pattern" field below is the same field you use in your form.

Labels: Google Analytics

Do you use Google AdWords? How do you measure your programs success? Well if you use Google AdWords and you don't measure any performance metrics than now is a good time to setup Google Analytics on your site. Once you set up Google Analytics on your site configure it to measure your Google AdWords programs.

How do I set Google Analytics to Measure Google AdWords?

Well first off if you already have a Google AdWords account, the best place to set up Google Analytics is through Google AdWords. Doing this links your AdWords and Analytics data automatically which saves you the time of tagging all your PPC landing pages URL's.

1) Log into your Google AdWords account and click on the Analytics tab in the interface.

2) Choose "Create My Free Analytics" account.

3) Fill in Website and URL and Choose an Account name.

4) Before completing set up make sure the two radio buttons "Destination URL Auto-tagging" and "Apply Cost Data" are checked.

The last step listed is the one that will help you optimize Google AdWords ROI in Google Analytics. The reports within Google Analytics will show you cost data for each key word you buy as well as your specified performance indicators or goals. Just make sure you have set up Google Analytics Goals so you can properly measure AdWords performance.

Labels: Google Analytics, PPC Advertising

The last post on Google Analytics Link Tagging showed you how to measure any outgoing links, downloads, emails, etc. Today I would like to show you how to judge the current content on your site.

Have you ever wondered what the most popular pages on your site are? With Google Analytics you can easily navigate to the most popular pages on your site. Here's how:

1) On the Left Navigation in the interface click > Content

2) Then Select > Top Content

This will give you a list of the most popular URLs / pages on your site.

Why do I need to know this?

Knowing your most popular pages lets you know what visitors are looking for on your site. When you know what visitors are looking for on your site, you can give them more of what they want. You can expand on your most popular pages, write more relevant content about these topics or strengthen your selling proposition.

Labels: Google Analytics

So you have migrated from your expensive, non-functional, Analytics software to the free Google Analytics software. But now what do you do? There is a lot of information that you need to absorb when learning analytics, but how do you take advantage of it all? First off I recommend reading through the Google Analytics Support Center. There is tons of information here filled with interesting tips and tricks you can do with Google Analytics. So I thought I would save you some time learning analytics and share some interesting tips and tricks you can perform with Google Analytics to better track what is going on with your site.

Link Tagging in Google Analytics

Google Analytics offers a link tagging feature that let's you tag any link on your site. How does this help? Have you ever wondered how many visitors leave your site from Downloads, Outgoing Links, PDF's or even outgoing emails? Well with a simple piece of code you can do just that.

If you have noticed I began all link tags with "outgoing". Why did I do this? This can help you to sort all outgoing links within the Google Analytics interface. Where do I see this data within Google Analytics?

1) Log Into Your Account
2) On the Left Navigation in the interface click > Content
3) Then Select > Top Content
4) Then in this search box at the bottom type in whatever outgoing links you are looking for. So if you are looking for outgoing emails search outgoing_email and this will give you all instances of people using your email.

Why is this Helpful?

Tracking outgoing links, email, pdf or other downloads can help you get a handle on what people are looking for when they come to your site. It can also help you place the outgoing links, email, PDF or other downloads in better spots on your site, allowing you to have better control of the Usability of your site. After all, you don't want people leaving your site if it has no benefit to you!

Labels: Google Analytics

Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics

Using Filters in Google Analytics

The Basics of Google Analytics White Paper

Google Analytics Annotations

Improve PPC with Google Analytics Integration

Google Analytics Intelligence: A Great Way to Stay Current with Your Google Analytics Program

What is Mobile Analytics?

New Changes for Google Analytics

Segmenting Google AdWords by Hour in Google Analytics - Tip #7

Measuring More than 20 Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #6

Setting Up Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #5

Filtering Internal Traffic - Google Analytics Tip #4

Optimizing AdWords ROI - Google Analytics Tip #3

Google Analytics Tip #2 - Researching Popular Pages

Google Analytics Tip #1 - Link Tagging

Labels: Google Analytics

Organic SEO

• Don't Sabotage Your Online Search Visibility


• Big Picture Marketing


• 10 Often Overlooked SEO Tasks


• 10 Common SEO Mistakes - Don't Let This Be You


• Page Speed Gets Added to Google Webmaster Tools


• What Can You Do for Working Moms?
  


• A Season of Change...


• Mobile Web Taking Over?


• Two Secret Ingredients To Search Marketing Success


• 14 Ways to Write a Press Release for Search Engine Marketing


• "Gaming" Search Engines to Win Ranking assures You Lose


• Search Marketing Scams to Avoid


• Don't Panic


• Free SEO Information is Inadequate and Often Wrong


• Where is SEM Headed in 2009?


• Race for the Light - A Chilly Fundraising Adventure!


• Food Drive Success!


• Why Different Types of Search Engine Optimization Do Not Work


• What Will the Holidays Mean For Your Company?


• SEO & SEM - Different or the Same?


• Using SEM to Build Competitive Advantage in a Down Economy


• Managing Change - Dealing with Resistance When Moving Forward


• Target Keywords Your Market Searches - Not What You Think They Search


• Corporate Culture, SEM and You


• Google Webmaster Tools Gives "Too Many Redirects" Message


• Importance Of Proper Redirects


• Will Two Problematic Search Portals Figure Out How To Do It Right Again? MSN & YAHOO!


• Learn From Your Competitors To Build A Strong Search Marketing Program


• Why Your Web Developer Should Not Implement Your SEO


• Local Search Marketing Basics


• Site Maps Explained


• Looking Back At Search Engine Optimization


• What's Good For Humans Is Good For Google


• Yahoo! Introduces Robots-Nocontent Tag


• Sitemaps Made Easier


• 10 Issues To Consider When Reviewing /Designing Your Web Sites Architecture


• Search Engine Rules and Aligning Domains


• SEO Considerations When Selecting An E-Commerce Or Content Management System

PPC Advertising

• Improve PPC with Google Analytics Integration


• Google AdWords - How About Total Control Over Geo Targeting?
  
• Google - Just a Little More Transparency Please


• Yahoo Search Marketing Changes to TOS


• Optimizing AdWords ROI - Google Analytics Tip #3


• Measuring Your Site Targeted Campaign On Google


• Yahoo Launches Quality Based Pricing For Their Content Match Product


• Are Pay Per Click Results Measurable?


• Google Introduces Two New Pay Per Click Beta Features


• Should You Be Worried About Click Fraud?


• Google AdWords Quality Score Update


• The New Yahoo Search Marketing And You

SEM - Back to Basics

• 5 Free Online Research Tools - SEM Back to Basics Tip #8


• Take Advantage of Google Webmaster Tools - SEM Back to Basics Tip #7


• Use Target Key Phrases Within Navigation - SEM Back to Basics Tip #6


• The Internet Is the Place to Be - SEM Back to Basics Tip #5


• Handling Multiple Domains - SEM Back to Basics Tip #4


• Give Your SEO Campaign Time - SEM Back to Basics Tip #3


• Content, Content, Content - SEM Back to Basics Tip #2


• Don't Leave Out the Title Tag - SEM Back to Basics Tip #1

Social Marketing

• 13 Tips for Optimizing your LinkedIn Profile

• Let's Go Viral!
  

• Social Media and Brand Positioning
  

• Social Media Marketing - This Year's Hottest Holiday Accessory
  

• Tweet Easier


• User Reviews: An Integral Part of Your Social Marketing Program


• Social Media Marketing is on the Rise...


• Where is Social Media on the Internet Headed?


• How to Get your Business Started on Facebook

• Facebook Usernames and You
  

• 10 Tips on Using Twitter for Your Business


• 11 Tips for Creating a Blog


• Linkbait?


• Flickr Adds No Follow to Links


• Social Marketing Do's and Don'ts


• 10 Things To Keep In Mind With Social Media Marketing


• SMX Social - NYC Oct. 16 & 17 Recap


• Getting Dugg On Digg

Google Analytics

• Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics


• Using Filters in Google Analytics


• The Basics of Google Analytics White Paper


• Google Analytics Annotations


• Improve PPC with Google Analytics Integration


• Google Analytics Intelligence: A Great Way to Stay Current with Your Google Analytics Program


• What is Mobile Analytics?


• New Changes for Google Analytics


• Segmenting Google AdWords by Hour in Google Analytics - Tip #7


• Measuring More than 20 Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #6


• Setting Up Goals in Google Analytics - Tip #5


• Filtering Internal Traffic - Google Analytics Tip #4


• Optimizing AdWords ROI - Google Analytics Tip #3


• Researching Popular Tags - Google Analytics Tip #2


• Link Tagging - Google Analytics Tip #1

Link Building

• Google Webmaster Tools Reports Broken Backlinks


• Link Popularity - Page Specific NOT Site Specific


• Anchor Text Upgrade In Google Webmaster Tools


• Content - The Most Effective Linking Campaign


• Google Webmaster Tools New Link Feature

E-Power News

• Blog Action Day 2009 - Climate Change


• E-Power Marketing and the Oshkosh Community Pull Together to Save the Grand Opera House


• E-Power Donates a Grand for the Grand


• E-Power Marketing turns 11 years old!


• Race for the Light - A Chilly Fundraising Adventure!


• Food Drive Success!


• E-Power Marketing Sponsors Oshkosh Area Food Drive


• Blog Action Day and Hunger in Winnebago County

Contributor Bios

• Larry Stopa


• Andrea Schultz


• Justin Tadych


• Adrian Schaal


• Craig Bollig


• Sara Hansman

Continuing Saga of Search Engine Marketing Home

Labels: E-Power News, Google Analytics, Link Building, Organic SEO, PPC Advertising, SEM Back to Basics, Social Marketing