Television networks have for a long time ignored social trends. Slowly they have seen their share eroding as alternative media channels become more relevant in people's lives. It is interesting that Desperate Housewives have claimed a large viewership that includes many US Hispanics. Its obvious sex appeal makes it relevant to many people. But also it is its diversity and the extent to which the audience can see themselves in the screen.
Identification with characters in entertainment has been known, for a long time, to make a difference in attracting audiences. Nevertheless, television networks, perhaps concerned with losing their mainstay audience, did not seem to notice that society and their audience had changed dramatically. Not only have they been ignoring their growing audiences at the expense of their dwindling past fans, but they had not noticed that new even what they call the "mainstream" had changed its taste in favor of what is "cool." And "Latino" has been increasingly "cool." Ugly Betty, a show that started in Spanish language TV in Spanish several years ago now it is shown in English by ABC to the delight of many diverse audiences. The universal value of a woman who appears to be ugly but that is "beautiful," is relevant to many, and interestingly, it has cultural nuances relevant to US Hispanics.
The new Hispanic audience for television is not focusing on the Spanish language exclusively. It is focusing on cultural relevance. "General" audiences enjoy seeing others who are "cool" that also reflect universal values. We shall not wait too long to see more of what the industry calls "cross-over" appeal.
The old shows targeted to Hispanics, largely from Latin America, had ignored the new identify of Hispanics in the US. New and successful entertainment needs to reflect the life of US Hispanics as it is here, not there. This is the new "New World."
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
System maintenance: Wednesday, Dec 6, 10:00-10:30pm PST
Google Analytics users,
There will be a planned system maintenance today, Wednesday, Dec 6 from 10:00pm to 10:30pm Pacific Time. Please note that you will be unable to log in, however, your data will continue to be collected and processed during this time.
After 10:30pm PST your account will again be fully available and up to date.
Thanks for your patience and for using Google Analytics.
There will be a planned system maintenance today, Wednesday, Dec 6 from 10:00pm to 10:30pm Pacific Time. Please note that you will be unable to log in, however, your data will continue to be collected and processed during this time.
After 10:30pm PST your account will again be fully available and up to date.
Thanks for your patience and for using Google Analytics.
Friday, December 1, 2006
Debugging browser errors
Adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website is easy—simply add the JavaScript snippet to the source code. But what happens when you make changes to your website and start to see browser error messages? Don't panic. Check these issues to avoid common mistakes.
1. Check the tracking code
Correctly installed Google Analytics tracking code does not generate browser errors. If you're seeing them, first check that your tracking code is installed exactly as it appears in your Google Analytics profile setting. Learn how to find your tracking code in the help center article Where Can I Find My Tracking Code?
2. Test your page
Google Analytics uses JavaScript code that is designed not to interfere with other JavaScript on your website. That said, when an error occurs, browser error messages often reference the first script executed. On a site using our tracking code, that is usually the first script executed, which makes debugging confusing. When debugging JavaScript on a site tracked by Google Analytics, try commenting out or temporarily removing the tracking code until you can detect and correct the error. Once your code is bug-free, adding the tracking code back in should not cause any browser errors to occur.
3. Secure your site
Another feature of many dynamic sites is the use of a secure section for things such as shopping carts or user registration. When tracking these areas, check the secure status of your pages. If you're seeing an error or a notice that some portions of the page are not secure, make sure you are using the secure version of the tracking code. Compare the standard versus the secure version:
Standard: <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
Secure: <script src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
For more information, take a look at this article in the troubleshooting section of the help center: How can I obtain tracking code for secure pages?
We want you to maximize the power of your site by using Analytics—and that includes successful integration of the tracking code without introducing errors or preventing you from perfecting the other code on your site. Properly installing the tracking code, carefully testing your site, and ensuring secure sites are tracked securely are some of the ways you can make Google Analytics work for you.
1. Check the tracking code
Correctly installed Google Analytics tracking code does not generate browser errors. If you're seeing them, first check that your tracking code is installed exactly as it appears in your Google Analytics profile setting. Learn how to find your tracking code in the help center article Where Can I Find My Tracking Code?
2. Test your page
Google Analytics uses JavaScript code that is designed not to interfere with other JavaScript on your website. That said, when an error occurs, browser error messages often reference the first script executed. On a site using our tracking code, that is usually the first script executed, which makes debugging confusing. When debugging JavaScript on a site tracked by Google Analytics, try commenting out or temporarily removing the tracking code until you can detect and correct the error. Once your code is bug-free, adding the tracking code back in should not cause any browser errors to occur.
3. Secure your site
Another feature of many dynamic sites is the use of a secure section for things such as shopping carts or user registration. When tracking these areas, check the secure status of your pages. If you're seeing an error or a notice that some portions of the page are not secure, make sure you are using the secure version of the tracking code. Compare the standard versus the secure version:
Standard: <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
Secure: <script src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
We want you to maximize the power of your site by using Analytics—and that includes successful integration of the tracking code without introducing errors or preventing you from perfecting the other code on your site. Properly installing the tracking code, carefully testing your site, and ensuring secure sites are tracked securely are some of the ways you can make Google Analytics work for you.
Online course on Hispanic Marketing
I am pleased to announce the first course on Hispanic Marketing Communication online.
Beginning in January 2007, an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication will be offered by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. The center, headed by Dr. Felipe Korzenny, is pioneering education in Hispanic Marketing in the US.Dr. Korzenny states “we are proud to satisfy the demand of many marketers in US industry that have requested an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication. This is the first online offering of its kind and will make the content of our on-campus courses available to anyone in the world with an interest in the subject.”The course is available to anyone interested and is particularly recommended for professionals currently addressing the Hispanic market, or those who would like to start a Hispanic marketing initiative. The online course is also available to Florida State University students not currently residing in the Tallahassee campus.
The course duration is of fifteen weeks (classes begin January 8 and end April 20) and includes topics such as language use, Hispanic cultural insights for marketing, and case studies relating to Hispanic marketing. The course will also address research and marketing strategies.
A certificate of completion will be issued to all who satisfactorily complete the course, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit.
THOSE INTERESTED ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY IMMEDIATELY AS REGISTRATION IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!
For application information contact Ashley Smith at advising@campus.fsu.edu or by phone at 850-644-8004.
To see the course description visit our webpage http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/onlinecoursedescription.htm
About the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication
The U.S. Hispanic marketing industry has experienced dynamic growth and a consequent need for trained professionals. Most advertising, public relations agencies, and marketing organizations encounter difficulties filling their Hispanic marketing positions. It is for these reasons that Dr. Felipe Korzenny founded the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University in 2004. Currently, the Center is the first of its kind in the U.S. Recognizing the immediate need for professionals trained in Hispanic Marketing Communication, the Center has developed the following main goals, which are to:
Train students to serve the Hispanic marketing industry,
Train professionals who currently serve the Hispanic public in the U.S.,
Conduct relevant research to further the understanding of the Hispanic market, and
Serve as a source of knowledge about the Hispanic Market for industry professionals.
Beginning in January 2007, an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication will be offered by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. The center, headed by Dr. Felipe Korzenny, is pioneering education in Hispanic Marketing in the US.Dr. Korzenny states “we are proud to satisfy the demand of many marketers in US industry that have requested an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication. This is the first online offering of its kind and will make the content of our on-campus courses available to anyone in the world with an interest in the subject.”The course is available to anyone interested and is particularly recommended for professionals currently addressing the Hispanic market, or those who would like to start a Hispanic marketing initiative. The online course is also available to Florida State University students not currently residing in the Tallahassee campus.
The course duration is of fifteen weeks (classes begin January 8 and end April 20) and includes topics such as language use, Hispanic cultural insights for marketing, and case studies relating to Hispanic marketing. The course will also address research and marketing strategies.
A certificate of completion will be issued to all who satisfactorily complete the course, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit.
THOSE INTERESTED ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY IMMEDIATELY AS REGISTRATION IS LIMITED. REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!
For application information contact Ashley Smith at advising@campus.fsu.edu or by phone at 850-644-8004.
To see the course description visit our webpage http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu/onlinecoursedescription.htm
About the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication
The U.S. Hispanic marketing industry has experienced dynamic growth and a consequent need for trained professionals. Most advertising, public relations agencies, and marketing organizations encounter difficulties filling their Hispanic marketing positions. It is for these reasons that Dr. Felipe Korzenny founded the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University in 2004. Currently, the Center is the first of its kind in the U.S. Recognizing the immediate need for professionals trained in Hispanic Marketing Communication, the Center has developed the following main goals, which are to:
Train students to serve the Hispanic marketing industry,
Train professionals who currently serve the Hispanic public in the U.S.,
Conduct relevant research to further the understanding of the Hispanic market, and
Serve as a source of knowledge about the Hispanic Market for industry professionals.
Hewlett Packard trying harder to reach Hispanics
Great to know that Hewlett Packard is placing a stronger effort in reaching out to US Hispanics. They have a new Spanish language website, bilingual sales representatives, Spanish language sales materials, and is even placing Spanish speaking employees at certain retailers to explain products. Those are steps in the right direction, particularly because those less likely to have computers and Internet access are more likely to be Spanish dominant.
One approach that I have been a proponent of is to reach out to the Spanish speaking community instead of waiting for them to come to you. That is something HP is not yet doing, or anyone else that I am aware of. Those less likely to purchase computers are also less likely to go shopping for them because they do not understand the usefulness of these machines.
My proposal is to have "Tupperware" like parties but with computers instead of plastic containers in the homes of consumers. In this context, those consumers that are still reluctant to enter the computer and Internet era, can examine in a stress free environment the usefulness of the machines. They can connect to websites in their countries of origin, chat with relatives, and in general come to the realization that computers and the Internet are useful for them. I bet that many Spanish dominant Hispanics would purchase computers in this type of sales environment. To reach out to those who are hard to reach, one goes to them as opposed to waiting for them to come to us.
One approach that I have been a proponent of is to reach out to the Spanish speaking community instead of waiting for them to come to you. That is something HP is not yet doing, or anyone else that I am aware of. Those less likely to purchase computers are also less likely to go shopping for them because they do not understand the usefulness of these machines.
My proposal is to have "Tupperware" like parties but with computers instead of plastic containers in the homes of consumers. In this context, those consumers that are still reluctant to enter the computer and Internet era, can examine in a stress free environment the usefulness of the machines. They can connect to websites in their countries of origin, chat with relatives, and in general come to the realization that computers and the Internet are useful for them. I bet that many Spanish dominant Hispanics would purchase computers in this type of sales environment. To reach out to those who are hard to reach, one goes to them as opposed to waiting for them to come to us.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Google Apps for Your Domain
Every now and then we will share updates from other Googlers about the products they're working on if we think that info will benefit Google Analytics users. Google Apps for Your Domain is similar to Google Analytics in that it offers simple and useful ways to view and share information online. And with these apps, you are actively creating information as well. Marlin Gilbert from the Google Apps team explains:
Like Google Analytics, Google Apps for Your Domain gives you the opportunity to focus your precious resources on campaigns and programs that rapidly grow your business. We built these tools to enable your team to communicate and collaborate more effectively without any additional hardware or software. Everything is online and accessible from any internet-connected device through a standard web browser. And you can customize the tools your company uses with your own special branding, color scheme and content.
Currently, you can take advantage of Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and Google Page Creator and the new start page feature. For instance:
And we are working to make more apps available soon, so you can keep focusing on what you do best.
- Using Gmail, without changing your email addresses, your employees can enjoy a faster and clearer way to read email conversations, and find saved messages with powerful search tools.
- Coordinating complex schedules is a breeze with Google Calendar.
- Keep your people in touch through Google Talk and use Google Page Creator to make your web page ideas come to life.
- The start page is a central place for your employees to preview their inboxes and calendars, access your essential content, and search the web.
Google Apps for Your Domain is free, and currently in beta. Learn more and get started here.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Immigration and Hispanic Consumer Behavior
Every 8 to 10 years the issues of undocumented immigration to the US resurfaces. Being it that most of the undocumented immigrants come from Latin America, and particularly Mexico, then the attention has been focused on them. There is no question that immigration policy is important and that it also important that businesses have the workforce they need. Also, it is important that those who want to work in the US can do it without risking their lives in a legal and orderly way. But this is not the core of this posting.
The focus is on the implications for consumer behavior that is affected by the immigration discourse and political ping-pong. Attention becomes focused on Latin American immigrants and even those who have all their documents in order or are US citizens many times become discriminated against because of suspicion and resentment. Those who have dark skin and who have accents become suspect. Common reactions to this marginalization is to stay home and to avoid much public attention. If this is the case, then online activities among Hispanic should be further enhanced by the privacy that online world offers.
Further, brands and marketers that elevate the self-esteem of Hispanics in the US are now in a perfect position to establish lasting relationships with them. Recognizing Hispanics for their important contributions to the economy, and also to the history of the US, are aspects that marketers can use to further their presence in Hispanic communities.
Marketing is about forging long lasting relationships. This is an important time for marketers to be proactive in elevating the self-esteem of Hispanic consumers and at the same time elevating the esteem of their brands.
The focus is on the implications for consumer behavior that is affected by the immigration discourse and political ping-pong. Attention becomes focused on Latin American immigrants and even those who have all their documents in order or are US citizens many times become discriminated against because of suspicion and resentment. Those who have dark skin and who have accents become suspect. Common reactions to this marginalization is to stay home and to avoid much public attention. If this is the case, then online activities among Hispanic should be further enhanced by the privacy that online world offers.
Further, brands and marketers that elevate the self-esteem of Hispanics in the US are now in a perfect position to establish lasting relationships with them. Recognizing Hispanics for their important contributions to the economy, and also to the history of the US, are aspects that marketers can use to further their presence in Hispanic communities.
Marketing is about forging long lasting relationships. This is an important time for marketers to be proactive in elevating the self-esteem of Hispanic consumers and at the same time elevating the esteem of their brands.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Tip: Experiment using duplicate profiles
Google Analytics allows you to easily configure, filter, and focus your site's traffic data in powerful ways. And we want you to avoid the few pitfalls that we have seen around configuration of filters, goals, and e-commerce. For example, when a filter is accidentally implemented incorrectly in a profile, important data can get excluded from that profile's reports. Another example relates to goals: creating a goal in a profile and then changing it is common, but the historical data in that profile will always reflect the first goal, which may not be desirable. For the dates they were implemented, these configurations will unfortunately modify data for that time period permanently.
One simple yet powerful way to avoid incorrect modifications is to use duplicate profiles to test out changes to your account settings. This way, you can ensure that you have implemented the settings correctly without affecting the data in your main profile. When you duplicate profiles, the new data you collect appears in several profiles at once, letting you manipulate the duplicate data in different ways. You can then keep the original profile unaltered so it can contain every piece of data collected by the tracking code on your site.
Using duplicate profiles is a great way to explore some of the more advanced functionality that Analytics has to offer without the risk of making mistakes. It lets you experiment without losing the data that you are already using for your analysis.
For example, let's say that you want to implement an Include Filter to include only data from a particular subdirectory. If you implemented this filter in your main profile, you might make a syntax error and inadvertently include none of your data in your reports. Or several months down the road, you may decide that you are actually interested in the rest of the data from your site, but now have no way of seeing it. A duplicate profile will let you ensure that the filter is implemented correctly, and it leaves the option open to analyze the data from your main profile in the future.
Click here for more information about creating duplicate profiles in your account.
One simple yet powerful way to avoid incorrect modifications is to use duplicate profiles to test out changes to your account settings. This way, you can ensure that you have implemented the settings correctly without affecting the data in your main profile. When you duplicate profiles, the new data you collect appears in several profiles at once, letting you manipulate the duplicate data in different ways. You can then keep the original profile unaltered so it can contain every piece of data collected by the tracking code on your site.
Using duplicate profiles is a great way to explore some of the more advanced functionality that Analytics has to offer without the risk of making mistakes. It lets you experiment without losing the data that you are already using for your analysis.
For example, let's say that you want to implement an Include Filter to include only data from a particular subdirectory. If you implemented this filter in your main profile, you might make a syntax error and inadvertently include none of your data in your reports. Or several months down the road, you may decide that you are actually interested in the rest of the data from your site, but now have no way of seeing it. A duplicate profile will let you ensure that the filter is implemented correctly, and it leaves the option open to analyze the data from your main profile in the future.
Click here for more information about creating duplicate profiles in your account.
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Multicultural Marketing Equation
The Multicultural Marketing Equation -- http://hmc.comm.fsu.edu -- a newly released study, documents how our diverse society is likely to evolve in terms of media and technology usage. The study substantiates the surprising fact that emerging minorities are leading the technology adoption curve. And not only are they the pacers of new technology adoption and use, but they are quite different in their values and attitudes.
This is a moment in History that appears to be defining a culturally diverse and different future. Marketers wishing to be at the forefront need to learn about how these emerging minorities are shaping the future of consumer thinking.
This is a moment in History that appears to be defining a culturally diverse and different future. Marketers wishing to be at the forefront need to learn about how these emerging minorities are shaping the future of consumer thinking.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Tip: A cross-segment for bloggers
A few people at the Emetrics Summit told us they'd like to learn more tips and tricks for implementing Google Analytics. So in the next few weeks we will begin including tips straight from various members of the Google Analytics team. And we'll kick it off with a tip for bloggers, though anyone can use it.
One of the most important things for a blogger to know is how people find his or her blog. Links and referrals are an integral part of blogging culture. Many blogs display a finite number of links to a post. Of course, you can see referring links aggregated and displayed in your Google Analytics reports, within your Marketing Optimization > Visitor Segment Performance > Referring Source report.
Unfortunately, the Referring Source report shows only the referring domain. You can't see what comes after the domain -- the rest of the referring link -- to see the exact page on the site that contained the link to your blog. There is a way to see this data however: by cross-segmenting a referring source by Content.
Here are the steps to follow:
This will take you to a new data table that shows you the rest of the referring URL -- not including any dynamic query parameters (anything after a question mark, for instance). Here's what you'll see:
Here are some other ways you can use Google Analytics to monitor your blog:
Feel free to share your best practices for bloggers in the Analytics Forum.
One of the most important things for a blogger to know is how people find his or her blog. Links and referrals are an integral part of blogging culture. Many blogs display a finite number of links to a post. Of course, you can see referring links aggregated and displayed in your Google Analytics reports, within your Marketing Optimization > Visitor Segment Performance > Referring Source report.Unfortunately, the Referring Source report shows only the referring domain. You can't see what comes after the domain -- the rest of the referring link -- to see the exact page on the site that contained the link to your blog. There is a way to see this data however: by cross-segmenting a referring source by Content.
Here are the steps to follow:
-
In the Marketing Optimization > Visitor Segment Performance > Referring Source report, click on the red button containing two "up" arrows, located to the left of any referring source in the data table. You will see the "Analysis Options" table. - Choose "Cross Segment Performance" and then you will see a drop down menu.
- Choose to cross segment the entry by "Content."
This will take you to a new data table that shows you the rest of the referring URL -- not including any dynamic query parameters (anything after a question mark, for instance). Here's what you'll see:
Here are some other ways you can use Google Analytics to monitor your blog:
- find out what posts readers liked the most by looking at daily visits and popularity of permalinks. (Knowing this can influence what you write about.)
- see if you're keeping your readers by comparing new vs. returning visitors
- find out how people exit your blog, as well as measure subscriptions to your feed using UrchinTracker on your links
- see how long readers spend looking at your content by looking at average length of visits
- monitor visitor activity after you make a post to see when daily visit levels taper off. (That means it's time to post again.)
Feel free to share your best practices for bloggers in the Analytics Forum.
Monday, November 6, 2006
What we're reading
There are some pretty fantastic resources on the web for people who use Google Analytics, and those interested in learning more. We want to mention a few blogs on web analytics generally and on Google Analytics that we've been reading. We highly recommend these to all of you who use data to back up your online decisions.
ROI Revolution Blog
ROI Revolution is a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC). This frequently updated blog contains interviews with web analytics experts, as well as Google Analytics tips and in-depth explanations of reports with screenshots. Great reading. Take a look at these two recent posts:
Start at the Beginning: Making Sense of the Google Analytics Toolbox by Meredith Smith
Understanding Google Analytics' Data Over Time Report by Michael Harrison
GA Experts Blog
A European GAAC affiliated with Omega Digital Media and a very informative Google Analytics-focused blog addressing practical questions and offering some pretty ingenious solutions. Learn about a new filter called "Override Bid Term Filter" that will show you the actual search keywords that brought a visitor to your site, not just the keyword that you bid on in your PPC account, in the recent post How to Get Detailed PPC Keyword Data from Google Analytics
This Just In
Written by Justin Cutroni who works at EpikOne, a one-stop, do-it-all GAAC on the east coast, which has its own informative blog. Justin posts helpful, troubleshooting articles that help clarify Google Analytics and make it even more understandable, useful, and accessible. Check out Justin's recent posts:
Google Analytics: How to Tell When Something is Wrong
Google Analytics Configuration Mistake #3: Third Party Domains
Occam's Razor
Written by Avinash Kaushik, head of web research and analytics at Intuit, and a vocal and visible analytics practitioner, advocate, and thought leader. Every web analyst, marketer, webmaster, IT specialist, and executive should read his recent post: Seven Steps to Creating a Data Driven Decision Making Culture
ROI Revolution Blog
ROI Revolution is a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC). This frequently updated blog contains interviews with web analytics experts, as well as Google Analytics tips and in-depth explanations of reports with screenshots. Great reading. Take a look at these two recent posts:
Start at the Beginning: Making Sense of the Google Analytics Toolbox by Meredith Smith
Understanding Google Analytics' Data Over Time Report by Michael Harrison
GA Experts Blog
A European GAAC affiliated with Omega Digital Media and a very informative Google Analytics-focused blog addressing practical questions and offering some pretty ingenious solutions. Learn about a new filter called "Override Bid Term Filter" that will show you the actual search keywords that brought a visitor to your site, not just the keyword that you bid on in your PPC account, in the recent post How to Get Detailed PPC Keyword Data from Google Analytics
This Just In
Written by Justin Cutroni who works at EpikOne, a one-stop, do-it-all GAAC on the east coast, which has its own informative blog. Justin posts helpful, troubleshooting articles that help clarify Google Analytics and make it even more understandable, useful, and accessible. Check out Justin's recent posts:
Google Analytics: How to Tell When Something is Wrong
Google Analytics Configuration Mistake #3: Third Party Domains
Occam's Razor
Written by Avinash Kaushik, head of web research and analytics at Intuit, and a vocal and visible analytics practitioner, advocate, and thought leader. Every web analyst, marketer, webmaster, IT specialist, and executive should read his recent post: Seven Steps to Creating a Data Driven Decision Making Culture
Friday, October 27, 2006
Wanted: AdSense user feedback
Do you use both Google Analytics and Google AdSense? If so, we'd like to get your feedback on two questions: Which Google Analytics reports do you use most often in conjunction with your AdSense account? And which reports or metrics would you most like to see added to Google Analytics to help you succeed with AdSense?
Tell us your opinions in the Google Group "Analytics Help" which is a forum for Google Analytics users. We've created a topic thread to specifically hear this feedback.
Not an AdSense user yet? Sign up here.
Tell us your opinions in the Google Group "Analytics Help" which is a forum for Google Analytics users. We've created a topic thread to specifically hear this feedback.
Not an AdSense user yet? Sign up here.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Announcement from the Emetrics Summit
Today, in a speech to the entire Emetrics Summit audience, Brett Crosby from Google announced the beta launch of a new tool, Website Optimizer.
Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps AdWords advertisers test different landing pages and determine which one drives the most conversions. A true multivariate testing tool, Website Optmizer allows you to test variations of headlines, promotional copy, and images. The tool allows you to update your site with the winning test combination and continue to experiment.
The beta launch of Website Optimizer is a limited release that is offered to AdWords advertisers on a sign-up basis.
Professional, consulting and implementation services for customers will be provided by select Google partners such as Optimost, EpikOne, and ROI Revolution who include Website Optimizer within their suite of professional offerings.
For more details, read the Google AdWords Blog post.
Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps AdWords advertisers test different landing pages and determine which one drives the most conversions. A true multivariate testing tool, Website Optmizer allows you to test variations of headlines, promotional copy, and images. The tool allows you to update your site with the winning test combination and continue to experiment.
The beta launch of Website Optimizer is a limited release that is offered to AdWords advertisers on a sign-up basis.
Professional, consulting and implementation services for customers will be provided by select Google partners such as Optimost, EpikOne, and ROI Revolution who include Website Optimizer within their suite of professional offerings.
For more details, read the Google AdWords Blog post.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Google Analytics + Google Checkout
Big news today for e-commerce site owners: you can now use Google Analytics with Google Checkout. Simply add a JavaScript call and a hidden field to each page that displays the Google Checkout button and you'll be able to see conversions and revenue metrics for your Checkout transactions. Here are the complete instructions.
This feature makes life even easier if you are an AdWords customer, because you'll also see ROI and Revenue per Click for every transaction that resulted from one of your keywords. (Keep in mind also that for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free on Google Checkout.)
Learn more about Google Checkout here or read the post on the Google Checkout blog.
This feature makes life even easier if you are an AdWords customer, because you'll also see ROI and Revenue per Click for every transaction that resulted from one of your keywords. (Keep in mind also that for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free on Google Checkout.)
Learn more about Google Checkout here or read the post on the Google Checkout blog.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Google Analytics at your bookstore
"Discover where your site visitors come from, what pages they visit, how long they stay, what they buy, what makes them give up, and where they go"
Google Analytics, by Mary E. Tyler and Jerri L. Ledford (Wiley Publishing) has just come out, the first of what we hope will be many helpful titles on Google Analytics. It walks through the whys and hows of most of the Google Analytics reports and provides some good hypothetical and real-world cases of how you can use the information. If you have been trying to avoid using filters and regular expressions, you may find the chapter on "Filtering Your Data" to be particularly helpful. However, there have been some important developments since this book went to press: the book does not discuss the new AdWords Analysis and AdWords Keyword Positions reports and you no longer need an invitation to create a Google Analytics account.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Offline to "Off the charts"
How do you track online lift from an offline campaign, such as a promotional event, coupon campaign, or TV spot? Check out this article by Melissa Campanelli for DMNews : "Careerbuilder.com Uses Web Analytics to Track Online Lift."
To sum it up, online recruitment and career site Careerbuilder.com used Google Analytics to measure the increase in traffic that resulted from offline promotions. They launched a college campus educational campaign where they "sponsored career fairs, athletic and social events and also organized guest speaker events to give students a chance to learn about career opportunities." Over a few months, Careerbuilder.com threw eight different activities at 50 campuses and then systematically studied incoming traffic. One event, according to Nathan Lippe, collegiate marketing manager at CareerBuilder.com, generated "off the charts" traffic to the site. What happened? Mr. Lippe was able to determine the cause of the traffic spike, refine the campaign strategy, and repeat the instance of unexpectedly impressive success. Take a look at the article for all the details on how he did it.
To sum it up, online recruitment and career site Careerbuilder.com used Google Analytics to measure the increase in traffic that resulted from offline promotions. They launched a college campus educational campaign where they "sponsored career fairs, athletic and social events and also organized guest speaker events to give students a chance to learn about career opportunities." Over a few months, Careerbuilder.com threw eight different activities at 50 campuses and then systematically studied incoming traffic. One event, according to Nathan Lippe, collegiate marketing manager at CareerBuilder.com, generated "off the charts" traffic to the site. What happened? Mr. Lippe was able to determine the cause of the traffic spike, refine the campaign strategy, and repeat the instance of unexpectedly impressive success. Take a look at the article for all the details on how he did it.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Raising your profile
Another (barely detectable) profile pun in a post title? That must mean we've increased the default number of profiles in your account again. We recently announced that we increased it from 5 to 10. Today, we're announcing that the default number of profiles in all accounts has increased from 10 to 50.
We'll continue to add benefits like this for existing users - and there are more and more of you every day.
Here is a help center article that explains what profiles are and offers ideas on what to do with these additional profiles, such as track more of your sites or use filters on a duplicate profile to customize the report data that you see. Also, the Managing Profiles section of the Google Analytics Help Center contains more information about creating and using your profiles.
We'll continue to add benefits like this for existing users - and there are more and more of you every day.
Here is a help center article that explains what profiles are and offers ideas on what to do with these additional profiles, such as track more of your sites or use filters on a duplicate profile to customize the report data that you see. Also, the Managing Profiles section of the Google Analytics Help Center contains more information about creating and using your profiles.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Spotlight on: How to read the ROI column
One of the nice things about Google Analytics is how easy it is to see ROI for each of the keywords you buy on AdWords. But what do those ROI numbers in your reports really mean?
ROI is (Revenue - Cost)/Cost, expressed as a percentage.
-Revenue is taken from either the value you set as your goal value(s), or from e-commerce revenue values if you have set up e-commerce tracking.
-Cost is currently only derived from your AdWords CPC (cost-per-click) values imported from your AdWords account when you link your Analytics and AdWords accounts with auto-tagging turned on.
An ROI of 0% means that you earned in revenue the same amount of money you spent. An ROI of 100% means that you spent, say, $5, and made $10. In other words, you spent X and received 2X in revenue. A minus sign (-100%) indicates that you lost all of the money you spent. (If your numbers are all -100%, it's probably because you haven't configured e-commerce or defined values for your goals and therefore Google Analytics isn't registering any revenue.)
It's not uncommon to get an ROI percentage of several hundred or even several thousand. These kinds of ROIs simply indicate that your Revenue is many times greater than your Cost. Depending upon your business, you might need an ROI of 1000% just to break even. Let's say that you sell golf clubs online for $500 per set. You spend $100 on the keyword [beginner golf clubs], which results in 5 sales for a total of $2,500.
In this case, the AdWords Analysis Report will show that you've made a 2,400% ROI. But you need to factor in your operating expenses and your production costs to understand how much money you've actually made. For example, if your cost of purchasing or manufacturing the clubs is $350, you've really only made $150 per set x 5 = $750. That gives you an ROI of ($750 - $100)/$100 = 650%.
It's best to use ROI as a guide to your keyword spending instead of as the final answer on how much you've made. Those of you who want to learn more about keyword buying metrics might be interested in this post: what's a visit worth?.
ROI is (Revenue - Cost)/Cost, expressed as a percentage.
-Revenue is taken from either the value you set as your goal value(s), or from e-commerce revenue values if you have set up e-commerce tracking.
-Cost is currently only derived from your AdWords CPC (cost-per-click) values imported from your AdWords account when you link your Analytics and AdWords accounts with auto-tagging turned on.
An ROI of 0% means that you earned in revenue the same amount of money you spent. An ROI of 100% means that you spent, say, $5, and made $10. In other words, you spent X and received 2X in revenue. A minus sign (-100%) indicates that you lost all of the money you spent. (If your numbers are all -100%, it's probably because you haven't configured e-commerce or defined values for your goals and therefore Google Analytics isn't registering any revenue.)
It's not uncommon to get an ROI percentage of several hundred or even several thousand. These kinds of ROIs simply indicate that your Revenue is many times greater than your Cost. Depending upon your business, you might need an ROI of 1000% just to break even. Let's say that you sell golf clubs online for $500 per set. You spend $100 on the keyword [beginner golf clubs], which results in 5 sales for a total of $2,500.
In this case, the AdWords Analysis Report will show that you've made a 2,400% ROI. But you need to factor in your operating expenses and your production costs to understand how much money you've actually made. For example, if your cost of purchasing or manufacturing the clubs is $350, you've really only made $150 per set x 5 = $750. That gives you an ROI of ($750 - $100)/$100 = 650%.
It's best to use ROI as a guide to your keyword spending instead of as the final answer on how much you've made. Those of you who want to learn more about keyword buying metrics might be interested in this post: what's a visit worth?.
Thursday, September 7, 2006
Tip: Tracking 404 Pages
Besides telling you from which sources your site traffic originates, Google Analytics also tracks just about any activity that occurs on your site, including popular navigation paths, plus track downloads, outbound links, and activities on cross-domain properties. But one shortcoming is the lack of reporting on 404 pages, which appear when there's no file or page that corresponds to the visitor's request. For example, sometimes visitors will type in a filename that they think is available on your site, or sometimes your site might have a obsolete link which routes to a deleted or non-existent file or directory. In both cases, a 404 or "Not Found" error page will appear on the browser.
It's valuable to see these requests so you can learn what visitors are looking for, and consider adding new content or fixing the broken link.
Reporting on missing or error pages requires a few steps:
1. Add the Google Analytics tracking code to a custom 404 error page
2. Modify the tracking code on the 404 page as follows (see the urchinTracker modification in red below):
3. Look for /404.html in your Top Content report. Or to make it easier open the Dynamic Content report and expand the list for "/404.html."
It's valuable to see these requests so you can learn what visitors are looking for, and consider adding new content or fixing the broken link.
Reporting on missing or error pages requires a few steps:
1. Add the Google Analytics tracking code to a custom 404 error page
2. Modify the tracking code on the 404 page as follows (see the urchinTracker modification in red below):
<script type="text/javascript"This code sends a virtual pageview of "/404.html?page=[pagename.html?queryparameter]" to your account, where [pagename.html?queryparameters] is the missing page name.
src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct = "xxxxx-x";
urchinTracker("/404.html?page=" + _udl.pathname + _udl.search);
</script>
3. Look for /404.html in your Top Content report. Or to make it easier open the Dynamic Content report and expand the list for "/404.html."
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tip: 4 steps to site optimization
Many people use Google Analytics to improve their online marketing campaigns and keyword buying, but Google Analytics also offers powerful ways to identify visitor navigation trends on your site. Without the right data, optimizing a website is no easy feat. For beginners to the web analytics world, though, all the data provided around content optimization can be a bit daunting -- so here are four steps to help you optimize your site using the data available in Google Analytics:
1. Create a funnel path and goal that mimics the expected navigation
You designed your site, so you know how you expect your users to navigate through it. Create a funnel and goal that mimics the expected path that your site is designed for. Note: if your site is not using the e-commerce tracking code, give your goal a value and take a look at this post about setting goals on a non-e-commerce site.
2. Give it a few days
Give your site a little while to perform, and let Analytics collect at least 3 or 4 weeks of data. Weekends, special events, and holidays may lead to skewed results so giving your site some time to perform enables you to get more reliable, indicative metrics.
3. Pull up a few key reports and re-evaluate your funnels
Open up your Analytics account and visit Content Optimization > Content Performance > Top Content report. Sort the list of pages by the $ Index column. The $ Index value tells you how much each page on your site is worth (as opposed to how much each site visit is worth. The $ Index is based on how often a transaction is completed or goal is reached when a specific page is also accessed during a visit. The $ Index will give a value to that page calculated based on the value of the goal reached.
Use this metric to evaluate the pages in the report. Remember, this column won't be populated with data unless you have a goal, and that goal has a value (see step #1). When you sort by $ Index, ask yourself what are the pages at the top of that column? Are they in your funnel process? If not, why are they worth more than pages in your funnel? Also, review the exit paths in Content Optimization > Goals & Funnel Process > Defined Funnel Navigation. Where are these visitors going? Do these pages have a high $ Index value? If so, you may want to reconsider the navigation path that you've set up, or maybe there are some design flaws that are making the certain pages difficult to navigate through.
4. Optimize that site!
Armed with this information, your next task is to make some changes. Burn the midnight oil and redesign your site. Then continue using Analytics to evaluate your site changes, because keeping visitors and turning them into customers -- or goal converters -- should always drive your site changes.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Just Add AdWords
You've signed up for Google Analytics. And, you have an AdWords account. So why not link your AdWords account to your new Google Analytics account to get the most out of both services? If you already use AdWords to drive traffic, Google Analytics is the perfect instrument panel. ROI, Revenue per Click, and conversion rates correlated by search result position -- all right in front of you. Plus there are a few reports that have been created specifically for AdWords users: the AdWords Analysis report and the AdWords Keyword Positions report.
When you link your accounts, everything is done for you: Analytics will automatically tag your AdWords links so you can see detailed campaign tracking data, and Analytics will begin importing cost data from your AdWords campaigns for ROI calculations. By simply linking the two accounts, you'll be able to easily identify which campaigns and keywords are working and which aren't.
Here's how you do it. First, make sure that you have used the same Google Account for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts. If not, don't worry - just add your AdWords username to your Analytics account as an Account Admin.
Then just follow these 5 steps:
1. Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com
2. Click the Analytics tab
3. In the "Steps to get Google Analytics" box, click "I already have a Google Analytics account" (at the bottom of the page)
4. From the Existing Google Analytics Account drop-down list, select your Analytics account number
5. Click "Link Account"
That's it! Your two accounts are now linked. If you want to learn more about using AdWords with Google Analytics, you might find this article from Conversion University helpful: Optimizing your AdWords ROI with Google Analytics.
When you link your accounts, everything is done for you: Analytics will automatically tag your AdWords links so you can see detailed campaign tracking data, and Analytics will begin importing cost data from your AdWords campaigns for ROI calculations. By simply linking the two accounts, you'll be able to easily identify which campaigns and keywords are working and which aren't.
Here's how you do it. First, make sure that you have used the same Google Account for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts. If not, don't worry - just add your AdWords username to your Analytics account as an Account Admin.
Then just follow these 5 steps:
1. Log in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com
2. Click the Analytics tab
3. In the "Steps to get Google Analytics" box, click "I already have a Google Analytics account" (at the bottom of the page)
4. From the Existing Google Analytics Account drop-down list, select your Analytics account number
5. Click "Link Account"
That's it! Your two accounts are now linked. If you want to learn more about using AdWords with Google Analytics, you might find this article from Conversion University helpful: Optimizing your AdWords ROI with Google Analytics.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
We're open! Instant access now available
I'm happy to tell you that we've just removed the wait to receive a Google Analytics account. Now anyone with a website can instantly create one for free by simply by visiting google.com/analytics or by clicking on the "Analytics" tab within AdWords. After you create an account, we suggest reading the Installation Guide to get it set up quickly and correctly.
When we founded Urchin we actually had an ad-based business model where we were able to give the product away for free. It didn't last and we eventually went with a paid model. But when our company was acquired in April 2005 we worked with Google to determine a way to give it away for free again, this time with no ads. By doing this, we're able to give all websites -- large and small -- the tools you need to better serve your customers, make more money, and improve the web experience for everyone.
Regardless of how you use Google Analytics, what's important to me is that you're using it at all. In other words, the more you take action based on web analytics data, the better the Internet becomes. That's the underlying philosophy our team shares.
Finally, this represents a very large effort by our engineers and many others at Google, so I'd like to thank them publicly.
On behalf of everyone on our team, thank you for your ongoing commitment, enthusiasm and hard work.
When we founded Urchin we actually had an ad-based business model where we were able to give the product away for free. It didn't last and we eventually went with a paid model. But when our company was acquired in April 2005 we worked with Google to determine a way to give it away for free again, this time with no ads. By doing this, we're able to give all websites -- large and small -- the tools you need to better serve your customers, make more money, and improve the web experience for everyone.
Regardless of how you use Google Analytics, what's important to me is that you're using it at all. In other words, the more you take action based on web analytics data, the better the Internet becomes. That's the underlying philosophy our team shares.
Finally, this represents a very large effort by our engineers and many others at Google, so I'd like to thank them publicly.
On behalf of everyone on our team, thank you for your ongoing commitment, enthusiasm and hard work.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Heard at SES
Well, SES San Jose 2006 is over, and we had a great time meeting all
of you who stopped by the Google Analytics booth and attended the Google
Dance. Yesterday, there was a panel called "Vendor Chat On
Measuring Success" which included our own Brett Crosby, Senior
Product Marketing Manager for Google Analytics and co-founder of
Urchin. Each of the vendors on the panel were asked to discuss the
various approaches to measuring a website's success -- from
conversions to ROI, from customer inclusion to the idea of
"persuasion" in a discussion of marketing success.
Before the Q & A period, each panelist had five minutes to identify
the most important issue in web analytics. According to Brett, "The
most important thing about web analytics is something our product
doesn't do. And none of the other products do it either."
What is that crucial thing? It's analyzing and then taking action on
your web analytics data. Knowing how to do that makes all the
difference. To properly monitor and analyze your data, Brett suggested
doing one of three things (or some combination of them): analyze
and act on the data yourself; hire a professional services firm; or
hire an in-house analyst.
Regardless of which you choose, you have incredible flexibility with
Google Analytics. If you hire an in-house analyst or if you analyze
the data yourself, you've got many resources including this blog, the
Conversion University, the Help Center, built-in product Help,
and the Google Group. For those who want to hire a professional
services firm, we've got a world class international network of Google
Analytics Authorized Consultants.
We really enjoyed meeting you and look forward to connecting with
even more people using Analytics in the future. Please let us know if
there's anything else you'd like to see from support or marketing or
even from this blog by shooting us an email.
of you who stopped by the Google Analytics booth and attended the Google
Dance. Yesterday, there was a panel called "Vendor Chat On
Measuring Success" which included our own Brett Crosby, Senior
Product Marketing Manager for Google Analytics and co-founder of
Urchin. Each of the vendors on the panel were asked to discuss the
various approaches to measuring a website's success -- from
conversions to ROI, from customer inclusion to the idea of
"persuasion" in a discussion of marketing success.
Before the Q & A period, each panelist had five minutes to identify
the most important issue in web analytics. According to Brett, "The
most important thing about web analytics is something our product
doesn't do. And none of the other products do it either."
What is that crucial thing? It's analyzing and then taking action on
your web analytics data. Knowing how to do that makes all the
difference. To properly monitor and analyze your data, Brett suggested
doing one of three things (or some combination of them): analyze
and act on the data yourself; hire a professional services firm; or
hire an in-house analyst.
Regardless of which you choose, you have incredible flexibility with
Google Analytics. If you hire an in-house analyst or if you analyze
the data yourself, you've got many resources including this blog, the
Conversion University, the Help Center, built-in product Help,
and the Google Group. For those who want to hire a professional
services firm, we've got a world class international network of Google
Analytics Authorized Consultants.
We really enjoyed meeting you and look forward to connecting with
even more people using Analytics in the future. Please let us know if
there's anything else you'd like to see from support or marketing or
even from this blog by shooting us an email.
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
You are high profile
Tracking multiple subdomains? Want to track different parts of your site separately? Need to track more than four goals for a website? All of this is easier now, because we've increased the default number of profiles from 5 to 10. And if you're not sure what to do with your new wealth of profiles, here are some ideas.
Note: You can only link 1 AdWords account to 1 Google Analytics account, so if you have multiple AdWords accounts (often for separate sites), please create a unique Google Analytics account for each AdWords account.
Note: You can only link 1 AdWords account to 1 Google Analytics account, so if you have multiple AdWords accounts (often for separate sites), please create a unique Google Analytics account for each AdWords account.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Professional Services
One of the great things about giving away Google Analytics for free is that you, our customer, get to select exactly the professional services you want. We don't restrict you with (or ask you to pay for) a pre-determined one-size-fits-all professional services package. Instead, you customize your integration, analysis, and implementation package according to your needs. Some of you already have in-house expertise, some prefer a do-it-yourself model, and others prefer to work directly with one of our Google Analytics partners.
We'll continue to support you with our free resources: the Analytics Online Help , the Analytics Discussion Group, built-in product help, Conversion University, as well as the occasional webinars, events, and blog entries. But if you need sophisticated hands-on professional services, it's nice to know where to find them.
Whichever part of the world you do business in, whatever level of service you need, there's a Google Analytics partner ready to help. We're going to highlight some of our partners in upcoming blog posts, but if you're used to using another enterprise level analytics package, you're probably already familiar (and have perhaps worked with) some of our Google Analytics partners. Stay tuned for more.
We'll continue to support you with our free resources: the Analytics Online Help , the Analytics Discussion Group, built-in product help, Conversion University, as well as the occasional webinars, events, and blog entries. But if you need sophisticated hands-on professional services, it's nice to know where to find them.
Whichever part of the world you do business in, whatever level of service you need, there's a Google Analytics partner ready to help. We're going to highlight some of our partners in upcoming blog posts, but if you're used to using another enterprise level analytics package, you're probably already familiar (and have perhaps worked with) some of our Google Analytics partners. Stay tuned for more.
Friday, July 21, 2006
See you at SES in San Jose
Are you planning on coming to the next Search Engine Strategies conference taking place in San Jose, CA from August 7 to August 10th? It's a great event for learning how to grow your business through search engine marketing and website optimization -- and to network with business owners, web developers, experts, and vendors.
SES runs more than four days, packed with informative seminars on a wide range of topics like "Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic," "Search APIs," "Online Video Advertising" and "Local Search Marketing Tactics" led by well-known leaders and authors in web analytics and search engine marketing. Google CEO Eric Schmidt will even be delivering the keynote on Wednesday, August 9, and on August 10, Google Analytics Senior PMM (and Urchin co-founder) Brett Crosby will be on a panel about measuring the success of websites and online marketing generally.
We're excited to offer a promotional "Priority" code for 20% off when you buy a Conference or day pass to SES San Jose. The Priority code is 20GOO2 (two-zero-gee-oh-oh-two). To redeem the Priority code and purchase a pass to the conference, go here or click the ad below:
We hope to see you there!
SES runs more than four days, packed with informative seminars on a wide range of topics like "Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic," "Search APIs," "Online Video Advertising" and "Local Search Marketing Tactics" led by well-known leaders and authors in web analytics and search engine marketing. Google CEO Eric Schmidt will even be delivering the keynote on Wednesday, August 9, and on August 10, Google Analytics Senior PMM (and Urchin co-founder) Brett Crosby will be on a panel about measuring the success of websites and online marketing generally.
We're excited to offer a promotional "Priority" code for 20% off when you buy a Conference or day pass to SES San Jose. The Priority code is 20GOO2 (two-zero-gee-oh-oh-two). To redeem the Priority code and purchase a pass to the conference, go here or click the ad below:
We hope to see you there!
Monday, July 17, 2006
Tip: Measuring the performance of ad text
In pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, understanding keyword performance is essential. But did you know that you can also use Google Analytics to see how different ad copy affects conversion rates? The cross-segmentation feature (click the red arrow to the left of your results) enables you to see not only how a keyword performed, but also which ad copy was most effective.
For example, go to the “AdWords Analysis” report under “Marketing Optimization/Search Engine Marketing.” Drill down from the Campaign to the Ad Group to the Keyword by clicking on the plus sign. To cross-segment a keyword by ad copy, click on the red "Analysis Options" button to the left of your desired keyword.
Select “Cross Segment Performance” and then the “Content” option. (See screenshot below.) Assuming that you have enabled autotagging on your AdWords account, this will display the first line of ad text in the creative.
You can also look at the overall performance of ad copy by looking in the "Overall Ad A/B Testing" report under "Content Optimization/Ad Version Testing." This report actually has a column called "Content" that displays the first line of ad text and the visits generated by that ad.
For example, go to the “AdWords Analysis” report under “Marketing Optimization/Search Engine Marketing.” Drill down from the Campaign to the Ad Group to the Keyword by clicking on the plus sign. To cross-segment a keyword by ad copy, click on the red "Analysis Options" button to the left of your desired keyword.
Select “Cross Segment Performance” and then the “Content” option. (See screenshot below.) Assuming that you have enabled autotagging on your AdWords account, this will display the first line of ad text in the creative.
You can also look at the overall performance of ad copy by looking in the "Overall Ad A/B Testing" report under "Content Optimization/Ad Version Testing." This report actually has a column called "Content" that displays the first line of ad text and the visits generated by that ad.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Increased availability of Google Analytics
In response to the continuing strong demand for Google Analytics accounts, we've been steadily increasing capacity and decreasing turnaround time for issuing new accounts. We're now able to offer an invitation code usually within 2 days. In fact, if you're an AdWords customer, you may not need an invitation code at all because we've begun to streamline the signup process for Analytics from AdWords. If Google Analytics within your AdWords account hasn't already been enabled (try signing up from your AdWords account by clicking on the Analytics tab), check back again soon!
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Spotlight on Conversion University
Have you visited Conversion University lately?
It's a great place to learn search marketing and web analytics techniques. Some of our latest articles include:
Sitemaps for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Driving Traffic.
Have you taken every step to optimize your site for natural search? Learn five Google Sitemaps tips that can help drive traffic to your site and improve the visibility of your content.
Qualitative Measurement for Brand Lift Campaigns in Tracking and Testing.
Beyond conversion rates, average visit values, and ROI, it’s sometimes useful to gain a qualitative impression of how well your site and marketing perform. Here are five Google Analytics reports you can use to assess how well your brand lift campaigns engage your visitors.
AdWords Targeting and Tracking Tips in Driving Traffic
Do you know your AdWords ROI for each of your geographic markets? Looking for the optimal mix between Search and Content network delivery? Here are five tips for targeting – and tracking – your ads effectively.
It's a great place to learn search marketing and web analytics techniques. Some of our latest articles include:
Sitemaps for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Driving Traffic.
Have you taken every step to optimize your site for natural search? Learn five Google Sitemaps tips that can help drive traffic to your site and improve the visibility of your content.
Qualitative Measurement for Brand Lift Campaigns in Tracking and Testing.
Beyond conversion rates, average visit values, and ROI, it’s sometimes useful to gain a qualitative impression of how well your site and marketing perform. Here are five Google Analytics reports you can use to assess how well your brand lift campaigns engage your visitors.
AdWords Targeting and Tracking Tips in Driving Traffic
Do you know your AdWords ROI for each of your geographic markets? Looking for the optimal mix between Search and Content network delivery? Here are five tips for targeting – and tracking – your ads effectively.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Tip: Goals without e-commerce
We recently posted about what a visit is worth and the importance of setting goals in determining a visit's value. We often get asked, "How do I come up with goal values if my site is not an e-commerce site?" The answer: you can probably come up with intelligent values for your own set of goals. For example, if you know that 1 out of every 100 PDF downloads on your site results in a $500 sale, you can assign a value of $5 to that download. Other examples of goals are newsletter sign-ups, product sales, and visits to your "contact us" page.
Once you have defined a value for these pages (which you can set in the Goal Value field within your Goal Settings page), you can better conceptualize the value of your website and your online advertising. Then you can explain it to others with data, to back up any marketing or design choices you make. You can also measure the success of your design or marketing experiments, by observing goal values to find out what works best.
To learn more, take a look at the Conversion University article "Monetizing Non-Ecommerce Sites."
Once you have defined a value for these pages (which you can set in the Goal Value field within your Goal Settings page), you can better conceptualize the value of your website and your online advertising. Then you can explain it to others with data, to back up any marketing or design choices you make. You can also measure the success of your design or marketing experiments, by observing goal values to find out what works best.
To learn more, take a look at the Conversion University article "Monetizing Non-Ecommerce Sites."
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
New report added: AdWords Keyword Positions
Yesterday we added another report tailored specifically to AdWords users. The new report called AdWords Keyword Positions displays search position correlated with visits and conversions for each of your keywords. Drill down on any keyword to see its display position. Positions T1 through T3 indicate that your ad was promoted to the top of the search results page. Positions 1 through 8 indicate placement or location in the right-hand column of ads with 1 being the top position. 9 through 16 indicate the same on the second page of ads and so on. Here's an example of the position distribution of clicks on ads for searches on the keyword Google Pen in our account:
AdWords Keywords Positions is useful for advertisers in determining the value of your keywords and bid amounts in relation to your ad's actual position or rank on Google search results pages. This report can be used in conjunction with the Position Preference feature in AdWords to optimize around ad position in the following way: the AdWords Keyword Positions report in Google Analytics shows conversion rates and CTR for a keyword's results position -- and then, with Position Preference in AdWords, you can select that position as a target. We hope you find this level of integration between AdWords and Analytics to be useful.
You'll see data in this new report if:
One more thing: if you don't yet have a Google Analytics account, we've cleared out the waiting list for invitations. Once you've signed up within a few days you should get an email message with an invitation code.
AdWords Keywords Positions is useful for advertisers in determining the value of your keywords and bid amounts in relation to your ad's actual position or rank on Google search results pages. This report can be used in conjunction with the Position Preference feature in AdWords to optimize around ad position in the following way: the AdWords Keyword Positions report in Google Analytics shows conversion rates and CTR for a keyword's results position -- and then, with Position Preference in AdWords, you can select that position as a target. We hope you find this level of integration between AdWords and Analytics to be useful.
You'll see data in this new report if:
- Your AdWords and Analytics accounts are linked
- You've turned on Auto-tagging in your AdWords account settings
One more thing: if you don't yet have a Google Analytics account, we've cleared out the waiting list for invitations. Once you've signed up within a few days you should get an email message with an invitation code.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
What's a visit worth?
What is the average value of a visit from a certain website worth to you? Can you, for instance, measure the average value of a visit to your site from someone who clicks on your AdWords ad as compared to someone who gets to your website by typing your URL directly into their browser? (See google[cpc] versus direct[none] in the image below - click to enlarge.)
The answer can be found in the sometimes overlooked $/Visits column found in the Google Analytics conversion reports, including Campaign Conversion, Source Conversion, Overall Keyword Conversion and CPC vs Organic Conversion. In fact, because this metric is found in so many reports, you can compare per-visit values for organic search referrals, paid keywords, CPC campaigns -- and almost anything else you can think of. It's a great comparison metric that can help you shift your marketing budget to high-performing traffic sources and keywords.
To calculate $/Visits, Google Analytics adds and averages the total "revenue" from your conversions. This revenue might be from e-commerce sales or from static values that you assign to non-ecommerce goals. Thus, as with any endeavor, goals and goal values are necessary. You'll need to set them up in order to see metrics such as $/Visits as well as ROI and RPC (Revenue per Click), which you'll find indispensable for optimizing your keyword buys.
To learn how to set up goals, take a look at the Help Center article "How do I set up goals?"
The answer can be found in the sometimes overlooked $/Visits column found in the Google Analytics conversion reports, including Campaign Conversion, Source Conversion, Overall Keyword Conversion and CPC vs Organic Conversion. In fact, because this metric is found in so many reports, you can compare per-visit values for organic search referrals, paid keywords, CPC campaigns -- and almost anything else you can think of. It's a great comparison metric that can help you shift your marketing budget to high-performing traffic sources and keywords.
To calculate $/Visits, Google Analytics adds and averages the total "revenue" from your conversions. This revenue might be from e-commerce sales or from static values that you assign to non-ecommerce goals. Thus, as with any endeavor, goals and goal values are necessary. You'll need to set them up in order to see metrics such as $/Visits as well as ROI and RPC (Revenue per Click), which you'll find indispensable for optimizing your keyword buys.
To learn how to set up goals, take a look at the Help Center article "How do I set up goals?"
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Catching up
You may have noticed that we make changes to Google Analytics from time to time. (We call them improvements and we hope you agree.) Since we've just started posting to this blog, we'd like to catch you up on a few of the improvements we've made recently. By the way, you can also learn about new features and other changes through a link at the bottom right of your account's Analytics Settings page when you log into Google Analytics. The link is called What's new with Google Analytics. It's a brief and frequently updated Help Center page listing recent changes.
So what's new? We've added support for Safari browsers. We've re-enabled the Site Overlay report to work more reliably on sites with dynamic content. And to make it easier for you to see data about your dynamic pages, we've replaced the Page Query Terms report with the new Dynamic Content report, and added query terms to the Top Content report. We've made it possible to assign the order in which filters should be applied (via the Assign Filter Order link on your Profile Settings page). And you can now edit your time zone and rename your accounts.
Last but definitely not least, we're sending out more invitations all the time. We won't stop until every advertiser, publisher, and website owner on the planet has access to sophisticated, actionable, and free web analytics.
So what's new? We've added support for Safari browsers. We've re-enabled the Site Overlay report to work more reliably on sites with dynamic content. And to make it easier for you to see data about your dynamic pages, we've replaced the Page Query Terms report with the new Dynamic Content report, and added query terms to the Top Content report. We've made it possible to assign the order in which filters should be applied (via the Assign Filter Order link on your Profile Settings page). And you can now edit your time zone and rename your accounts.
Last but definitely not least, we're sending out more invitations all the time. We won't stop until every advertiser, publisher, and website owner on the planet has access to sophisticated, actionable, and free web analytics.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Welcome to the official Google Analytics Blog!
We are pleased to welcome you to the official Google Analytics blog. Now you can stay up to date on the latest info posted by the Google Analytics team. You'll learn about product changes as we make them, whether it's a new feature you’ve asked for, or a fix for something that needed fixing. We’ll let you know when we add new reports (see below) and will ask for your feedback too. And we’ll frequently post tips and best practices, as well as spotlight helpful resources such as Conversion University and the Google Analytics Help Center.
Expect to see posts from a variety of people on our team. Sometimes they'll be informal and brief; others will be more structured. We hope you'll find all of them useful.
And now for our first product update (which you may have already noticed): there is a new report in Google Analytics called AdWords Analysis.
You can see it within your Analytics reports now (located in Marketing Optimization-->Search Engine Marketing).
The AdWords Analysis report was released two weeks ago and shows you the ROI for every Campaign, Ad Group, and keyword in your AdWords account. You may find it useful as you monitor and optimize your Ad Groups and keywords. In order to get the full benefit of this report, you’ll need to link your AdWords account with your Analytics account and have auto-tagging turned on.
Enjoy, and subscribe to the feed, or visit often to learn about updates like this within hours of their creation.
Expect to see posts from a variety of people on our team. Sometimes they'll be informal and brief; others will be more structured. We hope you'll find all of them useful.
And now for our first product update (which you may have already noticed): there is a new report in Google Analytics called AdWords Analysis.
You can see it within your Analytics reports now (located in Marketing Optimization-->Search Engine Marketing).The AdWords Analysis report was released two weeks ago and shows you the ROI for every Campaign, Ad Group, and keyword in your AdWords account. You may find it useful as you monitor and optimize your Ad Groups and keywords. In order to get the full benefit of this report, you’ll need to link your AdWords account with your Analytics account and have auto-tagging turned on.
Enjoy, and subscribe to the feed, or visit often to learn about updates like this within hours of their creation.
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