Last day of 2010, Happy New Year!

December 31, 2010...Happy New Year everyone!

May this be the beginning of a wonderful year!

Make it a great Friday. Be safe this New Year's Eve, enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Top Facebook Posts of 2010 on this blog: A "Facebook Friday" post

It’s our last Facebook Friday together in 2010. Have you reflected on your use of Facebook in 2010, and how it’s changed your day-to-day life?

In looking back over a year of Facebook posts on this blog, here are some of my observations.

My First FB Post in 2010…

In March I posted a few of my thoughts on being incentivized to become a “fan” of a business on FB. 

Today, I don’t typically question whether or not I am willing to “like” a business on FB, as long as I enjoy or have an interest in the company’s products/services. In fact, I’ve liked hundreds (literally) of businesses on FB since March.  Many of those are creative (art-related) businesses that I met through Kelly Rae’s course. Have you noticed you’ve “liked” more businesses in recent weeks/months as well?

Do Facebook Tips from April 2010 Still Apply?

In April, I posted 10 tips on Improving your Facebook Business Page (called a Fanpage then). Most of these tips still apply for now.  We all know there are pretty big changes coming for biz pages soon. In fact, I got a sneak peak just this month.

Most Popular

Here are the top 3 (in terms of visitation) Facebook posts on this blog for 2010:

1. How To Get Notified of Facebook Business Page Comments – Two Handy Tips.  With the “New Facebook” for business pages, we’ll see the need for third party applications to get activity notifications may not be such a necessity.  However, that doesn’t mean the application developers aren’t already looking ahead and making further enhancements to remain relevant.

2. How to Analyze Facebook Business Page Impressions - A "Facebook Friday" post, which continues to be helpful.  In fact, I’m going to be expanding the content since it continues to be one of my top Facebook posts.

3. Facebook Business "Page Badge" and "Like Box" Explained - Do You Know the Difference? Still worth a visit if you don’t know the answer!

It’s been quite an amazing Facebook journey for us so far, and I’m sure there are plenty of developments scheduled to be rolled out in 2011. I’ll be continuing my “Facebook Friday” posts in 2011 and hope you’ll join me.

Happy New Year!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Another Holiday Gift For The Practitioner

We hope your holiday season is going well, and you're full of good cheer and data driven egg nog (which doesn't really exist unless you love web analytics and have imbibed too much egg nog).

For those of you who really do dig web analytics and use Google Analytics specifically - you're going to really like our next gift. It's from the Santa Claus of the web analytics industry, Avinash Kaushik, the analytics evangelist here at Google. Avinash has written a must-read post that you should curl up with next to a roaring fire while you have time to relax over the holidays. In the post, he's basically done a ton of work for you. It's called 3 Awesome, Downloadable, Custom Web Analytics Reports and it showcases the power of Google Analytics and custom reports. In Avinash's words,

I love custom reports. They allow us to step away from the oppression of standard reports (/data pukes) and bring an increased amount of relevancy, calm and focus to our day-to-day work and to our beloved data consumers.

As you may know, you can create your own reports within Google Analytics. Here's a help article from our blog explaining how. In Avinash's typical style, he makes powerful analysis techniques accessible and understandable, and the best part is that he's created the reports for you allowing you to take action right away. You can click on a link that populates the report template right within your Google Analytics profile. Thanks for the holiday gift Avinash.

To give you a sneak peak and get you salivating to read Avinash's post, the three reports are:

• Page Efficiency Analysis Report
• Visitor Acquisition Efficiency Analysis Report.
• Paid Search Performance Analysis Micro-Ecosystem!

If you're doing web analytics, these reports will be of use both educationally, and practically. Enjoy, and stay tuned for one more gift from Avinash.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

The 2010 Census Count: Marketing to Latinos

Many marketers are waiting for the results of the 2010 US Census to learn about the growth of the ethnic/cultural segments they target. That expectation will be met when the Census releases that data by about March 2011.

We can expect to learn about the age, gender, household role, Hispanic/Latino origin, and race of theoretically every person living in the United States on April 1, 2010. We will learn about how many Hispanics there are in the US, and the number is likely to be surprising and revealing even though there are always issues in counting those who do not have documents and others who simply do not want to be counted. Most likely the official number will be around 50 million Latinos. We need to remember that there were many social, political, and economic issues that influenced the residency of Hispanics in the last 10 years, when many decided to return to Latin America and others just did not feel like being counted.

The US Census form was simple and contained only 10 questions. The results of this form will tell us the very important story of how many people of different backgrounds and demographics live in the United Stated. The findings will provide information for the allocation of congressional representation and for the allocation of Federal budgets to States, and will give us an important overall picture of the composition of the country.

But there are many issues that the decennial US Census will not address because of the use of the short form. Thus, many important questions that marketers have will not be answered by this count. Many may not be aware but marketers do not have to wait for decennial census reports to obtain valuable information about their customers. That is because the US Bureau of the Census collects data from very large samples every year the main one of which is the American Community Survey (ACS) that addresses specific issues such as language use at home and ability to speak English.

For many years the US Bureau of the Census has provided 1 and 3 year average estimates of many measures based on the ACS. The most recent ACS data currently available is for 2009, which for practical purposes is pretty much as good as it will get for a while. Yearly estimates do not vary dramatically. Marketers are encouraged to become familiar with the data available from the ACS as it can make important contributions to their decisions. And again, these data come out every year with about a one year lag. Not bad at all.

In doing some analysis of the 2009 ACS data I came up with some figures that are quite interesting regarding language use. For example I found out that California, Texas, Illinois, and Colorado, each respectively have 26% of Hispanic household that can be considered linguistically isolated. That means that in those households there is no person age 14 years or over who speaks only English or who speaks English "very well." These are households who likely depend on Spanish language communications quite substantively.

Further, in doing more digging I found in the 2009 ACS that approximately 70% of Hispanics speak Spanish at home. The amount of time they speak Spanish is not known but this is an important figure that has been relatively stable over many years. Perhaps more surprising, estimates from the 2009 American Community Survey show that about 54% of those who speak Spanish also speak English “Very Well” or “Well.” And that approximately 77% of all Hispanics Speak only English or speak it “Well” or “Very Well.” Now, remember, these are not households as in the case of linguistic isolation but individuals. The implications are quite interesting in that they confirm that targeting Hispanics in English is increasingly more feasible. This, however, does not mean that the cultural insights that will resonate with Latinos can be ignored. In fact, it is perhaps more important now than ever because connecting culturally is probably the most powerful tool available to marketers in an environment where language is not as determinant a differentiator as it was some time ago.

The moral of the story is that the 2010 Census will be very important but that many of the details about consumers are now available every year and that a 10 year wait is not necessary, or even possible because the decennial Census contains just 10 questions. Further, it is important to dig deeper in these data since numbers out of context can tell a story that is just not the complete story. Our upcoming book "Hispanic Marketing: Connecting with Latino Consumers" will address many of these issues and it is expected to be published by August 2011.

Resolve to Work Smarter

As we approach the end of the year, a reflective tone on our past performance often resonates. We often compare our actual performance to the goals we had set out for ourselves to see how we measured up.

Reflecting on the past year’s performance of what we did well and what we could have done better leads us to the question, “how can we do it better in 2011?“ Lessons learned from 2010 can guide us in the right direction for working smarter in 2011. Working smarter is very relevant as we remain in an era of increasing responsibilities and minimal budgets.

Explore these ideas to discover ways you can work smarter in 2011…

• Acquire the market and industry intelligence in order to become a “smarter” when targeting prospective customers
• How can you package products or provide relationship benefits to better engage current and new customers in a broader relationship
• Review internal customer data in order to expand balances and services per household through better targeting and more innovative profiling
• Review operational communication messaging in order to maximize retention or expand relationships
• Ensure your products and customer service are better than the competition

Looking over 2010 with a critical eye is important to discover ways that you can continually grow and improve your marketing. Using this information to work smarter will help us to deliver the results we all need to keep growing and reaching our goals.

Resolve to work smarter this year!

Jamie

How to Change Twitter Design Colors: A "Twitter Tuesday" Post

As many “Twitter Tuesday” posts that I’ve shared with you, I’m amazed at how each week, I always have something new to share. Today’s post is something I re-discovered a few days ago, after making tweaks to my own Twitter background.


I kept the same beach photo I’d taken last summer as my main background, because it fits Charleston and it fits me. What’s new? We’ll, with the #NewTwitter moving the bio front and center, it seemed a bit repetitive to include the same few sentences about myself over in the new, more narrow space to the left of the main Twitter area. So, I took that away and decided instead to place more photos vertically in the far left background space.  

click photo to enlarge

Since I was making this update, I had a few photos taken of myself over the holiday break that I plugged in.  I'm a girl, and we care too much about our hair sometimes.  Mine is less red and longer, and since I meet many people locally through Twitter, I want to "look" as close to my profile pic as I can.  It's important.

I’ve also grown as a jewelry artist and creative person over the past year, and wanted to showcase more than just a pair of earrings for the creative/artsy work that I enjoy in addition to my online marketing tips and tutorials.

If you’re curious about what my updated background looks like, I hope you’ll hop over to Twitter so we can connect there as well.

Onto our tutorial…
How to Change Your Twitter Design Colors

1. Click on “Settings” in the top right-hand side of your twitter homepage

2. Click on the “Design” tab

3. Click on “change design colors” towards the bottom of the screen

4. Click on each of the squares that appears to change the pre-set colors applied to your Twitter profile.

5. Click on “Save Changes”.

When would you want to change your Twitter design colors? Here are two reasons I can think of off the top of my head…

~ Change your Twitter “design” colors to match your company branding / color scheme
~ Change your Twitter “design” colors if you wish to have more contrast between your background photo and your twitter color scheme

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston and Columbia, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

The 27th...and counting

Greetings!

Seems like yesterday when we started the countdown to 2010...right after Christmas last year!

Well...the countdown is now on for 2011!  Its the 27th...the calm that arrives after the Christmas rush will quickly dissipate and return to a chaos of the new year.

Enjoy the last few days of 2010, reflect on the year ending and look forward to the year beginning!

Cheers!

Bruce

Merry Christmas

Tis the season!

May peace, prosperity, and happiness be yours throughout the holidays and new year.

I would like to personally wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Enjoy the time with your family over then next few days.

Debbi

First Holiday Gift: iGoogle Gadget

The holidays are here, true believer. And we're stuffing your stocking with 3 posts-containing-gifts, and this is the first. The other two will come next week and are delivered by our very own Santavinash Claus.

Close your eyes and get ready - wait, don't close them actually - keep reading, because here it is: a gadget, because you love gadgets. But not just any gadget....As part of our efforts to make your analytics data more accessible, we are announcing the release of the Official Google Analytics Gadget. With it, you can get a quick snapshot of your website traffic and marketing effectiveness directly from your iGoogle homepage. Access any of your analytics profiles and view any of these standard reports, including Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content and Goals, in 7, 30 and 90 day periods.

It's a handy dashboard for Google Analytics.

Users can now add the Official Google Analytics Gadget to their iGoogle homepage here, or by searching the iGoogle Gadgets Directory.

The gadget can also be added multiple times within your iGoogle homepage to view multiple reports at once.

We must thank CPG Brand Marketers for encouraging the development of this iGoogle Analytics Gadget. They are using iGoogle as a Brand Digital Dashboard to mine search trends, news, consumer feedback, and more, in order to help make strategic investment decisions. Now they can easily add Google Analytics data to their brand digital dashboards.

Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Posted by Patrick Tedjamulia, Google CPG Team and Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Top 10 Marketing Highlights of 2010

As 2010 nears an end, it’s time for my top 10 marketing highlights list. What campaigns were great, and which were duds? What do YOU remember from the 2010 marketing reel? With a quick thanks to David Letterman’s top 10 concept, here’s my list:

Number 10:

Jay Leno vs. Conan O’Brien for control of NBC’s The Late Show

Number 9:

The Old Spice guy

Number 8:

The hullabaloo over the changes at the judges table on American Idol – due to the departure of Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres - and all the talk if the show would end (what would Coca-Cola do?)

Number 7:

Advances in mobile marketing due to the increase in location-based services (Foursquare and Gowalla)

Number 6:

The YMCA changed its logo and officially became known as just the “Y”

Number 5:

Facebook – due to increase in users around the world, constant changes to the user interface, and the growing concerns about user privacy

Number 4:

Google Street View – the company was under investigation in Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic for possible violation of privacy laws for its data-gathering practices of its mapping service

Number 3:

The resurrection of Betty White’s career

Number 2:

The rise of Mark Zuckerberg – is he the next Bill Gates?

And, Number 1 on the 2010 Marketing Highlight List:

The Gap Logo Fiasco

Here’s to 2011 and another year of marketing highlights! Happy New Year!

Microsites

It's not secret ... if you want to reach the "Google Generation" you'd better be a few steps ahead on technology. Text alerts and mobile banking are as expected as ATMs and online banking.

You'd also better spend more time analyzing and improving your website than you do writing newspaper ads!

Lately, we've had a lot of clients interested in microsites. And they can be VERY useful in the right situations.

What is a microsite? (or minisite, or weblet)

It's a page or cluster of pages that supplement your main website. They are usually used to highlight a particular product or aspect of your organization.

Let me give you 2 examples.

We are in the process of completing a Mortgage-specific microsite for a client. While in this supplemental portion of their website, a user can find only information important to someone who's interested in buying or refinancing a home.

We also completed a microsite for another institution who wanted to focus on their new lifestage-based sales process. Here the user is drawn into information important to their specific lifestage. They then have the option of clicking on relevant financial products that will take them back to the bank's main site.

In short, it's a way to get a reader interested and to draw them to you. A microsite can differentiate in a very targeted way and generate qualified leads. It's also a much better marketing message:

"Come to our site with information important to you."

vs

"Come to our site all about our products."

What Makes a Microsite Successful?

Content.

The number one objective of your site should be to add value - not, necessarily to sell your products.

Where your main website is traditionally an electronic brochure of your "stuff," a microsite is successful because it draws a user to it for value - entertainment, knowledge, etc.

Many retail microsites use games to bring people in. We prefer to position or clients as experts and use value-added content.

Our mortgage site includes more than a dozen articles that are important to first time home buyers, experienced home buyers, folks wanting to refinance and moving and packing information. It also includes dozens of helpful links to anyone moving or remodeling. The entire site is designed to be a one-stop resource for everything important to you before and after you complete a mortgage app.

Our Lifestage site provides links and information for anyone experiencing specific life events, like childbirth, retirement, etc.

Of course, there are countless ways to link from the informative microsite to the "salsey" main site.

In short, a microsite should be a resource that a customer or prospect will want to bookmark and come back to over and over again.

Merry Christmas,

Eric

A #NewTwitter Background Design to Share on this "Twitter Tuesday" Together

It’s “Twitter Tuesday” during an incredibly busy holiday week for many of us! My family is no exception, but I still wanted to stop by and share some Twitter goodness with you.

I’ve shared a few Twitter background designs with you recently, and wanted to share one I designed today. This one is extra-special to me.  I'll be writing about the reasons why tomorrow in a "Be Inspired Wednesday" post, so please come back for the details. :)

This one is for Historic Columbia Foundation. If you visit the HCF website, you’ll see that the Twitter background is very similar in terms of design. The neat part is how I was able to move things around just a bit to really “fit” well with the #NewTwitter specs.

For those who Tweet, please consider following Historic Columbia Foundation http://www.twitter.com/histcolumbia).  Don't forget to follow me there, too @LauraCatherineO). Also, as much as I post about Twitter, I’m still learning new things! One of those is that you can customize design colors (for your column, text, links, etc.) to match your branding. Pretty neat! I’ll post step-by-step instructions this week during our “Tutorial Thursday” time together.


click image above to expand (use your back button to come back to this post)

 In the meantime, I hope you find some inspiration from this latest design. Have a wonderful Holiday Week!


Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston and Columbia, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Last Web Analytics TV For 2010 - Out With A Bang

Well, it’s the last episode of Web Analytics TV for 2010. In this series with Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski, you ask and vote on your favorite web analytics questions via the Google Analytics Google Moderator site and we answer them.

In this episode, we award Lloyd in Capetown for his great question on how bounce rate is calculated and how AJAX sites can effect it. Lloyd, just send us an email and we’ll send you an autographed, personalized, copy of Web Analytics 2.0.

Here is the list of last weeks questions which we answered this week.

In this action-packed episode we discuss:

• (0:27) How you can see the top landing page report by keyword.
• (1:22) Calculating Avg Time to complete a goal.
• (2:11) The recommended way to do internal campaign tracking.
• (3:17) Creating funnel reports for different user types.
• (5:19) How page title and URL are used in unique pageview calculations.
• (6:40) Why you see google as a referral in Google Analytics.
• (8:25) Can you use GA to track social networking links without link shorteners?
• (9:28) Using canonical URLs to differentiate multiple links on a page.
• (10:52) Calculating bounce rate for AJAX sites.
• (13:34) Getting campaign data into Google Analytics without using URL parameters.
• (14:43) Google Analytics campaign attribution and direct traffic.
• (15:54) Working with Custom Variables in website templates.
• (17:07) Using Ecommerce tracking for tracking conversions.
• (19:02) Is there a way to see data broken down by day of the week?
• (19:48) How tabbed navigation effects funnel abandonment.
• (21:21) How to track various form selections.
• (22:23) Fnding Average number of items per order in Google Analytics.

Here are the links to the topics we discuss:

• Apply segments to your funnel reports using PadiTrak
• Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools in the App Gallery
• Avinash’s blog on how time on site and time on page are calculated

As always, if you need help setting up Google Analytics or leveraging the advanced configuration options, we recommend hiring a Google Analytics Certified Partner.

If you found this post or video helpful, we'd love to hear your comments. Please share them via the comment form below. And, if you have a question you would like us to answer, please submit a question and vote for your favorite question in our public Google Moderator site. Avinash and I will answer your latest questions in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video.

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

10 of our favorite AdWords innovations from 2010

As 2010 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on the ways that AdWords and online advertising as a whole have evolved over the past year. From the launch of new search ad formats on Google.com to Search Funnel reports that illustrate search behavior leading up to a sale, 2010 saw a number of new developments that we hope have made AdWords an even more powerful and effective way to reach your customers.

Here are 10 of our favorite new ad innovations from 2010:

1. AdWords Campaign Experiments: Experiment with bid, keyword, ad group and placement changes, then measure how they impact your campaign performance.
2. Search Funnels: Understand the Google.com search ad click and impression behavior leading up to a conversion.
3. Product Ads: Highlight your most relevant products with pictures and prices directly on the search results page with Product Listing Ads and Product Extensions.

Product Listing Ads


Product Extensions

4. AdWords Call Metrics: Include a Google Voice phone number in ads that appear on Google.com, and measure the number of phone calls generated by your AdWords campaigns.

Call Metrics
5. Click-to-call Phone Extensions: Make it easier for potential customers to reach you by including a clickable phone number in ads that appear on mobile phones with full Internet browsers.

Click-to-call phone extensions
6. Display Campaign Optimizer: Save time and increase conversions on the Google Display Network with this new automatic bidding and targeting tool.
7. Enhanced CPC: A bidding option that automatically adjusts the Max CPC bids that you’ve set based on the likelihood that your ad will convert, leading to more conversions and higher profit.
8. Broad Match Modifier: A keyword match type giving you more potential traffic than phrase match with comparable ROI.
9. AdWords Automated Rules: Save time by scheduling automatic changes to your AdWords account based on criteria that you specify.
10. Remarketing: Show your ads to users who’ve previously visited your website as they browse sites across the Google Display Network.

You’ll always find the latest features at Google Ad Innovations, a place to explore new Google advertising technologies, watch short video demos, and try out select new tools. We have even more in store for 2011 and look forward to sharing these innovations with you soon!

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

Forget What You Know…

If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we were to remember nothing.

-William James

This quote may come in handy when brainstorming new ideas. Certainly your experience is worth a great deal, but sometimes, when it comes to developing new, innovative ideas for promotions, product development, campaigns, or customer communication it helps to initially throw out “what you know.” Putting everything and anything on the table in a brainstorming session can be a great way to brainstorm new ideas.

Many times, we hear banks defending certain marketing tactics with the statement “this is how we have always done it.” Not a very compelling reason, is it? Customer and market perceptions are always changing, so even if you are considering to re-execute a past successful campaign, that doesn’t mean it will be successful when executing it in the future.

If you plan only to repeat successful promotions, you may be missing out on an idea that could be even more successful. Also, if you rule out all unsuccessful promotions, you may be ruling out a good idea that was poorly executed or a good idea that would have been more successful with different situational criteria.

In some scenarios, you can take your brainstorming a step further by removing resource restrictions. If money, supplies, people, and time weren’t limited, what would you do? The ideas you come up with might not be plausible, but they may cause you to uncover new ideas within your resource limits that can make a huge impact.

A healthy dose of “forgetting” is crucial for our ability to think big.

Happy brainstorming!

Jamie

What's Next for Debit Rewards?

At a time when banks are trying to catch their breath from the reduced fee income impact of Reg E, the government has proposed a cap on interchange income that could equate to a 70%-80% reduction in fees that a bank can collect as part of debit card transactions. In travels across the country, it is clear one of the first casualties of these regulatory changes has been the reconfiguring or elimination of Free Checking at the largest banks.

Will these changes also eliminate debit card rewards programs that are funded by interchange fees?

Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase Bank announced that they will be phasing out their debit rewards programs. It is clear in talking to bankers that almost all other financial organizations that offer rewards programs are also evaluating their options as we enter the new year. Even if the proposed limit of 12 cents a transaction is increased (as has been discussed over the past few weeks) banks will need to respond in a way that has the least impact on an increasingly disgruntled customer base, while still compensating for some of the lost funding.

Beyond changes to the checking account offerings already implemented or planned at most banks, potential changes to reward programs could include one or more of the following:

• Elimination of a reward program already in place: A difficult option given that many consumers enrolled and active in reward programs are the higher value relationships at a bank. Some banks are considering the elimination of rewards programs for only certain categories of accounts (i.e. Free Checking). 
• Assessment of an annual fee for reward-based debit cards: Some organizations already have an annual fee that is waived for the first year of enrollment.
• Reduction in the value of point/reward interrelationship: This is an option that impacts the most active and loyal rewards program participants the most.
• Introduction of a relationship-based reward program: Changing a points based reward structure to a program like Bank of America's 'Keep the Change'  provides additional flexibility since the foundation is around an expanded banking relationship.
• Introduction of a merchant-funded reward program: Shifting the cost of the rewards program to the same merchants who will benefit from the change in interchange regulations, hyperlocal rewards program companies like Bling Nation (that recently signed an agreement with PayPal), transaction history rewards company Cardlytics (that recently signed an agreement with ClairMail for immediate mobile reward notification) or one of several other merchant-funded programs may either replace or supplement current rewards offerings.

The last option above can actually be a revenue generator for banks since the merchant not only funds the reward, but usually pays the bank a marketing fee.

Any of the changes to reward programs discussed above will require significant customer communication to avoid a negative customer experience at a time when many household checking accounts may also be changing. It will be the role of bank marketers and product managers to try to retain the loyalty of some of the most valuable households who have enjoyed the benefits of these rewards.

At the same time, it will be important to heavily promote the use of debit and credit cards to help offset some of the impact of these regulations. The benefit is not only the increase of interchange income from increased transactions, but also improved retention achieved from the more engaged customer.

If you have a rewards program at your bank, I would love to know how you are planning to respond to this most recent challenge originating from a supposed consumer-focused regulation.

Optimize And Analyze For Mobile, part 3

This is part 3 of a timely 3 part guest post on mobile analytics strategy and implementation by Feras Alhlou at E-Nor, a Certified Partner in Northern California. Here's part 1, which explained how to look for trends in mobile traffic to your website, and here's part 2 about giving your reports more dollar power.

3. Act on your ROI

At this point, you are equipped with your positive trends and the (hopefully high!) revenue numbers generated on mobile devices. You’ll hopefully get additional time/resources to better assess and improve your mobile presence and mobile marketing initiatives.

But, we still have some more ground to cover, including more segmentation. Let's ratchet up your insights:

More Segmentation.

For your mobile traffic (viewable via an advanced segment or a profile you make specifically for mobile traffic), segment by medium (traffic channel) or campaign (e.g. Back To School Campaign). Take a look at these two metrics:

Bounce rate by medium:

click to enlarge

And conversion rate by medium:

click to enlarge

Do more with Google AdWords.

You notice in the reports above that your cpc (paid-search) traffic from mobile devices is not as prevalent as other mediums. Your results show that your mobile site is experiencing a high bounce rate and a low conversion rate - a good indicator that something is very wrong either on your landing page, or in your ads. Either your ads are not bringing in the right traffic, or you're scaring traffic away.

What you're most likely doing is proving that your site is not optimized for mobile device visits.

Fortunately, you can further back this data up within AdWords. Google AdWords now allows more visibility into campaign performance from different devices. In AdWords, in your Campaign reports, click on ‘Device’ in the Segment drop-down.

click to enlarge

In this situation, in the last cell in the rightmost column, you notice a 0.03% conversion rate for your mobile devices (compared to 0.52% on the non-mobile devices) and you know exactly where the problem is.

To fix the awfulness in the conversion rates, here are a few tips:

• create a separate campaign for your mobile devices
• send traffic to a custom landing page (or to your mobile site if you have one),
• and/or better target the mobile traffic (by device, or using the click-to-call feature).

Last but not least and for tor the technically inclined, and to get a more comprehensive perspective on your mobile presence, take a look at the code site page on mobile. If you're developing for a mobile platform, you can use Google Analytics to track the following:

• Activity on websites specially tailored for low-end mobile devices
• Activity on standard websites accessed from high-end mobile devices
• User engagement with a native iOS or Android application (using the Google Analytics mobile SDK)

In addition, there are a number of new niche analytics solutions specifically built for mobile, so keep on the lookout, and see if a specific tool has a feature that you really need. And, for more analytics tips and insights, follow @ferasa on twitter or check out the E-Nor blog.

Happy Analyzing!

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team and Feras Alhlou, E-Nor

There's still time to meet your 2010 resolution to become Google AdWords certified

Long lines at the shops got you down? Dreading yet another ugly sweater party or family cookie exchange? Kicking yourself for not becoming Google AdWords certified in 2010?

No need to fret, there’s still plenty of time left in the year. To become Google AdWords certified, you'll need to pass the Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam and one of the three advanced exams (Search Advertising, Reporting and Analysis, or Display). You can register for exams here, and take them from the comfort of your own office or home -- the perfect activity to do while sitting in front of a cozy fire waiting for mysterious, magical home invaders to bring you gifts. As a bonus, you’ll be able to give your company the holiday gift of another certified individual to add to its profile page!

We’ve made it easy for you to prepare for the exams. The AdWords Learning Center offers text lessons (some with interactive modules) for each topic on the exam, which you can review at your own pace. In addition, if you can’t quite squeeze in training this year, we have numerous AdWords Seminars for Success in early 2011 in a number of major cities throughout the US.

For more information, please visit the Google AdWords Certification Program homepage.


Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

Are You Ready for the Mesh Economy?

As a result of the social media phenomenon, a new economy is emerging. Entrepreneur and author Lisa Gansky has written a book that not only introduces us to the new connected economy where access is more important than re-inventing the production process, but she provides easy-to-follow blueprints for building successful businesses.

"The Mesh is a major trend which will shape business in the next decade." – Forbes

In the new economy, according to Lisa Gansky, companies use social media, wireless networks, and data from every possible source to access products and services without the same financial burdens as in previous generations and without adding to the carbon footprint. In Gansky’s words, “The Mesh is reshaping how we go to market, who we partner with, and how we invite participation and engage new customers…If you embrace the Mesh, you’ll discover how your business can inspire customers in a world where access trumps ownership.”

An excellent example of a successful business in the Mesh economy is Zipcar. This car rental agency is nothing like the rental car companies of years past. Instead of visiting airports or agencies in downtown urban hotels, Zipcar locations are strategically placed around cities for quick and easy access. Customers are able to make reservations via the Internet and then either use a code to unlock the cars or a smartphone App to unlock the car’s doors. The company’s founders made sure that all cars were washed, serviced, and available in just the right parking spots so that they would be accessible to the largest customer base.

Upon further analysis though, Zipcar is more of an information business that shares cars. The company collects information about who uses the cars, for what purpose, and for how long. Zipcar is then able to tweak its business model and make its offerings more customized. For example, if a customer rents cars to go skiing, perhaps, there are partnership opportunities with nearby ski resorts, restaurants en route to the ski resorts, clothing stores near the ski resort, etc. The Mesh ecosystem evolves as each new partner is added. As Gansky explained, “Good Mesh businesses are smart about combining more frequent customer contact with enhanced information sources to create and refine superior experiences, partnerships, products and offers.”

Here are the characteristics of a Mesh business:

1. The core offering is something that can be shared, within a community, market, or value chain, including products, services, and raw materials.
2. Advanced web and mobile data networks are used to track goods and aggregate usage, customer, and product information.
3. The focus is on shareable physical goods, including the materials used, which makes local delivery of services and products – and their recovery – valuable and relevant.
4. Offers, news, and recommendations are transmitted largely through word of mouth, augmented by social network services.

There is no doubt that these concepts make sense, but you may be asking yourself, “Why the Mesh, now?” There are five reasons that make the Mesh economy viable:

1. The economic crisis has bred distrust of old companies.
2. The crisis has also encouraged people to reconsider what’s valuable and important to them.
3. Climate change is forcing up the cost of doing business, including the making and selling of throwaway goods.
4. The growing population and greater urbanization create densities that favor Mesh businesses.
5. Information networks of all kinds have matured to the point where businesses can provide better and more personalized services exactly when needed.

So, is your company ready to join the Mesh economy? Here are some action items:

1. Identify shareable physical assets.
2. Identify a category, or a service or product, and go to market before anyone else.
3. Define the market and your core offering.

The Mesh economy will not be a fit for every company, but it may make sense to consider aligning your company in some manner. In the book, an abridged listing of a directory of over 1,000 Mesh ventures is included (the full list can be found online) ranging from arts and crafts to books and writing to gardening to goods swap to health/fitness to technology. Check it out – you never know when or how your company might be positioned to join the Mesh ecosystem.

Check out the Mesh Directory: www.meshing.it

Buy or share The Mesh (Amazon typically has the best prices) or visit your local library; also check out Swap.com.

Follow The Mesh on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sharethemesh

Follow Lisa Gansky on Twitter: http://twitter.com/instigating

Connect on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mesh-Directory/139581839396226

Watch Lisa Gansky at Web 2.0 Summit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX3iY-Ztg_c

Watch Lisa Gansky discuss the power of the consumer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSV1BAM9U1Y

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Around here it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! This picture was taken yesterday, Dayton, Ohio. With Christmas just a week away we would like to take this time to wish you a very happy holiday season.

Before you start using up those last vacation days before the end of the year, take a moment and reflect on 2010. Both professionally and personally. Here's hoping you accomplished what you could and have something to show for your hard work.

Happy holidays from the MarketMatch family!

Make it a great Friday. Enjoy your weekend and until we talk again.

Debbi

Significant advances for Display Ad Builder

On the Google Display Network, we've been working hard to make display advertising accessible to everyone, no matter what your size or budget. In 2008, we launched Display Ad Builder to help you design display ads in minutes for free. Now, 100 new advertisers try Display Ad Builder every day.

Today we are announcing a number of improvements to Display Ad Builder to help you achieve all your marketing goals, from driving conversions to building your brand.

Quickly manage hundreds of ads with bulk copying and editing
With the newest version of AdWords Editor, you can now copy your Display Ad Builder ads across campaigns and make basic bulk edits, including ad names, destination and display URLs, and ad statuses. AdWords Editor makes it easier to customize your display creatives. For example, you could create an ad for marathon training tips, make multiple copies of the ad, then go into Display Ad Builder to customize the creative to mention the Chicago marathon for users in Chicago and the Philly marathon for Philadelphia.

Sample Display Ad Builder ad copied using AdWords Editor and then customized based on user location.
click for full size image

If you're already using AdWords Editor, you'll be prompted to upgrade automatically. Just follow the instructions to keep your unposted changes. If you’re not using AdWords Editor, visit our website to learn more and download it.

Drive engagement with social and expandable templates
Display Ad Builder also can help build your brand and engage users with our new social and expandable templates. We are testing social templates, which include the latest tweets from your Twitter account in the creative. Social templates are really useful if you want to run timely promotions that change daily. You can run a new tweet, instead of creating an entirely new creative. Social templates can also help you build your Twitter follower base.

An ad created using one of Display Ad Builder's social templates.
click for full size image

We've also released expandable templates, which encourage more interaction from interested users by increasing your ad’s real estate on the page. When a user clicks on your expandable ad, it expands to twice its width or height, depending on the format.

Create the perfect ad by customizing your templates
We're also launching template customization to give you greater flexibility to create the ad you want. You can now move text boxes and images where you want within the template. Also, text boxes can be resized, so you can include more content. Combine these new features, with 180 templates, nearly 100 fonts, and unlimited color options to chose from.

Now you can move around text boxes and pictures and re-size text boxes to customize templates to fit your needs.
click for full size image

Never tried Display Ad Builder? Try our free demo to see how it works. To start creating your ads, go to your ‘Ads’ tab in a new or existing campaign in your AdWords account. Then, click ‘New Ad’ and select ‘Display Ad Builder.’


Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

The "New Facebook" Business Page Layout: How to Get Notified of Facebook Business Page Activity (Comments, Likes, Wall Posts, etc.) - A "Tutorial Thursday" Post

I happened to be on Facebook the evening of 12/16/2010 when the "New Facebook" (or #NewFacebook for us tweeters) was prematurely pushed LIVE for a short period of time (around 40 minutes).  The post below describes what I saw and includes a sneak peak of some (expected) new features.  According to Facebook (courtesy of Mashable.com), "Facebook accidentally went live with a handful of prototype features earlier today, including a site-wide yet short-lived overhaul of Pages. Roughly 45 minutes after the mistaken update, Facebook disabled the site, reverted back to its previous state and then tweeted apologetically about the downtime. But that brief span of time was enough for Facebook members and Page admins to get a sneak peak at new features in the works."

If you're curious about what I saw, the post is below.  Following the tutorial is still a bit premature...stay tuned for updates!

Original Post (12/16/2010):
Facebook Launches New Business Page Format to Include Business Page Activity Notifications

It’s an exciting day for those of us who manage Facebook business pages!  Did you know that Facebook has launched notifications within the Facebook business page environment?

In other words, you can now be notified of Facebook business page activity, comments, likes, wall posts, etc. without relying on third-party software or workarounds!  This is a "Tutorial Thursday" & Facebook Friday post all in one!  I hope you'll come back often for future tutorials and my other themed days (see horizontal navigation along the top of this blog). 

How to View Facebook Business Page Activity/Notifications:

1. Login to Facebook
2. Click on Account & Manage Pages on top right-hand side of your screen
   
   
   
3. Select your business page (click “Go to Page”)
   
4. Click on “Login as Page” at the top of your biz page
   
5. Look to your “notifications” global icon at the top of your screen. Click on the notifications icon to expand.
   
   
6. You’ll see your business page interactions! This is what many of us have been hoping and asking for…being able to clearly see all page interactions in one handy place.  What makes it even better is those of us who are personal facebook users are already comfortable with the notifications feature.

Other changes I noticed:
~ The "tabs" that typically display horizontally on a business page have been moved just below the profile photo (see below)



~ For those of us who installed the FBML app to allow for a "Welcome" screen with clickable graphics, the new default appears to be the old "information" tab. Stay tuned...


Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

She is accepting clients in need of:
Website Design ~ Social Media Management ~ Facebook Business Page Design
Twitter Profile Design ~ Blog Design ~ Logo Design ~ Print Design
Press Release Writing and Distribution ~ Email Marketing ~ And More
Contact Laura to discuss your unique marketing needs!

Introducing the Big Small Business Plan

A few weeks ago we asked you about wishes for your business in 2011, and yesterday we shared what you said. Near the top of your list: growing your small business. Some of you even said you're ready to leave the word "small" behind. At Google, we’re all for dreaming big. So today we’re introducing something we’re calling the Big Small Business Plan. If you already use AdWords, here’s how it works: just install free AdWords Conversion Tracking and spend $100 on AdWords between now and February 15, 2011. When you do, we’ll match your $100 investment with a $100 advertising credit. But don’t wait until the new year to get started, as you must register for this offer by December 31. Call it an early New Year’s resolution!

Why AdWords Conversion Tracking? This free tool shows you which of your keywords and ads lead to sales (or whatever action you want customers to take on your site). Armed with this information, you can make the smart advertising decisions that will really grow your business in 2011. Plus, an extra $100 won’t hurt, will it?

By the way, if you know of other businesses not yet using AdWords, the Big Small Business Plan will go to work for them, too. If they sign up for AdWords by December 31 and spend $100 by February 15, we’ll give them the $100 credit.

Thanks, as always, for advertising with Google. We wish you truly big success in 2011!

Posted by Gordon Zhu, Inside AdWords crew

TIME Magazine's 2010 “Person of the Year”

Since 1927, TIME Magazine has chosen a man, woman, or entity that, in the words of the publication, “for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year.” TIME has made it absolutely clear that its list is not an academic or objective study of the past but, instead, a contemporary perspective of what was important during the year just ended.

The winners list contains heroes and villains, objects, entire generations, and oddities. Starting in 1927 with aviator Charles Lindbergh, other famous individuals include Adolph Hitler (1938), Astronauts Anders/Borman/Lovell (1968), and Ayatullah Khomeini (1979). Some of the more unusual winners include:

• U.S. Scientists (1960).
  
• Twenty-Five and Under (1966).
• American Women (1975).
• The Computer (1982).
• Endangered Earth (1988).
• The Peacemakers (Mandela, De Klerk, Rabin & Arafat) (1993).
• The Whistleblowers (Women who blew the whistle on Worldcom, Enron & the FBI) (2002).
• You (In the words of TIME, “Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world.” (2006).

Did you predict who TIME would pick for 2010? This year’s Person of the Year is Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, CEO, and face of Facebook. At 26, he is the second youngest to receive the honor. TIME explained his importance as “creating a new system of exchanging information” and “changing how we all live our lives.”

When Zuckerberg was a sophomore at Harvard University, he created Facebook for his fellow college students. Over the years, adults the world over have joined Facebook, and the company surpassed MySpace as the number one social network two years ago. Facebook users now post a billion pieces of content including photos and messages on a daily basis, according to TIME’s announcement. Facebook has maintained ad prices and also makes money from a credits program which lets people buy virtual items for online games. However, everything in the Facebook world is not golden. As Facebook has expanded, so have users’ concerns about privacy. After lawmakers and advocacy groups complained that Facebook shares too much personal data, the company introduced privacy controls in May and said it was reducing the amount of user information that is publicly available – but information security professionals do not agree.

While there is no question that Facebook has evolved, and many people have Facebook accounts for personal or business use – including this blogger – there were other candidates better suited for this recognition:

• Consider the residents of the Gulf Coast, who despite re-building after the effects of Katrina, were forced to start over AGAIN during 2010 as a result of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Countless individuals inspired the nation and the world with their unyielding dedication and spirit.
• Another consideration is Betty White, who, at age 88, resurrected her career and introduced herself to new generations of fans. Her activities during 2010 include an amusing commercial during the 2010 Super Bowl, a wildly successful guest-hosting of Saturday Night Live for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award, a starring role in a new television series, and a deal to write two books. In addition to her lifetime support of animals and service on the Board of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, White has proven that senior citizens can be productive members of society – as well as in Hollywood.
• One final consideration would have to be the Chilean miners who were stuck underground for 69 days – and all survived. They represent perseverance, hope, and survival.

Oh well, only 12 months until TIME announces the Man, Women, Person, Object, or Oddity of 2011. Let the countdown begin!

To read the article from TIME Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037181,00.html