marketmix2011

1.  SERENDIPITY

            Not just asking questions then finding an answer.

            Look at what a tool offers and ask “what insights can this provide”

            Goes for current tools as well as new tools

2. Analytics is a means, not an end

Customers and business goals first, then the data

3. look at the same data using different tools

4. make sure Analytics is set up BEFORE you need it

check how many pages are included in content reports

also check Yahoo site explorer or inside Google Webmaster tools to see how many pages from your site are indexed.

view source code – sometimes

check templates used to create pages for your site: do they have any needed code?

Look at graphs: are there big drops in key data? This could indicate a problem with the Analytics, not in the actual traffic

Check subdomains or sites you refer to also (ex: shopping carts on hosted server)

Critical times: when people are designing a new site

5. Back up key data or store key reports in an organized manner

6.   Implement marketing investments with analytics in mind

--Tag pages with tracking codes when they are clearly ads

            --then compare pages from different sources for key metrics

            --note that tagged pages could come across as duplicate content to SEO

7         Segmentation is key

Looking at aggregated data will be confusing

Ways to segment:

• Geography: local in particular
• form of access (mobile, desktop)
• demographic (though may not be very accurate),
• pages viewed or starting point (support for example)
• referring source
• and more

Actionable groupings!

8. Think broadly about terms

Example: competitors buying ad on your Linked-in profile

1.      Analytics for traffic generation  (15 mins)

A.    How analytics fits into an overall marketing cycle: overview of an analytics loop

Barry to cover

Stories: “last log in date”, WSJ series about “what they know”

B.     Using analytics to improve the effectiveness of paid search

I. See “actual search terms” in Adwords

To get here:

            Inside Adwords: click on the Campaigns tab on the top menu

            Then click on the “keywords” tab in the middle row of options

            Then below the chart, click on “see search terms”

            Check the time period

If you select a term or terms, then you can see just the actual terms that are triggered by the specific term or terms you’ve selected.

                                    You can download this report into Excel.

·         Compare this to the Analytics data

To get here:

            Inside Analytics: go to Traffic Sources, then Google CPC

            Check the time period

What you see are phrases set up in your campaign, but not the actual words. To see this, search on some of the words in “long tail” phrases from the Actual Search Terms in Adwords. You won’t find them.

Then: use this data to evaluate bidding strategy: should you increase use of phrase and exact match?

II.                Goal setting

Useful even if you don’t have transactions on your site. Goals may be visits to a key page.

III.             Compare various traffic sources for key pages

This is where the tagging mentioned earlier can really help

IV.             Filters

A way to look at specific segments. Applies to all traffic sources

Barry story: an education account competing against itself google sales rep

C.     Improving SEO

Stuart as lead, Barry to join in

Four main factors drive results: title tag, page text, links within the site, links from other sites

But many other factors as well: cat and mouse game, expect changes. Time on site when people land on a page will be increasingly important.

Key outcomes: look at where your traffic is coming from: what terms, what other sites. If a site is actually driving traffic, find more sites like it and get links from them. Quality sites are key in the Google algo, and any site that is actually driving traffic to your site is probably a “good” site to Google.

Then look for more additional sites that are like the ones that are already working. Also look at sites that are linking to you but that don’t drive traffic. Why no traffic?

Look at time on site from various sources. Feedback loop opportunity.

Key tools besides analytics: for links - Yahoo site explorer

http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

and Google webmaster tools,  https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en

D.    Local and Mobile

Stuart and Barry to jointly handle

Key thing for analytics: segment, then get insights

Set up considerations:

      Subdomains

      Filters

Specific tagged pages, eg ads

What pages, how long, what site paths,

Local SEO and paid ads:

Google is customizing search results based on what they can tell about the searcher

To test: search Google via a proxy server as well as from a browser  where you’re logged in.

                        Google is combining the “local” search results and the main search results

                                    Map locations noted in more than a list next to the map itself

Action item: check the sources Google is using for the Local / Map / Places listings.

2.      Analytics for web site analysis (5 mins)

Stuart to cover

      Paths: are key pages seen

What is visible on key pages in the screen resolution people are actually using, eg, mobile?

3.  Analytics for Sales (7 mins)

            Barry: look for sales person names (both your company and competitors)

            Key is to have feedback loops and work w/ sales and sales tools like CRM

4.  Analytics for customer support (3 mins)

Barry: look at terms with serial numbers, look at search stats from own site. People may be looking at your site, not finding tech support info they want, so they go to Google. These may be an opportunity to upsell or maybe you just need to retain.

Look into competitor brands, serial numbers, product numbers, etc.

Sources of terms: customer support forums, help guides

5.  Analytics for HR and Execs (5 mins)

      Barry to cover

Home / About / management page views are from: Journalist, stakeholder, business partner, job seeker, securing one of those leads is worth its weight in gold.

Jobs pages:  Help HR find better candidates faster, ex recruiting. 10 to 40% of first year salary, if spend 10 mins of day helping with recruiting, they can talk about a value point

Conclusion (5 mins)

List of tools is on Barry’s web pages.  Every single one has a niche