Archive for the ‘Analytics Software’ Category

Top 3 Tips for Improving Your Display Ad CTR

Posted by Josh on February 29, 2012 - 4:12 pm
CTR Analytics

Make sure your graphs are going in the right direction.

We’ve stated in past posts that the difference between success and failure often times comes down to being able to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your campaigns. This means knowing how to read your analytics and then adjusting accordingly. One analytic that we are all familiar with is the Click Through Rate (CTR). Your CTR is the first indication of whether you have a winner or a dud of a campaign on your hands. Here are a couple of tips to getting all you can out of you Display Ads.

Picking the Right Placement

To start, there is a chance you could improve your CTR by 50% by just moving your ad above the fold. Heat Map Analytics studies have shown that as much as half of the visitors of a website don’t scroll past the fold. So, if you aren’t experiencing the CTR you would like, first look at where it’s found on the page.

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Valentine’s Day Search Stats from Google

Posted by Josh on February 24, 2012 - 6:07 pm

 

Google Stats for Valentine's Day

Making Valentine's Day Reservations Easier Since 1998

Google decided to release some data regarding searches related to Valentine’s Day this year. If anything the data just backs up that most of us are procrastinators and do everything last minute. It also confirms what we wrote in a previous article regarding the percentage of searches done from mobile devices.

According to Google’s Analytics, 62% of the national searches for restaurant chains were done so on a mobile device. Google only counted restaurant chains since it could disambiguate them, as opposed to smaller mom and pop shops. For example, if there is a search for “papaya”, Google doesn’t know if you are looking for nutrition facts or a nearby restaurant. But one can assume the 62% extends to all searches.

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Know Where Your Customers Are Coming From

Posted by Josh on January 05, 2012 - 10:46 am
The Basics of Traffic Sources
Traffic Sources in Google Analytics

Knowing how people get to your website is a fundamental factor in fine-tuning your online presence.  It can do wonders when it comes to squeezing more out of your advertising budget or becoming more educated about the tendencies of your users. Fortunately for you, any web analytics tool worth its salt will have a breakdown of all the sources of traffic that lands on your site. So now that you that you know, let’s cover the basics:

Under “Traffic Sources” in your analytics you’ll find the following:

Direct Traffic – These are people who didn’t search to find you. They either typed in your URL directly or have your site bookmarked. Either way, they already knew who you were, either through an offline marketing campaign or through word of mouth.

Referring Sites – When an individual arrives at your site from clicking a link located on another site, they fall under this category. This could include banner ads or directory listings as well as blogs or partner sites. These are important to know since it can tell you a lot about what else your visitors are interested in or what they are searching for online.

Search Engines – This tells you which search engine an individual saw your search result in. This includes paid listings along with organic ones.

There are some subtleties to analytics that are worth knowing, but that is the meat and potatoes. One important thing to look for is the percentage of visitors coming from direct traffic as opposed to search engine traffic. Since 80% of web traffic comes from search engines, you know that you need to focus on your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) if you see the majority coming from direct traffic. That will tell you people aren’t finding you by your keywords and you’re missing out on a lot of very valuable (and cheap) organic traffic.

(photo by DavidErickson)

What Do Web Analytics and Horse Racing Have in Common?

Posted by Chris on December 29, 2011 - 10:04 am

Who will finish first in conversion rates?

Horse Racing and Web Analytics

 

We have all heard the term winning by a nose used when calling a horse race.  The winning horse would win by mere milliseconds, which is why jockeys are legendary for their rigorous training methods. They know that the difference between having your name remembered and being left in the dust is attention to detail and putting in just a little more effort than the next guy. The same could be said for your own website.

If you want be in the winner’s circle, you are going to have to use every tool and trick in the book to stay competitive. This includes every type of website analytical strategy you can get your hands on. It’s not enough these days to throw a website up and hope for the best. As of December 2010 there were 266,848,493 websites online according to news of dehli.

It will never cease to amaze us when companies spend so much time and effort (not to mention MONEY) on advertisements that are designed to drive traffic to a site when they have spent little or no time making sure that traffic actually sticks once it gets there. As an example, we had a client that needed a drastic increase in conversion rates so we took a look at their scroll maps and found that by moving their call-to-action up on their homepage that we could increase their conversion rates by 25 percent.

Unless the client had gone the extra mile and made sure they were getting all they could out of their traffic, they would have never known they could have dramatically increased conversion with something as simple as placing their buy button higher on the page.

The worst thing you can do is assume your website is performing to the best of it’s ability; there is always room for improvement. Use the tools available to you and make sure you are the one coming out ahead at the finish line.

(Photo by tpower1978)

Eye Opening Analytics Research From Adobe

Posted by Chris on December 01, 2011 - 11:03 am

Adobe Analytics Research Report

So here is the thing, every now and then research comes out from an awesome company that helps your business tremendously. In this case, we stumbled onto Adobe’s 2010 Analytics Overview report.

Even though the report is from 2010 I feel like someone from Adobe has been reading my blog posts and compiling empirical data that supports what I have griped about for the past several months: measuring analytics takes too long.

Adobe Analytics Report Figure One

How survey responders rated the importance of their ability to measure the above metrics

The respondents to the survey reported primary focuses that included online lead generation (42%), selling products via e-commerce (41%), and generating ad revenue (9%).

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45 Activities That Heatmaps Give You More Time For

Posted by Chris on November 14, 2011 - 12:15 pm
Spending Time With Family

Family First

Heatmaps save you a lot of time. Here are 45 activities that you could be doing instead of measuring analytics the old fashioned way.

 Family

  1. Taking your kids to school
  2. Spending more time with your spouse
  3. Calling Mom, Dad, Sisters, or Brothers
  4. Remodeling the house
  5. Mowing the lawn
  6. Painting the garage
  7. Helping your kids with their homework
  8. Going to bed on time
  9. Waking up on time
  10. Not doing any work on the weekends
  11. Getting to your kids’ sporting events
  12. Playing house with your daughter (is that normal?)
  13. Family game night
  14. Family movie night
  15. Just being there

    16. Read More

Graphic: What Changes Have You Made Based on Google Analytics?

Posted by Chris on October 17, 2011 - 9:02 am
Do You Make Changes Based on Google Analytics Reporting?

Do You Make Changes Based on Google Analytics Reporting?

SeeVolution did a little research and found that a lot of people have installed Google Analytics on their website but not a lot have used the service proficiently. If you are reading this post you are probably in the IT industry in some way or another.

I’m curious, have you ever made changes to your own website based on your Google Analytics reporting? And, if so, what changes did you make specifically?

2011 in Analytics: Analyzing the Trends

Posted by Chris on September 19, 2011 - 5:34 am
Web Analytics Trends

The Future of Analytics

A big thanks to Paige Taylor for contributing today’s post.

More so than in a number of different markets, the digital marketing realm seems to always be moving at a fast pace. A popular trend one month can be outdated and improved upon by another tool right after. Even with better tools always being developed for business and analytics, there have been some popular trends and tools that have stood out this year.

When it comes to web analytics, there has certainly been a swing towards the importance on optimization and user experience. As social media platforms have continued to gain popularity in the last few years, companies are always looking to explore improved ways to connect the user with the organization. Companies seem focused on allowing the experience to be easier for the user and themselves through the adoption of new trends.

The importance of proper results and a full scope is more important than ever when it comes to web analytics. Companies have been exploring the use of new testing platforms that aim to provide a fully implemented view of the entire business.

Provided the fact that a number of companies and businesses are just now beginning to expand their online presence, means that many organizations are opening up to new tools for their business. The social media presence of many companies has allowed a better connection between the users and the organizations. Companies that have had little interest in the digital aspect have begun to dabble in social media, expanding their view and plans in the process.

There are a ton of new tools and platforms that are floating around the analytics world in 2011. While there is probably an endless list of new tools that companies are taking advantage of, a few can be spotlighted for being adopted by a number of companies. Social media analytics have begun to really take off in the last few years, more so in 2011 than ever. With companies placing more and more value into social media, the need to measure results is crucial as well. Social media analytics are beginning to phase towards the integration with company websites, social media and offline behavior.

Aside from helping out users, companies are also looking for analytics tools that allow them to manage their results, protection and analytics easier. Many organizations have spent time searching for tools that help them to properly implement their data from all streams together as companies are experiencing too much data to oversee. Tools like intrusion detection, anomaly detection, tag management and behavioral analysis are being taken on by many companies in an effort to manage their different assets easier.

Data will continue to grow in the near future and companies will not only attempt to get a better view of their data streams, but also try and make managing data easier with new tools. In the past, there’s been a failure to achieve proper implementation with a number of companies. In the end of 2011 and into 2012, look for even better tools of data implementation as well as continued focus on user experience and optimization.

(Photo: Web Promo Experts)

Sign Up for Free Analytics Software with SeeVolution

Posted by Analytics Reporter on March 20, 2011 - 5:24 pm

SeeVolution offers webmasters free analytics software so they can see the traffic on their site instead of relying on data to guess where they are looking at. Web analytics used to be based only on traffic data, including how someone got to your site, where they came from, and how long they spend on your site. Now thanks to SeeVolution and their heatmaps for web analytics, webmasters have even more data to use that actually shows where their users are clicking, scrolling, and moving their mouse on your website.

SeeVolution uses heatmaps technology to create a map of where your traffic looks on your site, all detailed by color changing dots resembling visitors moving, clicking and scrolling through your site. SeeVolution even tracks users as they are live on your site in real time! It is the most comprehensive analytics software available and it is totally free for webmasters to use! Sign up for SeeVolution to use the heatmaps and the analytics software on your site and see what you have been missing all along during your analytics reporting!

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Analytics Software Gives a Boost

Posted by Seevolution Web Analitics on March 11, 2011 - 12:32 pm

Analytics Software optionsIf you are looking to give a boost to your online component then you should try analytics software from SeeVolution.  With SeeVolution you will have the power and control you need over your web presence and we can help you in ways you probably did not think were possible.  Analytics software is easy to use.  Analytics software is affordable.  Analytics software can be added to your existing site easily so you do not have to make expensive changes.

SeeVolution give you the power to see what is going on with your website in real time.  This means that when someone is using the site you can see how far they scroll down, where they look and where they click most often.  This means that you can see what parts of your message are not getting out, and you can modify your site to meet the needs of your customers.

No longer will the changes you make to your website have to be theoretical, now they can be based on concrete evidence.  You can change at the speed of your client base with analytics software from SeeVolution.  This great product will allow you to have the malleability needed to succeed in this competitive market.  If you do not have a strong online component to your business then it will likely weather this economic storm worse than it needs to.

The internet has continued to be an area of growth even while the rest of the market is going down.  The generation that is coming up now is going to be more connected than we ever thought before.  The numbers are not as clear as you might think.  Many people think that anyone under 50 or so has the literacy that is required to understand social media etc.  However, it has been shown that most people over 25 do not have a full grasp of the direction of the internet.  This means that it is best to just have the actual data rather than speculation.  If you can watch how your client behaves in the real setting, then you do not need to spend money on trying to figure out how they are going to behave.  Instead you can install SeeVolution analytics software and see results in real time.