Archive for the ‘Online Analytics’ 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)

5 Traits That Will Turn You Into A Web Analytics Samurai

Posted by Chris on December 15, 2011 - 3:52 pm

According to Wikipedia, the word trait is defined as a distinguishing characteristic or quality, especially of one’s personal nature. At SeeVolution we have come up with five analytics superior analytics traits. If you can master any one of these you will be well on your way to increasing your conversion rates and maximizing your bottom line.

1. Curiosity

Curiousity

“Why are more people clicking here? Will I get more sign ups if I move this button there?” Measuring analytics is an ongoing process that will never end. Those who are compelled to play around with their layout, colors, buttons, and product offerings will do much better than those who are content with just throwing a website up and hoping people click buy. If you are someone who enjoyed high school science classes than you will probably enjoy tinkering with your website.

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What Would You Do If You Got $1,000 To Spend On Your Business?

Posted by Chris on December 08, 2011 - 2:32 pm
Money Tree

$1,000? Yes Please

No matter what business you are in you could always be spending more money on it. Think of owning your business like owning a house. There number of possibilities to choose from are endless.  Would you get redo the landscaping or finish the basement? Would you pay off debt or would you bring on another designer? The choice is yours.

If I got $1,000 to spend on SeeVolution the first thing I would do is set up an email marketing campaign with a company that shall rename nameless (I don’t want to plug anyone for free). I have spoken with them numerous times; to get everything up and running would cost a little over $1,000. In fact, my boss says that it would cost even more because we would have to integrate everything with our back end.

So, back to the drawing board. If the email campaign idea got nixed I would contract someone to make us the coolest infographic of all time and base it on my company’s niche of real-time analytics and heatmaps. If you have ever seen the Facebook or Twitter share stats next to a sweet infographic they are usually pretty impressive.

What would you do for your business? Hopefully if we get a lot of  responses on this post we will learn about each other. Ideally, I want this post to land people clients and open up new doors. 

For example, maybe someone will read this who is in the email marketing or infographic business and offer me a phenomenal discount. Conversely, if you want to increase conversion rates on your site, I would definitely recommend real-time analytics and heatmaps as a way to make that possible.

See you in the comments!

(Photo by thinkquest.org)

 

5 Tips to Help You Read Analytics Like the Pros

Posted by Chris on October 18, 2011 - 6:19 pm

Tips on the Train Tracks

 

Repetition is the father of learning and analytics are no exception. Remember, the numbers represented by analytics are people. By reading your analytics everyday you are really reading your users everyday. So you are actually forcing yourself to read your users and what they really like, dislike, and crave.

2. Measure Your Progress

If you are not recording your progress then what is the point of making changes at all? Recording your progress is extremely important for a successful analytics campaign. We have a whiteboard that lists the dates we want something completed by and records the progress we have made in between those dates.

3. Set Goals

Setting goals is just as important as measuring your progress. There is no better feeling than reaching a goal or milestone that you set for yourself. You have set goals in all other areas of your life, so why not set them with analytics?

4. Tactfully Stay Up to Date with Analytics News and Features

I say tactfully because it can be easy to get overwhelmed with the daily tech news. Web analytics are constantly changing so you should be changing with it. Just be careful not to spend an overt amount of time here.

SeeVolution

5. Read Successful Analytics Case Studies

This is probably the easiest way to become an analytics pro. Find case studies with what has worked for other people and try them with your own site. A great resource for this is marketingexperiments.com, which is bursting with insightful, free case studies.

 

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)

Online Analytics Provide Malleability

Posted by Seevolution Web Analitics on March 02, 2011 - 12:39 pm

On line Analytics If you depend on your website for exposure in today’s market, then you need online analytics.  There is no way to get an edge in your industry without a strong online presence.  The majority of consumers look to the internet to become educated about products and services even if they plan on brick and mortar businesses to consume in.  This means that no matter what your field you need to have a website that is effective in getting your message across.  Many people have the information they want to get across, but they do not have the knowledge of how to present this in a way conducive to high conversion rates on their website.  That is where SeeVolution comes in with online analytics.  Online analytics provide you with feedback.  Online analytics can show you where people view on your page, how far they scroll down, and what areas they click most.  This means that with our online analytics you can cater your message to your unique users in real time.

Online Analytics, How do they help?

Posted by Seevolution Web Analitics on February 11, 2011 - 2:05 pm

online analysisOnline analytics and their proper management are the keys to successful web presences in today’s technologically motivated world.  When people visit your webpages they leave behind a series of pieces of data.  This data can be used to make your page function to better suit your needs.  SeeVolution offers invaluable tools to be able to help you accomplish your online analytics goals.

With SeeVolution online analytics are not scary anymore.  Our software is so user friendly that even the most unseasoned user of the internet can improve the focus of your web sites and increase the effectiveness of your web presence.  We can provide real time feedback to you right in your email that will allow you to track all that we do for you, and all that we do for your customers.  You can take your online components into the future with SeeVolution’s online analytics.