Written by Benjamin Mangold
Join us for Web Analytics Wednesday on 27 August in Sydney, Australia.We will be meeting at Industrie from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The event will begin with a brief panel discussion titled 'Getting Management Involved in Web Analytics' followed by networking. Light snacks will be provided and the first 20 people to arrive will receive a complementary drink, everybody attending will be in the draw for a web analytics door prize.
Industry panelists will be announced soon.
Web Analytics Wednesday is a free event, open to anyone interested in web analytics and online marketing, including professionals and vendors. Come along to discuss web analytics and network at Sydney's Web Analytics Wednesday.
Event DetailsWhen: Wednesday 27 August 2008
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Venue: Industrie Bar and Restaurant
Where: 107 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW 2000Please RSVP by emailing
events@mangoldsengers.com or on the
Web Analytics Wednesday in Sydney page.
Labels: web analytics wednesday
Written by Benjamin Mangold
The Google Trifecta: Webmaster Tools, Analytics, Website OptimizerDATE: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
TIME: 9:00 - 10:00 am PT (Pacific Time)
JOIN US:
Register to attendTom Leung, Senior Google Product Manager and Google Website Optimizer Guru has asked us to mention the upcoming Google Trifecta webinar.
I encourage all of our US and Canadian readers to attend and for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, I will post an update if a recording becomes available after the event.
For more details visit the
Google Website Optimizer blog.
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer
Written by Benjamin Mangold
Google Analytics gives us so many pretty graphs, but value is only gained when that data is used to drive action to improve your site. So how do we begin to analyze results in Google Analytics?
Firstly, you need to understand what your website is about and what it actually does for your business. This may seem like a obvious place to start, but you would be surprised at how many people I meet that cannot answer this question.
What is the purpose of your website?To generate leads? To sell products? To register subscribers? To sell services? To provide support?Once you can identify the purpose of your website you can begin to identify ways to improve your site. Generally your initial focus will either be content or a specific process you want to optimize.
3 ways to improve your website content by analyzing Google Analytics reports:
1. Analyze the Keywords reportReview the Keywords report, do the keywords align with the purpose of your site or business?
If you identify an organic keyword that is important to your business, but has a high bounce rate, then develop content that specifically targets visitors using that keyword.
2. Analyze the Site Search reportSetup Site Search to identify gaps in content. Are people searching for something that your site already answers? If so, you should look at your navigation system, can they get there easily?
If Site Search contains search terms that you know won't bring up relevant content on your site, you need to ask yourself why? Do these search terms identify opportunities to generate new content or fill the desires of your website visitors?
3. Analyze the Top Content reportWhen you look at top content report are there any pages that have a low average time on page or a high bounce rate? This generally indicates that a page isn't giving visitors what they are seeking. Review the pages that have the lowest time on page and highest bounce rate.
You can begin to see how to analyze results in Google Analytics based on the purpose of your website. Once you understand how your site works as a business tool, you can use Google Analytics to inform your process.
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips
Written by Benjamin Mangold
Watch out for all the Google AdWords phishing emails circulating at the moment.
Those of you who are new to Google AdWords are probably already familiar with the simple text-only emails that Google sends out for confirming your account details. But you should look out for any emails that request you to update your account and payment details.
Always login directly by typing
www.google.com/adwords messages will be displayed directly on the Campaign Summary or Account Snapshot page.
If you receive any suspicious emails forward them directly to
phishing@google.comLabels: Google AdWords, privacy
Written by Benjamin Mangold
Why Microsoft adCenter Analytics suck!I use Google products every day, there are a lot of things I like about Google products and some things that drive me insane but on the whole Google does the right thing - it keeps things fast and simple. This is exactly why Microsoft Analytics suck, Microsoft Analytics is what Google Analytics might be like if it had a hangover the day after its 75th birthday. I can almost hear it grumble each time a report loads.
There are a couple of things that don't suck about Microsoft Analytics when compared to Google Analytics but my dislikes push me over the edge. Each task seems to take more clicks in Microsoft Analytics and the touted gender, occupation and age segments leave a lot to be desired.
Stick with the snappy, responsive and friendly Google Analytics!
Dislikes:- Slow loading time
- Not optimized for viewing on normal size screens
- Dynamic images rather than flash lead to a lot of loading and reloading
- Breaks web browser back button
- Times out quickly and forces you to log in over and over again
Likes:- Simple media and downloads tracking (via modified tracking code)
- Simple outbound link tracking (via modified tracking code)
- Unrestricted number of goals and funnels
The great thing about Microsoft Analytics (and Yahoo! Analytics just around the corner) is that we all know the team at Google is going to be pushing even harder to make Google Analytics the best analytics solution on the market. Go you good thing!
The Microsoft Analytics visitors report is overly complex:
In comparison, the Google Analytics visitors report is a minimalists dream:
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips, Microsoft Analytics
Written by Benjamin Mangold
The Google Analytics benchmarking reports are now available for those of us who have opted in to anonymously share our data. The reports are available within the Visitors report section.
The benchmarking reports include:
- Visits
- Pageviews
- Average pages per visitor
- Bounce rate
- Average time on site
- Percent of new visitors
These reports allow you to compare your site's performance to that of sites within your industry. The feature only compares your site to "site of similar size" which ensures that small sites (e.g. a local business) are not being compared to goliath sites (e.g. a multi-national). Ensuring that you can only compare your site to a "site of similar size" also ensures a level of democracy for the reports, large organizations will be prevented from creating a tiny site to try and get access to competitive data.
An example of an site under-performing in comparison to the benchmark:
An example of a site that is better than the benchmark:
By default the initial benchmarking reports compare your site to "all sites of a similar size". To get the juicy reports and really see how you are performing you need to select "Open category list" and select a category that is the closest match to your industry. It is also a good idea to take a look at your data in comparison to other industries, for example, a winery could check their data against
Food & Drink > Alcoholic Beverages > Wine and
Travel > Attractions & Activities.
The available categories are expanding rapidly, so even if you do not currently see your industry, check the report in the couple of days and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Benchmarking category selection tool:
Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
Written by Benjamin Mangold
Google Blogoscoped has just posted an article about
tracking Google Docs using Google Analytics. You are now able to input a Google Analytics Tracking Code on your Google Docs settings page.
Unfortunately it appears that we can only track published documents with the new tracking feature. Hopefully Google Docs will soon allow us to track published forms and shared documents.
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips, new Google Analytics features
