Deconstructing LC’s Blog Using Google Analytics

Looking the Other Way: The Metrics I am Not Reviewing (At least not yet.)

Let’s face it – there is a wealth of information available through Google Analytics, but for the purposes of studying the traffic of this blog, not all of these statistics are important. For example, this isn’t a business site, so there is no need for me to use the eCommerce analytic features. Conversions on a website are usually pretty important, but conversion tracking generally refers to the conversion from traffic to sales or the conversion from an AdWord campaign to a site visitor. For the purpose of this blog, I am not investing in AdWords, I am not selling anything, and I do not have any whitepapers or other downloads.  I am also not creating goals just yet, although this may be something I would like to revisit in the future. 

It’s worth noting, that the AdWords tab has a lot of very cool tracking features like campaigns, keywords, matched search queries, Day Parts (which provides information about visitor behavior based on AdWords traffic during various hours of the day and days of the week), placements, keyword positions and TV ads. I hope to be able to use all of these features some day, but today is not that day.

Traffic Sources

To drive traffic to this blog, I posted links to select postings through my Twitter account, Scoop.it page, StumbleUpon, the MarketingProfs page on Facebook and Pinterest. With all of this, only 24 percent of my blog traffic is considered “referral” traffic – or traffic coming from other sites. Unfortunately, I did not get any traffic as a result of my posts on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest, but I did get a few hits from Scoop.it, Stumbleupon.com and my classmate Kayla’s blog. (Thanks Kayla!)

The majority of my blog traffic, 72 percent, is considered “direct” traffic, meaning the visitors arrived at my site by using the direct URL. From this, I can surmise that 72 percent of my site traffic is coming from my classmates (or myself), who arrive at my blog through the direct link I posted on the discussion board. 

Even more disappointing, only 4 percent of my traffic is considered “organic” meaning they arrived at my blog through a keyword search. Interestingly, the search was for a comparison on Facebook advertising vs. Google AdWords – which brought the visitor to this June 11 blogpost comparing the two forms of advertising.

I hope that I will be able to increase the amount of organic search traffic as I continue to add content to this blog. Keywords are an indicator of what people are looking to find on your site. If I had a reference point on keywords and was using this site for business purposes, I might use the highest ranking keywords to purchase a Google AdWords campaign. Keywords can also help in adjusting content, since keywords with high bounce rates may indicate that you’re not meeting the needs of the reader. Then again, with blogs, people may read the post they searched for and “bounce,” so it may not necessarily be a measurement of quality.

AUDIENCE

This may just be my favorite tab (right now at least) in the whole Google Analytic platform. There are a lot of neat features under the “Audience” tab including:

• Demographics: language and location
• Behavior: New vs. returning visitors; frequency and recency; engagement
• Technology: Browser & operating system; network
• Mobile: Overview and devices
• Visitor Flow

Demographics

I learned that the majority of my traffic is coming from the United States (no shocker there), but I did get one hit from Australia and another from the United Kingdom. Within my domestic traffic, I had visitors from six of the 50 states including Pennsylvania (my home state), Kansas, New Jersey, West Virginia, California and Florida. 

Behavior

Over 80 percent of my traffic is considered “new,” which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. On one hand, I have been moderately successful at driving new traffic to my blog, but on the other, nobody is coming back. My audience also less engaged than I had hoped, with a bounce rate of 64 percent. Surprisingly, the average number of pages per visit (3.6) is relatively high as is the average visit duration of 4:37 minutes, but there is definite room for improvement.

Admittedly, I don’t post as often as regular bloggers and I could be doing more to cultivate a following. In a recent interview for a Copyblogger podcast, author Seth Godin (whose blog was ranked number one on the list of Best Business Blogs of 2011 by Strategist News) offers the following four tips for building a fan base:

1. Earn Attention
2. Tell Your Story
3. Connect with Your Fans
4. Take Your Time

According to Seth “Marketing is the first thing we do, not the last. Build virality and connection and remarkability into your product or service from the start and then the end gets a lot easier." (Smith, 2012).

Technology/Mobile

Although I do not find the technology data as useful as some other bits of information, it’s worth noting that the largest percentage of my site visitors use Firefox, followed by Internet Explorer and the Android Browser. Windows is the top Operating System, followed by Macintosh, with the Android operating system coming in third. I thought there may be a way to view how my blog renders in each of the browsers (which would be valuable), but if that’s an option, I can’t seem to find it. Only 10 percent of my audience accessed my blog through a mobile device.

Visitor Flow

This feature can be extremely useful in determining how visitors travel through your website. According to the Google blog the goal of Flow Visualization is to “help marketers and analysts better optimize their visitor experience by presenting the ways that visitors flow through their sites in an intuitive and useful way.” (Mui, 2011).

Just in tracking the small amount of available data, I can see where people entered, where they dropped off, and what pages led viewers to other pages. This type of information is crucial to understanding what’s working and what improvements are necessary. Below is a screenshot of my visitor flow. 

The quantity and depth of information available is almost overwhelming. I look forward to continuing my exploration – and to using my new findings to help drive traffic and make improvements to my blog.

Smith, C. (2012, June 4). Seth Godin On Building Your Fanbase - hypebot. hypebot. Retrieved June 25, 2012, from http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/06/seth-godin-on-building-your-fanbase.html/

Mui, P. (2011, October 19). Introducing Flow Visualization: visualizing visitor flow. Analytics Blog. Retrieved June 25, 2012, from http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/10/introducing-flow-visualization.html

The Battle for the Crown: Is Content or Conversation King?

Good content sparks great conversations and great conversations serve as the inspiration for new content. They are dependent upon one another and rarely mutually exclusive. To say one or the other reigns supreme is like comparing an expert marketer to the high-level analytics tools she is using. Her success depends on the data she gleans from the analytics tools, but that same data would be useless in the hands of an inexperienced marketer. 

Of course, you can make an argument on the importance of each – and in the spirit of this week’s blog assignment, I believe that is necessary. Let’s explore.

In Defense of Conversation:

• Conversation places “human interaction at the center of the picture.”
• The success of social media can be attributed to conversation.
• Without conversation, content is “just broadcasting, or just advertising.” (SocialMedia Today, 2012).

In Defense of Content:

• “Without  content, there is not a whole lot to talk about.” (Greenberg, 2009).
• When searching for information online, queries are generally text-based, and the wording of content makes a difference. “Using the language of your customer will help you engage better as well.” (Fox, 2010).
• “The three most important things for SEO are content, content, and content.” (Brockmeier, 2011).

The following infographic offers a great visual on the important role content plays in driving SEO.

 

In closing, I would like to share a video of my favorite content provider/conversation starter, YouTube superstar, Michael Buckley. Michael’s online video show, What the Buck? has over one million subscribers and over 350 million views. I’m 30-something years old and can honestly attest to the fact that Miley Cyrus rarely makes it onto my radar. With that said, I found this video so amusing, I shared it on Facebook (and emailed it to all of my friends), which in turn sparked some
pretty spirited conversations.

  

Although I defend the fact that content and conversation are equally important, if I had to pick a winner, content would get the crown.

Greenberg, M. (2009, October 20). Content is king of social marketing. MultichannelMerchant.com. Retrieved June 10, 2012 from http://multichannelmerchant.com/social-media/1020-content-social-marketing/

Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved June 10, 2012 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king

Fox, V. (2010). Marketing in the age of Google your online strategy is your business strategy. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Brockmeier, J. (2011, October 19). Infographic: Why Content is King for SEO. ReadWriteWeb. Retrieved June 10, 2012, from http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/10/infographic-why-content-is-kin.php

Google AdWords or Facebook Advertising. What’s the Best Strategy for Hitting Your Target?

Prior to this week, I had not given much thought to the differences between advertising on Facebook and Google. Both platforms offer businesses of all sizes affordable options to create highly targeted, adaptable advertising campaigns. Both sites have a huge user-base and both primarily sell pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. BUT the targeting strategy for each is very unique.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability.”  Online platforms like Google and Facebook use valuable data which helps in eliminating the guesswork of identifying and anticipating your customer needs. By delivering messages to a highly-targeted audience, Facebook and Google help you to reach potential customers who are most likely to use your business. The services also help to avoid what Marty Neumeier refers to as the “advertising death spiral” during which consumers filter out advertising because it’s not relevant to their current task. (Neumeier, 2007).

They both sound pretty great, but how do you choose the right advertising platform for your business? Although there is no reason (except for maybe budgetary) that you can’t experiment with both, choosing one or the other comes down to the goals of your campaign. What’s more important? Building awareness or converting traffic to sales? According to Larry Kim, CTO of the online marketing firm WordStream, “because a Facebook session tends to last much longer than the typical Google search, the former be a better match for building brand awareness or getting a specific message across. But Kim notes that Facebook isn't strong in pure Web searches; Google has the clear advantage there, and as a result could be the better fit for driving actual clicks and conversions around specific products. Google searchers typically have a much more specific goal.” (Casey, 2011).

Below is a side-by-side comparison of some key features of Facebook and Google AdWords advertising. Whichever you choose, both platforms offer terrific opportunities to hone in on your target markets in ways traditional advertising can’t match.

FEATURE	FACEBOOK ADVERTISING	GOOGLE ADWORDS
Budget	No minimum.	No minimum.
Targeting Criteria	Target based on profile data. User location, interests and demographics.	Target based on search (keyword) data, geography. Select keywords that match ads to potential customers. Select words and phrases relative to your business.
Number of Users	Nearly one billion.	Approx. one billion.
Audience Size	Target large or small audience.	Target large or small audience.
Pricing	Bid on cost-per-click or cost-per-impression.  Set daily or (campaign) lifetime budget.	Cost-per-click. User bids to get ads higher on the page. Set daily budget. Bid on specific search terms.
Adaptability	Change campaigns every few days – adjust based on results. Test different options. Adjust campaign by modifying the target audience.	Make changes at any time. Start or stop ads at any time. Adjust campaigns based on keywords which are proving more effective.
Tracking Features	Stats show impressions, clicks, click through rate (CTR), and spend.	Track the effectiveness (and conversion rates) of search terms.
Key Strength	Brand building. (Users spend much more time on Facebook pages and will have more exposure to your ads.)	Conversions. Click-through rates are as much as 1,000 higher on Google campaigns as opposed to Facebook.

Definition of marketing. (n.d.). The Chartered Institute of Marketing. Retrieved June 11, 2012, from http://www.cim.co.uk/resources/understandingmarket/definitionmkting.aspx

Neumeier, M. (2007). Zag: the number-one strategy of high-performance brands : a whiteboard overview. Berkeley, California. AIGA.

Casey, K. (2011, September 28). How to Choose Between Google AdWords and Facebook Ads. InformationWeek. Retrieved June 10, 2012, from http://www.informationweek.com/news/smb/services/231602311

Bringing it Down to a Personal Level – Individual Metrics

I was recently shopping online for my trip to Yosemite National Park. I went on 6pm.com to look for hiking shoes, but I got distracted before making my purchase. Several hours later I logged into Pandora – and up popped an ad for the sneakers I had almost purchased a few hours earlier. Two or three years ago, this level of personalization would have freaked me out, but now I’ve come to expect it – and I am even a little surprised when the ads on the pages I view don’t match my search history. If you’re wondering – yes, I bought the sneakers.

One of the biggest buzzwords in relation to the web experience is “engagement” and what better way to engage someone than to use personal data to create a unique experience. Google and Bing use personal data to improve the quality of a search by filling in what they know about you including location, recent searches, interests and preferred sites. As a result, two users may not get the same results from the same query. This means the best results for the individual – not the average population. (Nussey, 2012).

According to Google Help, users who show a pattern, for example a user who views sports-related videos, stores and websites will subsequently see more sports-related ads. If a user visits sites that “have a majority of female visitors (based on aggregated survey data on site visitation),” the user’s cookie may be associated with a female demographic. (Google Help). A user can exert some control over what ads they see, by editing their inferred interest and demographic categories using the Ads Preferences Manager. 

All of this is great for the user, but even better for your company if you learn to maximize the tools available to you. Jack Menzel, Prodcut Management Director for Search at Google strongly advises web masters to make sure their sites work on mobile devices. He also said companies should claim their spot in Google Places and should check to make sure the information is correct and complete. If you deliver different content based on geography, take advantage of Geotargeting. According to Google’s webmaster tools, you can provide Google with information to help supplement their existing data.

To set a geographic target:

1.       On the Webmaster Tools Home page, click the site you want.

2.       Under Site configuration, click Settings.

3.       In the Geographic target section, select the option you want.

If you want to ensure that your site is not associated with any country or region, select Unlisted. (Google, 2012).

Individual metrics are helping companies reach their business objectives and helping users to get the most out of their searches. On some levels, this is a marketers dream come true.

Nussey, V. (2012, February 28). SEO - SMX West 2012: Getting Personal, Part 2: How Google & Bing Personalize With Search History & Geography - Bruce Clay. BruceClay - Internet Marketing Optimization Company. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2012/02/google-bing-personalize/

 

How does Google infer interest and demographic categories? - AdSense Help. (n.d.). Google Help. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=140378

You don’t have to do the Math to Use the Math

On February 14, 2003, I had the worst job interview of my life. After a few preliminary questions, the interviewer asked “What type of marketer are you? Are you analytical or creative?” I felt like this was a trick question. “Did he want me to be creative? Was he looking for analytical?” Nervous and unsure about the correct answer, I responded “I feel that I am both.” He then proceeded to lecture me on the scientific reasons people can only be analytical or creative – not analytical and creative. I emphatically disagreed and proceeded to argue back…for the next 45 minutes. I knew I wasn’t getting the job about five minutes in, but there I was at 5 p.m. on Valentine’s Day fighting for my right to be a multidimensional, analytical/creative marketer.

Truth be told, I don’t love math (or numbers), but I have always liked using data to drive decisions and build marketing strategies. All marketers, both analytical and creative, need to use data to gauge marketing effectiveness, set pricing, propose projects and support marketing, sales and business initiatives. Anyone can have a “good idea,” but how can you support its feasibility without data?

The wide range of analytics tools available makes analysis and data usage easier than ever – even for creative types. With today’s tools, marketers don’t need to know how to crunch numbers, but they do need to know how to use them.

Visual Analysis – Even Better

Today, Google announced the launch of Browser-Size analysis in Google Analytics.  This new feature addresses the increased number and variety of devices which people are using to view web content. According to the Google Analytics Blog:

What is actually “above the fold” on a web page is a significant factor to conversion rates. If visitors have to scroll to see an “add to cart” button, or some other critical element, they may never get around to it. …we've created a visualization that lets you quickly determine which portions of your page are visible to which percentages of visitors. (Yahas, 2012).

The graphic is a visual display of in-page analytics. By clicking “Browser Size” it shades the sections of the page that are below the fold. The new feature also includes insight on conversions. “For example, if users on your goal page appear to have larger browsers than those on your landing page, this is a strong indicator that you are losing conversions because some pages in the funnel are not laid out in an optimal manner.” (Yahas, 2012). Google will be rolling out all of the features of Browser-Size Analysis in the coming weeks – and I am excited to play around in there.

YouTube Metrics

YouTube analytics (which are part of Google analytics) are also full of visual metrics – which I love. In addition to tracking the number of viewers, YouTube tracks the playback locations (YouTube channel, mobile device, etc.), demographics, views over time, regions in the world (or country), and engagement. 

I am a big fan of the chart showing views by day, since I can match up my marketing efforts to changes in traffic. In the graph below, I took a video that had been posted on our website for several days – and sent it out through Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Pinterest and Scoop.it. The effort produced a spike in views for one day – higher than the combined views of the previous days and the days following.

Video production takes a lot of work, and if you’re investing hours in scripting, filming and editing, but seeing few results, it’s time to rethink your video strategy.  

 Yahas, G. (2012, June 4). [New Feature]: Conduct Browser-Size Analysis Within Google Analytics. Analytics Blog. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://analytics.blogspot.com/