Google Analytics

Making Sense of Google+

As all 62-million of us continue on our learning curves of Google+, here are a few “good-to-know” points that you may find useful or fun. We start with personalized search (the hot topic of the month), then talk hashtags and doctored photos. Let’s get started.

You’ve likely heard by now that Google has introduced personalized search for logged-in Google users, called “Search Plus Your World“. This means when you conduct a search on Google, the results you see will be based in part on what you’ve shared on Google+, what others in your circles have shared, and from your personal search history. Personalized search results on Google are not new, but the emphasis on G+ content and profiles is. This places a lot more importance for brands to establish and build a business page on G+. If Google is going to rank G+ content over everything else in search results, businesses would be smart to invest some time there, and fast.

For the record, there is a way to turn personalized search off. Read all about that here.

If you’re like me, reluctantly placing more trust in Google than in Facebook, especially in light of this recent Facebook development, then you may have content of a private nature in your G+ profile that you’re only intending to share with a limited audience. Trouble is, if you use the same Gmail account to log into other Google accounts like Analytics, Webmaster Tools, or Adwords, you run the risk of others inadvertently tripping into your G+ account. There are ways to get around this, of course, by not sharing access to GA using your own Gmail login, but you would be surprised how many people do just that. Don’t. Here’s how to share access to GA without sharing your personal login.

On a completely separate note, G+ now includes auto-complete for common #hashtags. Watch it in action here. Hashtags are useful for grouping content and making related content more discoverable.

And to wrap up on a fun note, search #funwithphotos on G+ to see how you can now add text on top of photos. Here are a few for inspiration.

If you’re still feeling a little in the dark about Google+, especially with regard to its relevance into the foreseeable future, I encourage you to read this comprehensive FAQ article by Marketingland. It links to multiple articles on G+.

Erin

Tags: google, Google Analytics

3 Awesome New Google Analytics Features

The new version of Google Analytics (version 5) was made available to all users on April 20, 2011. If you are using the old version of Google Analytics, you can easily switch to the new version by clicking on the “New Version” link located at the top of your Google Analytics account.

Since its public beta launch, Google has been steadily adding new features that are only accessible on the new version. Here are a few features worthy of your attention.

1. Social Plugin

Google Analytics now allows users to track and analyze how website visitors engage with sharing buttons such as Google +1, Twitter and Facebook. Google +1 integration is part of the default configuration. Additional programming is require to integrate the other social sharing buttons. Here’s a link to more information about the Social Plugin Analytics.

2. Multi-Channel Funnels

One of the most insightful features on the new version of GA is the multi-channel funnel. Website conversion tracking used to only identify the last place a visitor was before completing a goal. However, online conversions are not always a direct process. Users can visit a website multiple times from different sources before converting. The new multi-channel funnel feature now identifies the actual path a visitor took before converting. See this video for more information.

3. Linking Multiple Adwords Accounts

This feature is handy for those using multiple Adwords accounts. Google Analytics originally only allowed one Adwords account to be linked to one Google Analytics account. Linking is necessary to track Adwords performance via Google Analytics. Google just released a new feature that allows users to link multiple Adwords accounts to a Google Analytics account. See this Google Analytics Blog post for instructions on how to set it up.

You might need a bit of time to get used to the new Google Analytics layout, but if Google continues to innovate with new features and functions, it will be worth the effort.

Have you tried the new version of Google Analytics? What are your thoughts about it?

Victor

Tags: Google Analytics

Using Google Analytics to Track Online Campaigns

Google Analytics is a website analytics tool that allows you to track the visitors on your website. It is an invaluable tool to help you measure the success of your online marketing plans and strategies. It’s free too.

Do you have Google Analytics installed on your website? If not, you should.

For more advanced users, Google Analytics can be used to measure the performance of advertising campaigns. If you have a Google Adwords campaign, Google automatically tracks your campaign’s performance if you link the two accounts together. (Instructions on how to link Google Analytics and Google Adword accounts).

However, if you want to track the traffic on your website that is coming from Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, links in email campaigns or third-party website banner ads, you’ll need to take a couple extra steps to make sure Google Analytics is tracking the traffic correctly.

Lets use an example to illustrate how to track an online campaign.

For example, I want to advertise on LinkedIn. I want people who click on the LinkedIn ad to go to www.mywebsite.com.

First, I need to create a custom link (with information attached to it) that tells Google Analytics how to categorize visitors that come from this specific ad.

Here’s how to create the link:

1. Go to Google’s URL Builder
2. Enter the website URL you want visitors to land on when they click the link. In this case, www.mywebsite.com.
3. Enter the field information in Step 2. In this case, I would enter:
   Campaign Source: linkedin
   Campaign Medium: banner
   Campaign Content: ad1
   Campaign Name: product
   If you are creating multiple custom URLs, make sure the field information is distinct for each URL you create.
4. Click the Generate URL button.
5. Copy and save the custom URL. It should look something like, http://www.mywebsite.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=ad1&
   utm_campaign=product

With the custom URL, I can now go to https://www.linkedin.com/ads/ and create my ad. In whichever platform you’re advertising on, paste the custom URL you generated in the field that asks where the ad should link to.

Once the ad campaign has launched, go to the Traffic Sources section of Google Analytics to see how traffic from this campaign is interacting on your website.

This information can be used to judge the quality of the traffic and whether it is providing a good return on investment.

Victor
eMarketing Strategist.

Tags: advertising, Google Analytics, strategy, tracking, url builder, url parameters

3 Pitfalls of Google Analytics

At Magnify Digital, we see many clients come in with Google Analytics installed on their websites, but that’s it.  Just installed.  That’s like having a Porche parked in your garage and never driving it.  There is so much Google Analytics can do, but if you’re not sure what to do, it can be intimidating.  Interestingly, the three biggest and most common pitfalls for users of Google Analytics (GA) are:

1. Drawing erroneous conclusions
2. Installing GA incorrectly
3. Not tapping into GA’s full potential

The Skinny …

1. The mantra all GA users should live by:  No metric in a vacuum.  In other words, the meaning of the data is in the context.

Example #1:
You launched a new PPC campaign two weeks ago. You see the traffic to your website has doubled since the campaign started.  Conclusion: the PPC campaign is worth the $50/day you’re spending on it.

Or.. maybe not.  Let’s say the point of the PPC campaign is to get more people to participate in a contest you’re running.  Therefore, the goal to measure is how many visitors get to the “Thanks for entering our contest” completion page.  When looking at the measurement of this specific goal, you see that 90% of the new traffic from PPC is actually bouncing, in other words – leaving, meaning you’re paying for people to come to your site and leave.  Suddenly the stats seem less impressive.

Example #2:
You’re trying to drive people to one page on your site, to watch a video. If they do just that – but that is the only page they visit, GA is going to register that visit as a bounce. (A bounce means only one page was visited before the user left your site) However, in this case, the objective was to have the visitor be on this page only and watch a video. Therefore, not all bounce rates are created equal.

2. Apparently, 2/3 to 3/4 of GA code is not installed the right way.  That means, you may not be getting accurate or complete data.  So what can you do?  Check to see if your code is correctly installed by using SiteScan (a free diagnostic tool that will scan your site and email you a report) or WASP (which stands for Web Analytics Solution Profiler).  WASP has free and paid versions.
3. Google Analytics can do phenomenal things.  The trick is understanding the potential.  Here are just a few examples of  how to get more from your GA:
   • Set up goals and track them. If you don’t have goals, GA is basically just a hit counter… which is neither valuable nor meaningful.  There are many types of goals.  For example, a goal could be downloading a pdf, filling out a form, visiting a specific page, watching a video, etc.
   • Learn about segmentation, secondary dimensions and filters.  These processes will distill data, making interpretations easier, faster and more accurate.
   • Tag stuff.  Want to know how many visitors watched a video on your site, or downloaded a PDF – tag or track it.  Learn how here.
   • Tag links.  If you want to know how many visitors came from a link provided in an email blast, tag the link.  Banner ad?  Tag the link.  Here is a valuable resource on how to do it.

To say this list is barely scratching the surface is an understatement. But it’s a start.  The point is if you have GA installed on your website, and you’ve done nothing to truly leverage this amazing tool, it’s time.

Tags: Google Analytics

Privacy Online: Possible?

This post was inspired by an article entitled Social Media Privacy is an Oxymoron. It sparked some thoughts for me around how one can achieve at least *some* privacy online; assuming this is important to you because for a surprising number of people, it isn’t.

First off – Facebook.  Many informative posts have been written about controlling your privacy or removing yourself from Facebook altogether.   Some high-profile Facebook users are taking a stand against recent changes on Facebook affecting privacy. And you may have heard by now that “Quit Facebook Day” is scheduled for May 31, 2010. Before you quit, you may want to first determine what amount of your private info on Facebook is exposed. This application, as well as this one can help you do that.

But while all the attention and heat is on Facebook, what about everything else? Among, what is undoubtedly, a myriad of vulnerabilities on the big old web, here are just a few ideas that may help you stay a little more private.

To prevent the tracking of my every click, I like to use CoolPreviews. This is a tool that allows me to see what’s behind a link without having to click on it. I like to use this a lot when logged into LinkedIn or Twitter, as the tracking of where and what you click can be scrutinized. For example, if you notice a tweet was posted via Hootsuite, and the link provided is an OWLY link, your click will be counted. Not a huge deal perhaps as your click, in this case anyway, is in no way connected to your account. (At least, not that I’m aware of.)  On LinkedIn however, if you are logged in and you check out someone’s profile, your “click” as it were, *is* linked to your profile. This enables this cool-but -creepy feature.

There is a long list of ways to add more privacy to your browsing habits. Many browsers like Safari and Firefox now offer ‘Private Browsing‘ ensuring you that no website you open will be kept on record. Anywhere. There are also many types of ‘scramblers’ you can use that mask your IP address. These are called proxy servers. This can help prevent data collection on where you are in this universe, what browser you’re using, what kind of computer you’re using, among other things. Want to know what your IP reveals about you? Go here.

Google Analytics and Quantcast, as two examples, are now offering “opt out” options. Google Analytics, for one, is allowing people to opt out of being monitored for receiving targeted ads.
Quantcast, an American based service that measures audience statistics for websites, is offering something similar.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for ways of preserving privacy online. The questions I have are:

Is it too little too late?

Is it time to redefine what online privacy means?

Should we care this much? Everyone is up in arms over the privacy principle, but is the privacy practice (the way our private info is being used) really that offensive and/or scary?

I’d love to hear what you think.

Tags: advertising, facebook, Google Analytics, LinkedIn, opt out, privacy, proxy servers, Quantcast, Twitter