Modern analytics are beautiful. Since the early 90’s Internet marketing folks from New York to
Duluth have strived to use the best-in-class tools of the day to report on website effectiveness. Even the earliest analytics (raw web logs) provided useful insight regarding user behavior in the form of “hits” and simple referral data (where traffic comes from).
Modern Analytics
Now with modern log analysis and page tagging tools like ClickTracks, Google Analytics, IndexTools, Unica Affinium NetInsight, and WebSide Story HBX Analytics we measure conversion absolutely. It’s a brave new world. As an SEM client, demand absolute conversion metrics from your search marketing firm or in-house staff or you’re likely throwing money away needlessly in the form of waste-percentage.
Measure Absolute Conversion.
Conversion tracking is a simple and unbelievably powerful reality. Using modern analytics now we associate all referral sources (sites, organic search, social communities, PPC, etc…) at the keyword level to behavior within content (funnels) against KPI (key performance indicators) like sales, information requests, file download, or any other defined goal. Because there are many other metrics to cross segment the data with like time on site, average page view count, entry page, exit page, bounce rate, etc…extremely powerful profiles provide serious insights regarding the effectiveness of content, traffic, user behavior, profit, and loss. Here is a screen capture of the Advanced Visitor Labeling cross-segmenting tool we use in ClickTracks:
Expect Actionable Analytics
The term “actionable” means that reading analytic reports actually provides insight regarding what to do next. Do your analytics reports justify your company’s expense in developing organic content, PPC, or time spent blogging? What’s the profit for each keyword, adgroup segmented by search engine? Are visitors referred from partner sites or paid links truly valuable? What are the results of landing page rotation testing in terms of profit or loss? Is organic traffic from direct brand search more or less engaged than reciprocal direct brand PPC traffic? Does fancy design, flash, or video matter to conversion? How does social media matter to our efforts?Legitimate SEM Consultants Use Modern Analytics
We empower our clients to expect actionable analytics and absolute conversion measurement. When we recommend pay per click or other paid marketing we do so with confidence in our ability to justify every dime spent and associate expenditures
with traditional metrics like profit.
When AIMCLEAR recommends content development to drive traffic from organic search and social communities our strategy is accompanied by a promise to report on the results. We encourage you to accept the same from your SEM firm and/or in-house Internet marketing team.
Resources:
Stepping Stones Of User Conversions: A Step-By-Step Guide |
SearchEngineLand
Web Analytics and Measuring Success Overview | SEO RoundTable
Show-Me-The-Money Conversion Ratios | practical ecommerce
Top Ways To Use Web Analytics To Improve Your Blog or Website | ConversionRater
Using a Conversion Funnel | Bruce Clay Blog
