Via Scoop.it – Local Search Marketing Ideas

Summary On the average Web page or blog post, users may read about 20 percent. The first 10 seconds are critical. This score supports your efforts in keeping  readers longer.   Here is some very interesting work going on by my colleague Urs Gattiker in Switzerland who is working on algorithms to help businesses measure engagement on their websites.   This is tough work but I think Urs is on to something here.  While we don’t have measures yet on the quality of stories on a website/blog, the algorithms here will indicate if the stories you share on your site are captivating (longer site visits). If you end up with a low score, you probably need to revisit your content and visuals.   I look forward to hearing more about Urs’ work as he continues to work on these algorithms and shares his results with us.
Via howto.commetrics.com

Web Analytics World is a blog

run by Manoj Jasra in Calgary Alberta. Manoj is an excellent resource for internet marketers or anyone concerned about web analytics or the why and how of measurement on the net.I encourage you to see his various social media sites including his group page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4987100546

For the second time he is offering a free ebook for download:

Web Intelligence Ebook by WebAnalyticsWorld.net – Fall 2010
Free Download

Web Analytics World

Version 2 of the Web Analytics Web Intelligence eBook includes topics ranging from:

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The Web Analytics ecosystem
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Social Media Text mining
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Traffic Attribution
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Keyword Research
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Web Analytics Debugging
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Link Analysis
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Click-Through Rate Optimization
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Social Media Measurement
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Landing Page Optimization

Landing Page Optimization through Web Analytics

You will learn valuable information in this W.A. World offering that you can immediately put to use in your business as an internet marketer here and give you a leg up on the competition.

Manoj practices what he preaches as he is using the testing tool for Landing Optimization that is provided by Vancouver based Unbounce.com This ebook is a great no-cost information source. Thanks Manoj for making this available to the community for a greater understanding of Web Analytics.

Analytics- Can You Measure It ?

I was taught by Alex Mandossian and several other top marketers that if you could not measure your results and actions you could never tell where you were and if anyone cared.

That is pretty sage advice for internet marketers who should seek continuous improvement by seeing what actually happened, and the details of who came,how long did they stay,what did they do,where did they leave from and if possible why. The answer to these questions comes from analytics.

Analytics Tools

Gabriel Chu and CK Wong of 80/20 Media have produced a course called Fastrack Analytics. Both of these chaps are Google Certified Analytics Individuals and have MBA’s and a wealth of experience working in the field for their own products and services and for clients. They not only teach but they do it.

Analytics Training Review

They have launched an analytics training product today and are selling it on the site for the princely sum of USD 27.00.- One Time Payment-No continuity I bought it and find it has a number of features new to intermediate marketers could learn from. The link to the site at Fasttrackanalytics.com is not an affiliate link but presented as a choice for well presented training.

In the course they have :

▪ Hours Of Videos Covering Google Analytics Essentials, Video Analytics, Email Analytics, Analytics For Facebook and other social media properties
▪ Learn Pay Per Click, Social Media, SEO Metrics And Considerations.
▪ Intermediate Tips And Tricks On Setting Up And Tracking Your Site Quickly And Effective Analytics Hacks For Marketers!
▪ Detailed Checklists To Take Beginners And Intermediate Users Alike Along In Tracking Campaigns Effectively.

Watch the video below as they explain their site

It is well worth purchasing if you want to improve your site or blog or have a desire to get a primer on analytics.

Testing to Improve Conversion- Yes

Testing is one of the most important concepts that an internet marketer can learn.

There is a very helpful site that I have found that is operated by Anne Holland, the founder of Marketing Sherpa. Anne and Natalie Myers provide a weekly test to test your skills on testing and judgement of various presentations of information.Which test Won is very engaging and draws you in for more. It is not a site for testing and analytic geeks but a site primarily for marketers who want to improve their craft and conversions.

The current week testing post compares headlines,subject lines in emails and copy in order to determine a winner, in terms of revenue.

You can also find very useful Testing-Free PDF’s, and Testing Videos to assist you in your testing practices. They will help you learn how, why and when to do your testing as well as yield valuable tips on what to test. You can learn a great deal from this site and from 66 past tests that will help you better optimize your site(s) for revenue creation.

You can always learn by testing.

Related Posts:

Marketing Sherpa Founder Anne Holland

While newspaper readership maybe waning for old style broadsheet and tabloid papers , there are some media outlets that are being given new life by technology.

Demographics have a lot to do with this trend and the current 20 yr old is more apt to receive their news on their mobile devices. I discovered this when I asked my 23 yr old daughter a question about a news item and she responded that she had gotten an alert message on her  smartphone about it a few minutes earlier.  I thought I knew the younger folks but I learn something new every day.

She is not alone in this habit according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project Report, Understanding The Participatory News Consumer
“The survey reports that some 37% of US cell-phone users get their news online on their wireless devices and that
72% check weather reports on their cell
68% get news and current events information on their cell
49% have downloaded an application that allows them to access news, weather, sports, or other information on their cell
44% check sports scores and related information on their cell
35% check traffic information on their cell
32% get financial information or updates
31% get news alerts sent by text or email to their phones
88% say yes to at least one of the above
Overall, cell users under age 50 are almost three times as likely as their older counterparts to get news on the go (43% v. 15%), and they engage in all cell-based news consumption activities at higher rates than older cell phone users. ”

One company that is helping the old newspaper industry keep up is the Canadian startup Spreed Inc. which provides the platform for the Toronto Globe and Mail to be on wireless smartphones today and has allowed the paper to serve up over 7.5 to 10 million ages views a month. Their Director of Marketing, Dave Coleman was interviewed at Podcamp Toronto 2010 and described the initiatives underway o the Iphone.

Geolocation and analytics are giving a lot of local advertisers new opportunities to have have coupons or targtted messages delivered when a consumer is within a radius of the business and to know the size of their local mobile market. Given the number of Iphones, the introduction of the Iphone 4,Ipad and Blackberry’s in the US this is likely to ramp up considerably in the months ahead. To learn more about these mobile apps and ad serving platform you can go to Spreed Inc or read theSpreed Blog at

A lot of marketers leave money on the table and do not use their real estate to maximum advantage.

1. Are you presenting your offer and value proposition clearly. Do not have more than one offer at a time on your landing age. A confused mind does not buy.

2. Is your site navigation geared to the buyer in a way that tells them what’s in it for me? Make sure your copy is geared to the marketing persona(s) that is (are) reading it and that you understand the benefits and solutions that your product provides. It does not matter how pretty your site is, it matters only if it converts. Different types of buyers react differently. Some buyers are looking for reviews or social proof, others

3. Use the data your analytics provides to give you the insights on what works and receives the most interest by your readers and then optimize that area before all other things. Understand it is not what you think, but what your readers think and do and make sure your sales process is driven by data not hunches. Today it is so easy to get great insights for free.

4. Be open to testing your offers and their components on an ongoing basis. This will allow you to boost your revenue and improve your customers experience. Model proven winners and  ideas from companies like Amazon who have it down to a science. Don’t reinvent the wheel but let the customers ideas drive the car. Here is a little tool assistance from conversion expert Bryan Eisenberg

5. Use your thank you page for two purposes. One thank them for their business and trust and two place complimentary ads for your other products or products that you are an affiliate for. This can boost revenue and you can switch out offers to test and optimize.

6. Do not forget to provide crystal clear instructions to your buyer if you are selling digital products and hold their hand, tell them what to do next, making it simple for them to buy, and receive your product.  Always obtain their correct email address and make sure they confirm it as a means of the product delivery. Communicate directly with them highlighting the benefits they will get with your product. Do not let them go  without giving them a special extra bonus that they were not expecting a day or two after they have bought. Continue the conversation with buyers with more content in your autoresponder. This will cut your refunds down and give the buyer more chance to get to know,like and trust you.

7. If you are selling a physical product such as a DVD or Book include a postcard in it where you make another offer and or tell them about an extra bonus such as a free forum membership in your forum or customer community. This can promote customer intimacy and provide you more market research for what your next product will be.

Do You Know Your Numbers: The Whats and the Whys of Analytic Data

No, I am not talking about your Social Security Number or your telephone numbers. I am talking about your Web Analytics. What numbers are important and what are the keys to understanding your site and its visitors.

I will give you a brief overview below but I would encourage you to get into the habit of reading the blogs of the masters in this field and the books that they have published . My first and foremost leader and teacher is Avinash Kaushik author of the blog Occam’s Razor and books under the Sybex imprint, Web Analytics in an Hour a Day and Web Analytics 2.0 The Art of Online Accountability & The Science of Customer Centricity. To get a scan view of the best analytics blogs subscribe to Alltop’s Top Web Analytics which might be like asking you to sip from a firehose.

The others I would encourage you to follow are Bryan Eisenberg and Mitch Joel Eisenberg is the author of the New York Times bestseller Call to Action and co-author of a/b always be testing- The Complete Guide to Website Optimizer. Mitch Joel, a prominent thought leader in digital marketing is the author of the book Six Pixels of Separation :Everyone is Connected Connect Your Business to Everyone. He also has a podcast with the same name where the “cool guys” like Chris Brogan, Julien Smith,CC Chapman,Mitch and others do sort of a weekly call “Media Hacks” as well as a number of interviews. I include Joel who is not an analytics maven but who is very very good at the insights and creative dimension of the Why? side of Web 2.0 and who Google calls in to consult on marketing.

I describe analytics in two camps the What Has happened and the Why It Did and What You Can Do About It. The former being more quantitative and the latter qualitative.

There are a number of tools you can use that are free for the quantitative view.

If your site has a Cpanel installation you can use Awstats . It provides counts on who has visited,where did they come from, what kind of browser did they use,what kind of operating system, what search engine bots have visited and a lot of other specific data.

You can place Google Analytics Code, Clicky Code Code on your site for more detailed analysis at no cost. Both tools have reporting interfaces that are customizable to your needs.

For the qualitative side Google’s free Website Optimizer Tool allows you to to a variety of tests on the landing pages and content you have placed. You can do simple A/B testing, where you test two variations of content, for example changing the content of a headline or the colour of the type separately to find what converts better . You can do multivariate testing also on various variables and variations and see and test them to maximize your returns. The video below explains it’s use for you:

The 4Q tool by iperceptions is a free tool which provides you answers directly from your users and their experience with your site. This can yield valuable Voice of the Customer Information and your users can rate their experience. See below as Avinash Kaushik introduces it to you.

Facebook and Facebook Page status updates are read according to information I just heard on the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast.

Not only are they read, author and Social Media commentator AmberMac says. but from her discussions with inside sources at Facebook they are the most read item. It is important to keep your status updates posted there as well as on other social sites. They should be compelling and interesting and allow you to draw people in for more. Your updates are usually accessed via other people’s news feeds.

There are a great many useful tools such as Hootsuite, and TweetDeck to name a few that allow you to update and review multiple sites at the same time. Others may want to use tools such as ping.fm which can post to over 28 sites at my last check. As a sage marketer you should know what playground your social friends and readers play in and make sure you play there too. Hootsuite also has some excellent analytics built in also.

These are not just what Twitter users would call noise like “I ate a pb&jam sandwich for lunch” but posts that help and assist your readers or share valuable content. By using your Facebook pages postings you can drive more readers to your blog or let them know a little bit more about you.

Facebook, it goes without saying, is the ultimate social tool as people generally are very open and honest about their interests,activities and experiences. It is also wise to attach a photo when you can, to your update to reinforce your message. And as for social it is the 600 lb gorilla in the room.

Also while you are at it you might want to check your name and reputation in Facebook by trying your luck at YourOpenbook.org and see what is being said about you.

Diversification of traffic on the web for your business is important.

No this is not about Jim Cramer of Mad Money on CNBC and his “Are You Diversified” segment but there are parallels to the investing world and the current web world for your business or practice.
The concept of not having all your resources invested in one stock or type of security is a wise one in that it always helps you to answer the question. What happens if things go wrong?

Lets look at where our traffic is coming from for our business. Is it all from Google or Yahoo. Does it come from social network sites like Facebook or Twitter or does it just come directly from our individuals users without a reference via search.

The best methods to ensure your visibility and diversify your traffic is to make sure you have referrals coming from a diversified group of sources . The second is to optimize all of your content similarily wherever it is coming from. According to ComScore in the United States You Tube is the second most popular search engine after Google. Facebook is growing faster than any other social location and across a wider demographic selection. SocialNetworking sites both on computer and mobile sites are the fastest growing category.

Are you using a variety of sites to get your message through and does your central hub site link-out to your presence on the various social networking sites. By using your server logs and analytic software such as Google Analytics you can see where your traffic is coming from. Make sure you are getting your share and make sure you have keyword rich links to support your main site from your social sites.

A few other ideas:

• Social Network Traffic to Retail Grows – We’ve seen the trend for a long time: social networks are sending more and more downstream traffic to retail sites. …

• Get Targeted Website Traffic – If anyone has ever had a problem effectively using search engine optimization (SEO) to increase web site traffic and revenue, you may want to visit.

• DEFCON 17 – So there I was…. No really, I went to DEFCON 17. This is a slight departure from the normal Pulse Review fare, but one I expect you, gentle reader, will still find interesting. DEFCON is a conference held in Las Vegas on a yearly basis …

I have been fortunate in learning email marketing from some top marketers such as Jimmy D Brown, Marlon Sanders Jeanette Cates,Ray Edwards,Armand Morin and Connie Ragen Green and following the blogs of hyper communicators such as Chris Brogan, Danny Brown, and Guy Kawasaki.

The one element that I have discovered as common to all of them is the concept of building an ongoing relationship. You can also see it as continuing the conversation. Some use their blogs to communicate and some use both the blogs and email marketing. Few keep the comunication lines open by doing only one thing. Some have an email sending out the posts as they are published.

Small business operators and professional practices often have monthly newsletters to keep the contact up. This is a good idea but can be missed or thought of as out of sight, out of mind. Regular communication with your clients can best be accomplished by mailing on a much regular basis. This need not be cumbersome but can be made simple by using a series of messages that go out on specified dates after the initial visit or contact. You should build a series of messages initially and then add broadcast messages once or twice a week. This can be sequenced to operate so that the messages are mailed on a schedule that you have planned out. For example in the first week you may want to write every other day and then decrease the frequency to every third day and so on. You can also determine what time of the day it is mailed.

Using an email service or autoresponder automates this and gives you valuable information on what your recipients do with the message. For example, do they open it, is the address accurate, do they click on a link in your mail . I use Aweber and have found the service to have a very high deliverability rate. Part of this is due to having used permission-based opt-ins that are confirmed by the recipient initially. All recipients under this system have the right to opt-out of your mailings if they wish at any time under the provisions of the CANSPAM rules.

Plan your schedule and write up a series of messages in your autoresponder and load them into your autoresponder. The service will then send out your messages and you will not need to do this manually. Just set it and forget it. Your initial messages should start by thanking them for their signup and then follow up with valuable content. You should not be trying to put an offer in every email but rather allowing to let them get to know you or your business. You may talk about issues of general interest in your market and then check your open rates to determine which messages are opened the most and revise those that are being ignored. You can test different subject lines. You could use a message to your list that you build up in order to ask them questions or give them free surprises. Example could include such items as an e-course , PDF Report or an ebook on topics that you are being asked every day by new clients and the public at large.

These are just a few ideas on how to mail early and often to grow your business or practice and build a good foundation of trust.

Autoresponder Writing Secrets And Series Writing Software.
Million-Dollar Producing Copywriter Ray Edwards Shows You How To Write Winning Autoresponder Series Like The Experts With This Instructional Manual And Email Series Writing Software. Up To 10% Conversion!