March 2007 Archives

Chances are, a company that has any sort of presence on the Web is too busy thinking about the bottom line to devote much attention to Web analytics. But really, Web analytics boosts the bottom line, because it familiarizes you with the intricacies of how your customers found you and interact with your site. A lot of sites, tools, and services are currently available to help you understand your site’s key metrics.

Why use them?

It’s time to go beyond “hits”. So you know how many people visit your site--now what? Online competition makes it essential that you understand your customer’s actual online behavior when they visit your site—this understanding is crucial in knowing what truly works in driving customers to buy from or return to your site.

Kick your ROI up a notch. Simply said, a deeper understanding of the hows and whys enable you to make smarter marketing and promotional decisions.

In many ways an online business simply cannot afford not to look deeper into the mind of their online customers. Web analytics gives a birds-eye view and oftentimes instantaneous look into the cause and effect of how your Web marketing works—in the real world.

For more information you can check out WebTrends’ Web analytics 101 page.

Marshal Sponder has an interesting post on where Web measurement belongs in your organization.

Effective pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has a lot to do with data-crunching--picking the right keyword phrases, identifying the best placement options, analyzing click-through and conversion rates, etc.

But one of the most important elements of successful PPC is often overlooked--creating a unique and persuasive landing page for your ad.

Conversions are the critical metric for PPC. An ad with a high click-through rate and zero conversions doesn't do the advertiser much good. So the key question becomes--what kind of experience does the visitor have once he or she clicks on the ad?

If the ad takes visitors to your Web site's home page, they are apt to think, "OK--now what?" Once that happens, the opportunity for a conversion disappears.

If the ad takes visitors to a properly crafted landing page, they will understand your offer, want to take action, and know exactly how to take action. A good landing page is--

1. Simple.
2. Brief.
3. Persuasive.
4. Optimized for the ad's keyword phrases.
5. Clear in pointing the visitor to the next step.

And while landing pages are effective to begin with, advertisers can continually improve them through "split testing". A split test uses two landing pages for a single campaign. The landing pages will differ in terms of message or design. Whichever page produces more conversions becomes the new standard. In this way, disciplined advertisers steadily improve results.

The point--Conducting a PPC campaign without a unique landing page is like sending your prospect on a road trip without a map. Make it easy for prospects, and they will reward you with conversions.

In the fight for search ad market share, Yahoo has been losing ground steadily to Google. But now, with introduction of their new Panama platform, Yahoo has reversed the trend.

Launched in early February, Panama gives advertisers the ability to create multiple pay-per-click ads and offers more robust geotargeting options. And while some advertisers report glitches with the new Panama back end, it appears to be faster and more streamlined than Yahoo's old system.

Google remains the pay-per-click leader by a wide margin, but advertisers want options, and Panama makes Yahoo an attractive one.

Further reading on the Panama platform...

Search Engine Watch sees positive signs.

From Business Week, investors say "yes".

The rkgblog interviews Diane Rinaldo, Yahoo Search Marketing Senior Director of Retail.