Latest Entry
Jun 29, 2009 Analytics Tools, Books, Google Analytics, New Technology, Omniture, SES Tour, Social Media, WebTrends
The honor of interviewing a world-renowned Web Analytics expert such as Avinash Kaushik doesn’t come along every day, so I’m pleased to present a little preview into what marketers can expect at SES San Jose in August. Avinash’s official title of “Web Analytics Evangelist” at Google really beguiles his true dedication to our industry: he’s author of a best-selling book Web Analytics an Hour a Day, his blog Occam’s Razor is a first-stop on my daily online reading list, he speaks at countless conferences across the globe, and manages to sustain a frantic pace on Twitter. Plus he’s a really approachable and helpful guy. …continue reading Interview with Avinash Kaushik, Google Analytics Guru
Recent Entries
Jun 26, 2009 Analytics Tools, Landing Pages, New Technology, Web Browsers
There will be a new Firefox to grace desktops everywhere, maybe as a knee-jerk reaction to the increasing amount of outcry regarding Mozilla Firefox’s increasing bloatedness, increased awareness of Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 8.
Whatever the case may be, there wasn’t necessarily anything broken with the browser, it just needed a few of the features both Google and Microsoft already employ. What will these features mean for marketers? Find out. …continue reading Firefox 3.5 Preview, what it’ll mean for marketers
Jun 25, 2009 Bing, Economics, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, New Technology, PPC Basics, SEO, Social Media, Webmaster Tips
With all the talk lately about new and emerging technologies, social spheres, and potential easy wins in online marketing, it’s hard to decipher the signal from the noise. A shaky economy doesn’t help matters, because many companies are moving to either increase short-term gains or foster long-term strategy and right the boat. Fragmented advice is easy to come by, so I present to you one cohesive strategy of online marketing with a few tactical real-world examples of how you might implement change. …continue reading Solid Online Marketing Tips for a Shaky Economy
Jun 17, 2009 SES Tour, Social Media
As a precursor to SES San Jose, Charlene Li, author of “Groundswell” and keynote speaker at the upcoming show and Matt McGowan of Search Engine Strategies will be offering a free webcast entitled “How to Integrate social media into your business strategy”. If attending sessions at Search Engine Strategies in Toronto two weeks ago taught me anything, it’s that most businesses don’t “get” social media… at all. So I expect everyone to sign up for the free webcast, which is scheduled for Wednesday July 8th at 1PM EST/10AM PST. Click here to register.
If you haven’t already done so, sign up for the main event of all search marketing shows, SES San Jose 2009 right now. I’ve been to New York, Toronto, and San Jose last year, and although all have their respective merits and local experts that can teach you a ton of tactics and valuable insights, SAN JOSE is the place to be. If you go to one show and one show only, go to SES San Jose. Okay, enough with the shameless, albeit honest, plugs for SES.
Jun 9, 2009 Acquisio, SEO, SES Tour, Search Engines
On the heels of a relatively productive first day at SES Toronto, day two delivered more of the same. With an impressive keynote address, and more sessions packed into a somewhat busier trafficked day, business certainly did pick up. As some of you probably noticed, yesterday I finally caved and relented to the hype that is Twitter, and actually started using it and <gasp> kinda like it. …continue reading SES Toronto Day 2: Recap
Jun 8, 2009 New Technology, SES Tour, Search Engines
You know: given the current economic crisis, turn out for SES Toronto is actually better than I suspected, and so is the production value. Granted, it’s no San Jose, but it’s pretty good for an extremely niche Canadian/Torontonian online marketing conference. Sticking mainly to the affectionately named “Geek Track” (others were categorized “Nuts & Bolts” and “Corporateville”), opened my eyes to several new trends and strategies. …continue reading SES Toronto: Day 1 Recap
Jun 2, 2009 Hitwise, PPC Programs, SEO, SES Tour
On the week leading up to Search Engine Strategies Toronto comes news from Hitwise of their entry into the Canadian market. Obviously, they must have struck a deal with one or two of only three major ISPs in the country, finally giving Canadian business the opportunity to keep an eye on competitor movements. With comScore amping up their web beaconing effort to normalize their panel-based results, Hitwise seems primed to become a quick favorite, if they can take hold of decent market share.
It’ll be interesting to see whether their announcement includes the full bevvy of reports available to US marketers, such as search marketing traffic, both natural and paid, and other juicy segmenting features. I’ll cover more news as it becomes available. Needless to say, Hitwise has already reached out to larger online web producers well in advance of this announcement.
Jun 1, 2009 Economics, New Technology, Search Engines
Am I the only one that isn’t too excited about Google Wave? What’s promised as the next big thing in social media and online collaboration definitely sounds interesting, but it’s definitely still a pipedream. Will it be a flashy new Google Docs-type platform, or will it fall flat, like Google Knol?
One thing is for certain, the technology is pretty cool. Think of all the internet was promised to be, and think of what it is today. Now think about the possibilites of actually working from home, across business units, and from across the world. Now you’re getting closer to Wave…
…continue reading Google Wave extends features of Google Docs, gets social
May 19, 2009 Economics, Google Adwords
Whoa, didn’t see this one coming. In a surprising move yesterday, Google announced that advertisers would be allowed to use trademarked terms in their search ads, making for quite the conversation piece admidst legal uncertainty surrounding rights-holders. The older rule allowed advertisers to request Google remove trademark and brand names from ad text, thereby providing some protection for owners. Is this good or bad? Depends which side of the fence you’re sitting on. …continue reading Google Adwords allows Trademark Usage in Search Ads
May 18, 2009 Analytics Tools, Google Adwords, Landing Pages, Search Engines, Webmaster Tips
In marketing, vendor and partner transparency is king; more transparency equals better client relations. In the online marketing world, there’s the tendency for vendor relations to languish or stagnate by maintaining the status quo. After watching Google as an advertising vendor for many years, they simply aren’t that kind of company. With the web being what it is today, clients and agencies that use Google Adwords are very vocal about improvements they’d like to see made, including the improvement of transparency. Google’s new Search Based Keyword Tool is one such improvement: more better. …continue reading Google’s Search Based Keyword Tool: Finding Diamonds in the Long-tail
May 5, 2009 Economics, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, Mobile, PPC Basics, SES Tour
Continuing my pre-show coverage of Search Engine Strategies Toronto, I have the privilege of introducing Janice Hatch of Google Canada. Janice is scheduled to speak on Day 2 of the conference in a session called “Campaign Performance Tracking” and was nice enough to spare some time to answer a few questions that relate to Google Adwords and the future of search marketing. …continue reading SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Janice Hatch, Google
Apr 22, 2009 Google Adwords, Mobile, PPC Basics, SEO, SES Tour
In response to my coverage of previous Search Engine Strategies events last year, the organizers of the show reached out to ask me if I would interview a few of the speakers this year. In the first of what I hope will be a three-part series of interviews, I sat down with Julie Batten, SES Toronto speaker and eMarketing Manager at Klick Communications for a little Q&A on a range of topics affecting our industry. …continue reading SES Toronto Pre-Show Interview: Julie Batten, Klick Communications
Apr 18, 2009 Books, SES Tour
Expanding my skill set and enhancing understanding of a topic is something I’m always interested in doing, especially in a very fast-paced industry such as online marketing. Although there are tons of resources available online that cover everything you ever wanted to know and more, wading through the nonsense and asking questions can be tough, especially when you join a topic mid-stream. The following list defines my short list of favorite books on marketing, analytics, landing page testing, and creative ideas in general. …continue reading Online marketing recommended reading list
Apr 3, 2009 Analytics Tools, Google Adwords, Landing Pages, Omniture, PPC Basics
I received an interesting plea for help recently via e-mail regarding tracking paid versus organic keywords in Omniture SiteCatalyst. Although many functions are available within vanilla installations of SiteCatalyst, and several settings can be added to implementations after the fact - the little guy is often left holding the stick. It’s easier for Omniture to say, just buy Search Center, because well, 9 times out of 10, they make money that way. For simple keyword tracking without incurring any residual fees, get ready to roll-up your sleeves. …continue reading Tracking Paid versus Organic keywords in Omniture SiteCatalyst
Apr 1, 2009 Analytics Tools, Economics, Google Analytics, Omniture, PPC Basics
Attending the eMetrics conference this week in Toronto wasn’t necessarily a huge eye-opener for me, but several insightful discussions did arise from the show’s fundamentally significant panels and presentations. One such topic included a sore spot for all online marketers and analysts at some point in their career: campaign attribution a.k.a. who gets the final credit for a conversion.
Who gets the credit? Traditional Marketing? Online advertising? Last source of conversion? Sales? Or maybe customer service? Who gets blamed for bad leads? Someone’s gotta take the heat, right?
…continue reading Campaign Attribution: Diplomacy and playing favorites
