Going Digital; Final Reflection

It is amazing that nine weeks have past since first starting the WVU DMC program course on Digital Production. I will admit, I was very nervous taking this class since editing has never been my thing. I much rather write a social media plan or a term paper than shoot and edit video.

In an effort to help overcome this challenge, I decided to approach this video by taking on a topic I know all too well...dating in my early 30s. Being a single, young professional, I am constantly asked why I am still single. After the millionth time of being asked this question, I decided to have some fun with it, and the product is this video, which allows you to answer that burning question creatively. Take a look, these are only a few reasons why I am still single.




Throughout the process of putting together this video, I tried to concentrate on everything I learned. This included taking into consideration different camera angles, incorporating my shot list and making the video fun and engaging. As I experienced, sometimes the best made plans do need to change. Once I went to put my video together, I realized that some of my original ideas were not going to work due to some limitations with my software program. Have no fear, I was able to come up with a different idea that I believe still meets my original goal to a tee: produce a fun, and exciting video that people will want to watch.

One of my biggest challenges was actually getting the audio to work in the software. The audio was a hit or miss in Pinnacle. At first, I thought it was just my inexperience with editing, but soon after reading numerous online posts, I learned that it was an issue many have encountered when using the software. The audio was tricky, but after much trial and error, I think I got the hang of it.

Also, there were some issues with the transitions and placing them where they needed to be. It almost seemed like the software wouldn't place them where I wanted. Soon, I realized that transitions are not necessarily needed after every frame. Once I accepted that fact, I was able to move on, and produce what I feel is a fun and pretty strong video for someone who just tackled the topic nine weeks ago.

So, how are people going to learn about my video? I believe that it will be through word of mouth and buzz marketing and the usage of social media sites including Twitter and YouTube. Here's more:



Overall, I am glad I took this class as it helped me out of my comfort zone. Sometimes I need to be pushed a little to do just that. I gladly accepted this challenge nine weeks ago, and now, I hope I have risen to the occassion.

Blended Success...

I admit; I never would have thought that a video about a blender would grab my attention and prompt me to ask “Will it Blend?” But, the marketing campaign that went viral for BlendTec’s Total Blend blender surely did. I could be found coming up with a wide range of ojects including my car keys and my bed.

With a need to promote a blender, build brand awareness and separate itself from the competition, BlendTec took a novel and unique approach featuring its founder, Tom Dickson, in a laboratory taking requests from online and attempting to blend anything he could find (Urlesque.com, 2009). Since the launch of this campaign three years ago, he has blended numerous items: hockey pucks, golf balls, marbles and even an iPhone. Most recently an iPad was subject to the blender.  In fact, the blending of the iPad has already garnered more than 6.8 million views since it was posted two months ago.

So...did it blend?



In all, he has blended more than 85 different items (Urlesque.com, 2009). That’s amazing to me! The video campaign's main purpose is to answer the question, “Will it blend?” This savvy marketing team has intrigued people by asking a simple question and having viewers become engaged by seeing if an object will blend. I know when I have watched it I almost wanted to see certain objects not blend.

So why was this video a success? First, it is critical to look at the components of a successful viral video. These include: creative and fun content (definitely in this campaign), building of a strong fan base (millions of people have viewed it) and search engine optimization (the campaign is branded on a dedicated YouTube channel and appropriately categorized) (Angwin, 2009). Also critical success is ensuring the video has a purpose. Whether it is to increase brand awareness, sell product or simply make people laugh, a video on YouTube needs to have a purpose in order for it to spread like wild fire. The BlendTec videos did have a pupose: show the blender's capabilities and increase awareness.

Essentially a viral video has to have a life of its own, and the “Will it Blend?” campaign definitely does. It is fresh, fun, entertaining and captured an audience. Too, audiences of all ages were interested in this video – children, parents and grandchildren all wanted to see the capabilities of this blender. Picking a wide range of objects to blend was a smart and strategic decision. The objects subject to the blender appealed to a mass audience. These items could be used by any number of age groups.  The success of this campaign though is in the numbers. In fact, over the past three years, the Will It Blend videos have seen upwards of 250 million views. One of their most recent videos hit 100,000 views in less than two days (McRoberts, 2010).

Yet, BlendTec even takes the marketing campaign a step further. After successfully blending an Apple iPad, the company launched another video campaign via YouTube having asking viewers sign up via a dedicated Website for a chance to win a new BlendTec blender and their choice of either a new iPad or the remains of a blended one. Clever, fun and driving sales; in my opinion that spells viral marketing success.



I love this video, and it is a great example of viral marketing. It incorporated all of the elements of strong marketing and helped to elevate a virtually unknown brand to an entirely unexpected level. I know if it wasn’t for this video campaign, I would have never of heard of this blender or even considered buying one (For the record, I do not own one; I still use and hand-me down blender from my parents).

And some say mockery is the best form of flattery. Well, this is the case with this viral campaign. Due to its popularity numerous copycat videos and parodies have appeared. One of the most creative is the "Will It Explode?" campaign. I'm not sure if I want to be anywhere near that test kitchen, but it does demonstrate that the "Will It Blend?" campaign has had an impact.

This video wasn’t an accident. It was carefully planned and had a specific purpose in mind. The only accident may have been not knowing how popular it was going to become.  This campaign definitely blended up a recipe for viral marketing success.

References

Urlesque.com Staff (2009). The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos. Urlesque.com. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from http://www.urlesque.com/2009/04/08/the-100-most-iconic-internet-videos-70-66/

Angwin, J. (Feb. 18, 2009). Recipe for a Success Viral Video Campaign. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123481783053894227.html

McRoberts, S. (2010). 3 Keys to Successful Viral Video Marketing. Orange Soda Blog. Retrieved June 7, 2010, from http://www.orangesoda.com/blog/3-keys-to-successful-viral-video-marketing/

The End of The Road…For My Web Analytics and SEO Class

When I began this journey into Web Analytics and SEO nine weeks ago, I can honestly say I had no idea what to expect. I was thinking a variety of things: this is going to be exciting to delve into the world of SEO and data; will I be able to decipher the information in this class; how will I be able to apply this in my daily life to enhance my work for my clients?

Well, nine weeks have come and gone, and I can say that I have learned a lot about Web Analytics and SEO. First, I gained a better perspective on what Web Analytics and SEO are. I had a concrete definition of what each was and would be able to carry that knowledge throughout the remainder of the course and definitely in my professional life.

Throughout this course, I learned how to apply Google Analytics and truly understand it. I learned about goals and funnels, and how they can be used to help a company design its overall marketing campaigns. In fact, during the course of this class, I worked on a project to launch a Website for one of my clients, Cleveland Thermal. I was able to develop a plan for the site that included analytics and the setting of specific goals for the site, in particular direct people to the contact page as well as get returning visitors to sign-up for e-mail updates for the company. In addition, I refreshed the keywords, ensured there was linking and tagging, and enhanced the page title to aid in search engine rankings. I believe this practical experience is a testament to what I learned in this class.

I had always known the importance of SEO and collecting analytical data, but I had never truly understood it and could apply it. But, by completing this course, I now have a true understanding of these two trends in digital marketing. I can speak eloquently about them and clearly advise my clients on how SEO could help them reach their overall goals, and how the analytical data collected will provide the support for marketing decisions.

So I have come to the end of the road of my Web analytics and SEO class, but I have taken away with me great knowledge. In the future, I will continue to apply the techniques learned in the course.

The Final Rose

Maybe it is an ode to “The Bachelor,” but this is really a testament to one of my final postings in my Web Analytics and SEO class at West Virginia University. In fact, to keep with the floral theme, I elected to look at the Web site for 1-800-FLOWERS for this assignment, which asked us to look at how an online retailer is using analytics and how it is using them.

When looking at the code on the site, it was evident the company was using Coremetrics as its analytics tool. Coremetrics is one of the leaders in the SEO and Web analytics industry. In fact one of the most interesting things about Coremetrics is how detailed its code is, and for a company like 1-800-FLOWERS, this is specially important because of so many products and offerings on one site.

Thirty-seven percent of online retailers who use Coremetrics or Omniture also use Google Analytics, and 1-800-FLOWERS is one of them (Bright, 2010). The company is also testing its site and is using Google Website Optimizer. First, I will detail its analytics approach, and then take a look at what the company is testing using Google Website Optimizer. 

First, it is interesting to note that the company is only using Google Analytics on its sub pages, and not the home page. On the other pages of the site, Google Analytics and Coremetrics are being used.

From the home page, it looks as if the site is using analytics to see where an individual clicks. This most likely signifies the company is tracking visitors, page views and return visits. The second component of the code shows the company is tracking events. From the home page this event is to see if the visitor is going to the flowers page or another page on the site. In addition, the company is also tracking returning visitors to see if it needs to recognize a returning visitor. This is a sign of strong customer service, remembering a user on a site. In addition, the company is also tracking domain names, which indicates how the people are reaching the site. This most likely correlates into the company’s advertising and marketing efforts, and determines if one tactic is working better than another.

There are numerous banner ads on the home page of the site, and 1-800-FLOWERS is tracking each of the click-thrus to determine the most popular. This is a strong example of testing a site and truly monitoring what people are finding valuable and using on a site. This is smart marketing. One of the interesting components for me was to see the testing of the banner ad across the bottom highlighting “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” In the code, there is actually a report for determining if the page is more successful with the ad as opposed to without it.

As you delve deeper into the other pages of the site, it is still tracking visitors, but it is also tracking where they are clicking, and if they are eventually placing an order on the site. The company is collecting this data to see if purchases are being made, or if there is a point where a user does not continue to the checkout. As I have learned throughout this course, this is valuable data to see if a site is working or if tweaks need to be made to encourage visitors to make a purchase. The site is also tracking if people are leaving certain pages to go to “order tracking,” “my account” or “customer service.” This is a funnel the company has set.

With Google Website Optimizer, the site is testing different layouts to see which ones will have the highest conversion rates. This will prove beneficial to them in determining the future direction of the site. It will also show which site will bring in the largest number of sales and return visitors. In addition, there is multivariate testing happening on the home page. The company is also looking at the variety of options people can select based on flowers for occasions and dates. In fact, when I logged onto the site from work and then from  home later today, I had two different home pages.

I cannot think of something specifically that needs improvement for the company since it seems to be doing a great job of testing and collecting data. I would hope they are analyzing the data based on geography as well to see where it may need to expand its florist network or those areas in which it needs to advertise more.

Since the company is collecting so much data and placing such a significant investment in testing the site and analyzing it, I hope that it has experienced professionals in place who can carefully look at the data and apply it to marketing and advertising efforts that can expand the business.

All in all, this site truly encompasses everything I have learned in the course for the past nine weeks – analytics, enhanced search engine optimization and testing. It was a great site to select for one of my last blog postings in this class.

Reference
Bright, D (2010). 37% of Retailers Who Use Omniture or Coremetrics Also Use Google Analytics. Istobe Blog. Retrieved March 15, 2010, from http://istobe.com/blog/2010/01/22/37-of-retailers-who-use-omniture-or-coremetrics-also-use-google-analytics/

And The Winner Is...For Real This Time

As a follow up to my post earlier in the week, for Week 7 of my Web Analytics and SEO course at WVU, I needed to publicize my blog using social media and traditional marketing platforms. As a refresher, I utilized both mine and my firm’s Twitter and Facebook pages as well as a direct e-mail to fellow colleagues I know from AAF-Cleveland and PRSA’s Cleveland Chapter. And, I am happy to say the results are in.

During the period of Monday, March 8th through today at the time of this posting there have been 22 total visits to my blog. This is just 11 less than the total visits I had for a month-long period. There were 37 total page views. People found my blog through the following methods:
Direct 11
Blogger 7
Google 3
Facebook 1

This proves to me that even in the wake of social media; sometimes, targeted outreach to a select audience is the way to go. These people are engaged in the industry. The results may have been different if all of my Twitter followers and Facebook friends were in marketing and communications. But no matter how they reached the blog, I am seeing a growth in readership, and that is the most important thing.

I’ll Bank On It…Testing Could Improve Web site Usage

Online banking has become commonplace in the United States. In fact, online banking has become one of the fastest-growing Internet activities. Approximately 43% of those who use the Internet, or about 63 million Americans, conduct some sort of online banking, according to a 2006 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project (Salazar, 2009). With this in mind, I decided to look at a large, national bank’s Web site to see if it could be enhanced for navigation and overall ease of use.

PNC is one of the largest bank’s in the country. This was further solidified after its acquisition of National City Bank in 2008. When logging onto the PNC site, one is not greeted with numerous graphics. Instead, the user sees some Flash animation, and then numerous links to various banking-related topics under the headings of products and services; solutions and PNC’s security assurance. In the top left-hand corner of the page is the user log-in. The site also has a toolbar directing users to personal banking, small business and corporate and institutional areas.

The clean, streamlined look of the site is very appealing. It seems to almost simplify what can be a difficult topic to navigate: banking. You can easily find navigation on it, and within a few clicks I seem to be able to obtain the information for which I am looking. Yet, I do wonder if any type of testing was conducted on the site.

If I was on the team working to design and launch the PNC site, I would have conducted a multivariate test since you can test many different variations of a site or changes at once (Alt & Usborne, 2005). In addition this type of testing offers a reliable, scientifically-grounded method for understanding visitors’ preferences by using algorithms.

Multivariate testing is suggested because of the few things that stand out on the site to me: numerous links on the home page and minimal graphics. Within these tests, I would change the graphics. I may add more Flash to the site to make a bit more appealing graphically speaking.

In terms of the links, I would have pages that had fewer links and ones that had even more links. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see even more links in a faint gray. There seems to be a plethora of links on the site, and I would like to see which ones are used the most frequently and which ones are not used at all. This could help determine the layout of the site and minimize the overall number of links on the home page and throughout the site.

In addition, I would also make a somewhat stronger call to action on the Web site with different page headings and titles. I would want to assure that the proper page titles have been selected, and they are terms that the average user will understand. I would want the language simplified and not simply banking terminology that only bankers would understand. The toolbar could also be changed to reflect different navigation and if any other headings should be added to the main navigation on the site.

I would then combine these different link, graphics and headline options into different pages to test.

From the above, you can see that I believe multivariate testing as well as A/B testing is a viable option for companies looking to either launch or re-launch its site. But, it is imperative to first select a testing option that best suits the need of your company. Essentially these two different tools that can help a company with its Web presence and success. Learn more about the differences between the two methods here.

The very reason I believe this is because multivariate testing is one of the most frequently used marketing tactics that has achieved positive results in terms of increased sales and services (MultvariateTesting.com, 2009). Some may say because you can test numerous options at once, you are getting the biggest bang for your buck since the algorithms used in this type of testing are accurate in determining which option or combination of options would be the most effective (Verster.com, 2010) Yet, one needs to ensure the testing is being done right.

I would advise companies to utilize professional marketers who have extensive experience in this line of work to conduct these tests. Jonathan Mendez outlines a strong, strategic approach to this type of testing in his blog. Within it, he discusses, step-by-step, how to implement such a test from designing, creating the content and implementing the code. This is a not-to-be-missed post as it points to the positives of multivariate testing and the results that can be had if done properly.

Web testing is not something to take lightly. It requires time commitment, research and creativity. But, if done properly, a company will see numerous benefits including increase in Web traffic, sales and any other goal it may have for its site.

References

Salazar, C. (2009, Jan. 28). How dangerous is online banking? MSN Money. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/how-dangerous-is-online-banking.aspx#pageTopAchor

Alt, B. & Usborne, N (2005). Multivariable Testing. Marketing Experiments Blog. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/multivariable-testing.html

MultivariateTesting.com (2009). Multivariate Testing. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://multivariatetesting.com/

Verster.com (2010). Multivariate Optimization vs. A/B Testing. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from http://www.vertster.com/multivariate-testing/multivariate-optimization-vs-a-b-testing

And the Winner Is....

As I write this post on Oscar Awards Sunday, I thought the title of this post was appropriate. While I will not be making any winner predictions, this post does center on my efforts to publicize this blog, and the results that were achieved.

This week, we were tasked with publicizing our blog. As a public relations professional, I welcomed this task as a way to exercise the skills I have developed over recent months to utilize a mix of traditional marketing and social media.

My first step was to go the traditional route; in doing this, I sent out an e-mail to a targeted audience – those who have an interest or currently work in public relations and marketing. I selected people who are colleagues and fellow members of the local chapters of AAF-Cleveland and PRSA Cleveland. I believed this would be an engaged audience who would find the information on this blog informative and useful.

Also, these individuals were selected based on two key factors in selecting a target market. The first is the attractiveness of the segment. As mentioned above, these individuals are marketing communications professionals, which make them an ideal audience for this blog. The second factor is whether or not this audience fits into the objectives of the blog (NetMBA.com, 2007). The goal of my blog is to be an educational resource. The audience selected would be interested in these topics and are currently seeking ways to increase their knowledge on the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.

The next approach I took was engaging social media. The first outlet I selected was Facebook. With more than 400 million users and recently surpassing Yahoo as the second most popular Web site in the United States, Facebook was a logical choice for getting the word out about my blog (Campanelli, 2010). Granted, I know that not all of the 400 million users are going to see my posting, but nonetheless, Facebook was a great outlet for disseminating information about my blog. With one posting, I was able to reach a large audience.

My first step in using Facebook was to post the link to the blog on my firm’s Facebook fan page. I then reposted this link to my own Facebook page. With more than 100 fans of Roop & Co. and more than 500 of my own friends on Facebook, I believed this was a strong venue to disseminate this message.

The final vehicle I used was Twitter. Once again, I posted the link via the Roop & Co. Twitter page and then I retweeted the post from my account. This tactic reached approximately 300 engaged users.

Before I give you the overall results in numbers, some of the qualitative results speak volumes.

From my e-mail campaign, I received positive feedback from numerous members of my target audience. Interestingly, no one commented on the blog. Instead, I received these comments in a reply e-mail. I did thank everyone for the comments, but I also encouraged those individuals to post their comments to the blog since blogs are a way to elicit conversation between people (Uhrmacher, 2008).

From my social media results, I saw comments from friends and colleagues on my Facebook page. When looking at Twitter, individuals had tweeted the link to this blog to their own followers. This example truly demonstrated to me the genesis behind Twitter and the power it had. As a result of this Twitter activity, I gained some followers who work in the Greater Cleveland public relations industry. This is a win/win. Not only was I able to share the knowledge I am gaining from the digital marketing program at WVU, but I am also building a network among my professional peers in the process.

And now, the numbers…

Well, just as much to my disappointment, like those who went home Osacr-less, when I set up my analytics account, I also added filters on my overall reporting. Yet, I did this incorrectly. Instead of posting the funnels to a different report on my account, I added it to my overall accout. This mean my data was missing because I did not post these on a separate report on my account. Yes, this is definitely a learning process, but this article on Google Analytics helped me navigate my oversight as well as a conversation with my professor. Have no fear, the problem has been alleviated, and I will now take the tactics outlined above and once again put this plan into action. I will post the full results from this experiment in publicizing this blog later this week.

References
NetMBA.com (2007). Target Market Selection. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/target/

Campanelli, J. (2010, March 1). Cleveland personalities find lots of friends on Facebook. The Plain Dealer, PDQ section. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from http://www.cleveland.com/pdq/index.ssf/2010/03/cleveland_personalities_who_ha.html

Uhrmacher, A. (2008). How to develop a social media plan for your business in 5 steps. Mashable Blog. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from http://mashable.com/2008/07/10/how-to-develop-a-social-media-plan/

Customizing the View

This journey into the extensive capabilities of Google Analytics continued this week with the addition of custom filters and keyword performance tracking to my blog.

Filters allow you to select specific visitors or visits in your analytics reports to either show them, exclude them or only display these visitors in certain reports (Link love, 2007). As I have previously stated on this blog, I have started to publicize it a bit more as I become more engrossed and knowledgeable on this topic.

Social media has been the cornerstone for me reaching new audiences with my blog. With that in mind, I placed the filters to show if the visitors reached the site via Twitter, Blogger or Facebook. I wanted to see if my efforts were proving to be successful.

Since placing these filters on my report, I have received three hits directly from Blogger. Going forward, I hope to see an increase in traffic via other social media sites and search engines such as Google and Bing. I will be reviewing my SEO strategy for the site to maximize this blog’s presence. I plan on tweeting about new posts either later tonight or tomorrow morning. This may increase traffic from this social media site.

Once the filters were established, it was now time to work on keyword identification. When I decided to establish this blog, I had the following keywords in mind: “social media,” “digital media,” “Web analytics,” “Search Engine Optimization,” “SEO” and “Web statistics.” These are common keywords in this field of study, and it may be difficult for this blog to reach the top of the rankings based on keywords alone since it is relatively new and does not have the longevity of other sites focused on this topic (Kettler, 2010). So, it should not come as a surprise when I noticed that none of these keywords appeared on my keywords report.

Instead, the keywords that appeared centered on Valspar, which is a competitor of the company for which I completed my social media plan. While this fact was interesting, it does make me motivated to tweak the blog in how it is written to increase keyword usage throughout.

I have learned throughout the past six weeks the critical role that Web analytics plays in helping a company gauge the success of a Website. The numbers in Web analytics reports provide a wealth of actionable steps one can take to increase Web presence.

This resonated for me when I viewed my Web analytics report for this past week. It demonstrated to me that I need to increase search engine rankings through SEO techniques such as linking and keyword usage. In addition, it indicated to me the need to publicize the blog more via social media networks that are available to me.

I also looked at the depth of my visits. It showed me that the majority of visitors, 62% to be exact, only viewed one page, and 62.5% of all visitors were on the site for no more than 10 seconds at a time. This demonstrated to me that I need to write longer posts. Just kidding, but it indicated to me that conversations need to be started with my blog, and I could do this by posing more questions. Also, I needed to link back to other postings as well to demonstrate that this blog does possess useful information on subjects such as social media, digital media, Web analytics and SEO. I am happy to report that nearly 25% of all visitors have come to my blog more than three times. Slowly, I am reaching one of my goals of increasing visitor loyalty.

This is a learning process, and I am happy to be participating in it. I am learning knew things, and upon seeing them applied, I am seeing the true power of Web analytics and SEO.

References
Link love (2007). Filters in Google Analytics. Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://www.vdgraaf.info/filters-in-google-analytics.html

Kettler, N (2010). WebDynamic Five Crucial Steps to increasing SEO Importance Web Presence Credibility. Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://www.articlesbase.com/sem-articles/webdynamic-five-crucial-steps-to-increasing-seo-importance-web-presence-credibility-1697490.html

Mission Accomplished…Or Still in Progress?

Mission 1: Set up Google Analytics on my Blog

Mission 2: Delve Deeper into Google Analytics and Establish Funnels, Tracking and Segmentation

Mission 3: Decipher the Meaning of the Text and Evaluate the Blog

Mission 1 and Mission 2 have been accomplished, but now Mission 3 is upon me. The first step of Mission 3 was to gain an understanding of the different terms that are used to segment data. For example, a funnel is no longer something I use in the kitchen; it’s the process one takes to reach a certain point (BridgeWorks, 2009).

Funnels are a means to attain a goal on a site, and tend to be a common application for ecommerce sites (BridgeWorks, 2009). Yet, can funnels be applied to content-driven sites? I believe it could, and this meant I needed to take a closer look at my blog, and the goals I had established for it. These goals, which have been added to Google Analytics, are the following:

1. Track the number of visitors to the site
2. Track page views
3. Track overall time on the site

I thought these goals were pretty straight forward and would indicate whether or not my overall goal for the blog -a go-to source of information on digital media - was being accomplished.

I selected the number of visitors to the site for a few reasons. First, I wanted to see how many people were actually reading this blog, apart from my WVU classmates and professors. Too, I wanted to see if loyalty was being established for my site. As indicated in this presentation, loyalty is one of the biggest indicators of success for a non e-commerce Website (Kaushik, 2007).

Unfortunately, since establishing the goals for my site, I have only had one visitor and two unique page views. This could be because I have not updated the blog since then (Note to self: Update more frequently). Also, I believe I need to get the word out about the blog more. I need to tell friends and Twitter followers, who seem to have an interest in marketing and all things digital media, about the blog to increase visitors and comments. This way the blog will be a conversation generator and not simply a place to post class assignments.

Speaking of social media, one of my segments is for people who reached the site via a social media site, such as Twitter. I thought it would be interesting to see if people were viewing the site from a post or a retweet. In addition, another segment I established was for those who found the blog via a search engine. Throughout this process, I am trying to increase the search engine optimization on this site, and I thought it would be beneficial to see if those efforts have proven fruitful.

Tracking overall time is another factor I like to measure. This way I can see if people are finding the information useful. The more time one spends on a site, the more information he or she is digesting. This is another sign of success according to Kaushik (Kaushik, 2007).

Finally, page views were important. This way, I can see what topics are of most interest to my visitors. This principle can also be applied to any other marketing campaign. The most popular content on Websites translates into where consumer interest lies and can be the foundation for stronger, more targeted sales and marketing programs. Page views also demonstrate if my visitors are funneling through the site in the manner in which I hope or have mapped out. By looking at the page views, I can see if my funneling strategy needs to be re-designed to ensure the site's goals are being met.

The hardest part about adding goals, funnels and segmentation to my site was the process of me sitting down and actually thinking about what I wanted to track for my blog. What do I want visitors to read and learn about? How do I want visitors to find the blog? These were just a few of the questions I took into consideration.

Once I had answered these questions, I was able to see the behind-the-scenes direction for my blog. I wanted to be able to see the pages viewed as well as whether or not people were using the links to exit the blog, and if they were returning. These answers also helped me to develop the funnels for my site. I was able to see if they go from the home page to the most recent blog. I also reversed that to see if they go from the most recent posting back to the main home page to view other postings. The basis for selecting this funnel was to determine whether or not my blog was meeting its goals as an educational resource.

I did experience some difficulty in establishing these funnels, but as I selected them, I was able to see the true value of funnels and the fact they could be placed on non-ecommerce sites. It was just taking a different approach to thinkin about the process. I look forward to adding funnels to the analytics reporting for some of my current B2B clients.

This process is in its infancy, but as time goes on, I do see more goals being met, and even greater data being captured for this blog. I wish there was more data to report, but I believe I have laid the proper foundation for Web analytics and have gained a deeper understanding for how this process works. I would have loved to see some early results, but I now know how to get these results and look at these numbers, which may prove to be more valuable in the end.

Why is that?

The most important thing though is I am learning that these are more than numbers; they are tools that can determine overall success of a company’s marketing efforts. It shows me areas of enhancement and improvement that can be applied to my daily job and help my clients achieve Web success.

References
BridgeWorks Creative (2009). Four Rules to a Thriving Ecommerce. BridgeWorks Newsletter. Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://www.bridgeworkscreative.com/news/?p=128

Kaushik, A. (2007). “Google Analytics - Non-Ecommerce Sites: Beyond Averages.” Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgXDUuAK77M&feature=PlayList&p=7A545E796C2CFA72&index=1

Adding Analytics…More Than a Numbers Game

Web analytics. I seem to stare them in the face each and every morning. In fact, I do. Each morning, like clockwork, I sit at my desk and put together a Web stats report for one of my clients. Within that report, I detail visitors, page views, and traffic sources. The report can be exhaustive and sometimes dare I even say tedious, but the information contained in it helps this client’s business grow and provides them with valuable data that can determine successes, and yes, even failures.

Knowing this, I have become intrigued with Web analytics, and I was actually excited to place them on this blog. The process itself was somewhat simple. I simply logged into my Google account, searched for “analytics” and followed the steps on developing the code. I will admit; I was a little hesitant on placing the code directly on the site myself, but this site was extremely helpful in providing detailed steps on how to make this happen. By following these steps, adding the code was a snap. Now I am ready to analyze, but what was I going to track on the site?

First and foremost, I do want to track the number of visitors to my blog. As Justin Harrison notes on his blog, it is critical to know who is visiting a site to determine not only if the site is meeting a business’ goals for the site, but to see from where visitors are coming (Harrison, 2009).

Granted, the goal of my blog is to inform and educate about my experience in the digital marketing program at WVU, but I still want to have an understanding of who is visiting my blog. Is it just my classmates and professors, or are there individuals who have seen my Twitter posts that have taken a gander? Too, maybe some of my content is being picked up by search engines and companies, and they are visiting the site. For example, in our social media class, my posts were showing up in Rust-Oleum’s Google alerts, and the company took notice of my blog. In hindsight, I would have love to have known they were visiting.

Another area of focus for me will be returning visits. Yes, this does go hand-in-hand with visitors, but by looking at returning visitors I can see if my blog is providing valuable information on this topic. I do hope that I am providing some insight on this topic, and measuring returning visitors is one such way to accomplish this. At least in a quantitative perspective.

Traffic sources are another component I will look for in my analytics reports. Are people coming to the site directly? Is a search engine helping them? Or are they using a social media vehicle, such as Twitter or Facebook to find the site? This is important because as we delve more into this topic. I am looking at ways to further optimize this site to bring it up in the search engine rankings. As mentioned in other posts, linking (both internal and inbound) will play a key role in this.

While content is different for some posts, I would like to see which posts are being read the most. This ensures that I am providing relative information about a wide variety of topics that are of interest to my followers. This is especially helpful since comments are not always posted to the site.

And finally, I will want to see how long people are spending on the blog. Is it informative and entertaining? I believe by looking at the time spent on the site this can be determined. While times will vary, I think the longer the time on the blog the more information is being digested.

While I have thought that Web stats reports may be viewed as numbers, I have gained a better understanding that there is meaning behind those numbers. I can’t wait to log onto my account and see who is, or isn’t reading, my blog.

References

Harrison, J. (2009). Why Place an Importance on Web Analytics. Internet Marketing with Justin Harrison Blog. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.justinharrison.com/web-analytics/why-place-any-importance-on-web-analytics.php

Let the Learning Curve Continue

Throughout my career, and especially in the past four of working at an agency, I have been tasked with collaborating with clients and my agency’s design team to develop Web sites for a wide range of clients. It is a fun, creative and yes, challenging process that I have come to enjoy. Yet, in my role as an account supervisor, I am charged with creating the copy for the site and supervising the execution of the project. Essentially, I need to ensure a client’s happiness. I have left all the search engine optimization (SEO) practices and challenges to my expert design team. Well, that changed when I needed to create a site and optimize it for my Web Analytics and SEO class for the graduate certificate program at West Virginia University.

I will be the first to say that I knew keywords were critical to the success of your Web site, but I did not know the importance of links and title tags. In fact, according to an article on the Web Workshop blog, link text is the single most important method for Google, and other search engines, to track and rank your site (Craven, 2007). Once Google adopted this method, linking became almost essential. The rationale behind this practice is that the more links to and from a site, the more important and credible the site (Craven, 2007).

This is why I can see the importance linking played in developing my site for this experiment. Yes, even though this is marketing and not chemistry, we still conduct experiments. For this experiment, I followed the text anchor model specified by Randfish on the SEOmoz blog. His experiment looks at links vs. keywords vs. tags in increasing search engine optimization (Randfish, 2008).

The first step was creating a site. In accomplishing this, I used Google’s site building tool. This was an easy tool to use. My only challenge was coming up with content for the site . Taking my knowledge of the importance of linking, I used some information contained on this blog and those links to help populate the site, including taking the steps recommended by Randfish. I placed inbound links on both my Facebook and Twitter pages to help increase traffic and ranking. As mentioned before in this blog, social media does play a crucial role in site optimization, especially as this medium continues to increase its breadth and depth. Too, I believe now that this link has been placed on this blog, the SEO placement will also increase.

The keywords I selected for this site were the following: “Web analytics,” “WVU,” “West Virginia University,” “SEO,” and “search engine optimization.”

My results were exactly what I thought they would be: a combination of linking and tagging helped this small, experimental site increase its presence. For example, when entering the keywords “Web analytics WVU” my site ranked third on Google. The reason for this ranking, I had fallen behind a site from the university. Next time, I will be sure to be more creative with my title and possible keywords. The site also ranked third on Google with the keywords “SEO WVU.” Yet, when entering the phrase “Web analytics SEO WVU” in to Google, the site ranked first. In fact, that combination of keywords placed me ahead of the WVU blog on the topic. In some ways, I am happy to say mission accomplished. But this mission is far from over. It is only the beginning of me gaining a better and applicable understanding of SEO.

When conducting a search on Bing and Yahoo, my site was virtually non-existent. This may be because of the importance this method placed on linking. Too, my site is relatively young, and the age of a site does have a factor on SEO. According to the blog, SEO Chat, domain age is a key factor in SEO results (SEO Chat, 2006). Plus, I do wonder if using a Google Web site tool, and having google.com in the site address played a role in my site’s placement, or lack of on other search engines. As a continuing experiment, I will continue updating this site to see how linking and other tagging tools can help this little site gain momentum on other search engines, besides Google.

This exercise allowed me to see what I was actually reading, and as we have heard, seeing is believing. I learned the true importance of keywords. I had to think as a searcher, not as someone familiar to the product or service. When I selected my title and keywords, I thought about how I would go about searching for this site on Google if I was going into it blind. This can be a cumbersome task, but it is one that I found beneficial, as evidenced by my ranking results.

Too, I witnessed first-hand the importance of links - both internal and inbound – to a site. I watched my site advance in the search engine rankings. Yes, seeing is believing, and I am excited to continue on this learning curve and increase my knowledge of SEO. I look forward to having my clients benefit from the knowledge I have gained throughout this course.

References

Craven, P (2007). Inbound links, link exchanges and link acquisition. Web Workshop Blog. Retrieved February 5, 2010, from http://www.webworkshop.net/inbound-links.html

Randfish (2008). Results of Google Experimentation - Only the First Anchor Text Counts. SEOmoz Blog. Retrieved January 31, 2010, from http://www.seomoz.org/blog/results-of-google-experimentation-only-the-first-anchor-text-counts

SEO Chat (2006). SEO Tools – Domain Age. SEO Chat Blog. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/domain-age/

Let Me Re-Introduce Myself

In case you have just started following this blog, I wanted to re-introduce myself.

I am a public relations and marketing professional born and raised in Cleveland who has a true passion for all things social, including media. I love to be out-and-about in a great city, but I also love finding new and exciting ways to stay connected, and digital and social media seems to be the best way to accomplish this. This medium provides all of us with the ability to connect with old friends, learn more about our favorite brands, and it also affords us the opportunity to communicate in an entirely different fashion, which is great.

Communication is an consistently evolving process, and digital media is the next step in its evolution.Throughout my nearly 10-year career in public relations and marketing, I have always been passionate about what is new and innovative in the industry. And right now, there is no hotter trend than social media. Whether it be Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or Kindle, I plan to explore and provide commentary on my thoughts on what is going on in the world of digital media. I will also bring attention to trends and hot topics in the industry and welcome your insights on the topic as well. I am looking forward to delving into social and digital media, and on this blog, I plan to flitter in with thoughts and perspectives on the digital media world in which we now live.

Swinging for a Top Search Engine Ranking

As I sit looking out the window at a dreary Cleveland day, I daydream about spring, and how I cannot wait to be out on the links enjoying one of my favorite things, golf.

Granted, I will spare you the details of my golf game (it’s not so great), but it did get me to start thinking about new clubs, new shoes and maybe a few new golf shirts. With this in mind, I wanted to do a little online shopping. And since I am currently in my Web Analytics and SEO class, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to compare search engine ranking results for some golf stores.

In this blog post, I will be looking at the SEO techniques certain companies employed in order to increase its ranking among four popular search engines. The companies I will analyze are the ones that appear first and at the top of the fourth page in a Google search. Golfsmith was first, and ranking in at number 40 was Golf USA Stores.

Why did Golfsmith rank so high, and Golf USA Stores rank lower? It is most likely because of each company’s search engine optimization techniques. In order for a company to rank high on Google, the following techniques must be employed: keyword usage in domain, body and tag, outgoing links, internal links, site freshness and more (Vaughns.com, 2007). Here is a complete listing of what Google looks for.

Based on other searches, here is what Google truly measures in ranking a site: links, domain age, click through rates, trends, fads, posting frequency and keywords.

Golfsmith does just this. The key words “golf store” is prominently placed in both the pages and the title of the site itself. Yet, the company does more than effective keyword usage. It has a highly integrated and linked site. In fact, according to SEO positions, a Web site dedicated to SEO strategy, the best way of increasing your search engine rankings is working to improve your Web site’s link popularity (seopositions.net, 2009). These include inbound links to social media sites as well as internal links on the site. In total, according to LinkScape.com, Golfsmith is linked to 50 domains and 121 links.

Internal linking is done extremely well on the Golfsmith site. There is a site map and then individual listings for the different links within the site. This makes the site appear to be frequently updated, which is appealing for search engines since they are looking for newer sites and content. In addition, the company also links to its Facebook and Twitter pages; thus increasing traffic and search engine placement.

In addition, Goldsmith also runs a monthly contest, which increases site traffic. See the success of the Goldsmith site here.

Golf USA fails at SEO for the following reasons. It does not include the keywords in the page title, or even the home page. One does not discover any links until clicking from a page on the home page. Links are buried, and there are not many inbound links to the site. Instead, there are internal links all to Golf USA locations throughout the country. In fact, according to LinkScape.com, Golf USA is only liked to 15 domains and 44 links. That is quite a difference from the number one spot.

Now that I saw how and why these companies ranked where they did on Google. I took this experiment to three other search engines: Yahoo, Bing and Ask. Golfsmith, with its strong SEO presence, ranked first on Yahoo and second on both Bing and Ask. This was to be expected because of the site’s strong SEO tactics that have been employed. What was shocking though was the ranking of Golf USA. While the company did rank 40th on Ask, the same ranking it had on Google, it was a strong nine on Yahoo and ranked fourteenth on Bing. Why is this?

The fact of the matter is that Bing looks at different factors than Google. According to the SEO Wizz blog, in an effort to increase presence on this search engine, a site needs to increase its domain age and target anchor percentage, or the percentage of backlinks that are anchored with your target keyword (seowizz.net, 2009). This may be why Golf USA is succeeding on Bing because Bing does not necessarily take into account the quantity or quality of the backlinks, just an overall percentage (seowizz.net, 2009).

Just as Bing differs from Google, so does Yahoo have its differences. According to Jim Karter’s blog on internet marketing, Yahoo takes the following factors into consideration:
· Correct HTML
· Fresh Content - Yahoo likes fresh content more than Google.
· More Links From Yahoo Sites
· Yahoo uses meta keywords tags for categorization of your site
· Yahoo gives more weightage to on-site SEO factors like title, headings, keyword-in-domain etc., than Google
· Yahoo prefers a keyword density little higher than Google
· Links from article directories
· More weightage to age of the site than Google
· Yahoo considers click-popularity also in SERPs (Karter, 2009).

Ask.com appears to take on the same characteristics of Google when it comes to understanding searches. http://www.seobythesea.com/?p=634

These factors demonstrate to me why Golf USA’s search engine rankings very so much, and why Golfsmith’s remain consistent. Essentially, Golfsmith optimized its site for all search engines, whereas it appears that Golf USA did not. Golf USA may want to go back and re-optimize its site, especially for Google, since that is the top search engine.

References
Vaughns.com (2007). Google Ranking Factors: SEO Checklist. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/internet/google-ranking-factors.htm

Seopositions.net (2009). Increase SEO link popularity. SEO Positions Blog. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.seopositions.net/blog/seo/293/seo-link-popularity-create-top-ranking-sites-now.html

SEOWizz.net (2009). A Further Bing SEO Update. SEO Wiz Blog. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.seowizz.net/2009/06/a-further-bing-seo-update.html

Karter, J. (2009). Yahoo Search Ranking Factors. Jim Karter’s Blog. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.jimkarter.com/2009-08-27-yahoo-search-ranking-factors.html

A Wealth of Information

A wealth of information; that is exactly what Web analytics provides. From site visitors, to page views, to how users found a particular Web site, Web analytics reports contain critical information that can help marketers further a brand and gain insight into consumer behavior. This is one of the many reasons I find these types of reports, and essentially the power they hold, so fascinating.

According to an article posted on the Web Analytics Association Web site, “Web analytics (WA) are one of those things that everyone knows they need, but not always sure exactly what actions are called for in a given set of data” (Campbell, 2008). This is so true. When you think about it, what does it really mean to have so many visitors? If the majority of visitors are visiting a certain page, how can this help the business grow?

These questions can be answered by developing a strong Web analytics strategy. With the amount of information out there about a Web site, a strong strategy is crucial to understanding the meaning behind the statistics. In order for the information in a Web analytics report to be effective, consider the following when establishing a strategy:

• Understand the Website, why it was created and its overall objective
• What is important to key business units at a particular organization, and what information do they need to accomplish their jobs effectively (ZoomMetrix.com, 2009).

Once this strategy is established, a true understanding of Web analytics can be set in motion. Those using the report will be able to see the following: top keywords, referring domains, click paths, IP addresses, visiting trends, top landing pages, and conversion and bounce rates (Campbell, 2008).

Since a strategy has been developed, a marketing team can use this information as part of its overall marketing strategy. For example, this report can identify areas of focus for a company by identifying visitors (possible target audiences) and page views (a particular area of focus/topic a specific audience seeks). In addition, this reporting can also show a company if a particular page is not useful to its audiences, and it can go back and update the messaging or even eliminate the page.

But now that a strategy is in place, how do people find a particular site? This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play, and SEO and Web analytics really do go hand-in-hand. SEO “means ensuring that your Web pages are accessible to search engines and are focused in ways that help improve the chances they will be found” (searchenginewatch.com, 2007). Since most individuals will find your site via a search engine, strong SEO is critical.

Keywords play a central role in having people find your site. By using common keywords frequently on a site, the site will be picked up by a search engine and will have a stronger presence (searchenginewatch.com, 2007). Linking to other sites will also increase Web presence and the positioning on a search engine keyword search. Have some keywords in mind for your site, but not sure how to select them? Here is a helpful chart http://searchenginewatch.com/2168021

There is one final component that I find interesting as it relates to Web data and SEO. This is the involvement of social media. In fact, on a PRSA-sponsored Web conference, it was stated that social sites now rival search engines as directors of Web traffic (2010).

As marketers are being tasked to do more with less [budget], many are moving to digital tactics, and this includes social media. The benefits for combining social media and SEO are great. They range from increased social network discovery via search to the ability to attract links for improved SEO (Odden, 2009). This can increase awareness of a brand through links on profiles, blogs and other social networks. By utilizing links and keywords in social media channels, a company/brand can attain higher rankings in search engine searches (Odden, 2009). Learn more on this topic here.

Web analytics and SEO is ever-evolving. It is a marketing tactic that, if done properly, can benefit a business. There will be new trends, but if one understands that it is strategic and keyword-based, they will find success.

References
Campbell, J. (2008). Using Web Analytics for SEO. Web Analytics Association Web site. Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/en/art/508/

ZoomMetrix.com (2009). Executive Dashboard - Effective Web Analytics Reporting. ZoomMetrix Blog. Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www.zoommetrix.com/reporting/executive-dashboard-effective-web-analytics-reporting.html

Searchenginewatch.com (2007). Intro to Search Engine Optimization. Search Engine Watch Blog. Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://searchenginewatch.com/2167921

PRSA Seminar (January 19, 2010). Finding the Perfect Social Media and Communications Blend: How to Break Down Walls and Strike a Balance Between all your Online Lives.

Odden, L (2009). Social Media and SEO: 5 Essential Steps to Success. Mashable Blog. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from http://mashable.com/2009/04/15/social-media-seo/

And the Journey Continues...

Nearly six months ago, I embarked on a journey. A journey that would not only provide me with a more in-depth view of an emerging trend in the marketing communications world, but one that would also challenge me as a communications professional. This journey is the Digital Marketing Communications (DMC) program at West Virginia University. And after two courses, one introducing me and my three classmates to the topic and another focusing on social media, I believe I have gained a wealth of knowledge, and I am looking forward to the next step in the journey: a nine-week concentration on Web analytics and search engine optimization (SEO).

As a public relations professional with a decade of experience, the industry has definitely changed, or maybe I should say, evolved. When I started my career in 2000, the Internet was just beginning to play a major role in how we communicate with audiences. In fact, I was still faxing press releases and doing fax blasts. E-mail campaigns were just gaining momentum and numerous organizations were just starting to create Web sites. We were still grasping to understand what the Internet held and its capabilities. We may have been wondering if this was just a passing fad.

Fast forward 10 years, and we are in an entirely different world. We are in a digital world, and within this world we are discovering faster ways to disseminate a message; new technologies that have simplified life; and a culture that wants to be able to retrieve information on any topic imaginable with the click of a mouse.

This is an exciting and challenging time to be working in marketing and communications. Exciting because of all that is now available to us. Challenging because we are tasked with understanding these technologies and how to best use them. But I am ready for this challenge, and I look forward to learning more about Web analytics and SEO in the coming weeks. I know there is more to it than visitors to a site and page views. The knowledge that awaits in this course will be welcomed, embraced and applied to my daily work life.

So let the journey continue…