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Analytics: How Do You Know How Great You Are?

Digital Marketing Analytics

 

You can do everything right. You can strategize with the best of the online marketers, be a social media superstar, have your website be the top Google search result, master email communication, and drink coffee with the rest of the closers when you convert your visitors into customers. If you do all of these things, you will generate revenue from your website and all your hard work will pay off. However, unless you employ Analytics to track your progress, you will not know where your strengths and weaknesses are located, and you will not know how you can improve your website to maximize its performance. Analytics does not stop at examining the performance of your own website. The ability to properly mine online data will also let you see where you can take advantage of emerging online trends, to the point where you can direct future content to match the interests of your customer base. By enabling you to learn from your past efforts and providing you the path for the future, Analytics will become the force multiplier for your online business.

Classic management advice: “What gets tracked, gets done.” Being able to track the performance of your website is essential for its improvement. The use of Analytics gives you a sharper set of tools to examine your online traffic beyond just seeing the number of people who visit your website. It allows you to track the demographic data of your visitors, to the level of detail where you can see how they accessed your site, if they are repeat visitors, and their geographic location (you might be big in Japan and have no idea). You can also see the nature of their behavior as they move through your website – did they stop at your home page and move on? Did they make it all the way to the checkout page without proceeding with their order? Maybe you’re getting a lot of visitors, but are they pushing on your Call to Action button so they can be converted? With Analytics, you can see where the winners and losers are within your organization and modify accordingly.

Where Analytics really can shine is in the world of observing trends. You may have heard the following quote by hockey star Wayne Gretzky: “Some people skate to the puck. I skate to where the puck is going to be.” Being able to go not only to where the customers are, but where they are going to be will propel your business to the top of its industry and provide you with an enviable reputation for being ahead of the innovation curve. And while it sounds nice, it ain’t easy—if it were, wouldn’t everyone be doing it by now?  The sheer quantity of data online will force you to think in terms of strategizing where you will target your Analytic efforts. And… wait, didn’t we talk about Strategy before? Indeed, Analytics will provide you with the raw data for your Strategy, where you start the online marketing process anew with more experience and clearer eyes.

So if you’ve been reading our previous articles, you now have all the tools required in order to dominate the online landscape: Strategy, Social Media, SEO, Email Marketing, Conversions, and now Analytics. And we know it can be a lot to take in all at once, and it’s not like you get extra credit if you can name off the core concepts for each tool. What will earn you extra revenue is having a qualified team dedicated to the future success of your website. Reach out to Sun Sign Designs today to find out how we can help your business with all of these tasks!

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Conversions: Transforming Website Visitors to Customers with the Right Call to Action

Over the past month, we’ve explored several concepts that will serve as the foundation of success for your website and online marketing strategy. We saw how Strategy can make or break your business, and how Social Media has grown to become one of the primary drivers of new website traffic. We looked into the importance of Search Engine Optimization for people to be able to find your site, and how Email Marketing can be implemented to maintain customer relationships over time. Today we’re adding a new ingredient to mix, and much like baking powder in a recipe, the correct amount must be used for the dish you’re serving to your guests to come out right: Conversions. The importance of Conversions can’t be understated; once your website visitors are there with their interest engaged, do they know what to do next for your business to benefit from the interaction? The Conversion is the “moment of truth” for your website and online marketing efforts, as everything has led up to this point where the visitor decides to choose you as the provider for the product or service they are seeking.

The best way to capitalize on the Conversion opportunity is with a Call to Action. The Call to Action (CtoA) is to online marketing as the Close is to direct sales. Yes, those are uppercase letters and yes, it’s that important, because if your website does not incorporate Calls to Action then you are losing out on potential customers and therefore, money. In most cases, the CtoA will be a link often in the form of a button – easily seen and used in order for them to go to the correct next action. A brilliant example of a simple CtoA comes from none other than our friend Google, which has perhaps the single most used Call to Action of all time right on their home page:

Google Image

The “Google Search” button is how Google users, well, Google something, and it’s the all-important step for visitors to be taken where they would next like to go. Note that in this case that this particular Call to Action does not directly provide revenue for Google; it is however the essential step for Google to use its money-making AdSense and AdWords functions as customers click through to participating websites (you can find out more about how the Google revenue model works here).

While the Call to Action is perhaps the most important element of Conversions, there is more to the concept than just having your very own magic money button. The Landing Page is the destination where the Call to Action link will take your customer, and you will want to make sure the page is correctly organized so the customer knows where they should go for the next step if needed—if the Call to Action is the door for your customer, the Landing Page is the room where they’ll find themselves after entering.

Amazon provides a great example of how Calls to Action and Landing Pages work together. For every one of its product Landing Page displaying the item, product description and reviews, Amazon uses an “Add to Cart” button to select the corresponding item for purchase, followed by a “Proceed to Checkout” button from the Cart page, with a final “Place Your Order” button at the Checkout page. On each Landing Page, Amazon asks you to fill out the necessary information for your order to be completed. This all feels natural to us as customers and we normally complete the steps without thinking much beyond the requested information—in fact, the majority of vendor websites offering a product are built this way, to the point where it’s hard to imagine a successful widespread alternative (Amazon’s own 1-Click ordering being a very notable exception, something few businesses other than Apple’s online stores can pull off). The interaction on your website between Calls to Action and Landing Pages should likewise feel natural, where it eases the visitor along the process to their desired destination.

Conversions are critical to the strategic success of your online website, and while this article provides a brief overview of the process, you’ll want to make sure your site is configured correctly so you can maximize the revenue it is bringing to your business. The experts at Sun Sign Designs are here to help you as you navigate this process. Reach out to us today so we can successfully turn your visitors into paying customers!

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Getting Google to Work for Your Business

We discussed in last week’s article how social media has grown in importance for potential customers to link to your business, potentially surpassing search engines as the most prominent way for users to find you. There is no doubt, however, that the use of search engines is still essential to your online web presence. After all, customers have to be able to find you and your business, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the concept of making sure people can do so in a natural manner on the internet.

First, the elephant in the room: SEO has recently developed a bit of an unfortunate reputation, where its methods are accused of being spammy or even sleazy by its critics. The argument goes that it manipulates users into being directed to content they allegedly would not want to see by abusing the use of keywords in search engines’ algorithms. As with any successful business practice, bad apples will appear to spoil the crop, and it is essential to use the correct methods of SEO in order to avoid falling in with that group.

Google itself is a proponent of SEO, offering educational material to its employees in the form of its SEO Starter Guide, helping them bolster the online presence of their individual websites. It is safe to say that if the current king of search engines has a list of SEO best practices to use, it is A) certainly fine to use SEO in general, and B) a good idea to read up on the given material. The free guide covers important topics such as creating unique web page titles, optimizing core content for search purposes, and making sure the right material on the website gets picked up by the “crawlers” utilized by search engines to index your site into its search directory.

While Google’s guide is an excellent start into the world of SEO, the field is always changing and requires constant vigilance in order to stay ahead. For instance, how does your website handle the increased use of digital assistants like the iPhone’s Siri for search purposes? Is your website geared for mobile platforms such as iOS and Android? Your site may be optimized for Google, but what about Bing, Yahoo and other search engines – do you know if your business is topping out on those web services as well? The fact of the matter is, not everyone is an expert in online marketing, nor should they require themselves to be. The qualified professionals at Sun Sign Designs are adept at cutting through the noise in the SEO world to deliver you meaningful and tangible results for your online presence. So reach out to us today to find out more about how SEO can contribute to your overall marketing strategy.

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Social Media: The Essential Portal for New Customers

 

social-media

 

Which would you prefer: having to directly search for information yourself, or to have relevant information delivered to you, by your friends, in an interesting and entertaining package? The contrast between the two choices shows the appeal of the latter option, social media, where customers are introduced to your product in a more organic and word-of-mouth format as opposed to requiring them to use a search engine to find out about your business. This isn’t to say that search engines aren’t important—consumers will always want to Google your business so they can easily find you—but it does display the importance of having a robust social media presence so you can utilize this essential channel for your marketing efforts.

The numbers don’t lie. Back in August, we discussed how Facebook surpassed Google for driving website referrals for media companies tracked by Parse.ly, a major web analytics firm. Facebook was responsible for 43% of website referrals for these 400 companies, while Google fell short at 38% for the same group. Of course these numbers don’t comprise every company on the internet, but the firms represented include Wired and The Atlantic, significant media businesses that thrive on finding new customers. Why is Facebook beating Google? Our previous article dug into this as well: “Facebook works from the user’s network of friends and its own “Like” system to populate trending content into the user’s feed. News stories posted by friends arrive among pictures and notifications, creating a customizable buffet of information options for the social media user.” Sites like Facebook use an algorithm to figure out what content would relate best to each individual. So having your content linked on Facebook means not only is your information getting in front of people you want, but more importantly it’s getting in front of people who will most likely want you.

So how can you take advantage of this trend towards social media traffic? As Bill Gates famously said, “content is king.” Specifically, excellent content is king. We mean the kind of material that will stand out in your future customers’ mind, hold on to their attention long enough that not only will they agree with what you have to say, but will be interested, engaged, and willing to find out more. The content must be high quality, and delivered in a manner that makes it easy for the customer to navigate both to and from the page so they can find more of what you have to deliver. Ultimately, you want to create a delightful experience for the consumer, where you have them from the start. And there’s no better way to accomplish this than by having a powerful social media presence, guided by the pros at Sun Sign Designs. Reach out to us today so we can kickstart your social media strategy now!

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Conquering YouTube Nation: Why Video Is the Keystone to Your Marketing Strategy

One billion viewers a month—YouTube is simply one of the most popular hubs online, fulfilling the internet’s promise of connecting users across the world while being easy enough for any member of your entire family to use. And its medium, video, couldn’t be any hotter right now in terms of effectiveness. From a wide angle view of the mass media market, it’s no secret that Hollywood, cable television, and the video game industry dominate revenues while printed books, newspapers and the music industry currently struggle. Video is what is known as an “integrated medium,” combining visual, audio, and even textual ideas together to form an experience for the viewer that can carry more information than just appealing to one of the senses alone. As your company looks to either begin or expand its marketing efforts, video should be front and center in your strategy.

The proof is in the numbers when speaking of video’s effectiveness. According to CommsAxis, search results from Google have a 41% higher click-through rates than plain text. Once visitors make it to your website, video is able to keep them there for longer as well, for up to 2 minutes more than if there was no video. As in most things, conciseness is key: 20% of viewers are likely to click away from the video 10 seconds into the video, while another 45% are done after viewing for a minute. In addition, viewers are more likely to share your video if it is 15 seconds or shorter, which is critical to the overall success of your video reaching its full potential.

YouTube may be the most popular online video site, but it is far from being the only one. Utilizing services such as Vimeo, Vine and Instagram will take your video marketing efforts to new pools of viewers. And that doesn’t even include tapping into the vast potential that Facebook, Twitter and other social media offer for helping your video go viral across a mass population of viewers with shared interests. A successful video has the ability to convey useful information to your future customers, positioning your company as the experts while increasing the name recognition of your services. So what are you waiting for? Reach out to Sun Sign Designs now to learn more about how video marketing can make a difference for your company!

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See No Evil: Google’s Transformation into Alphabet

Starting today, Google will fully report to its parent company Alphabet, a move that while being administrative in nature could be a sign of changes on the horizon for the search engine behemoth and the internet as a whole. Google itself still exists as an individual company; Alphabet will essentially be the parent company overseeing both Google and the more experimental projects formerly housed by the search engine. While the companies have been gearing up for the organizational changes, a report by The Verge reveals an interesting finding: Google’s famous “Don’t Be Evil” saying is conspicuously absent from Alphabet’s employee code of conduct. Changes such as the name and conduct policy in a normal company wouldn’t set off reports, but Google is no ordinary company. And as Google/Alphabet seeks to further expand its horizons and beat back the advances of Apple, Microsoft and Facebook into its market share, it’s changes like these that the world watches in order to divine the future of our online lives.

Given Google’s absolute dominance of the search engine field, the name change is likely to catch some people off guard. After all, Google is a verb, and its brand has achieved a level among Coca-Cola, Kleenex and Nike that is a marketer’s dream come true. The problem for the company came with its attempts to expand its portfolio of services beyond being just a search engine. Google has a well-earned reputation for being forward thinking, and with its financial success has the power to develop technologies that may not make total sense to investors back on Wall Street who are looking for additional profits. By reorganizing under the Alphabet banner, shareholders are able to keep their investments in Google while Alphabet is able to move forward with its experimental initiatives.

Google has always had a complicated relationship with power. The company has full access to over a billion search histories and the capability to link the far-reaching elements of the internet together, and along with its world-beating brand name and technology help it remain one of the overwhelming forces of the internet. Google’s motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” while being on one level tongue-in-cheek, also felt completely appropriate given its wealth of accumulated power. So for Alphabet to change the policy to a more neutered wording—employees are encouraged to “do the right thing,” but the right thing for who, the company or the consumer?—the company has to give up the moral authority that helped make Google feel like an ally to its employees, shareholders and users.

Another powerful pop cultural force has also coincidentally changed its name around the same time as Google. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show is now featuring South African comedian Trevor Noah as Jon Stewart’s replacement at the head anchor’s chair. On his opening monologue this past Monday, Noah addressed the change in true sarcastic Daily Show fashion, saying that “[Stewart] was often our voice, our refuge. In many ways, our dad. And now it’s weird because Dad has left.” In many ways, Google also has a father-like presence over its domain of the internet. And while the company remains, it is likely to feel different somehow as its umbrella company ultimately answers for it. Whether these changes are truly just administrative, or a sign of things to come, is still unknown. For now Google is still the go-to search engine worldwide, and that is something that is unlikely to be changed.

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Facebook Passes Google in Driving Web Traffic for Media Providers

According to a new set of data from Parse.ly, a major web analytics firm, Facebook has emerged as the strongest driver of website referrals among the firm’s partnering media companies, beating out Google for this notable distinction. The Parse.ly data is comprised from over 400 companies, including large media firms such as Wired and The Atlantic. Facebook was responsible for 43% of the group’s website referrals, while Google, who had reigned as the champion for the previous three years of recorded data, came in at 38%. Website referrals are considered the links that direct a user or consumer to the company’s website. The report points to a shift in a way people are finding out about news and trends, as they rely more on social media as opposed to the once dominant search engines.

The change in online behavior could come down to a difference of function. Search engines such as Google require users to enter data directly themselves before returning relevant results. This allows users to customize their search to find precisely what they’re looking for, while still relying on active input from the user. Facebook works from the user’s network of friends and  its own “Like” system to populate trending content into the user’s feed. News stories posted by friends arrive among pictures and notifications, creating a customizable buffet of information options for the social media user. So while Google may still be the go-to search engine method for targeted results (apologies to Bing, responsible for only 3% for Parse.ly’s reported traffic), social media has become integrated into user’s lives to the point where it has become an undeniable powerhouse, with Facebook leading the way.

As both Facebook and Google account for 81% of Parse.ly’s traffic, companies need to modify their business practices to reflect the changing dynamic. While before it may have been sufficient to create a website that handled search engine users, companies must now also create and monitor content that caters to an audience that is being referred to them via friends and colleagues. This new category of visitors may not have even realized they were interested before their network notified them of the content. This is a boon to companies who are able to capture attention in an engaging way, and the opportunity is there for those who wish to ride this new trend that looks as though will change the online landscape for the long term.

Source: Nandita Mathur, Livemint

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The Mozilla-Yahoo Partnership and what that means for you…

–The Mozilla-Yahoo Partnership and what that means for you…Mozilla-Yahoo-Artwork

When you think of the term “search” in reference to an online search, what is the first word that pops into your head? Yes, probably Google- but with the recent Mozilla-Yahoo partnership this may change the way you, the end user search the web.

Mozilla Firefox accounts for about 10% of the browser market, with Yahoo now being their default search engine, this means a likely increase for Yahoo as well. But, why the switch? Mozilla broke off its nearly one decade partnership with Google to tie the knot with Yahoo- in a recent interview with the CEO of Mozilla, Chris Beard, he says “In evaluating our search partnerships, our primary consideration was to ensure our strategy aligned with our values of choice and independence, and positions us to innovate and advance our mission in ways that best serve our users and the Web.” Mozilla has asked Yahoo as part of their partnership to stand behind their beliefs in the “DO NOT TRACK” feature which privatizes searches for the user. This news is hugely important for all of the users that search via Google as they are well known for their tracking feature and “stalker ads.” Ever noticed when you search a specific store or product via Google, those ads begin popping up every time you search? Well, Mozilla and Yahoo are taking the opposite approach and looking to offer privacy and not track users every step. So, with all of this hype about Mozilla and Yahoo, you might be asking yourself, so what does this mean for me? This means you have a choice!

Of course, Yahoo and Google search results are similar, but it really relies heavily upon personal preference. With evolving search tactics including voice search as well as geographical tie-ins used to keep users within Yahoo or Google’s page it will be interesting to see what is to come of this newly formed partnership and the way we search. You’ll notice if you search for a newly released movie on Google, it not only displays the movie information to the right, but also gives you the times at which its playing at cinemas closest to you. The point being- keep the user within Google instead of redirecting them to another page.

Mozilla is choosing to keep their company values alive while also proving to remain completely independent of Google, their new approach with Yahoo has so far been fairly successful especially with Yahoo’s improved search functionality. Should Google be concerned? Perhaps a little, losing 10% of the market could be fairly impactful on this well known search engine- but only time will tell. So if you’re still wondering, who does this partnership impact the most? The answer is YOU. You have the choice how of you wish to search, do you want to be tracked or do you want private search options?  The choice is yours! If you’re finding that you are unfamiliar with the recent changes or even wondering what this may mean for you as a business and your search rankings and whether or not this will impact where, when and how you are found- let us help you. Sun Sign Designs specializes specifically in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We understand just how search engines work and what people are searching for. We know the ins and the outs of keywords and choosing ones that will be effective in search engines such as Yahoo, Google or Bing. Call us today! We are ready to help…570-594-4216

 

Alexa Rankings, Are they Really Accurate?

I have recently been asked by a client to explain what Alexa is, the ranking system and is it worth worrying about how you rank with them.

Lets start from the top, Alexa is a web analytics company and it’s rating system is based on how much traffic you get. Sounds very similar to the Google model, until to get down and dirty with the facts. Alexa uses a tool bar to help rank traffic. If a user does not have an Alexa tool bar installed then when they visit a site, the site’s traffic does not get reported to Alexa. The work around is to add a piece of code to the header of your website that allows Alexa to count a visit to your site. With regards to the ranking system the lower the ranking number then the better your site is doing.

So is it worth it? Personally I feel that Alexa is a bit communist with how they generate their rank. If the rank was based on ALL sites and All visits to said site, then I would say yes Alexa is part of the big three. However, the ranking number is skewed since you either have to have code on your site or a user has to have a Alexa tool bar installed on their browser. I personally do not have any extra tool bars installed and I think that the mass of internet users follow suite with that statement. So the mere fact that the web community entertains such partial data as a whole picture is erroneous.

In conclusion, I am not doubting the power that Alexa does have with helping make marketing decisions, but as in future news articles will show, to get a true picture you can not rely on one search engine/ analytics system, you have to rely on a few and make a traffic analysis on your own. The other option is to hire a firm like us that specializes in data and traffic models and builds a close to true picture of what traffic your really getting.

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Bounce Rate Explaination

Below is the very technical reason to describe bounce rate. If you look at the landing pages, your point of entry has become more specific as time has progressed. Point being that if you take my philosophy that every page is a home page, when a person lands on the page they are looking for, first, then leave it counts as a bounce. They may have gotten the information they were looking for with out having to hunt around on the site, which again is a plus. See the info below.

Bounce rate is the percentage of visits that go only one page before exiting a site.

There are a number of factors that contribute to your bounce rate. For example, visitors might leave your site from the entrance page if there are site design or usability issues. Alternatively, visitors might also leave the site after viewing a single page if they’ve found the information they need on that one page, and had no need or interest in visiting other pages.

Other factors may be solely attributed to visitor behavior. For example, if a user bookmarks a page on your site, visits it, and leaves, then that’s considered a bounce.

To understand the difference between exit and bounce rates for a particular page in your site, keep in mind three things:

  1. For all pageviews to the page, the exit rate is the percentage that were the last in the session.
  2. For all sessions that start with the page, bounce rate is the percentage that were the only one of the session.
  3. The bounce rate calculation for a page is based only on visits that start with that page.

Let’s clarify this last point with a simple example. Your site has pages A through C, and only one session per day exists, with the following pageview order:

  • Monday: Page A > Page B > Page C
  • Tuesday: Page B > Page A > Page C
  • Wednesday: Page A > exit

The content report for Page A would show 3 pageviews and a 50% bounce rate.  You might have guessed that the bounce rate would be 33%, but the Tuesday pageview granted to Page A is not considered in its bounce rate calculation. Consider that a bounce is the notion of a session with only one interaction from the visitor, and the session-centric analysis answers a simple yes/no question: “Did this session contain more than one pageview?” If the answer to that question is “no,” then it’s important to consider which page was involved in the bounce.  If the answer is “yes,” then it only matters that the initial page in the session lead to other pageviews.  For that reason, bounce rate for a page is only meaningful when it initiates the session.

Now let’s extend this example to explore the Exit rate and Bounce rate metrics for a series of single-session days on your site.

  • Monday: Page B > Page A > Page C
  • Tuesday:  Page B > Exit
  • Wednesday:  Page A > Page C > Page B
  • Thursday:  Page C > Exit
  • Friday: Page B > Page C > Page A

The % Exit and Bounce rate calculations are:

Exit Rate:

  • Page A: 33% (only 3 of 5 sessions included Page A)
  • Page B: 50% (only 4 of 5 sessions included Page B)
  • Page C: 50% (only 4 of 5 sessions included Page C)

Bounce Rate:

  • Page A: 0% (no sessions began with Page A, so it has no bounce rate)
  • Page B: 33% (bounce rate is higher than exit rate, because 3 sessions started with Page B, with one leading to a bounce)
  • Page C: 100% (one session started with Page C, and it lead to a bounce)

(Sourced from Google)