Web Analytics, SEO and Online Marketing Posts from 2007

I have compiled a list of some of the web analytics posts that I wrote in 2007. In case you missed them or want to read again, here they are:

Web Analytics

• Understanding time spent of site - I have come across this KPI over and over again. Many of my clients want to report it on frequent basis and some even have this as one of their goals for the site. However, I am surprised to find that not many people (not even a lot of web analysts) understand how this metrics is calculated and what this is actually reporting. This post explains what time spent on site or a page means and how it is calculated.


• Referring Domain Demystified - This two part series explains how referring domains are reported by the web analytics tools.
  
  
  
  1. Referring Domains Demystified - Part II
  
  
  2. Referring Domains Demystified
  
  


• Bounce Rate Demystified – This post answers three questions about bounce rate
  
  1. What is bounce rate?
  
  
  2. What is the industry standard for bounce rate?
  
  
  3. What causes high or low bounce rates?
  
  


• Are you doing Web Reporting or Web Analytics? – This post clears the confusion between Web Reporting and Web Analytics.


• Books Recommended by Web Analysts - If you are starting a career in web analytics or are already working in this field but are looking for some good reads then this list is for you. Please note that this is not a list of recommended books by me, these are from the analysts I interviewed (except for Competing on Analytics). I have not even read most of these books yet.

Online Marketing

• Targeting Cart Abandonment By Email - This post provides some steps that you should include into your process for using email incentives when you target users who abandon shopping cart on your site.


• What does Website Optimization mean? - Depending on your role in the organization you might have define Optimization which might not be the same as somebody else in a different role. The people responsible for different pieces of website optimization do not understand the complete picture and are locked in their own definition of website optimization. This article explains what optimization means.


• Do you really need a home page? - Home page has long been the focus of attention of most of the marketers. But should it be? This post shows you how you might be missing on a huge opportunity by focusing on just the home page of the site.


• 10 steps for measuring online advertising success – This post shows my 10 steps process for measuring the online advertising success, nothing fancy, a simple straight forward process that will improve your bottom line.
  

SEO

• Relying too much on SEO? Think Again. - A lot marketers are getting too obsessed with traffic driven to their sites from Google, Yahoo, Live (MSN), ASK etc without thinking about the consequences of dropping off from search engines rankings. I understand that it is relatively cheaper (notice I did not say Free) than paid inclusions, banner ads, affiliates etc. And ranking high on search engine is something to be happy about and proud of, ranking high on search engines provides you competitive advantage. But Free comes with risks.


• Follow the Search - Search is a powerful (relatively free) way to generate site traffic. However it also results in huge bounce rate, this article talk about a simple way to engage these users and decrease the bounce rate which increasing the conversion.