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	<title>Tim Peter thinks &#187; analytics</title>
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	<description>Interactive marketing and e-commerce strategy blog for the local, mobile, social web</description>
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		<title>Learn What&#8217;s Working On Your Site: Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/02/learn-whats-working-on-your-site-web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=learn-whats-working-on-your-site-web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/02/learn-whats-working-on-your-site-web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:15:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing 101]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web site analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=2223</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What are the most important places to fix your website? Our Web Analytics Fundamentals series offers a quick lesson.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/01/semi-deep-thoughts-on-measuring-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Semi-Deep Thoughts on Measuring Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Semi-Deep Thoughts on Measuring Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Wrapping up the Measuring Conversion portion of our Web Analytics...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>The Web Analytics Fundamentals series looks into conversion rates....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>If you&#8217;ve been following <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">our Web Analytics Fundamentals series</a> for the last week or so, you&#8217;ve learned <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/">some analytics basics</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/">how to track traffic</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/">the importance of segmentation</a>, and <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/">easy ways to measure conversion</a>. </p>
<p>Today we&#8217;re going to look at another big piece of the puzzle: evaluating what&#8217;s working on your site. Again, in keeping with the &#8220;quick &#8216;n&#8217; dirty&#8221; focus of this series, we&#8217;re going to look at just one report. As ever, you can <a href="http://timpeter.wufoo.com/forms/contact-us/def/field25=Analytics%20support&#038;field30=20120202-waf-blog-post">contact me</a> if you&#8217;re interested in exploring this in more detail for your site. </p>
<p>What I&#8217;m about to show you is a piece of cake in Google Analytics, though you can <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/07/10/ecommerce-performance-slumping-a-quick-way-to-fix-whats-important/">easily accomplish the same thing using any tool</a>. </p>
<p>First, pull up whichever report shows you the most visited pages on your site. In GA, that&#8217;s going to be under <strong>Content &gt; Site Content &#038;gt. Pages</strong>. Next change the View from <em>Data</em> to <em>Comparison</em>, as you can see in this screenshot:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pageview-bounce-rate-comparison.png" rel="lightbox[2223]"><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pageview-bounce-rate-comparison1.png" alt="Pageview bounce rate comparison" border="0" width="300" height="94" /></a></p>
<p>Then, select <em>Unique Pageviews</em> and <em>Bounce Rate</em> from the drop-downs above the data to display a comparison of the most viewed pages and their bounce rate relative to your site average, like this:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pageview-bounce-rate.png" rel="lightbox[2223]"><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/pageview-bounce-rate1.png" alt="Pageview bounce rate" border="0" width="300" height="95" /></a></p>
<p>As seen in the example, three of the six most visited pages on this site also have a bounce rate that&#8217;s higher than average. Follow our <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/04/22/want-to-improve-bounce-rate-six-questions-you-must-get-right/">steps to fix your bounce rate</a> on the pages that &#8220;light up&#8221; your comparison report and watch your business grow, simple as that. </p>
<p>Like this post? Don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">check out the rest of our Web Analytics Fundamentals series</a> here.</p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/analytics" rel="tag">analytics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/continuous%20improvement" rel="tag">continuous improvement</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion" rel="tag">conversion</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion%20rate" rel="tag">conversion rate</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion%20rate%20optimization" rel="tag">conversion rate optimization</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-commerce" rel="tag">e-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ecommerce" rel="tag">ecommerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Google" rel="tag">Google</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Google%20Analytics" rel="tag">Google Analytics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/how%20to%20measure%20anything" rel="tag">how to measure anything</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/internet%20business" rel="tag">internet business</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/internet%20marketing" rel="tag">internet marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/landing%20page%20design" rel="tag">landing page design</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/landing%20page%20optimization" rel="tag">landing page optimization</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/marketing" rel="tag">marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/marketing%20best%20practices" rel="tag">marketing best practices</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/measurement" rel="tag">measurement</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/metrics" rel="tag">metrics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Omniture%20SiteCatalyst" rel="tag">Omniture SiteCatalyst</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/page%20design" rel="tag">page design</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/performance" rel="tag">performance</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/testing" rel="tag">testing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Webtrends" rel="tag">Webtrends</a></p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/01/semi-deep-thoughts-on-measuring-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Semi-Deep Thoughts on Measuring Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Semi-Deep Thoughts on Measuring Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Wrapping up the Measuring Conversion portion of our Web Analytics...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>The Web Analytics Fundamentals series looks into conversion rates....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Semi-Deep Thoughts on Measuring Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/01/semi-deep-thoughts-on-measuring-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=semi-deep-thoughts-on-measuring-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/02/01/semi-deep-thoughts-on-measuring-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:03:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing 101]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web site analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=2215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wrapping up the Measuring Conversion portion of our Web Analytics Fundamentals series.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>The Web Analytics Fundamentals series looks into conversion rates....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Measuring traffic segments continues the Tim Peter Thinks look at...</small></li>
</ol>

Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/measuring-conversion-successfully.jpg" alt="Measuring conversion successfully" border="0" width="250" height="191" style="float:left; padding: 0px 15px 5px 0px;" />Yesterday, as part of our <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">Web Analytics Fundamentals series</a>, we looked at <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/">best practices for tracking conversion</a>. Today, we&#8217;re going to look into a couple of common (and one not-so-common) conversion questions.</p>
<h2>Visits vs. Unique Visitors</h2>
<p>Which is better for tracking conversions, visits or unique visitors? My typical answer to this question is, &#8220;Oy.&#8221; You&#8217;ll find out why in a second. <strong>But the simplest answer is: &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter. Pick one and stick with it.&#8221;</strong> I tend to like unique visitors over the typical purchase cycle time. Meaning, if your typical purchase cycle is 21 days, use monthly unique visitors; if your purchase cycle is 3 days, use weekly unique visitors. <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/02/18/are-unique-visitors-a-meaningful-measure-of-your-websites-traffic/">Here&#8217;s why</a>.</p>
<p>Sounds easy enough. So, why is my typical answer &#8220;oy&#8221;? </p>
<p>Here&#8217;s why:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Neither metric tells the whole story.</strong> In my experience, unique visitors represent the reality of available opportunity better than visits <em>but</em> visits tend to offer a better leading indicator of purchase intent (due to what I call <a href="http://www.biznology.com/2011/06/the_first_conversion_why_repea/">the &#8220;first conversion&#8221; effect</a>). At the same time, I&#8217;ve never analyzed any data that shows either accounts for more than 50% of the conversion decision. Little things like price, your offer, site copy, etc. all play a big role, too. You can <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/">read the pros and cons of visits vs. unique visitors</a> if you&#8217;re really curious. But, you&#8217;re better off just picking one and sticking with it.</li>
<li><strong>Some analytics tools impose limits.</strong> I&#8217;m a big fan of Google Analytics. I don&#8217;t dispute it (you can <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2010/10/21/why-google-analytics-always-belongs-in-your-measurement-consideration-set/">read why I like GA so much here</a>). But many of its reports only provide segments for visits. If you&#8217;re using GA,  you&#8217;re somewhat forced into using visits by default. Omniture and Webtrends often require expensive add-ons to drill down on some data. If your tool pushes you in a specific direction, don&#8217;t fight it. You&#8217;re much better off learning its nuances and focusing on your business than wasting time fighting to get different data out of it. In other words, pick one and stick with it.</li>
<li><strong>It&#8217;s a religious debate.</strong> Those who live for one insist that their way is best and rarely change their minds. Don&#8217;t waste your time on religious debates. You&#8217;re much better off if, instead, you&mdash;say it with me now&mdash;pick one and stick with it. Then <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/">use your segments and trends to improve your business</a>. </li>
</ol>
<p>Life&#8217;s too short&mdash;and business is hard enough&mdash;without getting into the weeds of these things too much. I guarantee you either measuring unique visitors or visits can help you grow your business equally effectively. If you&#8217;ve really reached the point where one makes a measurable difference to your business, give me a call. I&#8217;d love to hear what you&#8217;re doing.</p>
<h2>Bouce Rate/Retained Visits</h2>
<p>The second factor when analyzing conversion rate is the number of people who bounce from your site. Customers who bounce hurt your overall conversion rate and represent truly lost opportunity. Usually, I consider the available opportunity by subtracting converted visits from visits that didn&#8217;t bounce (i.e., &#8220;retained&#8221; visits). <strong>Few things will improve your conversion rate faster than improving your bounce rate</strong>. See <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/04/20/when-is-your-bounce-rate-too-high-whats-it-worth-to-you-to-fix-it/">this post learn how to calculate your retained visits</a>. And when you&#8217;re ready to improve, check out this post on <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/04/22/want-to-improve-bounce-rate-six-questions-you-must-get-right/">how to improve your bounce rate</a>.</p>
<h2>Returns and Cancellations</h2>
<p>Finally, what about returns and cancellations? Should you factor those into your conversion rate? </p>
<p>I don&#8217;t think so. While returns and cancellations are, obviously, critically important from a business metrics perspective, I don&#8217;t believe they tell you very much about your e-commerce activities (though, one could argue that cancelled orders could be a sign that your customers found a alternative after they made the initial purchase from you). </p>
<p>It&#8217;s no secret I fall into the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/03/11/the-7-keys-to-successful-web-metrics-guide-to-small-business-ecommerce-strategy/">&#8220;precision, not accuracy&#8221; camp of web analytics</a>. Conversion rate tells you how well your web site and marketing activities work to drive sales. Introducing cancels and returns into your web data, which tools such as Omniture SiteCatalyst can do, may confuse things more than it helps. As long as you know that &#8220;revenue&#8221; numbers in your analytics tool represent gross numbers, not net, you&#8217;re fine. </p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/analytics" rel="tag">analytics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion" rel="tag">conversion</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion%20rate" rel="tag">conversion rate</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/conversion%20rate%20optimization" rel="tag">conversion rate optimization</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/E-commerce" rel="tag">E-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-commerce" rel="tag">e-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ecommerce" rel="tag">ecommerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Google" rel="tag">Google</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/google" rel="tag">google</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Google%20Analytics" rel="tag">Google Analytics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/how%20to%20measure%20anything" rel="tag">how to measure anything</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/marketing%20best%20practices" rel="tag">marketing best practices</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/measurement" rel="tag">measurement</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/metrics" rel="tag">metrics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Omniture%20SiteCatalyst" rel="tag">Omniture SiteCatalyst</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Webtrends" rel="tag">Webtrends</a></p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>The Web Analytics Fundamentals series looks into conversion rates....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Measuring traffic segments continues the Tim Peter Thinks look at...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>Tracking Conversion: Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/31/tracking-conversion-web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:09:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conversion rate optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing 101]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[The Web Analytics Fundamentals series looks into conversion rates.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Measuring traffic segments continues the Tim Peter Thinks look at...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How can you make your web analytics work for your...</small></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I&#8217;ve covered <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/">conversion rate in a competitive context</a> in the past, but today I want to look at conversion on your site in more detail. </p>
<p>First, whenever you&#8217;re talking about conversion rate, you need to talk about what defines &#8220;conversion&#8221; for your business. As <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">this series</a> focuses solely on the most important metrics to determine how well your site and business perform, <strong>we&#8217;re only interested in conversion metrics that lead directly to&mdash;or themselves represent&mdash;meaningful business results.</strong> </p>
<p>Here are some examples from clients I&#8217;ve worked with:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Hotels:</strong> Reservations</li>
<li><strong>Retail:</strong> Online sales</li>
<li><strong>Restaurants:</strong> Reservations</li>
<li><strong>Loyalty programs:</strong> Account sign-ups</li>
<li><strong>Financial services:</strong> Accounts opened</li>
<li><strong>Training services:</strong> Courses enrolled, courses completed</li>
<li><strong>Franchisors: </strong>Leads</li>
<li><strong>Wholesalers:</strong> Orders</li>
<li><strong>Real estate:</strong> Leads</li>
</ul>
<p>Configuring your specific analytics tool to track conversions is outside the scope of this post, other than to say it usually entails placing a &#8220;tag&#8221; (a small piece of Javascript code) on each web page in the transaction path. Sometimes IT requirements make that a little more onerous than it sounds. But, to be fair, your CEO usually holds those IT folks accountable for ensuring that transaction path stays up and running 24/7/365, so work with them. You&#8217;re all on the same team.  If you need help getting your analytics configured, <a href="http://timpeter.wufoo.com/forms/contact-us/def/field25=Analytics%20support&#038;field30=20120131-waf-blog-post">drop us a line</a>.</p>
<p>In some cases, your existing shopping cart/booking engine/lead system/what-have-you won&#8217;t let you modify the analytics code to track conversions. In those cases, you can usually pass parameters through the transactions via a hidden field or some other such mechanism. Again, if you need help, <a href="http://timpeter.wufoo.com/forms/contact-us/def/field25=Analytics%20support&#038;field30=20120131-waf-blog-post">contact me and let me know</a>.</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;re tracking meaningful conversions, it&#8217;s usually easy to pull a report that shows you how many you&#8217;ve received over a given period. For instance, this is what it looks like in Google Analytics (we&#8217;re looking at a nine-week period):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/conversions.png" rel="lightbox[2202]"><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/conversions1.png" alt="Conversions" border="0" width="300" height="112" /></a></p>
<p>As ever, we&#8217;re looking for anomalies, which makes that dip in the middle (around week 4)&mdash;or the spikes surrounding it&mdash;curious.</p>
<p>And this is where <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/">the segmentation we looked at yesterday</a> offers so much value.</p>
<p>Our traffic segment report shows that we had a drop in referral and natural search traffic beginning in week 4 when sales dropped off:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/traffic-by-segment.png" rel="lightbox[2202]"><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/traffic-by-segment1.png" alt="Traffic by segment" border="0" width="300" height="163" /></a></p>
<p>Now, wouldn&#8217;t it be great if you could view your conversions the same way?</p>
<p>Actually, you can. Most tools allow for segmenting conversions the same as traffic (in particular, this is an area where Google Analytics really shines):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/conversions-by-segment.png" rel="lightbox[2202]"><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/conversions-by-segment1.png" alt="Conversions by segment" border="0" width="300" height="201" /></a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s clear by looking at the data that organic search and direct traffic provided the bulk of the conversions prior to week 4, but only organic search picked up again in week 8. As with the discussion yesterday, this level of data offers both insights and opportunities for improvement. Did the company end any off-site or other offline marketing during the same period as the decline? Did they change their email marketing pattern? Could we use paid media to offset the decline in direct conversions? Again, we&#8217;re looking for anomalies and using those to drive business decisions. </p>
<p>Another point worth mentioning is how segmentation aids our understanding of what&#8217;s going on with the site. Without segmentation, we see that there were roughly 8,700 visits and 154 transactions resulting in a 1.77% &#8220;conversion&#8221; rate. But, in reality, this is what conversion actually looked like:</p>
<table border="2" width="" cellpadding="2" align="center">
<tr>
<th width="25%">Source</th>
<th width="25%">Conversions</th>
<th width="25%">Visits</th>
<th width="25%">Conversion Rate</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Direct</td>
<td align="right">38</td>
<td align="right">1,594</td>
<td align="right">2.38%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Organic search</td>
<td align="right">57</td>
<td align="right">2,462</td>
<td align="right">2.32%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paid search</td>
<td align="right">22</td>
<td align="right">1,692</td>
<td align="right">1.30%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Referred</td>
<td align="right">37</td>
<td align="right">2,965</td>
<td align="right">1.25%</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Armed with this data, we&#8217;re immediately able to create action plans around each of these areas to drive increased traffic, increased sales, or both. It&#8217;s important to note that looking at data at this level also ignores <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/25/inside-googles-multi-channel-funnel-reports/">multi-channel attribution</a>. </p>
<p>But, the point isn&#8217;t to answer every question. It&#8217;s to get enough information to start making positive business decisions. Notice how quickly we&#8217;re able to make some decisions once we&#8217;ve got some trended, segmented traffic and sales data. In the spirit of fairness, I&#8217;ll take a look tomorrow at some of the nuances of conversion data worth thinking about. In the meantime, check out the rest of <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">the Web Analytics Fundamentals series</a> and start digging into your data. I guarantee that with only this level of information you can start making some seriously positive changes in your online marketing and e-commerce efforts. </p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>Measuring traffic segments continues the Tim Peter Thinks look at...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How can you make your web analytics work for your...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>Measuring Traffic Segments: Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/30/measuring-traffic-segments-web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:13:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Measuring traffic segments continues the Tim Peter Thinks look at Web Analytics Fundamentals.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How can you make your web analytics work for your...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/22/what-your-online-marketing-dashboard-should-look-like/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What Your Online Marketing Dashboard Should Look Like'>What Your Online Marketing Dashboard Should Look Like</a> <small>How well are you tracking your online marketing and e-commerce...</small></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Last time, we took a look at <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/">measuring website traffic</a>. Today, we&#8217;re going to look at where that traffic comes from. </p>
<p>As mentioned in our <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/03/11/the-7-keys-to-successful-web-metrics-guide-to-small-business-ecommerce-strategy/">7 web keys for successful web metrics</a>, segmenting traffic allows you to quickly identify where your traffic comes from and, ideally, which traffic provides the greatest value to your business. Happily, looking at traffic segments in most tools is pretty straightforward affair. </p>
<p>Traffic comes to your site from one of three places:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Direct navigation.</strong> These folks typed your website address directly into their browser, had your site bookmarked or (in some cases), followed a link from within an email.</li>
<li><strong>Search engines.</strong> These customers found you in a search result. Just about every tool on the market can further divide this into paid search (i.e., PPC marketing) and natural search (SEO).</li>
<li><strong>Referred.</strong> These folks clicked on a link on another site (other than a search engine) that points to yours. Much like search, these often break down into paid referrals (think banner ads) and natural or &#8220;earned&#8221; links. A customer linking to your site on Twitter is a referral as is the banner ad you bought. Understanding which one drove traffic, though, can tell you much more about what&#8217;s working and what isn&#8217;t among your marketing.</li>
</ol>
<p>Additional valuable segments to watch include customers responding to emails, new visitors vs. repeats, and loyal customers vs. non-loyal (i.e., those enrolled in your loyalty program, if you have one).</p>
<p>For these segments, note where the bulk of your traffic comes from. From a marketing perspective, that&#8217;s where you&#8217;re going to want to focus first. As with measuring your overall traffic, you&#8217;re looking for anomalies, big changes, things that stick out. </p>
<p>For instance, in the following graph, search represents the lion&#8217;s share of traffic&mdash;and almost 100% of the growth in traffic&mdash;to the selected site. The marketing team for this site should look more closely at what&#8217;s driving that growth, while also looking at ways to increase direct and referred traffic:</p>
<p><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/segmented-traffic.png" alt="Segmented traffic" border="0" width="300" height="194" /></p>
<p>One caveat to keep in mind: the bulk of your sales may actually come from a lower traffic segment. In fact, it&#8217;s fairly common. Don&#8217;t worry, though, we&#8217;ll explore that in more detail when we start looking at conversions. </p>
<p>And, of course, as you drill down further into each of these segments, look at which sites drive your referred traffic and which keywords drive paid/natural search. </p>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve looked at traffic in the aggregate and by segment, it&#8217;s likely you&#8217;ll already start to think of ideas for how to grow that traffic. <strong>Which is the real point of any analytics exercise: to create actionable insights.</strong> </p>
<p>Find a paid keyword that&#8217;s producing a load of traffic? See if you can allocate more budget to it. Discover a referrer that&#8217;s driving serious demand? Contact their team about deepening the relationship. Realize that most of your traffic comes from a single source, as in the example? Look for ways to diversify your marketing. And so on.</p>
<p>Web analytics needn&#8217;t be difficult. Analytics exist to help you understand what&#8217;s going on with your customers, your website and your business. Notice that only looking at some high-level metrics offers you a wealth of opportunities to increase your revenues. Your goal isn&#8217;t to spend your life inside your analytics tool. It&#8217;s to gain enough information to make a reasonable business decision about areas of focus. </p>
<p>Tomorrow, we&#8217;ll take a look at conversion rate, what it really means for your business and some surprising truths that you may not know. In the meantime, check out the entire <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">Web Analytics Fundamentals series here</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How much traffic is your site getting? And is it...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How can you make your web analytics work for your...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/22/what-your-online-marketing-dashboard-should-look-like/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What Your Online Marketing Dashboard Should Look Like'>What Your Online Marketing Dashboard Should Look Like</a> <small>How well are you tracking your online marketing and e-commerce...</small></li>
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		<title>Measuring Traffic: Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/26/measuring-traffic-web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:28:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[How much traffic is your site getting? And is it growing? We're on the scene to help you answer the question.


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<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/23/drilling-down-on-online-marketing-effectiveness-in-google-analytics/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics'>Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics</a> <small>Custom Reports in Google Analytics can help you measure your...</small></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>When I&#8217;m looking at a site for the first time, the first thing I want to get a sense of is its traffic. Traffic is the lifeblood of any website and, while there is such a thing as &#8220;bad&#8221; traffic, the fastest way to gauge the health of a site is to look at its traffic in some detail. </p>
<p>So, how do you do this?</p>
<p>First, I always like to start at a 10,000-foot level, then work my way down. Remembering <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/03/11/the-7-keys-to-successful-web-metrics-guide-to-small-business-ecommerce-strategy/">the 7 keys to successful web metrics</a>, I like to look at the total traffic the site receives, by month and by week, for the longest practical period that:</p>
<ol>
<li>Mirrors the business reality, and </li>
<li>Data exists for.</li>
</ol>
<p>What do I mean by &#8220;longest practical period that mirrors the business reality&#8221;? </p>
<p>Actually, it&#8217;s pretty simple. Some businesses, like retail and hospitality, are highly seasonal. Looking at traffic for, say, just the last few weeks doesn&#8217;t show me the &#8220;shape&#8221; of customer demand. For these types of business, I want to look at at least a year&#8217;s worth of data, though 13-15 months is usually better (remember, this is just for the initial, 10,000-foot level; we&#8217;re not drilling into details here). </p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what that looks like in Google Analytics:</p>
<p><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/visits-by-month.png" alt="Visits by month" border="0" width="300" height="131" /> </p>
<p>And here&#8217;s the same data by week:</p>
<p><img style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;" src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/visits-by-week.png" alt="Visits by week" border="0" width="300" height="131" /></p>
<p>This particular site shows a dip in traffic during the month of August (as seen on the &#8220;by month&#8221; graph), with a significant drop during a three-week period (seen on the &#8220;by week&#8221; graph). Even without drilling into this too far, we can see a rough climb throughout the year tailing off in December, but also flag a potential trouble spot during that particular August. </p>
<p>At this point, I would normally just note the issue for follow up with the business owner later. I might also increase the period I&#8217;m looking at, but, in this case, the site didn&#8217;t have analytics installed prior to October of 2010 (that&#8217;s what I mean by &#8220;data is available for&#8217;). While the business team might know why there was a dip in August&mdash;for example, seasonality, severe weather or server crash&mdash;we may have to settle and see if the trend holds in 2012. </p>
<p>In any case, a picture of customer behavior starts emerging. The business starts attracting customers to its site in January, trends upwards until late summer, recovers through Halloween, then starts to decline through the holidays. Mind you, this isn&#8217;t sophisticated analysis (remember, we&#8217;re calling <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">this series &#8220;Web Analytics Fundamentals&#8221;</a>), but you can already put together some insights about the business. Even better, if you&#8217;ve got sales data available, you can overlay the two to form a more robust view of the business.</p>
<p>Now, note during this part of the analysis, I&#8217;m not worrying about whether I&#8217;m looking at visits or unique visitors. Each has its merits. <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/02/18/are-unique-visitors-a-meaningful-measure-of-your-websites-traffic/">Unique visitors usually work better for calculating your actual conversion rate</a>, while the number of <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/#competitive-data-footnote">visits shows you total opportunity</a> because of <a href="http://www.biznology.com/2011/06/the_first_conversion_why_repea/">&#8220;the first conversion&#8221; effect</a> (i.e., people who return to your site buy at higher rates than those visiting the first time). I&#8217;m just looking at &#8220;traffic,&#8221; i.e., how much attention the site gets from potential customers. I prefer visits for my first pass, but I pay careful attention to the ratio of visits and unique visitors as I drill down, too. </p>
<p>Once I&#8217;ve got a feel for the traffic pattern of the site, that&#8217;s when I drill down to the next level&#8230; but we&#8217;ll get to that next time. In the meantime, take a look at your web traffic and start to question whether it&#8217;s growing or not. If it is, great. We&#8217;ll look at what to do with that extra traffic later. And if not, don&#8217;t worry. We&#8217;ll look at how to identify any problems next week. Be sure to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">check out the whole series</a> for more details.</p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Web Analytics Fundamentals'>Web Analytics Fundamentals</a> <small>How can you make your web analytics work for your...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/03/28/my-favorite-google-analytics-tip/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: My favorite Google Analytics tip'>My favorite Google Analytics tip</a> <small>Google Analytics is useful tool. But, three quick clicks can...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/23/drilling-down-on-online-marketing-effectiveness-in-google-analytics/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics'>Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics</a> <small>Custom Reports in Google Analytics can help you measure your...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Analytics Fundamentals</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=web-analytics-fundamentals</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2012/01/23/web-analytics-fundamentals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:58:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compete.com]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[competitive analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[omniture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sitecatalyst]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[webtrends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=2178</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How can you make your web analytics work for your business? Tim Peter Thinks takes a look.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/23/drilling-down-on-online-marketing-effectiveness-in-google-analytics/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics'>Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics</a> <small>Custom Reports in Google Analytics can help you measure your...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/03/28/my-favorite-google-analytics-tip/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: My favorite Google Analytics tip'>My favorite Google Analytics tip</a> <small>Google Analytics is useful tool. But, three quick clicks can...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What exactly is an &#8220;industry average&#8221; conversion rate?'>What exactly is an &#8220;industry average&#8221; conversion rate?</a> <small>What is your industry average conversion rate? And should you...</small></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><img src="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/web-analytics.jpg" alt="Web analytics" border="0" width="282" height="426" style="float:left; padding: 0px 15px 5px 0px;" />How&#8217;s your website performing? Is this something you ask yourself regularly? Or is it something that you find difficult to determine? </p>
<p>Many small businesses (and some not-so-small ones) seem to struggle with getting a grip on their website&#8217;s overall performance and its contribution to their business results. Over the next few days, I&#8217;m going to dive into this in more detail and walk you through some simple tips for understanding the value of your website to your business. </p>
<p>Today, however, let&#8217;s review some basics:</p>
<ul style="float; position:relative; padding-left:35px;">
<li>First, take a look at our <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/03/11/the-7-keys-to-successful-web-metrics-guide-to-small-business-ecommerce-strategy/">7 keys for successful web metrics</a>. I&#8217;m going to drill down in more detail over the coming days as to why some of these matter, however this should get you started.</li>
<li>Second, you might want to bone up on <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2010/10/25/whats-the-best-tool-to-measure-your-website/">how various analytics tools work</a>. I&#8217;m not going to spend much time on this, but it may help you understand the specifics of your tool.</li>
<li>Third, remember that <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2009/09/30/what-are-the-best-tools-to-improve-online-marketing-heres-a-hint-who-cares/">it&#8217;s better to understand the tool you have</a> than worry about whether you have the &#8220;right&#8221; tool. <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2010/11/04/what-your-analytics-wont-tell-you/">No one tool is perfect</a>&mdash;each has its strengths and its shortcomings. It&#8217;s a better use of your time to learn what your tool is telling you&mdash;and what to do with that information&mdash;than  whether it&#8217;s the &#8220;best&#8221; tool. Don&#8217;t have a web analytics tool? <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2010/10/21/why-google-analytics-always-belongs-in-your-measurement-consideration-set/">Try Google Analytics</a>. It&#8217;s not perfect, but its price and learning curve make it a solid choice for many businesses.</li>
<li>Finally, ensure that you&#8217;re comfortable with <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/">what &#8220;conversion rate&#8221; means to your business</a>. Since some of you might be generating leads and others selling widgets, make sure you understand the various types of conversion rates and which ones matter most for your business.</li>
</ul>
<p>Getting your web analytics to tell you how your website contributes to your business isn&#8217;t rocket science. It takes just a bit of understanding and some simple steps to complete. Take a look at the items above, then <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/the-website-analytics-fundamentals-series/">review the full series</a> for more information on how to make your web analytics work for your business. </p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/23/drilling-down-on-online-marketing-effectiveness-in-google-analytics/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics'>Drilling Down on Online Marketing Effectiveness in Google Analytics</a> <small>Custom Reports in Google Analytics can help you measure your...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/03/28/my-favorite-google-analytics-tip/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: My favorite Google Analytics tip'>My favorite Google Analytics tip</a> <small>Google Analytics is useful tool. But, three quick clicks can...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/31/what-exactly-is-an-industry-average-conversion-rate/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What exactly is an &#8220;industry average&#8221; conversion rate?'>What exactly is an &#8220;industry average&#8221; conversion rate?</a> <small>What is your industry average conversion rate? And should you...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		<title>Social, Local, Mobile&#8230; Oh My! (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 18, 2011)</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/18/social-local-mobile-oh-my-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-18-2011/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=social-local-mobile-oh-my-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-18-2011</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/18/social-local-mobile-oh-my-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-18-2011/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:51:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Local]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[del.icio.us links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ecommerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ecommerce strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[f-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[link digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[linkdigest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[linkedin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[m-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile device]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile ecommerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social ecommerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social shopping]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Our weekly round-up looks at LinkedIn, Facebook, PayPal and the social, local, mobile web generally.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/14/social-local-mobile-links-for-the-week-ending-october-14-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-october-14-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social, local, mobile links for the week ending October 14 (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 14, 2011)'>Social, local, mobile links for the week ending October 14 (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 14, 2011)</a> <small>Rounding up this week's best local, social, mobile links....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/19/social-local-and-mobile-links-of-note-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-august-19-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social, Local and Mobile Links of Note (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; August 19, 2011)'>Social, Local and Mobile Links of Note (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; August 19, 2011)</a> <small>Rounding up the best social, local, and mobile coverage from...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/04/idiottube-i-think-not-learn-to-improve-your-marketing-using-online-videos-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-4-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IdiotTube? I think not. Learn to improve your marketing using online videos. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 4, 2011)'>IdiotTube? I think not. Learn to improve your marketing using online videos. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 4, 2011)</a> <small>Use videos from Tim Ash, Avinash Kaushik, Search Engine Land...</small></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>I&#8217;ve been asking all week <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/16/are-you-still-talking-about-the-mobile-web/">whether you&#8217;re still talking about the mobile web</a> including looking at <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/14/customer-reviews-who-needs-an-app-for-that/">whether you need an app for customer reviews</a>. And, I&#8217;m not the only one. Here&#8217;s this week&#8217;s round-up of the best social, local, mobile write-ups on the web:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rachel Sprung on the HubSpot Blog looks at <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/28731/20-Ways-to-Increase-Content-Visibility-on-the-Top-4-Social-Networks.aspx">20 ways to increase content visibility on the &#8220;Top 4&#8243; social networks</a>. What are the &#8220;Top 4,&#8221; you ask? Why Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. And I&#8217;m glad, Rachel includes LinkedIn there, because it&#8217;s often overlooked as a key component of your online marketing.</li>
<li>Not sure about LinkedIn? Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media answers <a href="http://outspokenmedia.com/social-media/ignoring-linkedin/">why your business should maybe stop ignoring LinkedIn</a>. Great read. And the comments are rock-solid, too.</li>
<li>While we&#8217;re on the topic of LinkedIn, the social network&#8217;s own blog shows <a href="http://blog.linkedin.com/2010/12/10/linkedin-recommend-widget/">how to add a LinkedIn Recommendations widget to your site and how to gain insights</a> into your LinkedIn company page&#8217;s performance.</li>
<li>Speaking of gaining insights into performance, I want to put in shameless plug for <a href="http://www.hsmaieconnect.org/download/152004748.html">my latest HSMAI white paper, &#8220;Best Practices for Hotel Website Analytics.&#8221;</a> While it&#8217;s specifically tailored to the hotel industry, many of the lessons apply regardless of your business. It&#8217;s a free download, so check it out.</li>
<li>And, while we&#8217;re discussing social and tracking, Mashable has <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/11/17/facebook-reveals-its-user-tracking-secrets/">a great review of Facebook&#8217;s user tracking secrets</a>. Well worth your time.</li>
<li>Mashable also takes a look at <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/11/17/paypal-facebook-send-money/">PayPal&#8217;s new Facebook app that lets you send money to your friends on the social network</a>. I&#8217;ve said before that <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/26/social-commerce-is-hiding-in-plain-sight/">social commerce is hiding in plain sight</a>. This underscores that point just a bit.</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally, I&#8217;ve shared a couple of videos this week to demonstrate the power of the local, social, mobile web. But it&#8217;s possible little can illustrate it as effectively as Social Revolution&#8217;s 2011 presentation, which I&#8217;ve got right here:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="399" height="203" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3SuNx0UrnEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>Have a great weekend, <strong><em>Big Thinkers</em></strong>. We&#8217;ll catch you back here on Monday.</p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/analytics" rel="tag">analytics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/content%20marketing" rel="tag">content marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/content%20strategy" rel="tag">content strategy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/E-commerce" rel="tag">E-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-commerce" rel="tag">e-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/E-commerce%20strategy" rel="tag">E-commerce strategy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-marketing" rel="tag">e-marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ecommerce" rel="tag">ecommerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/F-commerce" rel="tag">F-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Facebook" rel="tag">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/facebook" rel="tag">facebook</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/internet%20business" rel="tag">internet business</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/internet%20marketing" rel="tag">internet marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/marketing" rel="tag">marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Mashable" rel="tag">Mashable</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/measurement" rel="tag">measurement</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/metrics" rel="tag">metrics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social" rel="tag">social</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20commerce" rel="tag">social commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20marketing" rel="tag">social marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20media" rel="tag">social media</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20search" rel="tag">social search</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20strategy" rel="tag">social strategy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/YouTube" rel="tag">YouTube</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/LinkedIn" rel="tag">LinkedIn</a></p>
<p><!-- Technorati Tags End --></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/14/social-local-mobile-links-for-the-week-ending-october-14-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-october-14-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social, local, mobile links for the week ending October 14 (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 14, 2011)'>Social, local, mobile links for the week ending October 14 (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 14, 2011)</a> <small>Rounding up this week's best local, social, mobile links....</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/19/social-local-and-mobile-links-of-note-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-august-19-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social, Local and Mobile Links of Note (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; August 19, 2011)'>Social, Local and Mobile Links of Note (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; August 19, 2011)</a> <small>Rounding up the best social, local, and mobile coverage from...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/04/idiottube-i-think-not-learn-to-improve-your-marketing-using-online-videos-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-4-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IdiotTube? I think not. Learn to improve your marketing using online videos. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 4, 2011)'>IdiotTube? I think not. Learn to improve your marketing using online videos. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 4, 2011)</a> <small>Use videos from Tim Ash, Avinash Kaushik, Search Engine Land...</small></li>
</ol></p>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>IdiotTube? I think not. Learn to improve your marketing using online videos. (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; November 4, 2011)</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/04/idiottube-i-think-not-learn-to-improve-your-marketing-using-online-videos-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-4-2011/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=idiottube-i-think-not-learn-to-improve-your-marketing-using-online-videos-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-4-2011</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/11/04/idiottube-i-think-not-learn-to-improve-your-marketing-using-online-videos-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-november-4-2011/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:12:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[del.icio.us links]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce technology investment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing 101]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social ecommerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social marker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics secrets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[youtube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=2038</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Use videos from Tim Ash, Avinash Kaushik, Search Engine Land and Search Engine Strategies to help improve your online marketing.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/06/17/f-commerce-rising-12-tales-of-e-commerce-on-facebook-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-june-17-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: F-commerce Rising: 12 Tales of E-commerce on Facebook (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; June 17, 2011)'>F-commerce Rising: 12 Tales of E-commerce on Facebook (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; June 17, 2011)</a> <small>F-commerce, e-commerce on Facebook, is still in its infancy, right?...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/28/social-success-succinctly-stated-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-october-28-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social Success, Succinctly Stated (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 28, 2011)'>Social Success, Succinctly Stated (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 28, 2011)</a> <small>Social success depends on a number of factors. We take...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/05/6-tips-for-social-search-and-social-search-success-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-may-5-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 6+ Tips for Social, Search and Social Search Success (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; May 5, 2011)'>6+ Tips for Social, Search and Social Search Success (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; May 5, 2011)</a> <small>Search and social provide search marketers a match made in...</small></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>We&#8217;re going to do something a little different with the link digest today. If you don&#8217;t spend much time on YouTube, you&#8217;d be amazed all the great learning you can get from the various video channels. And, since the weather&#8217;s getting colder (hell, we had 13&#8243; of snow here the other day), why not build a fire, open a nice bottle of wine, curl up with a warm laptop (and, ideally, your significant other), and learn about online marketing and e-commerce from some of the world&#8217;s best. Here are just a handful of my favorite videos to help you do just that.</p>
<p>The Search Engine Strategies Conference channel has a great presentation from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470174625/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=timpeterconsu-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=217145&#038;creative=399369&#038;creativeASIN=0470174625">&#8220;Landing Page Optimization&#8221;</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=timpeterconsu-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=0470174625&#038;camp=217145&#038;creative=399369" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> author Tim Ash on building trust online:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="399" height="203" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iInuUcSR8dQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>Ever need to explain search engine optimization to someone, but struggle in the telling? Show them Search Engine Land&#8217;s &#8220;What is SEO?&#8221; video:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="399" height="203" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hF515-0Tduk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>Jason Falls from<a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/"> Social Media Examiner</a> has a great interview with Katie Paine on calculating social media ROI:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="400" height="271" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8_L63lZavT8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>As we&#8217;re getting towards holiday shopping season, check out Relevantly Speaking&#8217;s tips for online retailers to capture more holiday dollars:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="399" height="203" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VzkCoc3kNLQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>And, finally, if you&#8217;ve got some time on your hands, check out Avinash Kaushik&#8217;s recent webinar on mobile marketing and mobile analytics. Great stuff:</p>
<div align="center"><iframe width="400" height="271" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrTiyAMTQ_g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<p>Sit back, enjoy the show, folks. And we&#8217;ll see you back here next week.</p>
<hr />
<p> <strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>.</p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=298252&amp;loc=en_US">subscribe via email</a>.</p>
<p>And while you&#8217;re at it, don&#8217;t forget to <a href="http://twitter.com/tcpeter/">follow Tim on Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timpeter.com/">Tim Peter &amp; Associates</a> helps companies from startups to the Fortune 500 use the web to <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/services.html">reach more customers, more effectively</a> every day. Take a look and see how we can help you.</p>
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<p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Avinash%20Kaushik" rel="tag">Avinash Kaushik</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/E-commerce" rel="tag">E-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-commerce" rel="tag">e-commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/E-commerce%20strategy" rel="tag">E-commerce strategy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/e-marketing" rel="tag">e-marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ecommerce" rel="tag">ecommerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/online%20brand%20building" rel="tag">online brand building</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/online%20marketing" rel="tag">online marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/page%20design" rel="tag">page design</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social" rel="tag">social</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20commerce" rel="tag">social commerce</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20marketing" rel="tag">social marketing</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20media" rel="tag">social media</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20search" rel="tag">social search</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/social%20strategy" rel="tag">social strategy</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/video" rel="tag">video</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/YouTube" rel="tag">YouTube</a></p>
<p><!-- Technorati Tags End --></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/06/17/f-commerce-rising-12-tales-of-e-commerce-on-facebook-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-june-17-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: F-commerce Rising: 12 Tales of E-commerce on Facebook (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; June 17, 2011)'>F-commerce Rising: 12 Tales of E-commerce on Facebook (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; June 17, 2011)</a> <small>F-commerce, e-commerce on Facebook, is still in its infancy, right?...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/28/social-success-succinctly-stated-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-october-28-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Social Success, Succinctly Stated (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 28, 2011)'>Social Success, Succinctly Stated (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; October 28, 2011)</a> <small>Social success depends on a number of factors. We take...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/05/6-tips-for-social-search-and-social-search-success-small-business-e-commerce-link-digest-may-5-2011/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: 6+ Tips for Social, Search and Social Search Success (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; May 5, 2011)'>6+ Tips for Social, Search and Social Search Success (Small Business E-commerce Link Digest &#8211; May 5, 2011)</a> <small>Search and social provide search marketers a match made in...</small></li>
</ol></p>
<p>Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Social Media Metrics Secrets by John Lovett (Book Review of the Week-ish)</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/20/social-media-metrics-secrets-by-john-lovett-book-review-of-the-week-ish/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=social-media-metrics-secrets-by-john-lovett-book-review-of-the-week-ish</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/10/20/social-media-metrics-secrets-by-john-lovett-book-review-of-the-week-ish/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:53:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Book Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[book review of the week]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john lovett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[measurement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social ecommerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics secrets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media metrics secrets by john lovett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social search strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=2005</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Social Media Metrics Secrets by John Lovett examines how to measure your social media marketing. We examine the book.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/06/16/data-driven-marketing-the-15-metrics-everyone-in-marketing-should-know-by-mark-jeffery-book-review-of-the-week-ish/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Data-Driven Marketing: The 15 Metrics Everyone in Marketing Should Know by Mark Jeffery (Book Review of the Week-ish)'>Data-Driven Marketing: The 15 Metrics Everyone in Marketing Should Know by Mark Jeffery (Book Review of the Week-ish)</a> <small>Mark Jeffery's "Data-Driven Marketing: The 15 Metrics Everyone in Marketing...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/09/01/zarrellas-hierarchy-of-contagiousness-the-science-design-and-engineering-of-contagious-ideas-book-review-of-the-week-ish-back-to-school-beach-reads-edition/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Zarrella&#8217;s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas (Book Review of the Week-ish / Back to School Beach Reads Edition)'>Zarrella&#8217;s Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science, Design, and Engineering of Contagious Ideas (Book Review of the Week-ish / Back to School Beach Reads Edition)</a> <small>A review of Dan Zarrella's Hierarchy of Contagiousness: The Science,...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/06/02/pulse-the-new-science-of-harnessing-internet-buzz-to-track-threats-and-opportunities-by-douglas-hubbard-book-review-of-the-week-ish/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: &#8220;Pulse: The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities&#8221; by Douglas Hubbard (Book Review of the Week-ish)'>&#8220;Pulse: The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities&#8221; by Douglas Hubbard (Book Review of the Week-ish)</a> <small>Douglas Hubbard, he of How to Measure Anything Fame, has...</small></li>
</ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=timpeterconsu-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=0470936274" style="float: left; padding-right: 35px; padding-bottom: 5px; width: 120px; height: 240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe> Many organizations have started <a href="http://www.biznology.com/2011/09/answering-the-tough-questions-about-social-media/">asking the tough questions about social media</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Who&#8217;s using this?</li>
<li>How&#8217;s it working?</li>
<li>What&#8217;s our ROI?</li>
</ul>
<p>And, generally, that&#8217;s a good thing. Of course, it helps if you&#8217;re prepared to answer them.</p>
<p>Fortuantely, John Lovett&#8217;s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470936274/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=timpeterconsu-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0470936274">&#8220;Social Media Metrics Secrets&#8221;</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=timpeterconsu-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0470936274&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> does just that. Lovett reveals both his framework for social media measurement <em>and</em>, more importantly, the underlying thought-processes behind that framework. Instead of offering just a few tips or tricks, Lovett aims to provide a full toolkit and the skills to use them.</p>
<p>For instance, Lovett describes businesses developing what he calls &#8220;the Triple-A Mindset&#8221;, focused around:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Audience</strong>—understanding your customers and where they spend their time online</li>
<li><strong>Activity</strong>—measuring how your customers interact with your brand, and, finally&#8230;</li>
<li><strong>Actions</strong>—doing something with your newfound knowledge</li>
</ul>
<p>In these sections, the book really shines, providing deeper insights than you might expect from a typical &#8220;metrics&#8221; book. Lovett has given this some thought. Even better, he&#8217;s got plenty of real-world examples illustrating how you can apply this knowledge in your organization. Further demonstrating this real-world experience, he even offers sections on identifying the right people to shore up your team and crafting &#8220;&#8230;the killer job description&#8221; to attract them.</p>
<p>While this attention to the fundamentals demonstrates the book&#8217;s strengths, Lovett doesn&#8217;t skimp on practical &#8220;to-do&#8217;s&#8221;, either. Each chapter is filled with detailed, functional descriptions of <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2008/03/11/the-7-keys-to-successful-web-metrics-guide-to-small-business-ecommerce-strategy/">metrics that matter</a>, how to calculate them, and how to apply them within your organization. Lovett provides both the gory details and the overall vision showing you how those details apply. Given the book&#8217;s scope and vision, Lovett doesn&#8217;t always succeed in switching back and forth. The &#8220;virtual Network Operations Center&#8221; section of Chapter 2, for instance, loses its footing a time or two. But, this is a minor quibble. Lovett aims high. Even when he misses his exact target, he still hits something valuable.</p>
<p>Perhaps most impressively, Lovett describes both details and vision in a highly readable fashion. A book like this could easily slip into <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tl%3Bdr">&#8220;tl;dr&#8221;</a> territory. And, while I doubt you&#8217;ll curl up in front of the fire with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470936274/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=timpeterconsu-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0470936274">&#8220;Social Media Metrics Secrets&#8221;</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=timpeterconsu-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0470936274&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> and a glass of cabernet, you&#8217;re not going to beat your head against your desk trying to get through it, either.</p>
<p>Lovett titled this book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470936274/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=timpeterconsu-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0470936274">&#8220;Social Media Metrics Secrets,&#8221;</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=timpeterconsu-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0470936274&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> indicating exactly how foreign these ideas remain for many businesses. But as your business begins to ask the tough questions about social media, you need to know these &#8220;secrets.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470936274/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=timpeterconsu-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0470936274">Pick up a copy</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=timpeterconsu-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0470936274&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> for yourself and for your team. And start sharing these &#8220;secrets&#8221; with your organization. The folks asking the tough questions won&#8217;t know what hit &#8216;em.</p>
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		<title>Answering the Tough Questions About Social Media</title>
		<link>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/09/21/answering-the-tough-questions-about-social-media/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=answering-the-tough-questions-about-social-media</link>
		<comments>http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/09/21/answering-the-tough-questions-about-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:39:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tim</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[biznology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social network marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web metrics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.timpeter.com/blog/?p=1947</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Can you answer the tough questions about social media that your boss is asking? See my latest Biznology blog post to find out how.


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/09/12/whats-wrong-with-the-coming-social-media-backlash/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What&#8217;s wrong with the coming social media backlash.'>What&#8217;s wrong with the coming social media backlash.</a> <small>Some say social media marketing is not worth it. I...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/26/is-hiring-a-social-media-expert-a-really-bad-idea/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Is Hiring a Social Media Expert a Really Bad Idea?'>Is Hiring a Social Media Expert a Really Bad Idea?</a> <small>Peter Shankman's recent "I Will Never Hire a Social Media...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/18/elvis-presley-and-social-media-marketing-the-hidden-connection/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Elvis Presley and Social Media Marketing: The Hidden Connection'>Elvis Presley and Social Media Marketing: The Hidden Connection</a> <small>Elvis was the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Is Social...</small></li>
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p></p><p>Social media marketing is not easy. And one of the toughest elements is knowing how well it&#8217;s working&mdash;or if it&#8217;s working at all. No matter whether you work for the coolest person in the world or <a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-09-12/">the stereotypical pointy-haired boss</a>, you&#8217;re bound to get asked how well your initiatives are working. Which is the topic of my latest post on Mike Moran&#8217;s Biznology blog, <a href="http://www.biznology.com/2011/09/answering-the-tough-questions-about-social-media/">&#8220;Answering the tough questions about social media.&#8221;</a></p>
<hr />
<br />
<strong>Are you getting enough value out of your small business website?</strong> Want to make sure your business makes the most of the<a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/local/">local</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/mobile/">mobile</a>, <a href="http://www.timpeter.com/blog/category/social-strategy/">social</a> web? <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> helps you understand how to <strong>grow your business via the web</strong>, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/timpeter/wQMG">Add <strong><em>thinks</em></strong> to your feed reader today</a>. </p>
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<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/09/12/whats-wrong-with-the-coming-social-media-backlash/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: What&#8217;s wrong with the coming social media backlash.'>What&#8217;s wrong with the coming social media backlash.</a> <small>Some say social media marketing is not worth it. I...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/05/26/is-hiring-a-social-media-expert-a-really-bad-idea/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Is Hiring a Social Media Expert a Really Bad Idea?'>Is Hiring a Social Media Expert a Really Bad Idea?</a> <small>Peter Shankman's recent "I Will Never Hire a Social Media...</small></li>
<li><a href='http://www.timpeter.com/blog/2011/08/18/elvis-presley-and-social-media-marketing-the-hidden-connection/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Elvis Presley and Social Media Marketing: The Hidden Connection'>Elvis Presley and Social Media Marketing: The Hidden Connection</a> <small>Elvis was the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Is Social...</small></li>
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