http://www.new07.org Niche Blog Reviews Covering Retirement, Business, Real Estate News, Finance, Credit and Press Releases Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:17:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.new07.org/social-media/some-tactical-tips-for-tracking-the-long%c2%a0tail http://www.new07.org/social-media/some-tactical-tips-for-tracking-the-long%c2%a0tail#comments Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:45:20 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/some-tactical-tips-for-tracking-the-long%c2%a0tail Continue reading →]]> Most of us in the search industry are pretty much aware by now that simply tracking individual keyword rankings to determine performance is all but a dead SEO practice. This scene is played out for a variety of reasons, due largely in part to personalized search and Google serving search results based on a searcher’s physical location. With that said, I personally have a hard time believing that most people are willing to ignore keyword rankings altogether – nor do I think we should. Benchmarking rankings for specific keywords and tracking progress over time is still a very valuable exercise. However, focusing only on rankings is far less than ideal. So what other metrics are folks using to track the effectiveness of their SEO efforts? I will expand on a few, but please, feel free to share in the comments as well. A Recommended Approach In general, it’s best to correlate keyword rankings with traffic. But not only is it a best practice to track organic visits from targeted keywords, it is a best practice to capture their long tail counterparts as well. In other words, think of your targeted key phrases as the “base” and track search engine visits from all variations of a given base keyword. Often, when traffic begins to increase from long tail search queries, it is an indication that search engine optimization progress is underway. In addition, tracking long tail traffic in relation to targeted keywords will help to illustrate the value of your SEO efforts until you have obtained better visibility for the more competitive, high search volume keywords. One recommended approach is to segment tracking between “exact match” targeted keyword rankings and keyword category traffic. Exact Match Targeted Keyword Rankings This refers to a standard approach: perform thorough keyword research and identify the top keywords that represent your products or services and track their rankings. Cross reference organic traffic from these “exact match” keywords to monitor growth as rankings improve and to ensure those keywords are converting into leads or sales. Keyword Category Traffic Tracking keyword categories captures the long tail of traffic to paint a more holistic view of how these categories are actually performing. A keyword category can be created by lumping a group of related keywords into one comprehensive “bucket” that makes up a given category. Keyword categories can be very simple. For example, a Review category could simply consist of all search engine traffic that came from queries that contained the word “review”. Keyword categories can also be more complex however, for example a Television category could consist of all search engine traffic that came from queries that contained the word “television” and/or “hdtv” and/or “flat screen” and so on. These categories can be created in a manner of minutes by using Google Analytics Custom Segments. You may also consider categorizing your exact match targeted keyword rankings to match your keyword categories for tracking the long tail. With this approach, a separate ranking report would be run for each category and then appropriately cross referenced with long tail keyword traffic. In graph format, one axis would contain exact match keyword rankings and the secondary axis would contain that category’s long tail visits. So there you have it. A relatively simple approach to tracking long tail traffic and mapping it back to optimization for specific keywords. There are other metrics to trend as well, such as the number of keywords and the number of landing pages (mainly for very large sites) that drive organic traffic. It wasn’t too long ago that analytics solutions were not able to provide such customizable and flexible reporting features, so take advantage if you haven’t already. Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Some Tactical Tips for Tracking the Long

]]> http://www.new07.org/social-media/some-tactical-tips-for-tracking-the-long%c2%a0tail/feed 0 http://www.new07.org/social-media/top-5-iphone-apps-for-search-internet%c2%a0marketers http://www.new07.org/social-media/top-5-iphone-apps-for-search-internet%c2%a0marketers#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:50:34 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/top-5-iphone-apps-for-search-internet%c2%a0marketers Continue reading →]]> Search and Internet marketing can, at times, be a 24 hour job. It doesn’t necessarily HAVE to be, but if you want good results and want to keep up with new information often times it is. Sometimes we just want it to be regardless; it’s something we enjoy. Even when we leave our computers we’re still tempted to take a peek at things or be able to manage our tracking and analytics. Thanks to the beauty of the iPhone and the app store, we can be slightly obsessive but in a not-so-obvious way. 1 . SEJ News                   This application should be the beginning of your quest for up to date information. SEJ News for iPhone is constantly refreshed when articles are added to Search Engine Journal. When you have some down-time in your day you can open up this application and read your heart out. Simply pull the top to refresh and you’ll always have the newest read available. 2. Social Pop                 SocialPop! This is a social media/internet marketing/search marketing/social news aggregate from your top favorite sites, including: Digg Reddit Fark Mixx and many more. This is necessary if you want to keep your head above the water with the technological changes from day to day. I’ve noticed that every time I open something, Facebook is adding/improving/changing something. This could be dire if you’re a search or internet marketer. 3. Analytics Agent                     There is both a free version and a formal paid version for this- the application uses your Google Analytics API to access your information for you.  It doesn’t allow you to actually manage your data but it lets you view it directly from your phone. The lite version is good enough if you don’t feel like paying for it. It includes features such as: Site usage Visitor information Absolute page views Direct Traffic Referring Sites                   There are many other features. The formal version is only $2.99 and includes novelties such as: Graph and pie charts depicting your traffic for easy viewing Top landing pages Adwords information- it follows and analyzes customer actions such as purchase, page view, register and the sell opportunity. This will help you figure out how effective your Adwords campaign is. Adsense - Improve the effect of Adsense according to click-throughs picked up in Google Analytics. Also provides the sales status. E-Commerce data- It can show total revenue, conversion rate, purchased products and more. The Analytics Agent app is very handy and useful for having data at your finger tips at all times of the day… and the price certainly isn’t anything to shake your head at either. 4. SEM Calculator                     This awesome little free application has multiple calculators so you can figure out those pesky search engine marketing equations that nobody wants to carry around another calculator or a notepad for. This is also great if you’re involved in online media buying. Abilities include: CPM calculator CPM to CPA conversion Banner/Email campaign CPA CPC to CPM Max CPC for PPC                     SEM Calculator is very clean and easy to use… not to mention- everything is mostly black. Your eyes won’t be hating you later if you need to stare at it for extended periods of calculating glory. 5. iNetUtil                   This is another free application. It doesn’t really have much that it can do; what it does do is extremely useful. I’ve been using a few different services online to make sure that my website is up and running at all times. It’s actually really nice to know when you’re website is offline so you can contact your server company and let them know they need to step up their service. Aside from that, if you’re a web design company and you’re hosting the sites you make, you need to know that the company you’re using is reliable. iNetUtil does just that- it lets you check on your website status from anywhere, at anytime; letting you know whether: Internet access is available If it cannot connect If connection is reachable There aren’t too many useful iPhone apps available yet for search and internet marketing. I mean, there’s lots that are OUT there, but most of them have horrible reviews or an interface that isn’t that great. These are what I managed to find… are there any others that you readers find useful? If so, please post them into the comments so I can keep growing this list! What search and Internet marketing  iPhone applications do you use? Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal . Top 5 iPhone Apps for Search & Internet

]]> http://www.new07.org/social-media/top-5-iphone-apps-for-search-internet%c2%a0marketers/feed 0 http://www.new07.org/social-media/5-handy-seo-hacks-for-google%c2%a0analytics http://www.new07.org/social-media/5-handy-seo-hacks-for-google%c2%a0analytics#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:32:22 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/5-handy-seo-hacks-for-google%c2%a0analytics Continue reading →]]> It’s fair to say that most of us are running Google Analytics on at least a few of the sites we deal with. Market share for Google’s traffic tracking platform was estimated last year around 75-80% in a few separate studies – here’s one from Ghostery . Let’s not get into the whole “Google knows too much” thing. The truth is, the platform is a pretty solid and user-friendly. (Even if it is the lure of an evil empire.) But from an SEO standpoint Google ANalytics definitely leaves some things to be desired. Luckily there are plenty of clever SEOs out there who take on complicated and difficult projects that make our lives easier. Here are five such supergeek gifts that hack Google Analytics into a killer SEO tool: 1. Ranking Tracking with Google

]]> http://www.new07.org/social-media/5-handy-seo-hacks-for-google%c2%a0analytics/feed 0 http://www.new07.org/social-media/local-search-recipe-how-to-track-local-analytics-with-wordpress%e2%80%a6and-make%c2%a0pies http://www.new07.org/social-media/local-search-recipe-how-to-track-local-analytics-with-wordpress%e2%80%a6and-make%c2%a0pies#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:05:43 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/local-search-recipe-how-to-track-local-analytics-with-wordpress%e2%80%a6and-make%c2%a0pies Continue reading →]]> I am a big fan of food. I think about it everyday, and if things go well I even get to have some on a regular basis. So, in order to give my life some variety I like to prepare different dishes on occasion. To do so, I turn to online recipes. You can read reviews, look up anything imaginable, they are free, and the directions are usually easy to follow. That is why when I was deciding how to cover using WordPress to track Google Local analytics data, I figured a local search recipe would be the best way. Many small businesses are using WordPress as a CMS for their website, and understanding the traffic that comes from the Local business center is uber important. So, sit back and let your mouth start to water and get ready to track local…. Approximate Bake

]]> http://www.new07.org/social-media/local-search-recipe-how-to-track-local-analytics-with-wordpress%e2%80%a6and-make%c2%a0pies/feed 0 http://www.new07.org/social-media/weekly-search-social-news%c2%a003092010 http://www.new07.org/social-media/weekly-search-social-news%c2%a003092010#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:10:38 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/weekly-search-social-news%c2%a003092010 Continue reading →]]> Welcome to another edition of ‘ 7 Days of Search and Social ‘ – so, how are we now? Last week was a pretty busy one out in the trenches, especially considering that SMX was on (generally slows the blogging world). I do suggest looking into today’s top story as it’s one that seems to have slipped by the radar… interesting stuff. I am now in the second year of publishing these weekly roundups. I hope yer all enjoying them! So let’s git r done! Lead

]]> http://www.new07.org/social-media/weekly-search-social-news%c2%a003092010/feed 0 http://www.new07.org/social-media/10-types-of-landing-page-goals-for-ppc%c2%a0campaigns http://www.new07.org/social-media/10-types-of-landing-page-goals-for-ppc%c2%a0campaigns#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:19:03 +0000 cgseo http://www.new07.org/business/10-types-of-landing-page-goals-for-ppc%c2%a0campaigns Continue reading →]]> Conversions are king. But to take your PPC campaigns to the next level in 2010, you must go beyond measuring traditional conversions (lead, transaction) and start measuring (and achieving!) new goals – from social media engagement, to RSS subscribers, to inbounds. Here are 10 different types of landing page goals to measure in 2010 : 1. Transactions Ah — the crown jewel of all goals… the purchase. Measuring purchases is a standard practice for PPC marketers (if you’re not measuring transactional conversions, please jump right into your analytics tool and get conversion tracking set up on your shopping cart, ASAP). And assuming you are, start measuring your average order value. This is relatively easy to set up in Google Analytics & is the next most important metric to measure and work to increase in your PPC campaigns. 2. Leads Are your PPC campaigns designed to generate leads? If they are, you’re measuring those leads with Google Analytics & Google Conversion Tracking , right? Okay — next goal. 3. Up-sell or Cross-sells Once a visitor converts — whether as a lead or transaction — there is still more conversion goodness to be had on the thank you page. If you’re generating leads for a paid online service or subscription, you can up-sell your initial lead conversions with the opportunity to sign up for a trial or make a purchase. This is a great way to lure PPC clicks in with a free, lead gen offer, but also grab any paid opportunities post-conversion. Likewise, you can cross-sell leads or customers with a relevant offer on the thank you page, and gain more lead data or generate more revenue after the initial conversion. Like initial leads & transaction, cross-sells & up-sells are easy to measure in Google Analytics. 4. Video views There’s no doubt – video is hot right now. And it’s a highly effective way to support transactional or lead generation goals. But how do you know if it works? Well, first off, you can test landing pages with video vs. pages without video and see what pages convert higher (meaning, which pages drive more leads or purchases). But you should also measure how long visitors watch your video & how they engage with it. Any good video platform such as Ooyala or Brightcove provides this information. 5. RSS Subscribe An RSS subscribe is a great, friendly introduction to a brand or company. It’s anonymous & almost as valuable as grabbing a visitor’s email address. You can provide opportunities to subscribe to your RSS along with other goals, such as video views, leads, or transactions. And with Google Analytics Event Tracking , you can measure RSS subscribes. 6. Inbound The crown jewel of any lead generation campaign, make sure you are setting & measuring inbound goals. Consider an inbound anytime a visitor says, “please contact me!” You can cross-sell inbound opportunities on the thank you page after a lead conversion, or include an inbound opportunity alongside a lead conversion, as a secondary choice. Like lead and transaction conversion tracking, inbound goals are easy to track in Google Analytics. 7. Forward to a Friend Think of forward to a friend as instant word of mouth marketing. Most email marketers have embraced forward to a friend as an easy way to boost the viral distribution of their content, but most PPC marketers haven’t. Forward to a friend functionality is easy to integrate onto your landing pages with simple forms or social networking tools, and can be measured with Google Analytics alongside your other goals. 8. PDF Download PDF downloads are extremely popular in lead gen PPC campaigns — whether a product brochure, white paper, eBook, or brief. But are you measuring how many people actually download or engage with the white paper, as opposed to just requesting it? Just because the visitor converts as a lead, doesn’t mean they are reading or engaging with your offer. Google Analytics Event tracking allows you to measure PDF downloads. 9. Social Engagement Even if you don’t measure the value of a Facebook fan or Twitter follower, you can easily measure how many people click on social links or feeds with Google Analytics Event tracking. 10. Landing Page Clicks A popular best practice for PPC landing pages is to create a multi-step landing experience that segments the visitor according to their audience segment or offers of interest, and subsequently delivers more relevant pitch and information. When creating multi-step experiences, it’s important to measure i) how many people engage with that initial page and ii) what they click or engage with. This will tell you what offer is most interesting to your PPC clicks, and also what audience segment they are in. At the end of the day, it’s all about the purchase, whether a considered purchase (offline) or an online transaction. But by simply measuring online leads and transactions, you are missing out on valuable data that can really drive & boost your leads & transactions. So determine what those goals are, measure them, find out what goals support your efforts & how to improve them – and turn your PPC campaigns into the conversion ninja machines that they deserve to be. Megan Leap is Marketing Manager at ion interactive, a leading provider of advanced landing page software. As Marketing Manager, Megan manages search, email, webinar, and social media campaigns. She has extensive experience in conversion rate optimization and social media marketing, and when not championing high-ROI online marketing strategies, can be found running marathons across the U.S. She is also a frequent contributor to the Post-Click Marketing Blog . Follow Megan on Twitter: @MeganLeap.       Like This Post? You'll LOVE These Related Tutorials from SEJ : Google & Overture Provided Conversion

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