Principles of Internet Marketing Chapter 13 Traffic Analysis and Measuring for Success.

Principles of Internet Marketing

Chapter 13Traffic Analysis and Measuring for

Success

Objectives

In this chapter you will learn about:

•The importance of setting the right goals and some of the goals often set for Web sites and marketing campaigns

•How marketers can track Web sites and what data relating to a Web site they can analyze

Principles of Internet Marketing: New Tools and Methods for Web Developers 2


Benchmarks for Success: Setting the Right Goals

• Explain that Marketers must set goals that take into account:– Purpose of the site or campaign– Market– Budget– Combination of all of these factors

• Different components of a marketing campaign, such as e-mail blasts, Web sites, banner ads, etc., may all have different goals

Principles of Internet Marketing 4

Marketing Goals

• Marketing goals focus on a variety of areas, including:– New site traffic: A marketing campaign is often

executed in an attempt to introduce new visitors to the site, measured as either a whole number or a percentage increase from a previous month, quarter, or year

– Returning visitors: Some marketing campaigns are run solely for the purpose of bringing established visitors back to the site

4Principles of Internet Marketing: New Tools and Methods for Web Developers


Marketing Goals (continued)

• Marketing goals focus on a variety of areas, including (continued):– Distribution of information: Viral campaigns will

frequently judge success by the amount of times a file or piece of information is passed on from one recipient to another, usually through word of mouth or e-mail

– Percentage of e-mail click-through's: Goals for e-mail marketing campaigns are often based on the percentage of people who open a given e-mail and click through to the Web site



Marketing Goals (continued)

• Marketing goals focus on a variety of areas, including (continued):– Targeted regional audiences: Marketing campaigns

are often run on regional or local level to increase audiences in specific geographic territories



Web Site Goals

• Gross revenue: E-commerce sites tend to set goals based on gross revenue

• Number of leads gained: Business-to-business sites need visitors to take action by calling or e-mailing the company to request more information or to set up an exploratory meeting

• Number of pages visited: Sites typically want to maximize the number of pages viewed by each visitor and will set specific goals based on this



Web Site Goals (continued)

• Length of time spent on the site: Similarly, Web sites want to keep people on their site as long as possible

• Specific pages visited: Marketers often identify certain pages on a site that they most want users to visit

• General brand building: For some sites, the goal may just be to increase brand recognition

• Visitor registration: For sites that want users to register as members or otherwise subscribe to the site, goals are set based on the number of participants



Establishing Numbers-Based Goals

• Explain that goals need to be realistic (and whenever possible, numeric) in order to properly measure

• Throughout the life of any marketing campaigns, benchmarks toward goals should be analyzed regularly so that efforts can be adjusted as necessary



Site Tracking: Breaking Down the Measurements

• There are many programs and off-the-shelf software that allow marketers to help track and analyze traffic data and patterns on a Web site

• The remainder of this chapter will examine measurement based on Google Analytics, but larger companies and organizations would likely use more powerful tools, such as Web Trends, Omniture or others



Google Analytics

• Analytics is likely to remain one of the most commonly used tracking programs because:– Although it’s not the most powerful tool available it

gives the most amount of information that the largest number of marketers need

– It integrates seamlessly with Google AdWords– As the most popular search engine, Google has the

ability to promote their Analytics program very aggressively

– It’s free



Google Analytics (continued)

• Analytics works by first installing lines of code into site pages that the developer wants to track

• The main Google Analytics dashboard is a first glance as to what’s happening on the site



Google Analytics (continued)

The dashboard of Google Analytics provides an overview of important information



The Timeline

• The Timeline shows the activity of the site within a specified time period

• Each day is represented by a small dot marking how many visits were made to the site that day

• Measurement by visits is the default – Users can change this to display any number of

other analytics



The Timeline (continued)

• At a glace, the timeline shows developers whether or not there has been steady growth over time, when site usage tends to be at the lowest, if there have been any spikes in usage – For example, after a new press release has been

distributed to the media, or a new ad campaign has been launched, or if site traffic levels have hit a plateau




• Users have control over the timeline, and can set it to review any one date or date range by using the collapsible calendar menu to compare one time frame to another such as the first quarter of the current year vs. the first quarter of the previous year, to see if growth has been achieved




The timeline can be adjusted to any desired date range or set to compare two different timeframes



Site Usage

• Site usage data provides information that is vital to understanding site traffic and how visitors are behaving, for the selected time period

• ‘Visits’ shows the number of times people (new and returning) that have visited the site, which can then be broken down further by visits per day (or hour, week, or month based on user preference)

• Understanding which time frame is most popular for visitors can be a key factor in knowing when to upload new content



Site Usage (continued)

Visits to the site can be broken down by hour, day, week or month




• ‘Pageviews’ shows the total number of pages that were visited by all of the visitors for the given time period– Like the number of visits, further research within the

analytics site breaks down pageviews by hour, day, week, or month




• “Average time on site’ shows the total time spend on the site during a given time period divided by the total number of visitors during that time period– The average time users spend on a site is a key

statistic that lets marketers know how engaging and interesting visitors find their site to be




• ‘Percentage of new visits’ is the number of visits by new site visitors divided by the total number of visits to the site– Marketers often have a goal for how many new

users they want to visit the site vs. how many returning users



Visitors Overview

• The Visitors Overview provides a much deeper analysis of the visitors that come to the site, such as which browsers are being used to view the site, screen resolution, users’ ability to support java or view Flash files, or even which companies are coming to visit (this is particularly useful for B2B companies measuring site traffic)



Map Overlay

• The Map Overlay feature breaks down users by geography, allowing developers to mine location information down to the specific towns that visitors have come from



Map Overlay (continued)

Marketers can break down visitor usage by region, right down to the town or city. For each region, data is provided that shows percentage of new visits, bounce rates, and more. This information can be helpful in knowing where to target marketing campaigns.using. This is helpful to developers, as

sites often look and act differently within different browsers.



Traffic Sources Overview

• Traffic Sources let marketers know how visitors are finding the site by breaking info down by how many people have come to the site directly (typing the URL into the browser address bar), finding a link to the site in a search engine, or clicking onto the site from a link found on another Web site– Deeper information includes percentage breakdown

of which search engines are most often used to find the site, the most popular keywords used in searches that result in visitors coming to the site, and which other sites visitors have used to find the site being tracked



Traffic Sources Overview (continued)

Marketers can use metrics applications to understand how traffic is finding their site.



Content Area

• Gives an in-depth look at the content on a site, how it is being viewed, and which pages connect most strongly with the visiting audience, by breaking down each page by:– Total number of pageviews– Unique pageviews: This statistic doesn’t count multiple

visits to the same page by any one user– How much time spent on each page: This can be helpful

if a marketer knows that a certain page should take roughly 30 seconds to read, but the average time spent on that same page is seven seconds

• The marketer can target that page for redevelopment



Content Area (continued)

• Gives an in-depth look at the content on a site, how it is being viewed, and which pages connect most strongly with the visiting audience, by breaking down each page by (continued):– Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who came

directly to that page and then left the site completely– Percentage exit: The percentage of people who,

after traveling through the site, left on any given page



Summary

• Establishing goals is a vital part of knowing what is working, what needs to be altered, and whether the efforts being taken are generating a positive ROI

• The success of a Web site or marketing campaign can be measure in many different ways

• There are a variety of goals behind Web and marketing efforts, including boosting the number of new visitors to a site, increasing sales, signing up registrants, or raising brand awareness


Summary (continued)

• Marketers can use many different many different programs and software applications to study and analyze site traffic and overall performance– One of the more popular tools is Google Analytics,

which is provided free to any site developer or marketer

• Like many other tracking applications, Google Analytics provides vital statistics, such as geographic overviews of traffic sources, the number of pageviews, the time spent on the site, and more– All of this can be studied and analyzed in an attempt

to improve the site and reach any pre-set goals


Summary (continued)

• Promotions, such as contests and limited-time sales, help brands increase traffic and revenue on a more short-term immediate basis

• Viral marketing has the potential to help brands reach more people for a lower cost by enticing the market to spread the word to others


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Principles of Internet Marketing Chapter 13 Traffic Analysis and Measuring for Success.

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