March, 2008

I'm putting together an analytics report for my customer. My customer has been gathering web stats for years, but never had anyone sit down and go through the numbers. So this is not just a report on how the site is performing, but also a basic education on web analytics.

Before we can even start digging into the numbers, we have to make sure they were gathered correctly. If web analytics isn't implemented correctly, it's the good old "garbage in - garbage out" model.

Here are the best practices to follow:

1. Tag all your pages. If your page is not tagged, you have no data and you have no way of going back and finding it. There are lots of free validation services available. Run it once a week and send the report to your web team with a list of missing tags.
2. Place tags last. The tag should be the last thing to load on the page for best performance. Otherwise the analytics server does its thing and can delay page load. Your JavaScript tag should be placed as close to the </body> tag as possible.
3. Place tags inline. Don't place them in places like inside tables or frames and other such things.
4. Identify your unique page definition. You will need to "teach" your analytics tool which combination of filename and parameters identifies a page. Is it a simple .html that identifies the page as unique or is it a long product code? Whatever it is, you need to make sure your analytics tool knows this.
5. Use cookies intelligently. Use first-party cookies as much as possible. Be aware that IE6 & 7 limit cookies to 20 per domain. There are ways to get around this like consolidating cookies or using subdomains. Also be sure to disclose in your privacy policies what you collect.
6. Validate the data is being captured correctly. All web analytics tools behave differently. It's important that you validate in a quality audit exactly what your tags are capturing what they're suppose to when they're supposed to. Your analytics tool probably has a nifty utility to validate and review the data being collect by your tags. Try to check it once a month.
7. Correctly encode rich media. Standard analytics tools were designed to measure "pages". Rich media aren't pages but "experiences". The entire experience could be represented by one page view. A site with lots of rich experiences need a completely different data collection plan.

The above tips are from an really good book "Web Analytics, An Hour a Day" by Avinash Kaushik. His blog is also filled with a lot of good tips. Check him out.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting president of Click Rain, Paul Ten Haken. Click Rain just opened doors a few weeks ago servicing a niche in the web market that is right up my alley - online marketing. 

We swapped ideas about how to make web sites work for businesses; processes and methods too often overlooked by web owners thus making their site ineffective. A site without a marketing plan is like whispering into the wind. No one is going to hear you and you'll loose out.  

A marketing plan consists of a variety of solutions (all nicely outlined on Click Rain's site). So I won't get into that right now. I promised Paul I would share some of my favorite free web tools with him. So I decided to write it up in a post and share these with everyone.

Unfortunately my "favs" are stored on two computers, so this list will be a little incomplete. But I will update - it's about time I finally got these pulled together in one place.

A Few of my Favorite Freebies (version 1)

• Google Webmaster -  Google is the king daddy of the net and this is a must read for anyone in the web world.
• Google Key Word Tool - you site isn't anything if the search engines can't find it. This tool will let you help you find those perfect key words.
• Keyword Tracker - not a freebie, but they do offer a trial version. Find the keywords you need to succeed online.
• Ethnio - a friendly new way to recruit people from your website for research.
• Website Optimizer - Another Google freebie
• Crazy Egg - awesome heat map tool
• Ajax Whois - looking for an open URL?
• Google Analytics - I used a number of analytics tools and this one comes out on top.
• Poll Daddy - create stunning polls and surveys
• Fleck -Add a note to any page, then send it to your friends or use it in a blog
• Foldspy - Different browsers, operating systems, screen sizes and user preferences mean a visitor to your site doesn’t see what you see.
• Denim - An awesome tool to create mock-ups and click-thrus
• Bubbl.us - a simple and free mind-map web application that lets you brainstorm online.

There are quite a few more, so version 2 will be much more complete and far better organized. Enjoy!

Last time I dreamed that I was hanging out in a big tree with Perez Hilton (his hair was pink though). We were having a grand time but eventually he had to bug off to write some posts. He invited me to his party that night, said he would get me backstage. And that was about it. He left and I contemplated going out on a school night.

So why am I sharing this bizarre dream with you? I'm absolutely fascinated by how a single person managed to grow his blog to one of the most popular sites on the internet. In fact, it's so influencing he visits me in my dreams at night. That's the Power of Perez. So what did it take to make his site so successful? Without the privilege of getting a behind-the-scenes peak at his operations, here's my guess:

1. He focuses on one thing and does it well.
2. He's truly himself and it shows in his blog.
3. He picked an effective and memorable name (quite like Fake Steve Jobs)
4. He keeps the posts coming.
5. His posts are short and have effective imagery.
6. It's easy to consume his information. It's not heavy.
7. His website is a little busy, but he scores well with the pagnation (key to keep the visitors glued).
8. He probably employed a big online marking machine to get his blog out.
9. He gives the visitors what they want upfront.
10. He does an ace job with viral marketing.

In truth, I think there's a big powerhouse backing Perez, but that spoils the fun. So for now I'm just going to believe it's a one-man-band that effectively used the forces of his creativity and the internet to make millions. Well done Perez!

Today I came across this incredible widget/miniweb/thingy maker called Sprout. I gave it a quick test run and was able to quickly whip together a few pages of content in 5 minutes. It's the start of my mini portfolio. I can think of a zillion great uses for Sprout. It's a great way to share your content with other sites in a far more usable, creative fashion. I highly encourage you to give it a try!

(if the widget doesn't display above, you can view it here too)