Oh snap! Could it be true? Two of the biggest web analytics programs merge into some sort of mega-company? According to some press releases, that very scenario could be true. It appears that Omniture has asked Visual Sciences to be it lawfully wedded spouse by offering $394 million in stock and cash.

So what does all this mean to you and your analytics needs? Right now, not a whole heck of a lot. Uncle Sam still has to review the buyout and make sure all will be good in the world. Until then, the two companies are still operating separately and the packages are still technically competing.

The future of the web analytics world has just been radically shifted by this merger. While we're not sure of the future of either product, we do know that we have lost a major competitor. Is that good or bad? I'm not sure yet. Bringing together the minds of both companies could be a great thing for the market. The combined talent might lead to some great new functionality that we never thought of. It could also mean that since the competition isn't pushing quite as hard as it used to that the urgency to develop new and better technology might not as strong as it used to. This space (and the newly merged company) will be exciting to watch as this drama continues to unfold.

Labels: General, News

I am a cheap-ass bastard. I'm not denying it. I got my coupon clutch, my Firestone Falcons discount card and a variety of discount cards from a zillion stores. So when I find a good deal, I take advantage of it.

One of the best deals in analytics right now is Google Analytics. It is totally free and is of a very high quality. It is simple to install and has some amazing standard reports.

To set up Google Analytics all you really need to do is toss some code on your page. It looks like this:

<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
_uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
urchinTracker();
</script>

The script call to Google-Analytics.com contains a lovely JavaScript file of Google-y Goodness that we can't customize. The first little block of x's are your account number the x after the dash represents which profile in your account the data belongs to. Then there is a fun little variable call urchinTracker.

The urchinTracker variable is a great little tool to help you name events that happen allowing your Google Analytics account to become quite the little powerhouse. (There is one little catch. Make sure you have the Google Analytics code just after the tag of the page instead of at before the tag. The Google-y Goodness is needed in order to get some of these to work properly.)

UrchinTracker can be used in a number of ways so I thought I'd break it down for you.

1. Change the name of the page!
   
   You got some nasty, über-dynamic URLs? Use urchinTracker to make it look nice in your reports! You can name it anything you'd like, but I'd recommend some sort of logical structure. This is all taken care of in the code on the individual page.
   
   Example: I have a nasty URL for my taco page on my foods of the world site. I wish I could find this page in my reports.
   
   Let's fix this! Your new page code could be:
   

   <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
   </script>
   <script type="text/javascript">
   _uacct="UA-xxxx-x";
   urchinTracker('/Mexican-food/Tacos');
   </script>

2. Flash is the coolest thing EVER!!!!
   
   So let's say you have a Flash site and since you can't get indexed organically, you're paying for all of your traffic and you'd like to know which terms are actually worth your money. Making you life even better, your entire site is one Flash movie. UrchinTracker can help.
   
   UrchinTracker and ActionScript are like long lost brothers finding each other after 15 years apart: It starts out a little bit awk-weird, but it ends up pretty good and they'll probably send each other birthday cards or go out for a snifter of brandy for special occasions.
   
   Example: I have a form on my Flashy site. How can I track it?
   
   You have to make some changes to you .fla file in order to get this to work. In the on(release) ActionScript (or whatever ActionScript command you are using) for your submit button, toss in the following code:
   

   getURL("javascript:urchinTracker('/flashForm/thanks');");

   Yep. It's that simple.


3. Downloads, downloads, and more downloads.
   
   I don't know about you, but I would like to see information that pertains to downloads of PDFs and MP3s on my site. Unfortunately, Google Analytics doesn't like to track non-HTML files natively.
   
   Example: I have the biggest Rick Astley unofficial fan site in the Western Hemisphere. How do I track the illegal MP3 downloads from my site?
   
   Ready for this one? Okay. This time the code needs to go in the anchor tag of the link to your MP3. Here's your code.
   

   <a href="http://www.you-ve-been-rick-rolled.com/music/
   never-gonna-give-you-up.mp3" onClick="javascript:urchinTracker ('/mp3/NGGYU); ">

So there you go. Lots of simple ways to use urchinTracker to make your Google Analytics account more fun! Okay... maybe "fun" isn't the right word. How about more useful? Yup. I like that better.

Labels: Google Analytics, Super Fun

I know it sounds obvious, but ask yourself, "What do I want people to do when they come to our site?"

This could be really simple. You might only want people to fill out a form or request more information. It may be you want people to make a purchase online. You might just want people to click on your ads. Hell, you might even have multiple goals for your site. No matter what, here's what I want you to do. Open up Excel or Notepad or MSPaint something you feel comfortable working in and list out the desired responses.

Give yourself some room and start brainstorming. What goes into that end response or encourages multiple visits? Do you offer downloads and whitepapers that encourage people to learn more? How 'bout an email newsletter. Do you have one of those? What about some sort of tool like an interactive-calculator-gizmo-widget-thingy? While these are not your site's main purpose, these are all important tools that you can use to leverage people back into the site and eventually do what you want them to. These are all trackable actions that might correlate in some way to your bottom line. List them, too!

I know this all sounds really basic, but you would be amazed at how many people are not thinking this way! I have had so many conversations with clients where you ask them what they want people to do and they're not 100% sure. If you don't know, how is your visitor going to know?

Labels: Most Wanted Response, Set Up

In September, Forrester published a list of their top picks for web analytics tools. If you want to blow a grand, you can buy the report here. If you're not in the mood to spend your Benjamins that way, I'll recap for you!

Making headway in the list is Visual Sciences Visual Site. Since WebSideStory and Visual Sciences became one, there has been a whole new set of products that integrate into HitBox. Really, Forrester seemed to like it because it is pretty. Yup. I'd agree. HBX has a nice interface and that really is a good selling point. If it's pretty you want to use it even it isn't the best data. I mean think about it. Dart is a killer tool, but the interface isn't nice and snazzy. For Joe Average stuck in web analytics, this can be oppressive. HBX is pretty with all sorts of graphs and colors; it actually draws you in a bit.

Other big guns like Omniture and Unica's NetInsight continue to do well. WebTrends also ranks well. This one always surprises me. I know WebTrends is supposed to be this awesome tool, but seriously guys, why can I not have my MS Office crap open while I'm trying to export data? This feature makes me loathe this software. No matter how good the data is, that makes me not want to use the program. That is a Shakespearian tragic flaw if ever I'd seen one.

ClickTracks and Google Analytics get honorable mentions this time around and I can see why. They're not as robust as the other programs. Don't get me wrong; these are great programs. They're just missing some features that the others have. Like Google Analytics, you can only have 4 different conversions there's really nothing there to hunt down click fraud. The other players tend to have add-ons to help.

This study was conducted using, like, 100 billion criteria, but the one piece of data that couldn't be factored in is you're business' website. Every website is different (well, unless you're a scraped clone of DMOZ), and have unique needs. This data is great and relevant, but make sure the features of any analytics package actually meet the needs of your site.

Labels: Forrester, Lists