Marketing Logic

Part 1: Is Analytics Fun or Easy

Part 2: Ambiguity is Opportunity

Hamster-Wheel Analytics
From Part 1, setting goals is the first and only place to start when developing an analytics strategy. Otherwise, the analyst or the website marketing manager will spend the majority of their time developing reports with numbers on them. The rest of their month will then be spent justifying why those numbers are higher or lower than the previous month. Without goals, there is simply no direction.

Large numbers become the goal, and people become enamored with large numbers, even though everyone knows that more visitors is not necessarily the goal. Qualified visitors are the goal . This is hamster-wheel analytics. The endless cycle of doing the same thing and going nowhere.

Why Do You Have a Website?
Clearly stated goals are the first place to start. I find that the best answers are the clearest and simplest. Points are awarded for brevity. Two word answers are clear, and everyone involved in the website should have these printed out and displayed clearly, as they are your new measuring stick – The measurement upon which every decision about the website should and must be based.

No guesswork, measurement.
1. What is the purpose of the website?
2. What is the company goal for the website?
3. What do we want visitors to do?

One of the best goal statements I heard from a company was the simplest. Make Money, Sell Shoes. Simple, to the point and a clear measuring stick from which to base every decision. From design, analytics, social media strategy and continued development, the questions are simple – “Does it make us money? Does it sell shoes? From that, a successful website marketing strategy is born.

Into Action
How these are answered provide the framework for building measurement outcomes for the website. By now, I am hoping that the numbers developed for typical reports would start to seem like foreign concepts. How can you measure company goals and visitor expectations by unique visitors and page views? Hint: you can’t.

Clearly, we need to think differently about our concept of analytics.
This concept was made clear when I read Iconoclast. The book features examples of those individuals who went against common thinking and the wisdom of crowds. Gregory Berns, a neuroscience attempts to explain how iconoclasts think differently, respond differently and can even learn things differently.

Pursue Ambiguity
In one of the sections he discusses the concept of Bayesian updating. Most people learn by entering a subject with a preconceived idea of what they need or want and then find the information that develops and reinforces those ideas.

People tend to avoid ambiguity – as ambiguity is traced to a fear of the unknown. People desire some semblance of structure, which is why it is easy to cling to the concepts of unique visitors, hits, page views, time on site, etc. However, when the goal is to increase sales and get to the “why” of analytics, it requires foraging into the unknown and making guesses. Some of those forages may not yield substantial information; most will reward the analyst with a gold mine of information.

The most important trait is the ability to learn and respond as new information is found.

Bayesian updating is important to an analyst as it is the process of using new information to update probability. As Berns writes, “The key reappraisal for ambiguous circumstances is to view ambiguity as an opportunity for gaining knowledge.”

Once the goals have been established and the analyst has been freed from the shackles of mundane reporting, the process can be viewed as a blank slate. Start from the company goals to determine how the website is doing.

The very first report I would recommend building is an acquisition report based on motivation. Who came to the website and why? Segmentation is the principle that answers motivation.

Part 3: Segmentation Finds Motivation

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The Lost Art of Sales

Multi-channel merchants suffer from a self-fulfilling prophesy, and it is completely understood. On the surface, it makes perfect sense. For those that slept through Psychology 101, Self-fulfilling prophesy is when you tell yourself that you are no good at math, you keep telling yourself this and as a result, don’t study as much, give up easily, so that when you finally take the test, you score low, and you mark it up to the reason: “I’m not good at math”.

Multi-Channel marketers tend to overstate the reach of catalog sales, they see that catalog makes up 90% of sales, and the website makes up 10% of sales. So, they reason, the catalog will continue to have most of the marketing resources, and website will have a small amount of resources, because it doesn’t perform as well as the catalog.

Obviously, I have a number of responses to that proposition.

1. Is there a sales tracking mechanism in place that covers each channel?
   Many catalog retailers that I’ve talked with don’t have sales tracking on the website. It is an assumption based on a number of factors, but mainly their gut instinct and initial sales numbers, which can easily reinforce that thinking.

   It’s not a wrong assumption at its face value, but it must be explored more in depth. Each channel must have a sales tracking mechanism in place in order to know for sure which channel accounts for a percentage of sales.

2. Have the basics of search engine optimization been implemented on your online catalog?
   If not, then of course, your printed catalog will perform better than the website. If search engine optimization has not been performed on your website, then the average amount of search traffic is about 20% of total visits, and 80% of that 20% is most likely branded searches for the company.

   Search Engine Optimization reverses the traffic sources from your website. It takes general product searches that result in visitors and increases it to 60%-80% of your traffic. The branded searches and other means of accessing the website actually slightly increase their levels, but get dwarfed by the incoming search traffic very quickly.

   Because of the increase of search traffic, sales from the website will increase, as should sales from every channel; call centers, catalog requests, and the catalog itself. This is where tracking is critical. Knowing the source of growth and action is vital to continuing marketing efforts.

3. The Internet is not a single channel.
   The internet is a broad term covering significant channels and it has changed the very definition of multi-channel to include: Organic Search, Paid Search, Shopping Search Engines, Email, Banner/Networks, Social Media, Online Public Relations, Link Building, Blogging, and more every day . . . .

   Tracking is vital again in order to understand the value of each channel. While some channels are more effective in providing a direct response for sales, others are just as vital in providing an accurate story of your company and product. Others are important simply for visibility, others for buzz.

4. The channel determines the motivation, expectation and the qualification level of the visitor.
   Segmenting the channel is important because the source determines the motivation and the behavior of the visitor. To treat all visitors to your website the same, regardless of HOW they got there is to ignore the individuality of the consumer and the method of which you acquired them.

   Expectations of the visitor are everything; understand what they expect and tuning the message to them is vital to convert them into a long-term customer. I am surprised by the amount of companies that do not start with the simplest of segmentation analytics just by channel. There is an immense amount of intelligence to be gathered, but just starting with the basics will provide a significant reward.

5. To quote a famous stand-up philosopher, the website gets no respect.
   I remember talking with one multi-channel manager, who took the website to an amazing 70% of sales revenue for the company. But as he asked me – “Do you think I can get even 50% of the marketing budget for the best performing channel in company history?” Here is the case where the tracking, search optimization, and marketing were all in place and humming along, but the majority of the budget still goes to print. Maybe because “it’s the way it has always been done”? I’m not sure, but history will have to answer that one.

   My guess? Print is tangible, and it wins awards, but the web will win sales.

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Analytics 1.0: A Case of Velleity

I’ve read two books in the past few weeks, and have been amazed at the difference they make in my understanding of two subjects: Grammar and Algebra. I wish I have had access to these two books while in school, as I know they would have made an impact on my learning and understanding of the subject matter.

I hate x
I used to be really good in Math, until I met Algebra. Then I learned to hate x with a passion. I never understood why endless equations were so important, or how it would affect my life – why are we learning all of this? If I want to find out how many cans of paint are necessary to paint a room, I’ll buy four cans and return one if I don’t use it. That’s what Home Depot is for.

Traditionally, algebra classes are simply about performing harder and more complex equations, and I remember my teachers getting frustrated with me, as I simply did not understand algebra. I think the main reason is that I didn’t understand “why.” Why are we doing this – what does it prove? What am I learning?

Learning the “Why”
Enter a friend’s recommendation of a book, “Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea.” And now I have to ask myself – why don’t we start math classes with history lessons? Why do we not learn about why these equations were done in the first place and what they were meant to prove? This book showed the history of zero as mathematicians, philosophers and scientists either embraced or refused it.

More than Math
The author showed how zero challenged all areas of life; mathematics, theology, science, philosophy – all affected by the principle of zero. And so was my conception of algebra. By learning the history and context of this amazing subject, and its influence throughout history in so many disciplines, I learned to appreciate what I once hated, the infamous x.

Language
The second book was a fascinating romp into the formation of the English language – Bill Bryson’s “The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way.” Now, I love English and language studies to begin with, as that has aligned perfectly with understanding search marketing and semantics algorithms, but this book (again) showed the historical; changes and influences upon our modern language.

I learned to never split an infinitive.
I wish I had been armed with some of this knowledge as I defended my papers from the dreaded grammar errors that seemed to dominate my purpose. Knowing that the “rule” to never split infinitive was the result of an 18th century bishop who decided that English should be like Latin. Never mind that English is not a product of Latin, as are Spanish, French or Italian, and is it impossible to split an infinitive in Latin because the verb and infinitive are hopelessly joined together in the same word. (to speak = hablar. You can’t split the Spanish word “hablar” because the construction of the verb and infinitive are one and the same)

Yet, somehow, the romance of making the English language reflect the Latin language because of the love affair with the enlightened Greeks and Romans stuck, and now fourth graders have to beaten into submission to comply with random phrasing that is nothing like our normal verbal patterns of speech.
If you need an example, try rephrasing the heading of this section, “I learned to never split an infinitive.” In a way that sounds natural. You can’t do it without sounding like a pretentious grammar stickler.

If I had known these things in my youth, I could have argued up another letter grade – or at least befuddled the teacher to an extent that she may question the roots of grammar for the reminder of her life. At the very least I would have been satisfied to be an irritating pest to the teachers that constantly reinforced ancient writing rules that aren’t reflected in our natural speech patterns.

Bringing it together: Context Builds Understanding
In all areas, knowing the historical accomplishments and milestones always promotes understanding. Our modern educational system is not based on presenting this context. I would think that all classes should start with a history lesson of the factors that have shaped the modern understanding – how we got here. I do this in my marketing classes. It provides context as to why there is such crappy advice about search engine optimization on the internet.

Context determines everything. The same content can be presented on two different websites. However, the context of how that content is presented will cause two very distinct reactions. The readability and accessibility of one will usually trump the other, simply based on the context in which it was presented.

Understanding how information works online and how it is viewed by both humans and machines helps to create an understanding of the online marketing world. Understanding the history of online communications can help a marketer realize that social media will last much longer than any campaign, and that he had better be ready for the long-term investment, rather than a short term campaign.

Simply focusing on one part of marketing, say search engine optimization, (or in other words, the equations), without including other factors of usability, analytics, design, marketing and customer testing is neglecting a serious part of a successful campaign. Everything must be done in context in order to fully reach a targeted audience effectively and build a long-term association.

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Your analyst is the most dangerous person in your company.

A good analyst is one that cannot be trusted to follow the company line. They probably always ask for proof or data to back up claims, they challenge long-standing assumptions, and they don’t settle for status quo. That’s their job.

A company needs to be questioned to grow. Questioning is the only way that companies can get past lock-step obedience to notions. Many companies are held captive to beliefs about their website and how effective it can be. Unfortunately, they don’t have someone so subversive as an analyst that will ask the right questions which will result in increased profitability.

The Best Tool for Success
Questioning is an untapped fundamental human resource. Cultural Critic Neil Postman wrote that “question–asking is the single greatest tool human beings have. Is it not curious, then, that the most significant intellectual skill available to human beings is not taught in school?”
Precisely.
Precisely because question-asking is subversive. Teach someone to ask questions, and they will invariably question the teacher.

Question-asking is not comfortable. Question-asking can quiet any business meeting. What tends to be interpreted as rebellion is usually someone interested to know the “why,” and couldn’t there be a better way? Or simply, “why?” However, in our society we have frowned upon those that ask questions, and many employees feel that their position would be threatened if they were to question processes, decisions and memos. Unfortunately, someone needs to question if success is to be attained.

Can You Answer these Two Questions?

1. Why do you have a website?
2. What do you want visitors to do on your website?

A good analyst will hold a company hostage to the answers of these questions and ensure that the website strategy is able to meet these goals. Unless these goals are specific and stated, there is no purpose to having an analyst. Without clear goals, you are simply reporting information, month-to-month, and trying to justify small changes in visitor numbers. Analysts evaluate everything in order meet the goals of the company, and ensure that every page of the site is evaluated to ensure that these goals are in sync with the design, copywriting, layout and call to action that will support those goals.

This is the role of the web analyst. Questioning long-standing beliefs about the behavior of the website visitors and examine them under the scrutiny of neutral data. Finding the things that don’t work and constantly searching for the things that do work – by asking questions. Testing is done by asking questions, improving conversion rates accomplished by asking questions.

Socrates held that the unexamined life is not worth living. I believe that the unexamined website is not worth hosting.
So do something subversive and start questioning your strategy.

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What is Engagement?

At the recent eMetrics conference in Toronto, Canada, I heard a number of people talk about site engagement. They all seemed to have their own idea of what it was exactly, but for the most part, it all had to do with time on site and page views.

Time on Site/Page Views Engagement

I heard the Director of Customer Intelligence and Analytics for a certain major software manufacturer say that they have such a successful site because people spend so much time on it, and look at so many different pages. I have my own idea about what that is called, and it is not engagement.

I think people spend a lot of time on his website because they have purchased the new operating system, are having problems with it, so they go on the the site to find help. They look at so many pages because they can’t find what they need.

Is that engagement?

Are visitors really engaged with your website when they are unhappy?

As an analyst it is always very tempting, and easy, to tell a client, “Look at that, people who searched for this term spent 10 minutes on our site, and looked at 20 pages. They are really being engaged on SuchAndSuch.com.” But let’s break that down. 20 pages in 10 minutes. That is an average of 30 seconds on each page. That is a decent amount of time on a page, but it’s a lot of pages. Did they find what they were looking for? Are they being engaged?

If this an e-commerce site, did it result in a sale? If they didn’t buy, they didn’t find what they were looking for. Were they engaged?

Successful Visitor Engagement

Now let’s look at another scenario. The average visit to a site lasts 10 minutes, and has 2 page views. That is 5 minutes on a page. They are obviously either reading, or watching video.

Who is more engaged? 20 seconds on a page, or 5 minutes on a page.

Now for the big question. If a visitor to your site is unhappy, and leaves unhappy, were they engaged?

I believe that engagement is something more than page views and time on site. It is deeper than that. It comes down to whether or not a customer on your site is successful , and found what they came for.

If a visitor is successful, they have been engaged.

If they are happy when they leave, they have been engaged.

If they found information they needed, they were engaged.

If they bought something, they most likely were engaged.

Measuring Visitor Success

Now you’re asking “Well, how do I measure engagement now?” That’s a good question. There are many companies out there offering to tell you if visitors are happy and engaged. Usually by using annoying pop-up surveys which defeat the purpose of wanting people to be happy.

You need to figure out what the purpose of your site is, then find out how you can make people happy. After that, you can start to find out whether or not people are engaged.

Are you still measuring engagement as time on site and page views? Or are you doing something new, exciting and different?

The ROI of Search Engine Optimization, Usability, and Analytics.
I’ll tell you why I love what I do. I love helping other people be successful in their business. And this industry provides the tools for making an impact. Right now.

SEO, Usability, and Analytics are the best investment that you can make for your online business. If you have never looked at optimization, usability, or ‘real’ analytics research for your website, then you have missed a wide-open opportunity to get the most out of your website.

These three factors have always resulted in success on many websites, and when combined, they are even more powerful in their results. Even websites that experience at least one of the three: search engine optimization, usability, or analytics; will experience a drastic change for the better, as each one provides significant direction to improve your website.

Regardless of the purpose of your website, selling stuff, getting leads, or page views, utilizing these three methods of website improvement will pay off far beyond your investment in a specialist, in-house training, attending a seminar, or however you choose to get it done.

Analytics = 900% to 1200% ROI
Forrester research showed that a company that brings in a dedicated analyst can result in a 900% - 1200% ROI. That’s something to get excited about. In my experience, that return can usually be experienced within the first few months of implementing the changes that the analyst recommends. The biggest problems will be identified first.

Usability = 80% to 200% increase in desired metrics.
According to Jacob Nielson, usability improvements six years ago averaged 135%, now it has fallen to 83%, (it’s higher when you look at specific metrics). The main reason is that designs are getting better than what we were accustomed to viewing in the 1990’s. However, from personal experience in usability, website sales in ecommerce sites can improve dramatically simply with a usability review. I have worked on some projects were the ROI of the usability changes was over 4000%. It’s amazing some of the obstacles that are placed in front of users, but never tested or reviewed with live subjects.

SEO = (the wildcard) 40% to 4000+%
Search Engine Optimization is the real wildcard. Some sites respond very quickly to simple on-page optimization techniques an there is an immediate change to improved rankings and increased visitors. Other sites require more attention and additional off-site or on-site optimization help, or even a full marketing campaign in order to see results. It really is determined on a case-by-case basis. However, you can’t get around the fact that a simple optimization project on a website can result in increased rankings.

The full impact of SEO cannot be fully measured, as factors such as “the long tail,” ranking positions, and tracking systems make it very hard to calculate the true return from an SEO campaign. Not the least of which is that SEO campaigns have grown far beyond what they were in the past. Simply placing keywords in the title tags is not the primary concern of the Professional SEO. Search Engine Optimization has become more more integrated into the entire marketing process, which makes ROI in this area very hard to nail down as a general rule-of-thumb for all types of websites.

Combined Campaign = Exponential Results
Amazingly, when any of these disciplines are coupled together, the ROI factor increases. SEO combined with Usability provides amazing results and will usually result in a change of website navigation and architecture. Usability combined with Analytics will usually produce SEO-type recommendations and improvements, along with significant awareness of the visitor and their tendencies on the website. You may not like what you learn about people’s opinion of the site after that type of review. However, implementing those changes will provide a dramatic return on the investment.

After attending last week’s Search Engine Strategies, I saw first-hand that the (possible?) recession, while on some people’s minds, is not going to stop business, and it won’t stop online marketing. Savvy marketers will take this opportunity to improve the customer experience and get the most out of their websites.

This is why I love what I do, and why I focus on these three areas first when marketing websites. Most companies want to run headlong into the social media game, when they have not even taken the first steps to get the most out of their own websites.

Improve the experience at home first, and then invite others over.

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Mike Moran from IBM made a very insightful post a few weeks back. Unfortunately, I don’t think it received the attention that it should have. It really is the frustration of many consultants and marketers like myself who go through all of the pains to help clients market themselves effectively, but they just don’t get the fact that analytics has EVERYTHING to do with marketing.

Like Mike, my approach in my teaching is focused on the development of business goals and measurement of results. Unfortunately, many clients are miles ahead and wanting to start their marketing campaign. Mike’s comments focus on search and rankings, but it even goes beyond that. Many marketers are in love with the campaign, but despise the measurement, or even taking the time to define success.

It was one of the most fulfilling moments a few weeks ago when a client complemented our approach. She was grateful that I didn’t cave in to their desire to start marketing right away. Rather, she was thankful that they followed my advice to take a step back, evaluate everything, build measurement goals, and then refocus the campaign. That thankfulness made my day. When clients understand the value of metrics, they then start to measure everything in terms of value, and web marketing takes on a whole new aspect. (and becomes fun!)

The value of metrics is clear.
Information is readily available to evaluate and compare new campaigns. New niche markets are exposed. Entire regions are discovered from old campaigns and analytics, providing unearthed resources for new campaigns. New ideas can be gleaned from old data, and once repeated campaigns can now be refocused on specific targets.

For me, I can’t understand the thinking of changing a website based on a guess that it might improve. Too many companies focus attention on campaigns or the latest social media buzz without first exploring the metrics and methods for success. There are too many companies that simply purchase Google AdWords without doing the slightest bit of research into keywords and reporting.

Ideally, once campaigns begin, measurements are in place to provide immediate measurement and metrics for success. It is no longer a guessing game. Improvements have specific results that are focused on the bottom line. Each change can be tied to a reason and a measurable result.

Goals
The web has made everything faster, and analytics tends to get left behind. Granted, much of today’s tools and depth of insight was absent early on, but that shouldn’t be an excuse. For some organizations the first question I ask seems to be the hardest: “What is the purpose of your website?”

Eric Peterson mentioned this same concept when he said “analytics works best when measurement expectations are clearly defined in advance, not after the fact or in an ad-hoc basis.” Amazingly, this same concept works in almost every area of life and business. For some reason, it’s been forgotten in online marketing.

Analytics is not just about numbers, it’s about improvements, processes, experience, and planning. You don’t have to be doomed to repeat the same failed campaigns. History teaches powerful lessons, and analytics are a primary tool for learning those lessons.

Mike provides one of the best closing statements I’ve heard about online marketing. “If you say to yourself that you are working on search optimization because you believe it will make you money, that’s not a business, that’s a religion. Instead, put search on the same footing as every other business decision and optimize your business instead of your search campaign.”

Amen, brother.

I have always fielded questions concerning international strategies, primarily that of US-based companies branching into Spanish-language websites or content.
However, the frequency of these questions have increased the past few years, along with the variety of international markets that companies are looking to target.
There are a few levels of international strategies that I have observed and had the pleasure of
consulting and analyzing for the campaigns. They range from the planned to the unplanned, and I have some lessons learned from each.

1. The “Hey! We have international traffic!” level.
This is primarily from the website owners that did not set out to target foreign markets, but have had their sites do well in search engines in various regions. This has been particularly interesting when a company ranks well for a term that is well-focused in a specific language, yet does not rank at near the same level in the English language.

International Website Marketing Principle #1
Typically, some of the smaller business websites that are gaining traffic from international users need to be sure that they do the following:

• Create an internationally usable address form. International addresses are much different from US-based contact forms. The US is the only country that uses a 5-digit numerical zip code. Everywhere else uses postal codes.
• If you have an ecommerce site, be sure to show shipping options prior to the sale. Shipping costs can be a deterrent to the sale if Air Cargo is the only option available.

2. The English/Spanish website level. (Or French/English for my friends up North)
I was on a panel discussion in Toronto when the question came up about duplicate content and foreign-language versions of a website. Adam Lasnik from Google confirmed that there is no duplication “penalty” for a having a page in English and a translated page in Spanish/French/etc. This was not surprising though, as translation is not character for character or word-for word. But it did help assuage many fears in the room.

International Website Marketing Principle #2
There is NO reason that a translated version of the website should be a word-for-word translation. Languages cannot be translated word for word – they should be translated concept for concept, as a word for word translation is misleading.

Language Strategies
My best advice for companies in this market is to retain a native bi-lingual speaker to translate the content for their native market. Most businesses should have regional sales representatives or consultants who can assist them in marketing to another country, so this resource should be used for more than just corporate communications and sales, but also for the website.

Government Language Regulations
Many regions, such as Quebec, are forced to offer both English and French versions of their websites, which adds unique circumstances to any business. The website cannot default to either language in order to refrain from showing any preference. This situation creates an interesting conflict as the choice must be available to the user, without the “influence” of a default (or preferred) language.

The web is one area that exposes these government language regulations as outdated. The search engines are language and country focused, but the job of the search engine is to return the most relevant result. There are search options for returning results only in the language of that country, or only websites from that country, but a user will search for a website that answers their question. Add to this the fact that most users will not enter at the homepage for a website. The search engines will show the most relevant pages, which may not include the website, so the choice to change languages will not be as noticeable as on the homepage, where many websites are required to present the choice.

Similar situations are happening in Spain, where I had the amazing opportunity to present to an international group of senior-level direct marketing executives. Within the country of Spain itself, there are regions that speak different dialects, and even languages, making direct marketing a divided undertaking. Concerning Latin America and South America, simply having a Spanish language website may not be enough, as there are multiple differences in each country: by region, dialect, slang, and even words. (I was not comfortable speaking what little 3-year-public-school Latin American Spanish in Spain, as there were many works and phrases that were not the same, however “¿Dónde esta el baño?” still got me where I needed to go.)

3. International Direct Marketing level.
Marketing in Europe requires sensitivity and awareness of different cultures and groups. For example, German users may be more wary of a product offering or a company based in another country than a user from the UK market. A uniform approach in marketing a website will simply not work. As a result, many multi-national companies have extensive country and regionally-based websites. They understand that there has to be a different sales proposition in Spain than in France, as people respond differently to marketing messages.

This is also true in website design. Not only should the content be focused to a particular culture or region, but the design will tend to change as testing reveals different preferences and needs of that specific region. Primary examples are the designs of a U.S. based websites not performing well in the Chinese market. (See Gord Hotchkiss’ fantastic Chinese eye tracking study and the principle of ‘hot and noisy‘.)

International Website Marketing Principle #3
Simply translating your website is not enough. Since when is persuading your audience the same for everyone? Just as your web analytics need to be segmented based on user groups, your marketing needs to be segmented based on countries, culture, and customs. Is the content compelling to the new market? Does it connect properly? The content should be well-written specifically within the context of that culture and country.

Marketing to a different culture and country will create additional requirements for your website marketing. The images, the flow and the content should all be specifically focused and coordinated approach, constantly adjusted by user feedback and analytics. The content and design may be completely different for each new market.

Re-branding to a different language and expecting the same results is an insult. It clearly shows when a company has not taken even the simplest steps to understand the culture that it is attempting to reach.

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From the earlier article that I wrote, Social Media Under the Microscope, a lot of conversation was spawned as a result of the data findings. Many questions seemed to have been answered, as many people responded by confirming the same data on their sites. However, there were some new questions created from the data.

The most fascinating questions revolved around defining the difference between different social media technologies, such as blogs, forums, online news sites, and social networking and bookmarking sites. Using the same data, but looking at it in different ways provided some very amazing trends. So, with new & improved charts (complete with fresh new colors) and additional tools to dig into the data, (thanks to ClickTracks) I began the process of analyzing different forms of engagement based on visitor referral sources.

Defining Social Media
Because of the strong differences in engagement and context, I have had to divide the general term of social media in order to properly label and view the visitors from these sources. Because these groups view content in very diametrically opposed methods, they must be separated and defined. I added Web 2.0 customer review sites, since they are social media-based websites.

• Social Media: Blogs, Forums
• Social News: Digg, Reddit, Delicious, Netscape
• Web 2.0: (Yahoo Local, Amazon reviews)

Using one of the more recent events that rippled through the blogosphere, Jennifer Laycock’s run-in with the National Pork Board, a lot of data was built. Jennifer’s original blog post made the front page of the major social news sites, attracted public relations and online news coverage, and made headlines in the mommy bloggers and parenting forums. A data junkie’s dream, this provided compelling data to analyze as there were a variety of visitor referral sources and long term data.

Define: Engagement
One of the best ways of analyzing visitors is not to get distracted by the big numbers. When building comparisons from referrers, one has to look at the goals of the site. Especially for content producers, making the site “sticky” has to be defined. What makes a successful visit, even if there is no conversion? Any site manager should have to answer that question, as a good customer experience is what makes people come back, even if they do not purchase or become a lead on the first visit. Chances are they won’t. So how do you know if you are taking care of your visitors? This is where engagement metrics are so important.

First, define engagement. Define a successful visit to your website. A combination of time on site and pages viewed were the logical choices for this project, as Jennifer writes a content-based blog. She does sell shirts (which got her in trouble in the first place), so that as a conversion as well, even though it is not her primary activity.

Define: Audience
Second, define your audience. This may sound impossible at first, but consider where your audience comes from: search engine queries, website links, direct access or bookmarks. Now, what are those people looking for? Search queries are not that hard to aggregate. I suggest creating “buckets” of keyword concepts. Rather than isolating a specific term and counting visitors, widen the scope and create a catch-all phrase that will capture as many of the related terms to a particular concept as possible.

For example, a site that sells lighting may want to filter the search queries for the phrase ‘ceiling fans’. Rather than waste time trying to capture every single variation of the term, use the single word ‘fans’. This will help you to view the search trends in that vertical rather than getting sidetracked on tracking the specific phrase. Depending on the size of the site, there can be hundreds of related terms within the segment. The more segments you create, the more data you have to compare. Comparison also takes on a new aspect when comparing similar terms within the vertical, rather than comparing all of the terms in one list.

The idea is that by segmenting out each of these key concepts, rather than specific words, you can better identify what each group of searchers is looking for, and then better identify what your site is delivering to them.

In looking at Jennifer’s traffic sources, we saw a significant distinction in the audience:

• Salon.com
• Parenting Forums (two popular sources)
• Mommy Bloggers (primary blog referrers)
• Web Marketing Blogs
• Social News Sites (Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon)
• Search Traffic (four primary keyword verticals in the strategy)

This created a wide range of audience characteristics. On one hand, Jennifer is a recognizable member of the search marketing community; on the other she is a mommy blogger and a breastfeeding activist. This event brought many different groups together, simply by nature of the situation; the corporate giant with an overzealous attorney going after a work at home mom with a blog.

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High Audience Engagement
Based on engagement factors, the group that was the most engaged, and with a very respectable conversion rate, were the visitors from Salon.com. These visitors tended to stay the longest, read more pages, and consistently browsed the shirt selection. It was a surprise that this group was the most engaged, but something resonated with them as the article was published right in the middle of the controversy.

Good Audience Engagement
Blogs & Forums
The second most engaged group was a mix of blogs and forums. Typically, the blog referrals stayed longer and read more, but the forums were not far off. This was not surprising, as the highest referring blogs in terms of numbers were other mommy bloggers. The forums were well known parenting forums which brought the article to the attention of other moms and dads. There was also a distinct difference between the mommy blogger referrals and the search marketing community referrals. Obviously, this situation resonated more with the mommy bloggers than the search community. The marketers were more interested in the David v. Goliath match-up and link bombing the Pork Board. The news really spread in the mommy blogger world, as many were personally offended at the attorney’s remarks. These groups, while the engagement was lower than Salon.com, tended to convert and buy shirts at a higher rate – not a big surprise.

Search Traffic
Closely related but less engaged were the searchers. Of course, the search traffic around the event lagged based on the search engines. However, there were changes in the Google index within hours of the first post. Two days after the original blog post, Jennifer’s site, TheLactivist.com, ranked #6 for the search term, “National Pork Board.” The engagement rates varied based on the terms they were searching for, which provided a very insightful view into the engagement by search term “group”. The conversion rates were lower than the blog referrers, but there was also differentiation among the conversion rates based on search terms as well. Based on what people are searching for, they view a site very differently, which leads to understanding the context of the search and the searcher’s expectations.

Low Audience Engagement
The lowest engaged group is the social media group, whose primary demographic is twenty-something tech-oriented males. However, the behavior shown here (lowest time on site, rarely more than one page view, no conversions) is not specific to this site. It is an occurrence on almost every site that is subject to attention from the techie world. From Slashdot to Digg, the attention from techies who share stories from around the world is nothing new. Consistently, the referrals from those types of social news sites all follow a trend of low engagement and rare conversions.

The “Long Tail” of Referrers
Most web marketers have heard of the Keyword Long Tail effect. See Keyword Long Tail for more info:

However, one of the more exciting things noted in the analysis was from the blog and forum referrers who sent traffic from the initial visit link. As time went on, those referrers tended to link to Jennifer’s site again and again, especially as she broke new stories specific to the parenting and breastfeeding communities.

This is the critical long-term data observation.

TheLactivist.com attracted attention from a wide variety of sources, yet the primary message is breastfeeding rights, parenting, and activism. Those blogs and forums, specific to that audience, that initially found her site from the Pork Board suit, continued to link to her site because it was relevant to their message and audience.

While the Digg, Reddit and other socal media did the “Flash Mob” thing . . .

Her other referrers, many of whom found her site from the Pork Board story, continued to send visitors and link to her blog. This is the long tail effect for links.

When new bloggers and opinion leaders find your website and it resonates with them, they tend to link to it more often, thereby sending more people over the long term than in one specific instance. Interestingly, there were other stories that drove more people from these blogs to her website than what was drawn by the original article!

Context and Competition
Here are the keys to developing this effect for your website. Context and Competition for Attention.

The principle of context is simple, we each practice it every day. When mommy bloggers and parenting forums linked to Jennifer’s story, the context was clear, they were mothers outraged at the comments of the Pork Board lawyer. Jennifer’s blog was sympathetic for them, as she was a work at home mother being harassed and bullied by a corporate giant. Therefore, the context of the link in those blogs and forums was very high. Conversely, the competition for the reader’s attention was very low. When a blogger links to another site it is usually supported by surrounding information that is relevant, powerful and the next best thing to a word-of-mouth referral. There are very few other links competing for attention, and when a link is provided in a clear context, there is no competition.

The next level in context and competition is search referrals. Searchers have queried a topic and they are evaluating the result page to find the most relevant choice to click. The context is usually fairly good, depending upon the searcher’s terms, and in an ideal world, all of the choices are relevant; however, they are all competing for the searcher’s attention. The more results on the page, the more scrolling, and the more results pages viewed, the more the competition for the searcher’s attention increases and the less chance that your site will be clicked.

Finally, social media. The competition for the reader’s attention is huge, as the homepage of Digg alone has about 30 news and topical links to choose from. Contextually, those links have little to nothing in common. This is the place for distraction, something different, and discovery of news not otherwise found. Most users are not looking for anything in particular, politics excluded, so it is all about what catches their eye. The competition for their attention is very high, and the context is very low for specific subjects, so it logically stands that their engagement rates for any site will be very low.

Conclusions
The biggest take-away for me was the impact of a good link from an online news source. The visitors and the weight of the authority provide a significant benefit. Truly, a show of quality over quantity. Online Public Relations and reaching out to online news outlets is still one of the most viable methods of creating awareness and traffic for a website.

The second take-away is the recognition that a long term strategy that focuses on your target audience will be the most viable and profitable. Chasing after short-term repetition from social news sites as a means of marketing a website will lead to detached visitors who see no consistent context to your site or your goals as a business.

The tried and true focus of building a business by a long-term focus on your target market is borne out in the data. Building a relevant site that connects with visitor needs is the most beneficial and valuable. A strategy that engages visitors by the contextual relevance will build sales and leads and long-term reputation at the same time.

Related Posts:
Social Media - Under the Microscope
The 3 C’s Of Marketing: Content, Context, Community
The Difference Between the WHAT and the WHY

I was reviewing some old articles on analytics when I caught last summer’s DM News Report on Analytics (PDF). I was impressed at the amount of information contained about the business case for analytics, all coming from some very intelligent people. The great thing was the consistent thread of thought throughout the entire report: Analytics is growing – and it’s more than web stats – it is marketing intelligence. Unfortunately, the gold mine is sitting untouched, as many businesses are unaware of the untold riches sitting just a few inches away.

However, this grabbed my attention more than anything else in the report:

“Web analytics works best when measurement expectations are clearly defined in advance, not after the fact or on an ad-hoc basis.”
-Eric Peterson

This is not only the essence of analytics, it is the essence of business. Even greater than that, of life. Your life has to have goals, otherwise, what are the expectations that you will measure yourself against? How can you expect a business to succeed when there are no measurements along the way to provide correction and guidance?

Goal setting and published expectations are natural for those who expect to succeed, and it is not a strange trend that those who practice that also succeed in business. The same is true of websites. They must have a goal, both for the owner and the visitor. Unless that goal is declared, there is no way to determine success or failure.

The only way to sift through the mountains of data, the hundreds of charts and graphs, the pages of “Top 10” lists, is to have a specific set of goals to measure. By measuring against specific goals, the data will suddenly fall away as you remove what is not necessary to the overall goals. Good analytics programs allow you to strip away the stuff you don’t want or need to see. They allow you to focus in on the key indicators that are relevant to your site’s performance.

Bottom Line: If you don’t have clearly defined goals for your online marketing strategy, then no amount of analytics will assist you in making the right decisions.