Sep
11
2008
It is unsurprising that Google Analytics is fast becoming the industry standard in website analytics. It’s free, fast and functional and only a small percentage of sites really need anything more than the extensive feature set offered by Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is a very powerful tool; however few users really utilise all the functions and thus only realise a small percentage of the benefits they could.
This article discusses a range of advanced options and configurations that should be considered and implemented where business value would be gained from having access to the new information gathered. Rather than a detailed technical guide, this article introduces each option and discusses why a business may wish to utilise it.
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Dec
28
2007
There are many types of online measurement system available each with its own methodology and purpose. Confusion between these different types of systems is common and many system also overlap in there capabilities. The main groups of online measure systems are:
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Nov
25
2007
There are a number of fundamental technologies that are used by measurement systems to collect visitor data. Here are a few of the most common:
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Feb
20
2007
IP - Unique visitors can be measured using a number of methodologies. Traditional Log analysis used IP addresses to identify unique users however this approach over reports people using dialup connections and under reports people using corporate gateways to access the internet.
Cookie - The most common method of evaluating the number of unique visitors to a site is by giving users browsers a cookie that can be used to identify that person as unique. This system is more accurate than IP but there is still the issue of people whole block or delete cookies and also people who use more than one PC to access the internet (business and home) and people who share a login (family PC). However this is the industry standard for reporting unique visitors and Red Sheriffs particular approach to unique cookie tracking is recognized by OPG (Online Publishers Group)
Identified - The only true measure of unique people is to require a login to access the site or place and order. This can be supported by cookies to store login names between sections. This approach will always underreport but does provide the number of unique people who actively interact with you site.
Feb
18
2007
CPM - Cost Per Thousand view. Even if banners are booked by the week you will need to understand the total number of impressions that are likely and the distribution of these impressions over the days of the week and over the hours of the day. Without this it is difficult to accurately predict the effectiveness of the campaign in real time.
CTR - Click Through Rate. What % of people actually clicks on an ad. This is used to access the popularity of a particular creative or placement.
CPC - Cost Per Click. How much each click cost you.
CR - Conversion Rate. What percentage of clicks/visitors took the desired action of the campaign (business outcome)
CPA - Cost Per Action. How much did each action (business outcome cost)
CPO - Cost Per Order. In e-commerce situations the cost per order is a vial measurement.
ROI - Return on Investment. For every dollar you spent how much profit you made. Often this is less than 1 in the case of new customer acquisition.
LTV - Life Time Value. For every dollar spent on customer acquisition and servicing how much profit did you make each period (week/month/year). At the break even point this is equal to 1 and should increase above this as repeat business is generated.
