Friday, October 12, 2007

Generous Google

We come across a lot of information in our world, and perhaps the greatest challenge is sorting through it all and finding the real gems. But we're sure we found one this week. At http://www.google.com/grants/ your non-profit can apply for free adwords listings in Google. For those who aren't familiar with what this means, Adwords are *paid* search engine listings in Google. We use Adwords weekly for various client campaigns, and the cost can be anywhere from $30 a month to $200 a month. So, this is a tremendous value to say the least. Now, they say they may take up to 6 months to process the applications, and we have a few in the process. We'll keep you posted on what the real time processing ends up as. In the meantime, follow the link and get your application in! This could be one of the better moves you make for driving traffic to your website!

Monday, October 8, 2007

Analysing Analytics with Google

I remember fumbling around with beginning analytics software programs in the mid 90's. It was like using caveman tools, in a high tech environment. No matter how hard we tried, the software still left us taking 'educated guesses' as to what was really going on. But all that changed when Google Analytics entered the market. Not only is their program *free* (which we had paid enormous amounts of money for programs that still did not work) but it really works!
It's a fact I really don't want my friends to know, but I love statistical analysis! And if you do, you should beware of Google Analytics. It has so much information, you may find yourself digging around in there till the wee hours of the morning.
There are a few things we really recommend our clients to pay attention to. There is a lot of rich information, but there are some basics that take priority. The first is to find out where your visitors are coming from. I don't mean, necessarily, Denmark or Japan. I'm referring to 'referrering sites'. That is what sites referred them to your site. Such as Google, or a link from a positive blog article about your company. Or better yet, reciprocal links. Those are links others in your field are putting on their sites to yours, which hopefully you have returned the favor and posted their links on your site.
The next thing we ask clients to pay attention to is bounce rate. Your website isn't a playhouse, and no one should be bouncing out the door. In laymens terms, this is like someone walking into your store but then turning around and walking right back out. What you want is a low bounce rate and high 'stickiness' factor. The length of time someone spends on your site can be highly volatile depending on the depth of content you have. But, we like to see a minimum of 4-5 minutes of time on a clients site. And we LOVE to see 8-10 minutes! This means people are really spending time on the site and that is what makes our hearts beat a little faster.
I won't pretend to be the worlds expert on Google Anayltics, but I will tell you where to go. Download a copy of the new e-book Google Analytics Shortcut at http://www.gashortcut.com/. It's an investment that is well worthwhile.