by Pedro Sostre and Jennifer LeClaire
Analyze Your Site Traffic to Boost Sales
Getting Started with Web Analytics
Choosing the Right Web Analytics Solution
Searching for Statistical Treasure
Knowledge Is Power — Making Analytics
Work for You
The Part of Tens
Web Analytics Glossary
Choosing the Right Web Analytics Solution
Searching for Statistical Treasure
Knowledge Is Power — Making Analytics
Work for You
The Part of Tens
Web Analytics Glossary
 |
| Web Analytics For Dummies |
An accomplished affiliate marketer with several successful Internet properties
relying heavily on Web analytics to stay on top of the charts, Pedro
Sostre III is a New Media entrepreneur who understands how to blend art
and business to reap financial rewards.
Pedro fell in love with the World Wide Web, its opportunities, and its challenges
in 1999. Since then he’s done everything from freelance design and
marketing consulting to multimedia design for a major dot-com to launching
his own Web development and consulting firm, Sostre & Associates. In the
course of his career, he’s managed Web projects for companies like CBS
Sportsline, BMW Motorcycles, Reebok, and Motorola, among others. Web
analytics were an important factor in all of those projects.
Recognized as an Internet business and marketing guru, Pedro is a columnist
for Revenue magazine and is regularly quoted in media outlets, including
Microsoft.com, Web Host Industry Review, and Internet advertising hot spot
Adotas. Pedro’s coveted knowledge has also landed him invitations to judge
design awards at Content Week. The Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador
and Google Adwords Qualified Professional is also a regular presenter at
industry events like eComExpo and the Affiliate Summit. You can find him
online at www.sostreassoc.com.
Jennifer LeClaire has been chronicling e-commerce since its humble
beginnings. She has witnessed the rise, fall, and resurrection of Dot-com
Land. Jennifer’s tech news credits include NewsFactor, E-Commerce Times,
Information Week and Inc.com, among others. In fact, tens of millions of
readers rely on Jennifer for straight-up business and technology news and
insightful special reports each year.
Jennifer is also a veteran business news journalist, with credits including the
Associated Press, The New York Times, and CBS and ABC News. Jennifer is a
weekly guest technology analyst on CBS Radio’s KMOX, where she shares the
real news behind technology headlines with millions of listeners nationwide.
Jennifer is also an active blogger on AnalyticsInsider.com.
Jennifer is a member of the American Society of Authors and Journalists
and the Public Relations Society of America. Jennifer’s personal Web site is
www.jenniferleclaire.com. She also heads Revelation Media Networks,
an integrated marketing communications firm.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Between the two of us, we’ve written plenty of articles, designed plenty of
Web sites, and analyzed plenty of stats, but writing a book that applies those
skills and that knowledge is an entirely different story. Blair Pottenger is the
project editor of this book and deserves a hearty round of applause for his
careful reading, incisive comments, and patience. Blair is a pro who shows no
signs of cracking even under deadline pressure. Whatever you throw his way,
he catches it and runs with it. Thanks, Blair!
We tried to make Teresa Artman’s copy editing job easy, but we appreciate
her keen eye. She made us look good by ridding our pages of unclear techie
stuff and a few typos along the way. With an entire new language called Web
analytics to learn over a few short months, we’re convinced Teresa could
copy edit books in any tongue.
Many thanks to Steve Hayes for launching this project and cultivating its first
seeds. Steve held our hands through the beginning stages of developing the
outline and sample chapter. His advice and experience in the publishing
arena made this project an experience to remember (a good one!).
As for Paul Chaney, the technical editor, he had an unusually difficult job with
this book because of the myriad of analytical concepts within its pages. His
insights were invaluable.
Every single pair of eyes and hands who played a role in bringing this book to
fruition should be congratulated. This is an important topic for online businesses
large and small and the editorial team deserves a place in the Web
analytics hall of fame for deciding to make this complex topic understandable
to even Web analytics newbies.
Introduction
What would you pay for a book that could help you tap into the mindsets
of your Web site visitors, show you where you’re missing golden
sales opportunities, and save you big bucks on online advertising initiatives?
How about less than $30? (It’s quite the bargain for a wealth of knowledge, isn’t it?)
Web Analytics For Dummies is the book you’ve been waiting for. See, Web analytics
tools are essential, vital, and even critical for anyone who wants to
improve his success on the World Wide Web. In fact, from entrepreneurs to
mega corporations, the need for Web analytics has never been stronger. The
truth is, what you don’t know about your Web site could be hurting your business.
Web Analytics For Dummies is an introduction to the wonderful world of Web
site statistics. The book will help you understand and unleash the power of
Web analytics. It will take you on a journey with a colorful map that shows
you the sign posts ahead as well as the right and left turns to lead you to
greater profitability. Indeed, by the time you’re done reading this book, no
one will be able to call you a dummy anymore. You’ll have confidence in your
abilities to use these practical techniques that get results.
About This Book
This book takes the mystery out of Web metrics. You find out what you need
to do to get the inside scoop on visitor behavior, measure your Web site’s
performance against your business goals, and make adjustments to help you
meet those objectives.
In this book, we show you how to
Understand the language of Web analytics.
Choose the right Web analytics software for your business.
Get the nitty-gritty on what your visitors are doing on your Web site.
Calculate your conversion rate and set goals for your Web site.
Identify your most popular — and most profitable — pages.
Get the lowdown on where your traffic is coming from and discover
which site referrers you want to get cozier with.
Fine-tune your Web site and reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Avoid common data interpretation mistakes and implement proven best practices.
And plenty more!
Foolish Assumptions
You know what they say about people who make assumptions, but because
you bought this book, we have to presume a few things about your present
circumstances — things such as
You own a Web site, are planning very soon to build a Web site, or are in
the business of helping other people improve their Web sites.
You know how to use a Web browser.
You know how to do some simple math: for example, calculating a percentage.
Of course, if you bought a book like this, we have to figure you know a little
more than the basics about how to manage a Web site — or that you have
access to someone who does. Because this book deals with statistics galore
and how to use those stats to improve your site, we have to assume that you
can take action on what you glean from this book. Specifically, you’ll probably
need to know how to
Do vendor research (compare and contrast).
Download and install software.
Fix any Web site errors that your Web analytics software identifies.
Make changes to your Web site. The Holy Grail of Web analytics is not
merely accessing and interpreting the data but also using what you discover
to optimize your Web site and your Internet marketing campaigns.
We don’t get into coding in this book. This isn’t a primer on fixing errors or
using HTML to make changes to your site. In order to get the most out of this
book, however, you or someone you know needs to have some basic HTML
skills so you can fine-tune your Web site. That may mean moving a picture
from the top to the bottom of the screen or adding new content to certain
pages. If you need more information about HTML, pick up a copy of HTML 4
For Dummies, 4th Edition, by Ed Tittel and Natanya Pitts (Wiley).
How This Book Is Organized
This book isn’t anything like the boring reference books you relied on for
your high school term papers, but it is organized like a reference book. In
other words, you can start at any chapter and get the information that you
need on the spot. You don’t necessarily have to read the chapters in order
like you would a mystery novel.
This book is divided into several parts: the basics, choosing the tools you need
to succeed, tips on searching for statistical treasure, how to make good with the
knowledge you’ve acquired, and the Part of Tens. If you want to understand the
differences between client-side, server-side, and hosted solutions, read Chapter
4. If you need some insight into key performance indicators (KPIs) — metrics
that illustrate how well your site is performing against goals — read Chapter 11.
If all you need is some quick info on how to determine who is sending traffic
to your site, go right to Chapter 9. You get the idea.
With all that said, Web analytics is a complex topic, and each chapter sort of
builds on the other as you strive to erect your Web-based empire. Yes, you
can skip ahead to Chapter 5 and start the process of comparing and contrasting
Web analytics vendors. If you don’t know the difference between the
basic tool types, though, you might choose the wrong software. You can start
with Chapter 3 and take a sneak peek at the data, but if you don’t speak the
language of analytics, you might not have a clue what you’re really looking at.
We recommend that you take the time to read the entire book from cover to
cover, and then use it as an ongoing reference guide as needed. We believe
that you’ll better understand how to set benchmarks, interpret the data properly,
and use the right data to guide you down the path of Web optimization.
Part I: Getting Started with Web Analytics
In this part, we give you the keys you need to start the Web analytics engine
and keep it humming. Like a foreman setting out to build a skyscraper, this
part of the book lays a strong foundation that will support your efforts as
your Web site grows. Why is Web analytics important to your business? And
for that matter, what is Web analytics? What’s the difference between a hit, a
pageview, and a unique visitor? In this part, you’ll find out the basics of Web
analytics: how it can benefit you, how to speak the language, and how to
access your data and start recording some simple KPIs.
Part II: Choosing the Right Web Analytics Solution
It’s been said there’s more than one way to skin a cat. (Gruesome thought,
isn’t it?) Well, there’s also more than one way to capture Web analytics. In
fact, as you’ll discover in this part, there are three ways to be exact. Each has
its pros and cons — and all three together offer synergies that no individual
tool offers alone. That’s why you need to know the difference between clientside,
server-side, and hosted solutions.
But that’s not all you need to know as you assess tool types. There are
dozens, even scores, of Web analytics vendors on the market. Some offer free
tools. Others offer low-cost tools. And still others charge a small fortune for
their ability to tell you just about anything you could ever possibly want to
know about your visitors. You’ll find even niche solutions that measure RSS
feeds and let you eavesdrop, so to speak, on visitor navigation — live.
Part III: Searching for Statistical Treasure
After you settle on a Web analytics tool that suits your specific needs, you
can start searching for statistical treasure. First, though, you have to take out
the trash: that is, the data generated from non-human users, referrer spam,
and other data that block the view of your gold mine. In this part, you’ll discover
a dizzying array of KPIs. We’ll help you figure out which ones matter
most to you. We’ll also roll into the real world of shopping cart abandonment
— the four-letter word of e-commerce — and talk about conversion funnels.
(Don’t worry, you’ll understand all this and more as you read Part III.)
And your treasure hunt doesn’t end there. We also show you how to explore
search engine and non-search engine traffic as you identify who you can
thank for sending visitors your way. Then you’ll see how to analyze your data
so you can get better acquainted with your visitors and the pages they love
to return to again and again.
Part IV: Knowledge Is Power —Making Analytics Work for You
If knowledge is power, Web analytics offers the thrust of a jet engine, taking
you soaring above the clouds so you can see your site from 10,000 feet. Then
it swoops down and lets you land on individual pages to see exactly what’s
happening on ground level. In this part, you’ll read how to make Web analytics
work for you. It all starts with chronicling your Web analytics history. You
don’t need to be a historian to appreciate this data. In fact, you might be surprised
by some of the keyphrases that drive traffic — and it could open the
door to a whole new set of customers and partners. Or, you might discover
that it’s time to revisit your online advertising strategy. We give you actionable
information to help you decide. Finally, we demonstrate some practical ways
to fine-tune your Web site by using your data to guide page, section, and site
redesigns that help reduce shopping cart abandonment. What more could a
Web site owner dream of?
Part V: The Part of Tens
All For Dummies books have The Part of Tens. In this part, you’ll find ten
myths, mistakes, and pitfalls that you want to avoid at all costs. You’ll also
discover a list of reasons why Web analytics will revolutionize e-business.
Finally, we leave you with some Web analytics best practices that will help
you avoid those myths, mistakes, and pitfalls in the first place. The rest is up to you.
Appendix
Don’t forget to check out the Appendix, where you’ll find a Web analytics
glossary that will serve you well regardless of which vendor you choose.
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Product details
Price
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|---|---|
File Size
| 10,766 KB |
Pages
|
387 p |
File Type
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PDF format |
ISBN
| 978-0-470-09824-0 |
Copyright
| 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
Table of Contents
Introduction...............
About This Book............
Foolish Assumptions ..........
How This Book Is Organized....
Part I: Getting Started with Web Analytics.....
Part II: Choosing the Right Web Analytics Solution ..
Part III: Searching for Statistical Treasure......
Part IV: Knowledge Is Power — Making Analytics Work for You...
Part V: The Part of Tens............................
Appendix ....................................
Icons Used in This Book.....
Part I: Getting Started with Web Analytics .....................7
Chapter 1: Understanding Web Analytics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Web Analytics: Why Bother?.........................................................................10
Who should use Web analytics? .........................................................10
Why you should use Web analytics ...................................................12
The importance of benchmarking......................................................14
Web Analytics 101 ..........................................................................................14
Thinking like a journalist.....................................................................15
The language of Web analytics ...........................................................18
Chapter 2: Steering Clear of Common Terminology Confusion . . . . . .21
Hitting the Terminology Targets ..................................................................22
Hits: The most deceptive stat of all ...................................................23
Pageviews: Getting closer to the truth ..............................................24
Unique visitors: The undisputable facts ...........................................25
The ABCs of Web Analytics...........................................................................26
Mastering Internet Marketing Lingo ............................................................29
Defining Actionable Data...............................................................................30
Untangling Technical Terms .........................................................................31
Chapter 3: Getting Your Hands Dirty with Web Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Help! I Can’t Find My Stats! ...........................................................................34
How to access your Web analytics tools...........................................35
What if my host doesn’t offer analytics? ...........................................42
Taking a Sneak Peek at the Data...................................................................42
Recording your monthly history........................................................42
Making note of peak days and times..................................................45
Where’s my traffic coming from?........................................................49
Comprehending Conversion Rates ..............................................................53
Calculating that all-important metric ................................................53
Goal Setting 101 ....................................................................................55
Part II: Choosing the Right Web Analytics Solution .......57
Chapter 4: Web Analytics Tools You Can Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Before You Begin . . . ......................................................................................60
What’s my budget?...............................................................................60
What does your hosting company support? ....................................60
Surveying Server-Side Software ...................................................................62
The selling points of server-side analytics .......................................63
Server-side shortcomings exposed....................................................65
Are server-side solutions right for me? .............................................66
Discovering Desktop Applications...............................................................66
Maintaining control with client-side analytics .................................66
Client-side cons and desktop downsides ..........................................68
Are client-side solutions right for me?...............................................69
Hooked on Hosted Solutions ........................................................................69
On-demand: Let the vendor do the work ..........................................69
Keep your cash flow flowing...............................................................70
Anytime access.....................................................................................70
Individual page tagging........................................................................71
One Web site, multiple servers...........................................................71
Hosted analytics pitfalls ......................................................................71
Are hosted solutions right for me? ....................................................72
Getting the Best of All Worlds ......................................................................72
Leveraging synergies of multiple tool types .....................................73
Why you might want to use multiple vendors..................................73
Chapter 5: Investing in Web Analytics Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Before You Begin ............................................................................................76
Don’t Forget the Freebies..............................................................................76
What to expect from free analytics tools ..........................................77
What not to expect from the freebies ................................................77
Finding free analytics tools .................................................................78
Low-Cost Solutions, High-End Returns........................................................84
Valuable capabilities for the value-conscious consumers ..............85
Getting acquainted with low-cost vendors .......................................85
Enterprise Analytics for the Data Hungry...................................................92
WebTrends Web Analytics 8................................................................93
Omniture Site Catalyst 13....................................................................94
WebSideStory HBX ...............................................................................94
Coremetrics Online Analytics .............................................................95
Chapter 6: Discovering Niche Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Web Analytics: A Boon for Bloggers ............................................................98
Mint ........................................................................................................98
Measure Map.........................................................................................99
Bloglet ..................................................................................................100
Technorati ...........................................................................................100
103bees.com .......................................................................................102
Read All about It: RSS Analytics .................................................................103
FeedBurner..........................................................................................104
FeedFoundry .......................................................................................105
Pheedo.................................................................................................105
SimpleFeed ..........................................................................................106
Analytics in a Pod.........................................................................................108
Tracking with PodTractor .................................................................108
RadioTail Ripple..................................................................................109
Because You Are Paying Per Click .............................................................110
CampaignTracker 2.0 .........................................................................111
BlackTrack...........................................................................................112
People Watch with Live Analytics Tools ...................................................113
WhosOn ...............................................................................................114
VistorVille ............................................................................................114
VisiStat .................................................................................................116
Exploring A/B and Multivariate Testing Software ....................................117
Part III: Searching for Statistical Treasure ..................119
Chapter 7: Taking Out the Trash . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Classifying Nonhuman Users......................................................................122
Robots, spiders, and Web crawlers..................................................122
The evil of e-mail harvesters.............................................................123
Uptime hosting monitoring services ...............................................124
Gotta love link checkers and validators..........................................125
Recognizing RSS feed readers...........................................................126
Blog-monitoring services ..................................................................126
Why Eliminate Nonhuman Users?..............................................................127
The Danger of Referrer Spam .....................................................................129
Recognizing referrer spam ................................................................129
Fighting Referrer Spam................................................................................130
Blacklist the spammers .....................................................................130
Use the rel = “no follow” solution.....................................................131
Rely on your analytics tools .............................................................131
Ignoring Non–Mission-Critical Stats ..........................................................132
Who needs hit counts? ......................................................................132
Do you have the time? .......................................................................132
Basking in your international appeal...............................................133
Who’s hosting my visitors? ...............................................................133
Authenticated users and anonymous users ...................................134
Downloadable files .............................................................................134
Favorites and bookmarks..................................................................134
Miscellaneous miscellany..................................................................134
Chapter 8: Reviewing Site Referrers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Revving Up for Referrers.............................................................................136
Discovering Your Traffic Partners .............................................................136
Identifying your referrers ..................................................................138
Classifying sources of Web traffic ....................................................140
Searching for Statistical Treasure ..............................................................141
Which search engines list your site? ...............................................142
Are you missing out on the search action?.....................................143
Which search engines send you traffic?..........................................144
Beyond Search Engines: Where Else Is My Traffic Coming From?.........147
Measuring the value of link building campaigns............................149
Are my Web rings really working?....................................................150
Counting click-throughs from e-mail campaigns............................151
Chapter 9: Getting to Know Your Visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Gleaning from Your Visitors’ Past ..............................................................154
Searching for Significance...........................................................................156
Determine popular search terms .....................................................158
Find requests for products, services, and information
you don’t yet offer ..........................................................................158
Referring off-the-wall requests..........................................................159
Gleaning from Clickstreams and Labeling.................................................159
Wow! My Site Has Multinational Appeal!...................................................162
Betting on Browser Data .............................................................................163
Monitoring browser usage ................................................................163
Mulling over miscellaneous browser data ......................................165
Chapter 10: Identifying Your Most Important Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
It’s Not a Popularity Contest — Or Is It? ...................................................168
Which Pages Drive Your Traffic?................................................................171
To Err Is Human, to Fix Is Divine ................................................................173
Deciphering error codes....................................................................173
Unearthing unsightly errors..............................................................176
Working with Dynamic Pages .....................................................................177
Chapter 11: Key Performance Indicators Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
KPIs: When Not Just Any Data Will Do ......................................................180
Calculating basics: Percentages and rates;
averages; and ratios .......................................................................181
Keeping up with common KPIs.........................................................183
The Granddaddy List of KPIs......................................................................188
User and traffic growth KPIs .............................................................188
Content-effectiveness KPIs................................................................189
Internal search effectiveness ............................................................191
Marketing-effectiveness KPIs ............................................................192
Conversion KPIs .................................................................................194
Shopping cart KPIs.............................................................................195
Which KPIs Are Right for You? ...................................................................196
E-commerce sites ...............................................................................196
Content sites .......................................................................................197
Lead generation sites.........................................................................197
Support sites .......................................................................................198
Creating Your Own KPIs ..............................................................................198
Part IV: Knowledge Is Power — Making Analytics
Work for You.....................................199
Chapter 12: Sifting through Search Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Sifting Your Search Terms...........................................................................202
Accessing the search data.................................................................202
Reviewing your top search terms ....................................................204
My Visitors Are Searching for What?! ........................................................206
Pleasant surprises ..............................................................................206
Searching for relevant terms.............................................................207
Profit thieves.......................................................................................207
Cashing In on Common Misspellings.........................................................208
Beyond Traffic to Conversions...................................................................209
TrafficAnalyzer ...................................................................................210
Portent Interactive .............................................................................210
103bees.com .......................................................................................212
Flip-Flopping the 80/20 Rule .......................................................................212
Monitoring Internal Site Searches..............................................................215
Driving sales, not traffic ....................................................................216
The bottom line from the top down.................................................216
Before you begin . . ............................................................................217
Searching for Accuracy and Relevancy.....................................................218
Creating Targeted Landing Pages...............................................................218
Your Search Yielded Zero Results . . .........................................................219
Chapter 13: Increasing Web Site Visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Finding New Customers ..............................................................................222
Scanning your search engines ..........................................................222
Improving your search rankings.......................................................223
Measuring your SEO efforts ..............................................................224
Extending your geographic reach ....................................................229
Targeting high conversion categories .............................................230
Milking Multichannel Sales .........................................................................233
Reach Out and Touch Your Referrers........................................................233
Like needles in the proverbial haystack..........................................234
Pondering strategic alliances............................................................235
Qualifying the leads ...........................................................................236
Understanding Strategic Alliances.............................................................237
Affiliates...............................................................................................237
Link exchanges ...................................................................................238
Content sharing ..................................................................................238
Co-registrations ..................................................................................238
New people, partners, and opportunities .......................................240
Chapter 14: Revisiting Your Online Advertising Strategy . . . . . . . . . .241
Many Ad Types, Many Analytics Tools .....................................................242
Tracking Efforts with Tracking URLs.........................................................243
Tracking keywords with Google Analytics......................................244
Tracking URLs cons............................................................................246
Adding Campaign Analytics to the Mix .....................................................246
Openads points you to profits..........................................................247
TrackPoint ad tracking ......................................................................247
Clickalyzer’s marketing co-ops .........................................................248
Combating Click Fraud ................................................................................248
Need detectives on your case?.........................................................249
CFAnalytics: Free and plenty of perks..............................................250
AdWatcher adds it all up for you......................................................250
WhosClickingWho?.............................................................................250
Evaluating E-mail Marketing Campaigns ...................................................251
WebTrends targets markets ..............................................................251
Reaching for relevancy ......................................................................252
E-mail marketing KPIs to monitor ....................................................253
Tracking Offline Responses to Online Ads................................................255
Using coupon codes...........................................................................256
Using unique URLs .............................................................................256
Using unique toll-free phone numbers ............................................256
Ferreting Out Ad Stats that Don’t Work.....................................................257
Comparing engine to engine .............................................................257
Comparing keyword to keyword ......................................................260
Unraveling Conversion Process Breakdowns...........................................261
Understanding the conversion funnel .............................................262
Cueing in to conversion funnel issues.............................................262
Examining Google’s Conversion Funnel ....................................................263
Employing Conversion Tracking Tools......................................................264
Optimizing Your Ad Campaigns .................................................................265
Chapter 15: Chronicling Your Web Analytics History . . . . . . . . . . . . .267
Name, Rank, and Serial Number.................................................................268
Saving data on the server side .........................................................269
Saving data with client-side solutions .............................................270
Saving data with hosted applications..............................................270
Saved by the spreadsheet .................................................................270
Benchmarking Your Conversion Rate........................................................271
Oh, what difference does it make? ...................................................273
Benchmarking against the masses...................................................273
Benchmarking Your KPIs.............................................................................274
Benchmarking Times and Seasons ............................................................275
Month-to-month monitoring .............................................................275
Scoping history season-to-season....................................................275
Another year goes by . . ....................................................................276
Identifying Hidden Trends ..........................................................................277
Many Tools, Many Benchmarks .................................................................278
Access Log Files: To Save or Not to Save? ................................................278
The case for dumping logfiles...........................................................279
The case for saving access logs .......................................................280
Chapter 16: Fine-Tuning Your Web Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .281
Understanding Optimization Strategies ....................................................282
Search engine optimization...............................................................282
Calling on conversion design............................................................283
Capturing customers with conversion content..............................284
Optimizing Your Home Page.......................................................................285
What Sends Visitors Running?....................................................................287
Optimizing Your Landing Pages .................................................................288
Measuring landing page KPIs............................................................289
If visitors don’t love the landing page .............................................290
Optimizing Product Pages...........................................................................291
Measuring product page KPIs...........................................................291
Perking up poorly producing product pages..................................292
Starting with a Clean Web Slate..................................................................293
Determining Why Your Customers Abandon You....................................293
Reducing Shopping Cart Abandonment....................................................295
Finding out why shopping carts are abandoned............................296
Shopping cart KPIs to watch.............................................................296
Sealing the shopping cart deal .........................................................297
Measuring the Effect of Site Changes ........................................................299
Part V: The Part of Tens .............................................301
Chapter 17: Ten Web Analytics Myths, Mistakes, and Pitfalls . . . . .303
Averages Are the Analytics Answer...........................................................304
Monthly Visitor Trends Tell All ..................................................................304
Pinpoint Precision Is Paramount................................................................305
Unique Visitor Data Tells the Truth...........................................................307
All Web Analytics Software Is Alike............................................................307
But Numbers Never Lie . . . .........................................................................309
Make money with your metrics........................................................310
A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words.........................................................310
Popular Search Terms Hold the Key to More Traffic...............................312
Funnel Vision Offers a Quick Fix ................................................................313
Betting the Farm on Top 10 Lists ...............................................................313
Chapter 18: Ten Reasons Why Web Analytics Will
Revolutionize E-Business . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .315
Truly Develop a User-Oriented Web site...................................................316
Make the Most of Online Marketing...........................................................317
Save Money on Paid Search Campaigns....................................................317
Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Your Customers .....................................................318
Realize Real-Time Opportunities................................................................319
Combating Controversial Click Fraud .......................................................320
Closing the Delayed Conversion Loop ......................................................320
Optimize Self-Support Functions ...............................................................321
Increase Results from E-Mail Campaigns ..................................................322
Predict the Future Here and Now...............................................................323
Chapter 19: Ten Web Analytics Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .325
Define Metrics That Matter.........................................................................326
Monitor Only Your Vital KPIs......................................................................327
Segment Your Visitors’ Behavior ...............................................................327
Know Your Navigation Report ....................................................................328
Keep Up With Keyword Campaigns ...........................................................329
Optimize Your Landing Pages.....................................................................330
Calculate Visitor Conversion ......................................................................331
Save Your Historical Data............................................................................332
Make Changes Gradually.............................................................................332
Commit to Continual Improvement ...........................................................333
Appendix: Web Analytics Glossary..............................335
Index........................................................................343
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