Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [267]
The additional customization is the level of context that can be built into this report, based on factors important to you. Click your preferred goal set in the tabs above the table. In this case, I am using my Goal Set 2. Above the data table, on the left side, should read “Pivot By: Source” and to the right of that is a Showing drop-down. This is where you apply your custom business goals. You add your specific goals into this report, which can be compared along with all of this data. In the Pivot By drop-down, select Visits. In the Showing drop-down, select Goal Conversion Rate. This report will be one of the more valuable reports that you will generate about your online marketing efforts. This report (Figure 21-15) has multiple data points that provide an amazing level of information: keyword, visits, search engine, conversion rate by search engine by keyword and conversion rate by search engine and by keyword. Just look at all of that beautiful data! More context equals more understanding!
Figure 21-15: Multiple data points create better context for making decisions.
This report has implications throughout the marketing strategy. It pinpoints where the best factors for success are happening within the search engine optimization strategy. When this report is applied with PPC data as well, it provides amazing comparative insight as to where the most effective campaign is happening and where to place your budget for best results.
For the site in Figure 21-15, this report shows the keywords that are extremely valuable in providing conversions and those that are not as effective. Going forward, you could evaluate the landing pages for low-performing keywords to see whether the entry page has a high bounce rate. You could also evaluate the reaction of visitors to deduce whether the content they expect to find is the content they see.
Friday: Turn Your Analysis into Action!
This is the final step. My own analysts like to remind me about this, because I tend to get excited about the insights and trends that I find in analytics. Unless it results in action, it’s worthless.
I could spend all day being fascinated by the user behaviors, bounce rates, search factors, and developing hypotheses about these findings. However, unless I test those hypotheses and focus on a specific action or set of circumstances to improve, looking at the data was a waste of time. Gaining knowledge about your website doesn’t improve it; your reaction to that knowledge does.
Each report that you view needs to generate a specific action that will take place. Once trends and opportunities have been uncovered, you need a plan to take advantage of them. Problems need to be fixed. Having the plumber tell you there is a leak doesn’t fix it. Someone needs to crawl under your sink and make changes and then test the effect of those changes.
The exciting part of all of this is that what you learn in analytics can be applied to many methods of evaluation and improvement. Identified problems may be in the calls to action, design, color, contrast, optimization, images, copywriting, clarity, or on-page goals. This book should give you the necessary tools to develop causal mechanisms for site performance and improvement. Simply exposing the problems in analytics is the start; finding the causes and corrections are based on the experience you will develop by practicing many of the other disciplines contained in this book.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes—we all make them. The Internet is a very forgiving medium, and mistakes can be quickly mitigated by a quick response. Mistakes are made when changes are made without measurement or the results are neglected. The key is in how you react to those mistakes and what you learn from making them. A simple change can cause ripples across the performance of the website. Of course, a major change can cause waves of uncertainty for