Saturday, August 09, 2014

7 Tips to Discover Great Metrics for Your Business.

7 Tips to Discover Great Metrics for Your Business

December 10, 2013 By Paul Koks

In the last decade I have worked with many different small and big-sized companies. In order to succeed in the online world, you need a set of great metrics. You could also refer to them as KPIs.
It still happens too often that a company doesn’t have suitable metrics in place and fails.
In this post I outline seven tips that have helped me and many organizations that I have worked with to define great metrics.

1. Instantly Useful

BAM! A great metric directly reveals great meaning when you see the metric and its results.
The new ABC reporting interface in Google Analytics is a powerful structure that really helps to uncover great metrics. Take a close look at the example below:

Within seconds you can see how the E-Commerce Conversion Rate varies across different channels. Great first insights at a glance!

One article tip here: why you should always be careful with using ratios.

2. Widely Agreed Upon

Metrics becomes much more powerful if many people in your organization vote on them.
Why? The more people that agree, the higher the chance that insights drive actions and positive results for your business!
You don’t want to struggle everytime when trying to make a change.

3. Time-Bound

This criterion stresses the importance in setting a time-frame for each metric. It establishes a sense of urgency. You can think about:

What can I do now to improve the metric?
What do I want to achieve within one month from now?
What do I want to achieve within six months from now?
How should this metric look like within three years?

Besides this you need to be open for changing your set of metrics. Metrics that are great for now might not be the best fit within a few years from now.
“Past performance is no guarantee for future success.”

4. Accessible

A lot of reports and dashboards contain metrics that are very hard to understand. If only wiz-kids understand how to read them, you are on the wrong path. :-)
In order for your metrics and reports to be useful, it is essential that:

Everyone understands how to interpret them
Everyone has easy access

Don’t let you data warehouse become a garbage can of data!

5. Relevant

The tea that you like might be judged as awful by a friend of yours.
The same counts for metrics and relevancy. Businesses are different and need to be treated on an individual basis.
Ask yourself: is this metric relevant for your business?
If the answer is “Yes”, great!
If the answer is “No”, make sure to remove it from your list.
The metrics you would choose for each business to measure succes are often totally different.
It is a good start to look at your competitors and discover what they are doing.
When making your final decision, it is crucial that your metrics fit your company’s objectives and website. Always keep this in mind.

6. Less is More

Ok, I know many of you might dislike this quote: “Less is More”.
However, so often it is true.
Think about it if you look at online metrics, define a KPI list and build a dashboard.
Does it make sense if you include 20+ metrics on your dashboard and report this to your higher management?
You would do much better if you find the three to five hidden metric gems for your business that are completely in line with your business objectives.
One A4 paper should be enough to show all the great metrics that you have found.

7. Micro and Macro

I would suggest you think about your main metrics (macro) and a few secondary metrics (micro) that support your main business objective.
Macro metrics: metrics that are directly related to your company’s business objectives. For example: selling a product, selling a magazine abonnement or a donation for a good cause.
Micro metrics: metrics that are indirectly related to your company’s business objectives. For example: a brochure download, watching a demo or filling out a contact form.
I hope my tips help you to succeed in the online business world.

How do you define great metrics for your business? I am looking forward to hearing your stories!
Please consider subscribing to the OnlineMetrics blog feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. If you like the article, I very much appreciate a comment or share!

What is MP4? MP4 equal MPEG-4

What is Mp4?

By: Robert

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin Share on google_plusone_share

MP4 is a shortened name for MPEG-4 Part 14. Sometimes otherwise known as MPEG -4 AVC, the AVC standing for Advanced Video Coding. As this name suggests, it is a format used for encoding digital video files. It was created in 1998 and is now gaining ever more popularity in the mainstream market. The 'MPEG' part of the name is an abbreviation of Motion Pictures Expert Group, who are the body involved in setting industry standards for digital video and audio.

MP4 technology works by compressing the files, making the overall size much smaller, in a similar way to that of MP3 technology, although much more advanced and complex. The introduction of MP3s made music and audio files more accessible to the consumer and MP4s are set to do the same for the video market.

MP4s are made up of several types of media in what is known as a container format. They allow for video, audio, still images and subtitles to be stored together in a single file and have the capability of including advanced content, including menus, user interaction and 3D graphics.

Earlier forms of video files were large, making them difficult to work with, but compression and decompression techniques, known as codecs, used in the MP4 format, decrease the size of the files considerably. These work by removing all unnecessary information from each frame of the video, without losing any of the quality.

MP4s make video much more accessible and files can be downloaded quickly from the internet. The format has streaming capabilities, meaning the video can be viewed as it downloads and doesn't need to be saved to the hard drive of your computer first.

Playback too is simple, not only can the video be watched in real time as it streams, it can be saved, stored and watched later on a variety of players. Portable MP4 players are one such option as are some DVD players and of course a desktop computer or laptop.

MP3 audio files can also be listened to using an MP4 player as can the older video format MPEG-2. Files associated with MP4s have the extension .mp4 or sometimes .mp4a or .mp4v, the a and v standing for audio and video respectively.

The output of the MP4 format is extremely high quality, as crisp and clear as that of a DVD. Movies can be downloaded quickly via the internet using the high-speed broadband connections currently available, and watched in the comfort of your own home. Movies and clips can be shared easily via email and other formats.

The MP4 technology is widely used by the business sector on the internet. Advertising and product promotion is easily incorporated in short videos on websites.

With the ability to integrate future technology, the MPEG-4 format is a valuable addition to the digital age.

Friday, August 08, 2014

Mi Vida: Busco lo que tengo y no lo encuentro. Dudo de la existencia de ser feliz !!

"MI VIDA"

Mi vida es dificil y complicada
a veces creo q no sirve para nada.

Todo lo bueno q tengo,
puede desaparecer en un momento.

Y parece que nisiquiera todo el amor de mi corazon,
hace q cambie la situacion.

Los dias van pasando demasiado deprisa.

Trato de mantener lo bueno,
pero creo q no puedo.

Parece q todo lo negativo, rapidamente
se grava en mi mente.
Que el dia termina y con el, mis esperanzas.

Pierdo lo q creo tener.
y cuando busco lo q tengo,
nunca lo encuentro.

No consigo ser feliz,
dudo de su existencia, al menos para mi.

El chiste del Sabio

Friday, August 01, 2014

Things to keep in mind when looking to increase traffic.

Ad Traffic Quality Resource Center

Things to keep in mind when looking to increase traffic

Site optimization to increase traffic is usually grouped into two parts - Web enhancements and new traffic acquisition.

Discussed Topics in Article
Web enhancements
New traffic acquisition

Web enhancements

Web enhancements, such as optimizing ad placement and navigation, can help increase traffic. We offer some tips to help you improve your website. Check out these tips to learn how fast-loading pages, relevant, fresh content, and effective mobile sites can help increase traffic to your website.
Publishers should be aware of the AdSense program policies and the Google Webmaster Guidelines and optimize their sites without violating any of the policies or quality guidelines. For example, Google ads, search boxes, and search results may not be:

Integrated into a software application (does not apply to AdMob) of any kind, including toolbars
Displayed in pop-ups or pop-unders
Placed in emails, email programs, or chat programs
Obscured by elements on a page
Placed on any non-content-based page (Does not apply to AdSense for search or mobile AdSense for search)
Placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads
Placed on pages whose content or URL could confuse users into thinking it is associated with Google due to the misuse of logos, trademarks or other brand features
Placed on, within, or alongside other Google products or services in a manner that violates the policies of that product or service

This list of prohibited activity is not intended to be exhaustive. Please consult the AdSense program policies and AdSense Terms and Conditions for a more comprehensive overview of policies. Ultimately, in order to promote and ensure a good experience for users and advertisers, clicks on Google ads must result from genuine visitor interest.

New traffic acquisition

Acquiring new traffic to your website is another common way to generate increased traffic. Common ways to do this include search engine optimization, advertising, and partnering with traffic providers.

Search engine optimization

We understand that you may look to search engine optimization to increase traffic. In order to help you ensure that the implemented search engine optimization is clean and adheres to Google policy, please read our Webmaster Guidelines (also referenced in the above “Web enhancements” section), which are best practices to follow when creating a site that Google can find, crawl, index, and understand. For a more in-depth guide to search engine optimization, we offer the Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide In addition, as mentioned in the Understanding traffic on your site article, Google Webmaster Tools enables you to submit all of your pages to the Google index, which can increase your visibility by optimizing your website for Google search.
Before you decide to work with any search engine optimizers we suggest the following:

It’s best to ask for recommendations from webmasters that you personally know and trust or search for well-known optimizers with good reputations on the web. If possible, read what others have written about them on forums before proceeding to work with them.
If you decide to go with an optimizer based on their reputation on the web, ask for examples of sites they have optimized. The sites should be as similar to yours as possible based on your content vertical, demographics, number of visits/month, etc.
Make sure that the SEO won't make your site violate the Webmaster Guidelines, for example, by purchasing links to your site in order to increase its PageRank.

Other helpful tips and things to consider are outlined in this Search Engine Optimization help article.

Advertising

AdSense publishers are also welcome to use online advertising as a way to direct new users to their sites. However, in order to ensure a positive experience for users and advertisers, publishers that use any form of online advertising to pages with Google ads are required to comply with the spirit of our landing page quality guidelines. The three main components of a high quality landing page are: relevant and original content, transparency, and site navigability. Please read the use of online advertising Help Center article to learn more about each of these components.
We also prohibit the promotion of your site using the following techniques:

spam emails
comment spamming
creation of fake forum profiles
posting links on link farms and "private blog networks", link exchanges and social network spamming.

Partnering with traffic providers

Ultimately, you’re welcome to promote your site in any manner that complies with our program policies. However, AdSense publishers are ultimately responsible for the traffic to their ads, so if you choose to partner with a third-party service to increase traffic to your site, it’s critical that you monitor your reports closely to gauge the impact that each source has on your ad traffic.
There are many services out there that can increase traffic to your site, including pay-per-click solutions to connect advertisers and publishers, as well as search engines and directory sites. However, we’ve found that some of these services actually send artificial traffic to websites, despite their appearance. To deliver the traffic levels that their customers expect, these services often generate clicks and impressions using click bots, or by providing users incentives to visit sites or click on ads. For this reason, we strongly urge you to use caution when partnering with third-party traffic services. If you find that one of your traffic sources has suspicious activity, we recommend stopping or pausing your relationship with that traffic source to stop any traffic that may be invalid. We also encourage publishers to report any suspicious activity which they’ve detected on their site via the Invalid Clicks Contact Form.
Refer to the Proactive steps to prevent invalid activity article for more information about how to avoid partnering with low-quality traffic providers. Specifically, the traffic provider checklist can help guide your discussions with any potential traffic provider. This checklist provides a list of suggested questions to ask when you start to explore how you and a traffic provider can work together. Once you've spoken with a traffic provider and want to move forward, it’s also critical that you have the ability to monitor the traffic they are sending to your site.

Alex Rojas Riva

Pages

Saturday, August 09, 2014