Behavior

About Behavior

The Behavior section contains reports designed to help you improve the content on your site to meet the needs and expectations of your users.
The Site Content > Pages report shows how frequently each page on your site was viewed. Look for high bounce rates on the Landing Pages report to identify landing pages that need to be rewritten or redesigned to be more effective.
If you provide a search box on your site, use the Site Search reports to find out how successful your users are when they search your site.
If you incorporate Flash, Ajax, or other kinds of interactive elements on your site, you may want to know how your users engage with them. The Events reports provide a non-pageview based approach to tracking interactivity.

Behavior

Valuing Content Using Page Value

Page Value is the average value for a page that a user visited before landing on the goal page or completing an Ecommerce transaction (or both). This value is intended to give you an idea of which page in your site contributed more to your site's revenue. If the page wasn't involved in an ecommerce transaction for your website in any way, then the Page Value for that page will be $0 since the page was never visited in a session where a transaction occurred.
Below is the equation you can follow to calculate Page Value. Please note that the unique pageview statistic represents the number of individual users who have loaded a given page per session. Each user is counted only once per session, no matter how many pages are opened by the same user.
Ecommerce Revenue + Total Goal Value
Number of Unique Pageviews for Given Page

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The first example above illustrates how Page Value works. Let's say you want to know the Page Value for Page B, and you know the following factors:
Goal page D: $10 (Remember, you assign the value of the Goal page when you first create a goal in the Analytics Settings page)
Receipt Page E: $100 (This page is where the user makes an ecommerce transaction of $100)
Unique pageview for Page B: One
You would then set up your Page Value equation like this:
Ecommerce Revenue ($100) + Total Goal Value ($10)
Number of Unique Pageviews for Page B (1)
Page Value for Page B is $110 since a user visits Page B only once before the goal page during this session.

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Now let's explore how Page Value for Page B is affected when we combine the data from two different sessions. You can see that Page B is viewed only once during Session 1, but during Session 2 it gets two pageviews (we're assuming the two pageviews are from the same user). The total Ecommerce revenue stays the same during both sessions. Although there were two unique pageviews, there was still only one Ecommerce transaction total for both sessions.
Goal page D: $10
Receipt Page E: $100
Unique pageview for Page B: Two
Your Page Value calculation should be adjusted to look like this:
Ecommerce Revenue ($100) + Total Goal Value ($10 x 2 sessions)
Number of Unique Pageviews for Page B (2)
Page Value for Page B across two sessions is then $60, or $120 divided by two sessions.

Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords compared

By Alytics Director of Development Alexander Egorov, special to East-West Digital News / Jul 16, 2014

The Russian search engine marketing (SEM) market is unique and, to a large extent, different from the SEM-markets of other countries. The main difference lies in the fact that most of the search traffic is concentrated on the local search engine Yandex.
According to various estimates, Yandex’s share of search engine traffic in Russia ranges from 60% to 65%, while the share of Google, its closest follower, is about 25%. Thus, the main competition in the SEM market unfolds between the content providers Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords. In terms of functionality, these systems have differences.

• Ad formats

Both systems place text ads but with different restrictions. The header length on Yandex.Direct can be no longer than 33 characters, while Google AdWords allows for 25. The length of text ads is limited to 75 characters on Yandex.Direct and to two lines 35 word long lines on AdWords. The average length of words in Russian is longer than in English.Long titles and texts characterize Yandex.Direct as being a system that suits the peculiarities of the Russian language better and is more adapted for the Russian market.
In 2013, Yandex introduced another ad format that is different from the Google AdWords formats. For advertisements that are placed on partner sites of Yandex’s advertising network (called YAN), it is now possible to add images. The main feature of this format is that it can be added for remarketing ads, which undoubtedly greatly increases their effectiveness.

• Usability and flexibility

Yandex.Direct system has a relatively simple and intuitive interface. Its simplicity makes it more popular among Russian advertisers, especially those whose experiences in contextual advertising are relatively weak. However, for experienced advertisers, AdWords is a more user-friendly system that provides important tools for mass editing, flexible configuration, and quick optimization. All of these features make AdWords more attractive and very popular among advertisers with thousands, and even tens of thousands of ads and keyword phrases.

• Manage advertising display position

Yandex Direct shows each advertiser the recommended rates for taking up a specific position in the contextual landscape that allows an advertiser to at least get the right ad block. Google AdWords does not give this opportunity to be in a requested position. This factor is an issue for Russian advertisers when dealing with AdWords.

• Advertising networks

The major sources of traffic for both systems are their own search engines. However, both systems have a network of partner sites. The ad networks of both systems also includes a variety of content-based, news, entertainment, and business sites. In addition, Yandex.Direct shows up in the results of search engine portals Mail.ru and Rambler, which traditionally are third and fourth place in terms of search traffic.
The size and quality of these networks is difficult to compare objectively, but they can be compared on the flexibility of settings and placement targeting. Google AdWords offers more targeting options such as remarketing, targeting by user interest, targeting by site category, and targeting by keyword. Yandex offers the following targeting capabilities: retargeting, targeting by keyword, and targeting by user interest. However, it is impossible to control the interests, as they are automatically matched to the selected keywords. Yandex does not give a choice of partners for ad placement, while Google allows this. The format of ads placed on partner networks also differ. Yandex.Direct allows you to place text ads or text and image ads (ads with a picture), while Google AdWords allows you to place text ads, and banner ads in various formats, as well as promotional videos on Youtube.

• Competition and cost-per-click

Having the largest share of the search market makes Yandex.Direct more attractive to advertisers than Google AdWords. Today, according to experts, the number of advertisers is over 350,000. Therefore, it is generally believed that competition on Yandex.Direct is greater and fast growth bid in many niches. As a result, cost-per-click (CPC) for Yandex.Direct in higher on average than for Google AdWords.

• Management conversions and CPA

Every year Russian advertisers become more “advanced” and it is necessary to manage not only the placement of advertising, but also its economic returns. AdWords for many years now gives advertisers a tool that enables them to manage conversions with reference to CPA. Yandex has not yet provided anything like this. At the end of 2013, Yandex Direct finally released a similar tool, which allows the setting of weekly budgets and a desired target price action. Comparing the two tools is of course difficult. It can only be added that experts say the Yandex tool provides a significant impact on contextual media campaigns.

• Availability API for third-party developers

The growth of Internet penetration in Russia and the fact that Russia has become the European country with the largest number of Internet users have resulted in the growth of keyword queries on search engines. This makes large advertisers develop their own applications for context systems for the automation various processes via API. Yandex.Direct API is open to virtually anyone, while Google AdWords accepts only large advertisers with high turnover and a payment history of no less than six months. In addition, advertisers are forced to undergo a certification process of their applications for the Google AdWords API, which is certainly a barrier.

• Automation

The Russian contextual advertising market continues to grow at a rapid pace, which is resulting in a more complex environment for its management and control. Such a situation is driving the development of the automation advertising market in Russia. The period of 2013-2014 is marked by the advent of various automation systems. It is also worth noting the appearance of Russian startups in the segment, such as Alytics; the increased competition from foreign players like Marin Software and Adobe AdLens; and a change in strategy among market veterans, characterized by a round of new investments into the platform eLama.

• Discount policy

Yandex.Direct has a special Discount policy for regular customers with large advertising budgets. The discounts can be as high as 23%. Google AdWords does not offer discounts to its customers.

*

Summing up the comparison of the two systems, there are several key points. Yandex.Direct is a leader in search engine traffic. Google AdWords provides more sophisticated and advanced tools for settings and targeting. Competition on Yandex.Direct is more intense than on Google AdWords. It is worth noting that, despite the many differences between the systems over the past few years, they approach each other and inevitably become more like each other. This trend will continue in the future, while each player will hope to come up with something unique to strengthen his position and push out his competitor.
Alexander Egorov is the Director of Development for the smart content platform Alytics. He is also an expert on CPA-campaigns and effective online media, and a consultant for CPA-contextual advertising campaigns. He has more than 9 years of experience in integrated online marketing (including to some degree within CPA and ROI) and contextual advertising campaigns for: Price.ru, Credit Bank of Moscow, Aeroflot Airlines, Tour Operators Pegas, DSBW and TezTour, Svyaznoy Bank, Saxo Bank, Central Department Store, MIAN, publisher Ferra, and the Finn Flare store.
This article is an excerpt from a comprehensive research study on Russian e-commerce and online marketing channels by East-West Digital News. To receive an executive summary at no charge please contact report@ewn.com. 

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Topics:

Analysis, E-marketing & advertising, Internet, Search engines & SEO

Baidu Wangmeng vs Google AdWords – Which Display Network Should You Use?

Tait Lawton — Mon, 02/18/2013 - 06:09

I found this question on Quora: “How does Baidu compares to Google when it comes to display ads rather than search ads?”
Good question.
First some background…
Baidu Wangmeng is similar to Google AdWords’ display network. Both allow advertisers to have their advertisements placed on a wide network of websites that have signed up with Baidu or Google. They are by no means the only display networks out there, but they are big ones.
Both networks allow contextual targeting as well as several other targeting methods. Baidu allows targeting via user behavior (remarketing), geography and target website, while Google allows targeting via these methods as well as “interest categories”, topics and language.
So, for advertisers, which platform is better?
The simple answer: AdWords.
We’ve used both for various projects. We find AdWords to provide better quality traffic, with fewer suspicious-looking visitors. While Baidu click fraud is taken seriously by Baidu, and we do believe they do quite well in protecting against it for paid search advertising, they still seem to be having more problems when it comes to guarding against click fraud with their display network. Click fraud aside, Google’s targeting methods seem to be more reliable as well.
Note that we use both of these networks sparingly. While we find that we can make paid search advertising effective for most projects we work on (80% +), display networks should be tested carefully and will only be suitable for some projects.
Ultimately, it comes down to money, and we feel advertisers are more likely to make money from AdWords than from Baidu Wangmeng.
With that being said, we also recommend Baidu’s behavioral targeting tool.
Baidu’s behavioral targeting (retargeting) feature is quite useful, and we’ve made it part of our ‘best practice’ Chinese paid search marketing strategy due to a high success rate. We love that it can be used to target users based on search behavior, click behavior or visit behavior.
And what do other marketers think?
We asked some other digital advertising specialists whether they prefer to advertise with Google AdWords or Baidu Wangmeng.

1. 3 preferred Baidu Wangmeng.
2. 4 preferred Google AdWords display network.
3. 3 said the 2 networks were about the same, including one person that said they were both no good.

But what about volume? Which platform can be scaled better?
Baidu Wangmeng has over 600,000 registered publisher websites according to Baidu. Google AdSense has 2 million publisher sites according to Google, but we don’t know exactly how many of those are Chinese-language sites.
Some data from a DCCI report I found on Lu Songsong’s blog gives us some more numbers to chew on. Based on a webmaster survey, 49% said they use Baidu Lianmeng (the publisher-side brand of Baidu Wangmeng), while 31% said they use Google Adsense. Also noteworthy are the presence of Discuz! and Taobao Lianmeng, with 33% and 23% usage respectively. The list is rounded out with Sogou, Yiqifa, Heima8, 9lianmeng and UnionSky.

So, there you have it. Hope this info was useful for you.
Of course, all of the information above is meant to be a general overview.
Actual marketing strategies should be determined on a case-by-case basis. If you want help with a specific display advertising or search advertising project in China, feel free to contact me.

About the author

Tait Lawton is an online marketer focused on the Chinese market. He is the founder of Nanjing Marketing Group, a company that provides Chinese-language Internet marketing services to Western clients.

You can follow him on Twitter, see his profile on Google + or check out the other contact methods here.

What Is Content Marketing & How To Use It For Business Growth?

By Trond Lyngbø on January 18, 2013@TrondLyngbo

 

Content marketing means creating and distributing or sharing valuable content with the goal of attracting, engaging and converting prospects into customers, and then into repeat buyers, or into other profitable customer actions.
It involves a sequential process of educating your ideal prospective buyers in a manner that gets them to know, like and trust you, and eventually lead them to doing business with you. Content marketing is known by many other names, including custom publishing, member media, branded content, corporate journalism, and branded media.
The underlying premise of content marketing is to provide valuable information or entertainment – “content” – which influences the prospect to consider taking the next step towards becoming your customer, but without itself becoming a full-blown sales pitch or call to action. Content used in marketing doesn’t have to be limited to any single format. It isn’t just text on the company blog. Content can be in audio-visual and multimedia format, as pictures, videos, podcasts, slideshows, brochures, white papers, or info-graphics.

Who Uses Content Marketing – And Why?

More than 90% of business-to-business (B2B), and a similar fraction of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers, use some form of content marketing to build their audience and boost sales. The approach each uses may vary from a direct special report or brochure that spotlights the value of their product or service, to a more subtle embedded “Brought to you by ____ ” message appended to an informative article or tutorial or infotainment piece.
The idea is that a brand or business can become associated with a positive consumer experience, in the expectation that such an association will translate over time into sales and profit. This is why major corporations including Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft and Cisco Systems employ content marketing in their mix. It works just as well for smaller businesses, and even one-person shops.
When content marketing is effectively carried out…

• You can make a prospect think, feel or behave differently.
• You can have customers looking forward to hearing from you.
• You can create content that spreads virally from person to person, magnified by the reach of social networks.
• You can secure high rankings on Google and search engines, attracting fresh prospects to your business.

And even after you acquire new customers, you can build stronger relationships with them, strengthen your brand, and encourage referrals through a strategic content marketing plan.

Content Marketing Is Not Quite Advertising

Let’s face it. Traditional marketing is getting less effective. Consumers are ignoring the deluge of advertising that bombards them from all directions. We record favorite TV shows so we can skip the commercials. We ignore banner ads online and focus like a laser on the content we consume. We tune out billboards and flashing neon lights, have learned to sidestep the rare door to door salesperson, and can smell a tele-marketer within a few seconds of picking up the phone.
There has to be a better way for marketers to reach their audience and leave an impact. Content marketing provides an alternative. It is not intrusive or ‘in your face’. It sneaks in under the radar by enhancing the user’s browsing experience, enriching a TV audience’s enjoyment of a show, educating a reader who receives a brochure or white paper in the mail.
And by engaging an audience, creating a positive impact, entwining valuable content with a brand’s equity, content marketing scores heavy wins even in an ad-saturated universe.
There’s a generational effect too. 80% of millennials in an Edelman survey said they expected to be entertained by brands. Nearly a third felt that brands should create free content in the form of games, videos, photos and interactive blogs for their fans.
At the root of why content marketing is so effective lies the reality that when people are seriously considering a purchase, they want valuable information instead of more flashy advertising.

How To Use Content Marketing To Create An Audience

The most successful online businesses and individuals give out a high ratio of valuable content that has no apparent sales agenda. Mixed in periodically is a smattering of promotional messages.
This useful content that is given away freely often makes its way in front of many new prospects through word-of-mouth spread and sharing via social networks. This is how content helps build an audience.
Great, helpful, entertaining or informative content gets distributed through:

1. Social networks like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.
2. Search engines because of the high ranking content-rich pages which are linked to from various delighted consumers.
3. Content sharing tools and platforms such as video and PDF distribution sites.
4. Media through press releases, ad purchases, or even featured documentaries.
5. Syndication where the content is republished to new audiences

How To Know If Content Marketing Is Effective?

Much of content marketing’s impact is quantifiable using similar metrics as for paid advertising.
Factors like traffic, time spent on site, and brand equity surveys can help estimate the role content marketing plays in promoting your business. With the help of tracking links within the content itself, the spread and reach of distributed content can be evaluated with reasonable accuracy.

Trond Lyngbø is Head Of SEO at MediaCom Norway, and Columnist at Search Engine Land, and blogger at well-known websites like MOZ and SEOBook. He can be found on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and his Norwegian SEO blog.

What is Google’s “Search, Plus Your World” & How Will It Change Search Marketing

What is Google’s “Search, Plus Your World” & How Will It Change Search Marketing  

By Trond Lyngbø on January 20, 2013@TrondLyngbo

In its most radical transformation ever, Google search now finds both content shared privately with you, and general content from the public Web, and mixes them up in a single set of listings which the company calls “access to YOUR Web”.

Welcome to “Search, Plus Your World” (SPYW).
It’s better than regular search, with photos, posts, video and more from your friends and connections on social networks. Sign in to Google+ and you’ll notice personalized results for search queries including profiles of people you know or follow.
Google alerts users with a message – “Welcome to “Search Plus Your World”!” – but also provides a handy toggle button so you can switch back to non-personalized search if you want to. But most users may not, because life certainly gets easier when you can use one tool to search both private and public content.

The Evolution of “Search Plus Your World”

Google has rapidly evolved since its early days of standard Web search. Personalized results have been around since June 2005, with SERPs being influenced by your personal behavior and interests. From late 2009, social search results are impacted by the people you know and interact with socially online.
These personalized listings were initially segregated from “regular” listings, but from February 2011, social search results have been blended seamlessly into the SERPs, and even expanded by including not just content that was created by those you know, but also content that they shared on social networks.

SPYW Integrates Search

With “Search Plus Your World”, these personal results have become the default. Your SERPs for any search query are customized for you, based on your online behavior and the social connections you have. In addition, content shared with you on Google Plus is also displayed.
Social search, personal search, and personalized search algorithms have merged into one that works in a pleasant and useful way, according to Amit Singhal who oversees Google’s ranking process. But the significant shift enabled by this process is the entry of private content into your Web search results. You’ll get a mix of:

• listings from the public Web
• listings that were boosted by your personal behavior online
• listings that were rated more relevant because of your social connections
• Google+ posts that were shared with the public, including posts and photos
• Private or “Limited” Google+ posts shared with you

This last is one of the most radical changes that brings up concerns about privacy.

But Really, Your Privacy Is Intact

Only you (and those you share content with) can view the “private” content on “Search Plus Your World” results. The weird feeling arises because it appears, when you’re searching after logging in to your Google+ account, that private results are appearing on public pages. They are not. The results page has been personalized just for the person viewing them. Only content that they are permitted to view can show up on SERPs.
In other words, “Search Plus Your World” makes it more convenient to get results from across a slew of services like Google News, Google Images, You Tube, and other Google search services – as well as the Google+ social network – without having to check each of them separately.

Plus, You Can Opt-Out of SPYW

If you don’t like personalized search, you can opt out and receive generalized search results. You may do this on a case by case basis, using the toggle switch to move from global to personalized results. Or you can permanently turn off search customization by editing your search settings.
Geographic and language based targeting however still remains, and Google calls them “contextual signals” and not “personal” ones.

Google Profiles Are Propped Up By SPYW

Having a Google account can give you greater visibility on “Search Plus Your World”. Logged in users will see friends appear even within the search box for relevant queries. If you search for someone using a common name, your actual friend’s Google+ profile should show up higher than someone you don’t know. And that’s how SPYW handles such searches.
The search results themselves will include material from people in your Google+ network, because it is logical that you might want to hear more from those you already know, like and trust about the subject. And, of course, privately shared information is probably more relevant to you, too.

Potential Problems and Concerns With SPYW

The concern that private content appears as if it is publicly exposed is easy to dispel by explaining the process. Google has also handled another tricky issue of private content being accessible to snoopers and eavesdroppers when you search without a secure connection, by encrypting data transferred by logged in search users. This ensures that data is seen only by your browser and Google.
However, some users still will not like material they’ve happily forgotten suddenly reappearing on search streams, thanks to the wonder of SPYW. Google might come under fire for giving this content greater visibility.
Another worry is that someone with access to such “private” content can easily re-share it publicly (just as with Facebook and Twitter), leading to embarrassing or even dangerous consequences. A potential solution might be to prevent shared content from being searchable.

Search Plus Your World’s Social Twist

“Search Plus Your World” introduces some new elements to search:

• personal results are pulled from your Google+ network
• profiles draw from the Google+ user base
• people and pages suggest Google+ accounts you might like to Circle

But there’s grumbling among competitors (and users) that Google seems to leverage its search engine to favor its own content through SPYW by exclusively displaying results that favor profiles from Google+ while ignoring other social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. This could potentially lead to anti-trust complaints. After all, as a search engine, Google should have to figure out which profiles on other networks are relevant to queries, and then recommend them alongside Google Plus profiles.

How “Search Plus Your World” Has Changed Search

It’s obvious that SPYW has transformed search in some unique and special ways, by

• providing integration of private and public material
• raising privacy concerns about shared content being widely distributed
• favoring Google+ over other social networks, and forcing you to include it in your SEO efforts

When you step back and look at the transformation, you’ll see that Google is sending you a clear message. That it’s time to focus on Google Plus among your most important social networks.
“Search Plus Your World” is a giant flashing neon light, signaling you to hop aboard the Google+ carousel and join the exciting ride… or stand by unnoticed, and watch as the rest of us have fun!

Trond Lyngbø is Head Of SEO at MediaCom Norway, and Columnist at Search Engine Land, and blogger at well-known websites like MOZ and SEOBook. He can be found on Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and his Norwegian SEO blog.

The Biggest Mistake Web Analysts Make… And How To Avoid It!

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The single biggest mistake web analysts make is working without purpose.
We work very hard. We torture SiteCatalyst. We send out a lot of data. Then we resend it again and again. And yet our work results in very little impact on the business in terms of action taken by company leaders.
Why this sad state? Almost always we dive into the ocean of data first. Sadder still, we don't ask questions later. We never ask questions.
No questions. No tie to what's important. No impact from the data.
Result? Our work lacks purpose. It is that simple.
My normal recommendation to address this supremely corrosive issue is to encourage each company to go through the process of creating a Digital Marketing and Measurement Model . It is a fantastic five step process that forces the engagement of key stake holders to produce a blueprint of why digital exists in a company, and what it is trying to accomplish.

No touching Google Analytics. No going to web analytics conferences. No tweeting for help.
Just doing the four things, in five steps above, will deliver what we lack… purpose.

1. Why should you come to work?

2. What should the focus of your work be?

3. What level of performance indicates success or failure?

4. What dimensions, if analyzed, will deliver juicy business insights?

Unfortunately a very tiny fraction of companies, or Analysts, want to put in this lifesaving effort up front.
If you fall in the "Analyst unwilling to do the hard work" category, I'm afraid I can't help you.
If you fall into the "Analyst really wanting to do the hard work but does not have the connection to Superiors, or other teams, and looking for any way out to identify business purpose" category. I have a very very simple approach for you to follow. You are going to love it.
But there are two prerequisites: 1. You are going to have to throw away the shackles, and think like a business owner. Even if you work in a multi-headed hydra called "global corporation." 2. Have the courage to move beyond the office politics/bickering, move from waiting for a savior to tell you what the purpose should be to investing some time in figuring it out yourself.
If you meet the prerequisites, and have a pinch of business savvy, we are together going to change the world!
My recommendation calls for you to take a structured approach and answer five questions. The insightful answers will help you create your own understanding of the purpose of the digital existence. You'll end up creating something very close to the DMMM above.
The result will be an astonishingly high level of focus for your digital analytics work (even on day one) and hyper-relevant insights to the business. That, in turn will simply blow people's mind (relevant insights always do), creating love for you. And love like that is hard to come by. (Conveniently that type of love also translates into a sweet raise. :)
Perhaps I've over-promised. But I'm just so excited about this process and its power to make our professional lives better.
Ready?
In my experience the best teaching happens with real world examples, rather than spouting theory. Hence, I'm going to use Credit Karma as an example to illustrate the process. I don't know anyone at Credit Karma. I'm not an expert in the credit score reporting business. So I'll be just as blind as you might be walking into any business and going through this exercise.
Here are the five questions (plus one special bonus in the end) I/you have to answer to get a very good sense of the business to bring astonishing relevancy to our data analysis:
#1. Why does the site exist?
This is the holy grail. But here's the trick: We are not looking for just the obvious answers. We want to identify as close to 100% of the purpose for which the site exists, how it makes money/gets leads/raises donations (as the case may be).
In the case of Credit Karma my first job is to identify what the Macro Conversion is. The single biggest reason for the site's existence.
Luckily except in the case of the most incompetent websites, this is easy to find. In our case it is right there staring us in the face on the home page: Free Daily Credit Card Monitoring!

Just to be sure, since I don't know them at all, I might poke around a few pages to make sure. But usually it is pretty clear.
And in this case the cool thing is that they give you one score, the TransUnion one, for free. No credit cards required to sign up! My favorite report is the Credit Report Card. Great visualizations and really great data. Sign up today! [Disclosure: I'm not affiliated with nor do I know anyone at Credit Karma.]
OK, back to being the business owner.
The next thing to answer this question, and ensure that I'm not a newbie Analyst who will only focus on 2% of the business success, I have to figure out the Micro Conversions.
To do this you'll go to the main sections of the website. You'll look for other calls to action. "Sign up for the mailing list." "Order our catalog." "Download the trial version." Et al.
After 10 minutes of browsing, I found all these valuable Micro Conversions:

Some are pretty straight-forward. Affiliate links (Take Offer, Compare Rates) that link to other sites from which Credit Karma makes commissions. Advertising on the site is a Micro Conversion (the SavvyMoney ad above with the link Manage Your Debt). The Write A Review call to action (the more reviews there are on credit cards, the more valuable the site is for comparison shoppers the more people will come and do business with them). In the same vein, completed Compare Credit Card offers is an important Micro Conversion (and a sign of deeper engagement with the site). Finally, the links to connection on social platforms are Micro Conversions as well.
Now you have a fantastic understanding of the business objective (make money via credit reporting) and the Goals (a combination of Macro + Micro Conversions).
And, I can't stress this enough, you are not just looking at 2% of business success, you are looking at 100%.
Bonus: Identifying Macro and Micro Conversions also gives you a list of Ecommerce Tracking to set up on the site, and Goals to set up in the Admin interface. You'll also note small things like outbound link tracking (using Events) to set up for social actions and ensuring all affiliate links are tagged with our company's tracking parameters.
Don't open Google Analytics or Yahoo Web Analytics yet! We have more work to do…
#2. What parts of the website should you focus on first?
One of the biggest problems we have with digital analytics is that we have waaaaaay too much data. And because the reports only show the top ten rows, we might not easily be able to see what matters.
Hence it is very important to figure out where to focus your analysis first. My method for doing that is to browse around the site and answer this question:

~ What content on the website is directly tied to driving Macro and Micro Conversions?
~ What sections of the website might be most valuable to the visitors?
~ What content areas seem very expensive to create (hence more important to measure if they are adding any value!)?
~ What cross-sells and up-sells do you see being pimped across the site?
~ What does the top nav and left/right nav groupings tell you about priorities?

You can quickly see how those simple questions help you understand what data might be the object of your analytical horsepower.
Another 10 or 15 minutes of exploring various links and pages yields the answers I'm looking for.

For me, as a lay person and not a credit score industry veteran, the most important section would be /learning. The more the website visitors are aware of how important credit scores are, the more likely they are to sign up.
This was a bit hidden but the second most important piece of content would be the Credit Simulator (/preview/simulator). I can go play with the simulation and be informed (scared, actually) of the implications of taking credit and become a more qualified lead for Credit Karma.
The other sections I found valuable, using the framework outlined in the questions above, were: /help/howitworks (no one would sign up without looking at this page, we have to A/B and MVT test this to the max), /tools (this creates a great affinity for the brand, even if people don't sign up) and of course /creditcards (if they don't sign up, let's at least get an affiliate click :).
You can quickly see how you've got a short list of things to do in the Content section of Google Analytics. The filters to apply to those reports, to understand which KPIs would be most important as you value this content.
Rather than letting the data take you somewhere randomly, let this approach put you in the drivers seat and then you take data for a ride to a specific destination. That is what being successful is all about.
Awesome, right?
#3. How smart is their digital marketing strategy?
If you are a regular reader of this blog you know how deeply fond I am of the Acquisition, Behavior, Outcomes framework. We covered Outcomes with the first question and behavior with the second. Now it's time for acquisition.
What I try to probe, without talking to anyone at the company, is how savvy the company is in digital marketing. I'm also trying to figure out all the places they might be doing advertising. I want to know if they have even a simplistic understanding of how to rock social media.

Here's my process for doing that…

~ Visit www.google.com (or Baidu in China, Yandex in Russia etc). Run a bunch of search queries with the intent of looking for the company's products and services. I'll do at least five or so brand-related queries ("credit karma reviews"), and at least ten to fifteen non-brand/long tail queries ("free credit scores," "best credit score website," "credit score reporting scams," etc.).
I make a note of: 1. Organic search rankings (rank, page titles, snippets). 2. Paid search ads (title, creatives, urls shown). 3. Competition (who comes up first consistently, ppc and organic). 4. Search Plus Your World results.
~ Visit sites like (in this specific case) Yahoo! News/Finance to see if I get display ads when I read articles or stories about credit cards, credit scores etc. Do the same with some of the top sites I can think of related to the industry (brokerage sites, financially savvy consumer sites, etc). Finally, checkout at least a couple of blogs relevant to the topic.
I'm trying to see if I bump into my company's ads (display, text, any other type). It will be a great reflection of how well thought out their acquisition strategy is, or how sub-optimal it is.
~ No business, B2C or B2B or here2there, can exist without a robust YouTube strategy. So off to YouTube to do some relevant searches to see what videos show up.
Do I see any promoted videos in the results (to control the message)? Do I discover a brand channel by the company (to create a deeper connection with customers)? How lame or awesome are their videos (you want to teach and pimp both at the same time)?
~ Social is all the rage these days and I do believe that every business of every type should have a social presence that is the epitome of conversational marketing. So visiting their Twitter/Facebook/Google+ pages is critical.
Do they have a social presence? How many followers/likes do they have in comparison to their competitors? Do they reply to questions, or just shout? Do they pimp offers or try to make people's lives better? Is there any consistency in their contribution?
One special thing I'm also checking is if they have the +1 button on their website. Search Plus Your World and the social graph has become quite important. People search now, see their friends/social graph liking/endorsing brands and pages. Those often catch the eye of the searcher more easily, sometimes, than paid or organic results.

All this goes into creating starting points for what I'll do when I get into the web analytics tool. Will I analyze Search first or Campaigns? Will I focus more on referring sources or social traffic first? Will I measure the value of YouTube first or Display ads?
Additionally the above investigation also gives me a set of insights I can deliver to my CxOs. Channels where they should exist but don't. Things they might be doing badly in Social or YouTube or wherever. Missed opportunities in Organic search or SPYW (Search Plus Your World). Things like that. And these recommendations will come from my own digital marketing sophistication (earning respect from my Senior Leaders).
Bonus: In the digital marketing savvy section I've also started to pull out my Samsung Galaxy Tab and Nexus S to preview the mobile and tablet experience of the company. If it stinks that tells me a lot (remember the year of mobile was 2010!). I'll also run a couple of quick searches on Google or Yandex or Baidu to see how the landing pages look on my mobile phone and tablet.
Super Bonus: Only for the most passionate amongst you… run a quick query in the iTunes App Store and the Android Market to see if the business exists there in the form of an application. If yes, download it. Play with it. Download some competitor offerings.
Most companies that are on the bleeding edge of digital marketing savvy are leveraging Google, Yahoo!, Email Marketing, Blog ads, Social channels AND mobile experiences AND mobile applications. The analysis above, will bring remarkable brilliance when you dive into the data. You'll take your company from bad to good in terms of acquisition-savvy, or from good to great.
#4. How well are they doing in context of their competition?
It is almost criminal to dive into doing any analysis of a company's website data without first getting a little bit of context about their competitive performance. Context after all is king .
Here one simple example of how it can be helpful. You log into CoreMetrics and you see a line traffic going up or down. Is that good or bad? You don't know. No one at the company will talk to you. Why not jump on to a free competitive intelligence tool and figure out the answer for yourself?
I'll usually start with looking at the company's data in www.compete.com (if they are US-based with primarily US-based traffic) or Google Trends for Websites . And in five seconds I'll end up with a graph that looks like this:

The above data is from Compete. I've included not just the data for Credit Karma, but also for two relevant competitors, freescore.com and myfico.com.
Initially I was wow-ed by the spike in the blue line (Credit Karma), that is quite spectacular. But then I see that it might be an industry thing, as the competitor spiked as well. Good context.
While at Compete I can also dig into a whole bunch of metrics like Visits, PageViews, udience segmentation, and so much more.
Now, I better understand visitor acquisition.
Time to understand a bit more about the visitors themselves. My BFF? Google/DoubleClick AdPlanner , perhaps the largest source of demographic and psychographic data out there.

The above data is for freescore.com. I can also quickly run queries for Credit Karma (and others) and compare and contrast the demographic profiles of people who visit the website. Are our competitors particularly stronger in some Educational categories or Incomes compared to us? What are our areas of strength?
While in AdPlanner I also highly recommend looking at "Sites also visited," a fantastic way to understand who a site's real competitors are. What are the clusters of options when people consider a credit report? This is also a great place to get ideas for websites you can show ads on, exchange links, etc.
The last stop of my journey is Google Insights for Search , your direct source for all Google organic search data from across the world. Here I particularly like to look at a metric I call "share of search." How often are people looking for the generic query for the industry, for me (/my company) and for my direct competitors?
Think of it as unaided brand recall …

Just look at that massive spike in queries for Credit Karma at the end of Dec! What the heck happened there? Great question. What where the related keywords people searched for? Check the Google Analytics reports. Was this traffic any good? Check the Google Analytics metrics. Are we going to dominate the world and crush our competitors? Time will tell!
The purpose of competitive intelligence analysis is to understand your place in the world, to highlight from an industry/ecosystem perspective what your strengths and areas of opportunity are, and to collect a list of questions like the ones immediately above for analysis in your web analytics tools.
Is that not simply orgasmic?
#5. What is the fastest possible way I can have a impact on the business?
One final thing.
I look for a low hanging fruit to fix/analyze. Something I can quickly analyze, find insights for and get fixed to show the value of data (and my employment at the company).
Here are some examples of things I consciously look for:

~ Any obviously important links that might be broken (404) or misdirected.
~ Horribly constructed landing pages for the top organic/paid keywords.
~ Something absolutely important missing from the site's information architecture.
~ A missed opportunity for promoting a micro conversion more prominently. (Why is the Credit Score Emulator so hidden, and not on the home page of Credit Karma?)
~ Overpimping of social icons when there has never been a social post (or all posts are sub-optimal).
~ No "related items" after a product is added to cart. (Aw, come on! Has Amazon taught us nothing?)
~ 17 display ads on every single page on the website. (Why, oh why must we inflict torture?)

And other such things. Depending on the website you are analyzing, and your web-savvy/UX expertise, you might find other things. But the criteria to apply is that you are looking for big, obvious broken things that can mostly likely be fixed quickly and for which the impact can be quickly measured.
You are trying to find something with a clear purpose to show the power of actions taken through data.
One of my most beloved low hanging fruit for lead gen/ecommerce websites is to identify and improve the checkout abandonment rate .
That would be measuring the efficiency of this process for Credit Karma:

For a lead gen/ecommerce website there is no faster way to improve the bottom line. The potential customer has already discovered us. They've survived our website. They've gone from consideration to purchase. Now, all that remains for us to make money is to get them through these three simple pages. Let's make sure we do that! 100% of the time! (I love being aggressive in this case.)
This is directly tied to business purpose. It is absolutely focused on something important (getting the macro conversion). It is small (3 pages), and it is very well defined. And it is easily measureable (hello my dear funnel analysis, I've missed you!).
That is how an Analyst achieves glory. Through data. Powered by a clear purpose.
So five simple questions that help you focus on the end-to-end view of the business (Acquisition, Behavior, Outcome) without ever touching the data (except CI) and help you create your own Digital Marketing Measurement Model.
What I love more than anything else is that it forces you to become the Marketer for the couple hours you'll spend on it. It forces you to think like a business owner for that time. It forces you to pull out any UI/UX chops you have.
It is rare that Analysts get to flex those muscles. It is important, though because I don't know of a single Digital Analyst who has become great without flexing those muscles.
And now, my dear, you are ready to log into your web analytics tool!
But before you do that, I have one last parting gift for you…
Special Bonus: #6. Any technical notes I can make for the future (analytics or coding)?
As I'm clicking around I also like to make note of these things:

~ Randomly view source to see if the javascript tag for the web analytics tool is there. You just want to spot check if the tool is there (for GA just do View Page Source and Ctrl F and ga.js).
I do not encourage you to do to this until much, much later, but you can use a web analytics site audit tool for more thorough checking. But don't do it now. Don't get sucked into technical implementation hell just yet.
~ Things that might hinder SEO.
For example: Link text – is it descriptive? URL structures – are they clean (as on Credit Karma) or a jumble of technical gibberish (as on www.aeropostale.com )? Exit links – are they wrapped in javascript (can't be read by search bots) or clean? How clean is the link structure? These and other such small things are both a task list and a sign of how savvy the company is when it comes to SEO.
~ When I click on various external ads (search, display, YouTube), I also take a quick peek at the URL window to check for campaign tracking parameters. So important to have them.
~ Make note of windows that pop up. If they are links to the company's blog or their ecommerce/travel reservation/lead gen platform, is it on the same domain or a different domain?
Latter means tracking challenges, technical nightmares.
~ If they have an internal site search engine, and in this day and age it is criminal not to, then I do a quick search and see if my query shows up in the url stem. For example, on this blog it would look like this: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/?s=segmentation
This would be awesome. The "s." It means we can configure it in Analytics in two seconds (no IT begging involved) and start doing amazing internal site search analysis .
If the parameter does not exist… well, then IT begging will be mandatory. :)

Remember. You are not a technical implementer or a javascript tagger – two valuable roles. You are an Analyst. Your primary objective should be data analysis and finding insights. So the first five questions and the answers you'll find are your focus area. The sixth is a gift you can give the javascript tagger/technical implementer in your company.
That's it. My humble attempt at sharing with you everything I know about avoiding the single biggest mistake Digital Analysts/Marketers make: Execute their jobs without a clear business purpose.
If any of the above makes you feel that I hold data secondary and understanding what data is in service of first then I've succeed in my mission with this post.
As always, it's your turn now.
What are the approaches you use to identify business purpose? Do you dive into the data first, and still find insights without doing the above mentioned five investigations? Is there a strategy outlined above that you feel works better than others? What are your favorite low hanging fruits to fix for a digital business?
Please share your recommendations, war stories from the front lines, and feedback via comments.
Thank you.

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