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	<title>Web Analytics Usability Testing Software &#187; web analytics</title>
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	<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software</link>
	<description>Reviews of the Best Web Analytics usability software</description>
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		<title>Problems With Web Analytics</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/175/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-3/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/175/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Apr 2010 05:24:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/175/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-3/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a03.yimg.com/nimage/b19be22c690dbc52" alt="image" title="productcover ncp productid=1081283" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics because it shows failure is the wrong attitude. We learn from our failures and we must welcome the opportunity to gain knowledge of them. </p>
<p>There is a lack of skilled employees required to manage, distribute and analyze Web analytics. Historically, web analytics was developed by IT for IT. The people using them were comfortable with dealing with raw data. Web analytics tools have been designed to be interpreted by technical personnel. There was little regard for people without technical skills. As a result, the rest of the organization has become alienated from analytics. A good web analytics solution has to be easy to understand for any member of the organization. One of the biggest misconceptions of web analytics is that it needs to be complex. </p>
<p>Often, web analytics generate a huge amount of data. The end result is data overload that lacks actionable information. Frequently, insignificant data becomes the noise around actionable data. The noise makes the process overwhelming. Instead of providing answers, web analytics can create more questions. Meaningful interpretation of data has created a hostile attitude toward web analytics among the non-technical people of the organization. </p>
<p>Web analytics is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Web analytics tools provide data not information or insight. We need the tools to provide us with the raw data, but it&#8217;s up to us to make sense of it all. </p>
<p>The real value of KPI is continuous monitoring. It is not a once a year or once a quarter project. At the very least, you should examine your KPIs once a month. Monitoring is continuous; reviewing happens on a regular interval. </p>
<p>The most important KPIs are the ones that measure whether business objectives are met or not. It is great to know how many visitors a web site has in a month, but it is more useful to know what percentage of users make a purchase. </p>
<p>Web sites are no longer just online catalogs with a shopping cart. They are becoming complex applications with high levels of interactivity. Today, a highly usable site is also highly interactive. If the on site search is not working properly, you have a web site that lack interactivity. Therefore, it scores low in the usability scale. If the site navigation is counter intuitive, it will result in low usability score. All of the above will result in lower conversion therefore lower revenue. According to studies, many online shoppers give up and abandon the shopping process due to usability issues. </p>
<p>Web analytics must be viewed as an activity directly tied to revenue. It is indeed a revenue generating process. The absence of web analytics can result in loss of revenue, and the presence of it will almost certainly result in increased revenue.</p></div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Analytics for All</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/117/analytics/web-analytics-for-all/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/117/analytics/web-analytics-for-all/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Mar 2010 07:47:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clicktracks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet market]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[webtrends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/117/analytics/web-analytics-for-all/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the Internet market, every day we face new challenges and no one is out of this game, not even giants as Google and Yahoo, who as others, have also the necessity of finding a trustful and competitive web analytics tool.  Many of you know that one of the Google&#8217;s weakest links has always [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a03.yimg.com/nimage/49ce3703c338cb24" alt="image" title="deposits jpg" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />In the Internet market, every day we face new challenges and no one is out of this game, not even giants as Google and Yahoo, who as others, have also the necessity of finding a trustful and competitive web analytics tool.  Many of you know that one of the Google&#8217;s weakest links has always been the web analytics, in opposition to his closest competitor Overture (owned by Yahoo), who 3 years ago acquired KeyLime (a web analytics software company) for its own usage. As a step ahead, Google recently announced the purchase of Urchin, in order to compete with Overture offering a better statistics option to their customers.  In the other hand, we have a well known participant called WebTrends, who had been sold by NetIQ after only 3 years since they acquired it; why? We didn&#8217;t find a specific reason however it seems to be that their clients were not satisfied by the given support service, plus the hard competence from other players as ClickTracks, who released the ClickTracks Professional edition, were strong reasons to determine its sale.  As from my own experience I&#8217;ve seen that ClickTracks, being an independent vendor, is constantly working on new products such as their new release: ClickTracks Optimizer (great for mid/large size web sites), and adding to the existing ClickTracks Analyzer and Pro editions new marketing oriented features and upgrades options, in order to satisfy their customers around the world and assist them while taking important decisions.</div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Winning Money Online With Web Analytics</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/116/analytics/winning-money-online-with-web-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/116/analytics/winning-money-online-with-web-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:48:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/116/analytics/winning-money-online-with-web-analytics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Instead of looking at web analytics as a tool to make improvements to your web presence, you must look at web analytics as what it would cost your company if you ignored its significance. Would I have your attention, if with the use of web analytics it is possible that your next e-mail campaign would [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/500c4630b43542b4" alt="image" title="JMP" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />Instead of looking at web analytics as a tool to make improvements to your web presence, you must look at web analytics as what it would cost your company if you ignored its significance. Would I have your attention, if with the use of web analytics it is possible that your next e-mail campaign would result in 50 percent more revenue than your last e-mail. Think of how much revenue your business is losing because you don&#8217;t take advantage of web analytics. </p>
<p>Many companies don&#8217;t realize the potential for positive impact that web analytics can have on their business. Often, our ignorance prevents us from acknowledging the potential of web analytics. Companies with defined analytics programs are realizing double-digit growth in new Web site visitors, returning visitor traffic and conversion rates. </p>
<p>With growing pressure to make your marketing efforts, more profitable web analytics is becoming more-and-more critical. Let&#8217;s say you suspect that your website has to improve its usability. With web analytics, you can measure the effectiveness of your site usability. Then, based on the intelligence you gather, you can make the necessary changes. Due to the improvements you have made you may be able to improve your conversion substantially. As a result, you can measure the value of web analytics in terms of revenue. </p>
<p>The barriers to entry for adopting analytics technologies that can dramatically improve online businesses have never been lower. There are many inexpensive and even free options to start web analytics integrating into your business processes. Web analytics is not about technology. It is much more about people. Before you invest money in web analytics, you must invest in people. People within your organization must realize the importance of measuring your web presence. </p>
<p>Every business with a web presence must build a strategy around web analytics. Our goal is to get the highest possible value from KPIs. According to Forrester B2B, tech companies have realized 500-800% return on a 100K/yr in house analyst. Retail businesses realized 1000-3000% return on the same 100K/yr web analyst. </p>
<p>In the early days of online business, websites were built with ill-defined goals and very little consideration for ROI. If you want to succeed online today, you should not spend a dime without commercial benefit. Unless your decisions are based KPIs measure through your web analytics efforts, you are most likely to fail. You cannot compete without knowing exactly how effective your initiatives are. In every business, the focus is on the bottom line, and the same is true for web analytics. </p>
<p>Imagine how much more revenue you could be generating by analyzing the proper KPIs. Even better, imagine how much money your business is losing by not taking advantage of web analytics. Today, we have to necessary tools to make decisions based on data instead of intuition. We have to have a strategy to measure success and failure to maximize ROI. Always look at how much something costs. A bad business decision may cost loss of revenue. A business without web analytics will result in continuous bad decisions that is very likely will result in a failing business.</p></div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Analytics Imperfections and Differences</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/114/analytics/web-analytics-imperfections-and-differences/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/114/analytics/web-analytics-imperfections-and-differences/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:57:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search Engine Optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/114/analytics/web-analytics-imperfections-and-differences/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Clients often come to us and ask why the data that they&#8217;re getting from Google Analytics and other javascript based analytics information differ from data that there web hosting service provides. What we explain to them is that roughly 10-15% of web surfers have javascript disabled, resulting in roughly 10-15% less traffic than what your [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/5c6e6f1b515edfb4" alt="image" title="woopra3" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />Clients often come to us and ask why the data that they&#8217;re getting from Google Analytics and other javascript based analytics information differ from data that there web hosting service provides. What we explain to them is that roughly 10-15% of web surfers have javascript disabled, resulting in roughly 10-15% less traffic than what your web hosting provider might say. What they also need to come to understand is that web analytics has two competing fields: log files, and javascript. Log files were used in the early days of the field, and relied upon log files that every web server has. The log files record every human or robot that comes to your website, which inflates numbers in reality. Javascript based web analytics, like what Google Analytics runs on doesn&#8217;t record robots or spiders as they&#8217;re sometimes called, resulting in lower traffic counts than log file analysis would show.  Javascript based solutions rely upon servers that collect the information from sites that they&#8217;re monitoring, so if they go down, or slow some of your data can be lost. Log file analysis has trouble showing paths that users take through a site, and distinguishing between real peopple, and robots is often difficult. There is no 100% accurate way of knowing everything about every possible user who comes to your website, but you can get a very detailed picture for the vast majority. Keep in mind that web analytics is a tool that should be used to enhance your business, not dictate the precise way you should run it. If you have any further questions that we haven&#8217;t clearly addressed, or just need some advise feel free to email us at info@sonicko.com</div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Monitoring Web Traffic Through Site Analytics</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/14/analytics/monitoring-web-traffic-through-site-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/14/analytics/monitoring-web-traffic-through-site-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:41:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hits Array Log Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monitoring Web Traffic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traffic Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web-tracking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/14/analytics/monitoring-web-traffic-through-site-analytics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Do you know who is visiting your web site? Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if you also knew where they were coming from, how long they were on your site, and, most importantly, from which page they were exiting your web site and why? Web analytics software and real time web site tracking solutions have now [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a02.yimg.com/nimage/c26e2a66413e5458" alt="image" title="google analytics air jpg" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />Do you know who is visiting your web site? Wouldn&#8217;t it be great if you also knew where they were coming from, how long they were on your site, and, most importantly, from which page they were exiting your web site and why? Web analytics software and real time web site tracking solutions have now made it possible for web masters as well as for those companies for whom a robust Internet presence is critical to success, to use this form of dynamic data to review performance, correct pitfalls and plan highly successful online marketing strategy. Let us begin by first exploring site tracking and analysis terminology:</div>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Problems With Web Analytics</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/6/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/6/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:10:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/6/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a03.yimg.com/nimage/b4c0b99c746c11e8" alt="image" title="o" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics because it shows failure is the wrong attitude. We learn from our failures and we must welcome the opportunity to gain knowledge of them. </p>
<p>There is a lack of skilled employees required to manage, distribute and analyze Web analytics. Historically, web analytics was developed by IT for IT. The people using them were comfortable with dealing with raw data. Web analytics tools have been designed to be interpreted by technical personnel. There was little regard for people without technical skills. As a result, the rest of the organization has become alienated from analytics. A good web analytics solution has to be easy to understand for any member of the organization. One of the biggest misconceptions of web analytics is that it needs to be complex. </p>
<p>Often, web analytics generate a huge amount of data. The end result is data overload that lacks actionable information. Frequently, insignificant data becomes the noise around actionable data. The noise makes the process overwhelming. Instead of providing answers, web analytics can create more questions. Meaningful interpretation of data has created a hostile attitude toward web analytics among the non-technical people of the organization. </p>
<p>Web analytics is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Web analytics tools provide data not information or insight. We need the tools to provide us with the raw data, but it&#8217;s up to us to make sense of it all. </p>
<p>The real value of KPI is continuous monitoring. It is not a once a year or once a quarter project. At the very least, you should examine your KPIs once a month. Monitoring is continuous; reviewing happens on a regular interval. </p>
<p>The most important KPIs are the ones that measure whether business objectives are met or not. It is great to know how many visitors a web site has in a month, but it is more useful to know what percentage of users make a purchase. </p>
<p>Web sites are no longer just online catalogs with a shopping cart. They are becoming complex applications with high levels of interactivity. Today, a highly usable site is also highly interactive. If the on site search is not working properly, you have a web site that lack interactivity. Therefore, it scores low in the usability scale. If the site navigation is counter intuitive, it will result in low usability score. All of the above will result in lower conversion therefore lower revenue. According to studies, many online shoppers give up and abandon the shopping process due to usability issues. </p>
<p>Web analytics must be viewed as an activity directly tied to revenue. It is indeed a revenue generating process. The absence of web analytics can result in loss of revenue, and the presence of it will almost certainly result in increased revenue.</p></div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Web Analytics Traffic Data Sources</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/24/analytics/web-analytics-traffic-data-sources/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/24/analytics/web-analytics-traffic-data-sources/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:25:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Analytics Data Sources]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/24/analytics/web-analytics-traffic-data-sources/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After you decide that you need to analyse your web site visitor traffic, next and very important step is to determine which data you are going to analyse. And that must be done before picking the web analytics vendor.
 Visitor Data Collection Methods
 In 99% cases of collecting data used forms are  Page Tagging [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a02.yimg.com/nimage/829bdf7f19748a00" alt="image" title="urltrends png" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />After you decide that you need to analyse your web site visitor traffic, next and very important step is to determine which data you are going to analyse. And that must be done before picking the web analytics vendor.<br />
 Visitor Data Collection Methods<br />
 In 99% cases of collecting data used forms are  Page Tagging  and  Log Files .<br />
 Page tags are files collected by visitor&rsquo;s web browser, achieved by placing &ldquo;beacon code&rdquo; on each page of a website. It is often no more than a snippet of code referencing javascript file. Some vendors add multiple custom tags to set or collect data and this technique is known as  client-side data collection .<br />
 And Log files represent data collected by your web server and doesn&rsquo;t depend on visitors browser. As it is set by default, all requests to server are stored into the log file (images, pdfs, pages, etc.) And those log files are usually just plain text files. This technique is called  server-side data collection.<br />
 Looking in direction of past web analytics, log files were used to analyse web site visitor behavior. However, page files became very popular in recent years and definitively are easy to use for average user.<br />
 It is important to say at this point that both techniques have their limitations. In table below you can see both limitations and advantages of both data collecting techniques.<br />
 For purpose of removing those limitations and gaining something of advantages most of today&rsquo;s solutions use both methods and that approach in web analytics data collection is called  Hybrid method.<br />
 Probably main reason of page tag popularity is that they allow to be  outsourced as hosted solutions.  That way data is collected, organized and analysed away of your organization reducing costs and saving your IT or yourself of configuring and maintaining chosen web analytics solution. Most spread web analytics tool in small size businesses and web sites is Google Analytics and many people after a while notice that they are not reaching anything with it and they decide to get web consultant check their web sites, improve tracking, etc&hellip; One of best in help those user is</p>
<p>Spes Media &ndash; Web Marketing Consulting Company.</p></div>
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		<title>Web Analytics and SEO</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/8/analytics/web-analytics-and-seo/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/8/analytics/web-analytics-and-seo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:35:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online business optimization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web statistics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/8/analytics/web-analytics-and-seo/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By Jose Nuñez
 As an SEM Specialist, I must understand the different algorithms search engines use in their work. I also need to have an understanding of how my client&#8217;s target audience searches these engines.
 Analytical tools and their test results offer the most valuable information about
visitors searching and browsing behavior. The resulting traffic changes [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a01.yimg.com/nimage/9a791229c9a6bcfe" alt="image" title="alexa png" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />By Jose Nuñez<br />
 As an SEM Specialist, I must understand the different algorithms search engines use in their work. I also need to have an understanding of how my client&#8217;s target audience searches these engines.<br />
 Analytical tools and their test results offer the most valuable information about</p>
<p>visitors searching and browsing behavior. The resulting traffic changes and most frequent keyword phrases that appear in these web analytics reports are the Site Catalyst of any SEO campaign.<br />
This helps one understand the information retrieval algorithms and heuristics process that takes place when search engines qualify a web page for a particular keyword phrase. That is why in order for a web page to be considered relevant, its content organization must accommodate a wide variety of direct and semi-direct search behavior, which is mostly disclosed by its own metrics, in a given time period.<br />
Part of the important information web analysis provides is the amount of words and phrases people type into search queries to find a particular web page, and it is equally important to include this information in order to receive targeted search engine traffic. That is just one of the aspects in the existing relation between web analytics and SEO:  understanding how visitors search and browse websites.<br />
In a similar fashion, search engine generated traffic is reported by a web analytics tool, including the phrases entered into the search engine that were used to find a website. By separating the paid traffic generated by SEM from the total traffic that was referred by search engines, you can monitor the effectiveness of SEO efforts. Higher-end analytic tools break out organic search engines into a separate report.<br />
Another area where this statistical data is used for SEO benefits is in copywriting. Understanding how to write for the target audience of a website is key. Finding the right terms to use semantically within the copy of a web page is one of the main components of all successful SEO efforts. A SEM should always consider what each web page communicates to site visitors and search engines. This content should not only help achieve top search engine rankings, but it should also encourage searchers to visit the website.<br />
To improve positioning on search engine results pages, you need to be able to measure effectiveness. These tools make measuring your improvement on search engines easy, but it is really important to know is if the improvement affects traffic and sales. By monitoring and tracking this information frequently, a SEO can make recommendations, prove these recommendations work, and accurately report on the true effectiveness of these changes. Web analytic helps shorten the gap between what you think your visitors are searching for, and what they actually are.</p></div>
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		<title>Problems With Web Analytics</title>
		<link>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/17/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-2/</link>
		<comments>http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/17/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:21:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Nick Kurentz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web analytics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[website design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://priceburner.com/web-analytics-software/17/analytics/problems-with-web-analytics-2/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://thm-a03.yimg.com/nimage/f858d9b176bd0afc" alt="image" title="woopra2" align="left" style="margin: 0 5px 5px 0" />There are two major problems with web presence analytics; they&#8217;re either non-existent or too complicated. Many people may be against using web analytics because it not only measures success it also measures failure. Someone in charge of marketing might be afraid to use web analytics because it would prove the failure scientifically. Avoiding web analytics because it shows failure is the wrong attitude. We learn from our failures and we must welcome the opportunity to gain knowledge of them. </p>
<p>There is a lack of skilled employees required to manage, distribute and analyze Web analytics. Historically, web analytics was developed by IT for IT. The people using them were comfortable with dealing with raw data. Web analytics tools have been designed to be interpreted by technical personnel. There was little regard for people without technical skills. As a result, the rest of the organization has become alienated from analytics. A good web analytics solution has to be easy to understand for any member of the organization. One of the biggest misconceptions of web analytics is that it needs to be complex. </p>
<p>Often, web analytics generate a huge amount of data. The end result is data overload that lacks actionable information. Frequently, insignificant data becomes the noise around actionable data. The noise makes the process overwhelming. Instead of providing answers, web analytics can create more questions. Meaningful interpretation of data has created a hostile attitude toward web analytics among the non-technical people of the organization. </p>
<p>Web analytics is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Web analytics tools provide data not information or insight. We need the tools to provide us with the raw data, but it&#8217;s up to us to make sense of it all. </p>
<p>The real value of KPI is continuous monitoring. It is not a once a year or once a quarter project. At the very least, you should examine your KPIs once a month. Monitoring is continuous; reviewing happens on a regular interval. </p>
<p>The most important KPIs are the ones that measure whether business objectives are met or not. It is great to know how many visitors a web site has in a month, but it is more useful to know what percentage of users make a purchase. </p>
<p>Web sites are no longer just online catalogs with a shopping cart. They are becoming complex applications with high levels of interactivity. Today, a highly usable site is also highly interactive. If the on site search is not working properly, you have a web site that lack interactivity. Therefore, it scores low in the usability scale. If the site navigation is counter intuitive, it will result in low usability score. All of the above will result in lower conversion therefore lower revenue. According to studies, many online shoppers give up and abandon the shopping process due to usability issues. </p>
<p>Web analytics must be viewed as an activity directly tied to revenue. It is indeed a revenue generating process. The absence of web analytics can result in loss of revenue, and the presence of it will almost certainly result in increased revenue.</p></div>
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