Which Key Performance Indicators Will Be Important with Web 2.0?

A while back we had a series of posts regarding key performance indicators as they pertain to various types of sites.  These sites ranged from lead gen sites to content based sites to e-commerce based sites.  We identified a number of key performance indicators including:

Average Page Views: the number of pages the visitor visited can indicate the strength of your visitor's connection to the information you provide
Percent Returning Visitors: percentage of retained visitors returning to your site
Cancellations: the likelihood your subscriber cancels their subscription through an unsubscribe form
Average subscription length [...]

Video Optimization: How Do I Incorporate the Use of a Transcript?

As part of best practices for video optimization, it is recommended that you create and submit a transcript for users and the search engines.  In fact Google states that users will be able to find your video more easily if you add a transcript to each video file you've uploaded via your Video Status page.
Here are a few tips/hints for incorporating the use of transcripts with your video.
Create a Keyword Rich Title for your Transcript
Include a brief introductory paragraph/synopsis that describes the subject matter of your transcript (and video).
Publish Your Transcript – first off be sure to publish your transcript.  Consider adding the [...]

In Search of B to B Landmarks

This week (actually, right about the time you’ll be reading this column) I’ll be talking to the American Business Media Publisher’s Summit in Chicago about online opportunities, from a user’s perspective. As I was getting ready for the address, I realized there’s a substantial piece of the B to B market that’s missing online. I call it a market enabler. 
Looking for Landmarks 
Think of our typical progression when we begin researching something online. If it’s new territory, the first thing we need to do is to find a landmark to navigate from. From that landmark we tend to navigate out from [...]

Where Can I get a Benchmark Guide for SEM?

MarketingSherpa today released the fourth annual edition of its Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, http://www.sherpastore.com/Search-Marketing-Benchmark-2008.html
The guide reveals the latest findings of MarketingSherpa's extensive survey in June and July 2007 of 2,475 marketers who conduct or supervise search marketing for their own companies.
Among the highlights found in the 273-page guide:

The search marketing industry is still expanding rapidly – as much as 31% in the United States and 39% globally for 2007. This year-over-year growth will slow in time. Still, search budgets are increasing by double-digit percentages for many marketers, although we're hearing feedback that many of those increases are in anticipation of [...]

Is Facebook a Serious Threat to Google?

Over the past six months the viral spread of popular social community Facebook has generated great discussion in the blogosphere.  When Facebook was made available to the general public a number of months ago many were opposed to it.  Then the "it's not just for kids" viral thing happened and now everyone and their dog is on Facebook. Facebook is not just for kids.  I was speaking with Enquiro CEO Gord Hotchkiss the other day and he mentioned that he receives more invites from industry professionals via Facebook than he does from LinkedIn.  That's an interesting thought as traditionally very [...]

How Should I Compare Thee to Google?

There is a substantial amount of online speculation being generated around the question of where Facebook is going and will it beat Google?  John Battelle is currently drafting a list of questions, including those two, to run past Facebook co founder Mark Zuckerberg at the Web 2 conference. 
At first glance, asking if Facebook can beat Google is a bit like asking if a penguin could beat an aardvark.  Beat it at what? What’s the contest? Or, perhaps more appropriately, asking whether your neighborhood can beat your table saw. Talk about comparing apples and oranges (at least those are both fruit). [...]

What are Google Gadget Ads?

Widgets continue to be all the rage on the Internet. The popularity of them is pretty amazing and the viral spread of widgets is pretty impressive as well. Widgets are kind of like Gremlins, you don't want to get water on them or feed them after midnight… For those who don't know what a widget is, a widget is simply a piece of embeddable code that can be found on one site, and embedded in another that can be used to promote your own site, blog or brand. We have discussed widget marketing a number [...]

Personalization Catches the User’s Eye

Last week, I looked at the impact the inclusion of graphics on the search results page might have on user behavior, based on our most recent eye tracking report. This week, we look at the impact that personalization might bring. 
Our Flavor of Personalization 
One of the biggest hurdles is that personalization, as currently implemented by Google, is a pretty tentative representation of what personalization will become. It only impacts a few listings on a few searches, and the signals driving personalization are limited at this point. Personalization is currently a test bed that Google is working on, but Sep Kamvar and [...]

How Can I Optimize My Videos?

Quite often we get asked "how can I optimize my videos so that the search engines and users will find them?"  Until recently this is a topic that many webmasters and site owners didn't really worry about, but with the launch of Universal Search by Google, the video silo is another medium that you really do need to optimize so that the search engines and more importantly the user can access your video content.
There are many ways that you can optimize your videos.  In fact, before your even upload your video to the Web, you should edit it and ensure [...]

What are some Useful Metrics for Travel Sites?

In this multi-part series we are going to analyze numerous websites across different categories to help our readers better understand what metrics they should be measuring for their own website. Metrics cannot be reported without a proper web analytics implementation therefore it's important to be as thorough as possible because it's better to over collect data than under collect.
Today we are going to be looking at metrics to track for travel websites and for this post we have selected 2 travel sites which we are going to analyze. The first is a website dedicated to Caribbean vacations, Sandals.com and second is [...]