Twittaholics Unanonymous
February 18, 2010 by Jim Hedger
Filed under WMR Blog
Yesterday I posted a Twitter message about how my recurring addiction to campaign analytics was causing me a measure of personal distress. Addiction is not the sort of thing one wants to talk about in public. In most circumstances, addictions are highly debilitating. It’s pretty easy to spot the addiction when you find yourself referring to referral stats three to six times per minute. For what it’s worth, I haven’t checked stats at all since I began this paragraph. ’scuse me for a sec…
OK. Thanks for your patience. In case you were wondering, I just had to check a few numbers and found I am pretty happy with them. A new wave of Tweets was issued a few minutes ago and several outstanding members of our small legion of followers have taken the time to reTweet them. That happy circumstance confirmed, I can feel my heart rate receding back to its normal rate of 60 someodd beats per minute. I am resisting the urge to look at the landing page stats until our team-meeting later today. Having people around me when I look should serve to dampen my pie-eyed child-at-Christmas reaction to numbers. I am a mature professional web marketer and I can exercise self-control when I need… I need. hmmmm. OK, ’scuse me. BRB.
What most surprised me yesterday about what could only be interpreter by my followers as a Tweet for Help was how many respondents actually sympathized with me. I figured they would despise me for morphing into the low-down stats addict I seem to have become. It seems they too are statistically addicted to campaign stats and they gleefully reached out to my message about campaign stat addiction (at least, according to my stats). Informed minds love company it seems.
In rare cases, such as with the late journalist Hunter S. Thompson, embracing our addictions can be a path to success. For web marketers, knowing who is doing what, when and where, and then being able to ascribe correct values to the next questions, why and how is critical. For instance, I am pleased to know that nearly 70% of those who have responded to our Tweets live in the United States. Another 8% live in Canada. Those are the folks most likely to buy the service we’re selling.
Furthermore, I have happily created spreadsheet after spreadsheet detailing data about what times draw the greatest response and which messages prompt the most action. My brain is practically salivating at the thought of gathering enough data to start creating line graphs. mmmmmm….. line graphs make the world a better place.
Unfortunately, I can’t expect to have enough data to make a remotely useful or even interesting line graph a few more days. There’s something to look forward to thought the prospect of a weekend suffering delayed satisfaction syndrome is daunting. It’s ok. In the words of the great Hunter S. Thompson, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” I’m already a pro. I can deal with any weirdness thrown at me by my lack of useful line graphs. I’ll have enough data soon enough. Until then, I can satisfy my urges with little peaks at the raw numbers. Just a short glance, mind you. I do have real work to do.
Increasingly, our society is rightly starting to view addiction as a disease rather than a personal weakness. To tell the truth, I don’t really feel much dis-ease when I comb through campaign stats. I feel rather good actually. It’s the obsession I have an issue with. Perhaps that sort of obsessiveness is useful to my employers. They seem to think it is at any rate. But it is a relatively beautiful day here and I am spending way too much of what could otherwise be free time examining stats. At least they’re good ones.
SEGuru’s Great Big Organic (SEO) Tool
August 18, 2009 by Jim Hedger
Filed under WMR Blog
Memo: SEGuru’s Great Big Organic Tool
To: The busy webmaster and search engine optimization specialist on the go
From: SEGuru and WebmasterRadio.FM
Re:
WebmasterRadio.FM’s SEGuru, host of SEO Rockstars decided to open his tool chest and publish a page organizing his favorite SEO tools, reporters and checkers.My
Great BigOrganicTool.com puts several dozen free tools used by crackerjack SEOs on one page. It’s the tool box we use when analyzing our own SEO efforts at WebmasterRadio.FM and we’d like to open it up and share it with you.With love and respect:
SEGuru and WebmasterRadio.FM
SEM Synergy – Analytics and Content
February 18, 2009 by Jim Hedger
Filed under WMR Blog
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Analytics and Content are the topical themes of today today’s SEM Synergy show.
From SEMSynergy.com:
Today’s show is aimed at the intersection of analytics and content. Content, one of the most vital components of any successful Web site, should be optimized in order for easy searchability and findability. Analytics and testing allows those working on the site to make sure site content meets the expectations and needs of a visitor.
Then Apogee Search’s Bill Leake, president and CEO, and Alissa Ruehl, manager of website effectiveness consulting, talk to Virginia about the latest in conversion tracking and testing. Apogee Search recently became a Google Website Optimizer Authorized Consultant (WOAC), so Bill and Alissa explain what additional services their organization can provide through this distinction. Google Website Optimizer is a multivariate and A/B testing solution. The different levels of testing provided by Website Optimizer as well as other necessary analytics solutions are discussed.
Finishing out the show, Susan, Michael and Virginia look at what’s needed from an SEO-friendly CMS. Since the recording of this show, Pixelsilk was launched. Pixelsilk is a prime example of a content management system that was created with search engine optimization in mind. According to the company, the CMS “allows full access and control of the HTML to implement a branded design, custom development, e-commerce cart or search strategy – while still being easy for those editing contentâ€. The ability to customize HTML is a major requirement for successful implementation of SEO recommendations.
SEM Synergy airs on WebmasterRadio.FM on Wednesdays at 2pmET, 11amPT.
