How To Use Filters In Google Analytics To Remove Your Own Data

Friday, March 20th, 2009

The following guest post is from Rajeev Edmonds, also known as mintblogger. His blog was one of my favourites long before I got to know him through the Authority Blogger Forum. His vast technical knowledge of what you can do with Google Blogger and Google Analytics definitely surpasses my own. Today he discusses how to properly use filters in GA to exclude your own internal data (among other things). Enjoy!
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Are you happy you’ve met the traffic goals at the end of the month? Hold on, the data displayed on your Analytics dashboard also includes the internal traffic (visits from staff/internal office network) on your web site. You may have hired some web developers living on the other side of the globe working on your web site. What about their visits while they work on your site? Their visits are also counted in your traffic. So, are you getting the true picture of actual number of genuine visitors coming to your site?

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20.03.2009 Google Analytics 2 Comments

Omniture to Add Twitter Tracking Options to SiteCatalyst

Monday, March 16th, 2009

I’m probably a little late to the party on posting this news, but because I’ve not always been kind to Omniture, and since I think this could be a great new tracking tool, I’ve got to share it.

A recent article in Internet Marketing News states that Omniture is going to start tracking Twitter conversations for their customers.

From what I gather, it will work similarily to something like Google alerts, allowing you to create a report alerting you to talk of simple words and phrases. It can be set up to send real-time alerts to email or SMS services so that you can be well aware as to what people are saying about your brand as it happens.

What I like about this is that it can be incorporated into their reporting, allowing you the user the ability to take it all in context. You can compare the number of conversations (good or bad) that occured on a given day or time, against the number of traffic you get from the Twitter site.

Not only are you now beginning to get a one-stop shop for all your tracking and monitoring needs, as the article further points out, users will have an unlimited number of keywords to track, which means besides your brand, you could track your competitors as well. Gathering almost real-time intelligence and being ready to jump on any kind of feedback that occurs is vital in such a competitive market, and kudos to Omniture for being the (one of – if not the) first to attempt it in this capacity.

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16.03.2009 Web analytics, brand advertising 3 Comments

What an Ultrasound Can Teach You About Your Data

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

As per my last post, yup, I’m pregnant, and it’s funny how going for something as simple as an ultrasound can trigger an idea for a blog post.

You see, I’m 21 weeks now and already had my second-trimester ultrasound at around 19 weeks. Unfortunately, the baby played shy and they didn’t get a good enough view of all the things they needed to, so I had to go back for another ultrasound. What a difference a couple of weeks make! The baby was much more developed, and thankfully much more cooperative.

Now you might be wondering what redoing an ultrasound has to do with your data – but I promise you there is method to my madness.

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10.03.2009 Web analytics 2 Comments

Analytics Explained for Mom Bloggers

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

For those of you who don’t yet know, I’m actually expecting my first child this July. Which means that I’ll soon be a part of another community, the powerful network of mom bloggers.

I’ve already started dipping my toe into the waters of mom blogging by being a bi-weekly contributor to the Baby Bargainista Column on Eden Spodek’s Bargainista Blog.

And last week I was interviewed by Mom Blogger extraordinaire and co-host of the Profitable Mommy Blogging podcast, April Tara

We discussed the basics of web analytics, everything from defining what a visitor is to how to understand your stats and evaluating traffic to your blog.

While aimed at mom bloggers, it really is applicable to anyone trying to understand the world of analytics, especially those relatively new to blogging or web analytics.

You can hear the whole 40 minute show here and because we ran out of time, be sure to check the site in the next few days for my follow up guest post, giving my thoughts on Google PageRank and Alexa.

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05.03.2009 Web analytics 2 Comments