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Oct   Dec

Feeds I Read

RSS: The Web's Next Big Thing
In case you missed it the first time around: Mediathink's RSS white paper: RSS: The Web's Next Big Thing.

We strongly believe that RSS is the web's Next Big Thing. It is potentially most disruptive to email and applications relying on email, though it is important to understand that RSS is not at all likely to replace email. New media rarely ever replace old. Indeed some RSS aggregators need a traditional email client to function.

 

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Web Site Analytics Go Cross-Channel
Forrester report on best practices.

Web Site Analytics Go Cross-Channel: Applying Clickstream Analytics To Multichannel Scenarios. Nearly two-thirds of North American consumers cross channels when they shop, researching online then purchasing offline in a store or over the phone. Most firms struggle to track these customers, but a few leaders are making headway by realizing that their Web site analytics tools hold the key to understanding when and how these customers accomplish their goals via the Web, email, the phone, and at retail stores and kiosks. $349.00, 4 pages. [Forrester Research]

 

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MarketingSherpa Case Study on Landing Page Testing
Another article headed for the payment firewall.

Testing Landing Pages for Search Ad vs Banner Clicks Way back in 2003, NextStudent's marketing team tested six different landing pages to arrive at their control for online ads promoting their student loan consolidation services. [MarketingSherpa]

 

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MarketingSherpa Interviews Victoria's Secret Direct
Article slips behind the payment firewall soon. Read it now...

Victoria's Secret Direct on the Future of Web Analytics -- 3 Steps & Biggest Challenge What's the biggest constraint to metrics evolution? ... staffing is going to continue to be a huge challenge. [MarketingSherpa]

 

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Verizon Metrics Dashboard

CIO: How Verizon Flies by Wire. Every 15 seconds, a new set of charts telling the story of Verizon Communications' performance flash onto a giant LCD screen in CIO Shaygan Kheradpir's office--everything from the percentage of customer calls resolved by voice systems and how many repair trucks are in the field to the resolution of IT systems problems. [Tomalak's Realm]

 

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JupiterResearch Web Analytics Report
Web Analytics: Spending, Staffing, and Vendor Selection

A successful Web site analytics program revolves around proper staffing, vendor selection, and definition of reports required to run businesses. To help site operators maximize return on investment (ROI) in analytics applications and improve quality of Web properties, JupiterResearch examined appropriate staffing levels, characteristics of a good Web site analyst, challenges associated with using analytics reports, and the vendor selection process.

 

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NetIQ Quarterly Results
NetIQ Announces First Quarter Fiscal 2005 Results

First Quarter Product Announcements

• WebTrends launched WebPosition® Gold 3 for End-to-End search engine optimization (SEO). WebPosition Gold 3 optimizes a web site's relevancy, visibility and overall performance with search engines.

First Quarter Product Awards

• WebTrends 7.0 won PC Magazine Editors' Choice Award. WebTrends 7.0 received the coveted 5-Star rating and was recognized as a sophisticated yet easy-to-use solution with immediate payoffs for site managers;
• WebTrends® On Demand was named Best Site Analysis Service by readers of Windows IT Pro;
• WebTrends was named Best Enterprise Analytics Solution by Readers of ClickZ

 

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WebSideStory Releases API
WebSideStory Gets Closer to Partners

Hosted Web analytics provider WebSideStory ... unveiled a new partner platform and API suite that lets other developers of digital marketing tools, such as e-mail service providers or content management companies, integrate more closely with WebSideStory's HBX Web analytics. [ClickZ]

 

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WebSideStory Quarterly Results
WebSideStory Reports Fourth Profitable Quarter. The hosted Web analytics provider grew total revenues by 41 percent. [ClickZ News]

The company signed 70 new enterprise customers during the quarter, bringing the total number above 600. Willardson said that one-third of revenue growth came from existing customers, while the rest came from new customers.

 

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Useful Marketing Metrics
Five Fundamentals for Useful Marketing Metrics. by Suzanne Taylor [Current Articles from MarketingProfs.com]

Great marketers figure out how to make their customers' lives better, with the goal of attracting lots of profitable and happy customers. To measure how well marketing efforts help build a large and loyal customer base, it's essential to identify and use the metrics that matter most.

 

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