Warmest Greetings,

Measuring The Soul of a Web Site  

:: Friday, June 18, 2004 ::

SEO/SEM's have long used data to analyze the success/failure of web site submission and marketing campaigns. But, this isn't enough. What makes an Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo!, or Google? If you want to be a web site superstar, you have to get past the skin.

Enter, Measuring Your Success, a new forum topic introduced by Cre8asiteForums.

Already, it's hot.

Mission Statement:

     "This forum is all about metrics and measurement, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is about stats, logs or traffic. This forum is destined to be somewhat broader than that.

Our objective is a broad one. More of a mission statement than a defined objective.

We want to get people thinking about measuring all kinds of success, from successful design (which may cover user feedback and split-run-testing methods), usability issues (so can discuss how to measure usability, including surveying users and using study-groups) as well as the obvious commercial issues, (which won't just be about tracking stuff, but also in how to get data and test ideas too).

It is really all about finding, and using, ways to measure things that are important to you, from visitor stats through to branding effects, and from usability through to ROI. The really neat part would be when we discuss things that haven't been measured before, and try to find ways to measure and manage things many might take for granted, or make assumptions about."

Some of the discussions already begun delve into the writings by Bryan Eisenberg on conversions and Key Performance Indicators. Another is I don't want to measure

     "It tends to be drilled into us that we will do better if we measure and record as we strive to achieve our goals. It's almost presented as the difference between good and evil, the white hat versus the black hat. It seems to be the norm as we grow up. Don't you remember all those school report cards?"

There is an interview with John Marshall, CEO of Clicktracks in ClickTracks - Changing the (inter)face of web analytics

Still more, tracking links and one on Log file analyzers

And more. There's something there for anyone ready to do yoga with their web property.


Search Engine Marketing is Cool Department

What better way to sell your service than by sponsoring courses that teach how to use it? That's what Overture Australia has done by sponsoring two PPC courses at the Search Engine College.

     "Ms Mel Bohse, managing director of Overture Australia said, “Sponsoring SEC’s Pay-Per-Click courses involves Overture Australia providing all students with AU$100 to begin learning the art of search marketing in a real life situation.”

“They’ll use the AU$100 to begin an actual search marking campaign for their company, using Overture’s technology. SEC’s highly qualified tutors will guide the students through each step in the process, helping them realise the substantial return-on-investment benefits that can result from search engine marketing.” (More info at the Search Engine News Blog

Neil Smith dropped me a line about his new AdSense tool called Bubz.net. It claims "Bubz Optimizes any Adwords Campaign for Maximum Profit", which considering how much LESS money AdSense delivers now, this may be helpful.

An Eye on Design

Check out a new section for one of my web sites, UsabilityEffect.com called User Centered Design Sites. The emphasis is on teaching sites, not services, though I broke that rule for the Testing Sites section. They can bribe me with sponsored ads or links all they want to.

Have a great weekend if I don't see you. (Have you ever wondered at the logic of that statement?)

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 6/18/2004 02:47:47 PM

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