Terralever Blog

March 11, 2008 | Taken from Online Marketing Performance by Scott McAndrew

5 Google Analytics setup tips

Google’s analytics tool for measuring how visitors interact with your web site (aptly named Google Analytics) provides an incredible value to the online marketer. If you’re giving Google Analytics a spin for the first time, or you’ve installed it a half-dozen times before, here’s a few tips to get the most out of what Google has to offer your marketing efforts

Use the latest tracking code

Google currently provides two tracking codes to chose from when you implement Google Analytics onto your web site. The stated reasons for migrating to a new tracking code seem to surround technical improvements. Whatever the reason for the change, Google cautions that Analytics will stop honoring the legacy code in less than a year. For that reason alone: go with the new tracking code

Google Analytics Support: New Google Analytics Tracking Code

Setup Goal Conversions

Just about ever web site has some sort of desired user task completion (or goal). Google Analytics provides valuable tracking of user completion and attrition of goals as you define them. Goals can range from the (very) common, such as the viewing of a receipt or “thank you” page, to the tracking of file downloads, gameplays, or even the amount of time spent on a given page.

Common goals usually rely on a unique web page being viewed, and may or may not have a specific starting point. These types of goals can be setup very quickly. Conversions which rely on interaction beyond a specific web page being viewed can be setup, they just require spending a bit more time with Google’s help files and forums.Get it setup, and take advantage of all the reports for which Google provides the added dimension of how the data in various reports intersects with the completion of key site activities.

Conversion Goals and Funnel setup takes place by clicking the “Edit” link in the “Settings” column for the site you’re setting up from the Analytics Settings page.

Google Analytics Support: Setting up Goals

If you sell products on your site, configure e-commerce transactions

Goal conversion tracking provides a valuable perspective into the effectiveness of your web site and online marketing activities. If you have an e-commerce site, you can go one step further and associate the specific dollar value of online purchases with site usage right inside of Google Analytics.Google Analytics Support: Tracking E-commerce Transactions

Configure Site Search

A lesser-utilized feature of Google Analytics is its ability to track what visitors search on utilizing your site’s own search feature. Configuring this feature not only provides insight into what people search for on your site, it also helps you understand how they use (or discontinue the use of) your site after performing an on-site search.Google Analytics Support: Setting up Site Search

Exclude internal traffic

Anything you can do to improve the quality of the data you capture enhances what your reports can provide you in return. Excluding internal traffic from your reports altogether is a step in the right direction, and an easy step at that.

Google Analytics Support: Excluding Internal Traffic from your Reports

March 11, 2008 | Taken from Koded Kreations by Justin Copeland

Things to do with Facebook

So it’s been a while since I wrote but it’s partially because of stuff I’ve been doing with Facebook. That and I’m lazy. I’ve worked on teams that have released 3 applications and in the process of finishing 1 at work right now. Along with those, I’ve personally released 1 and have 2 that I have in the works. So lots of apps in my head right now.

The first app we did is called Finders Keepers. It is a really cool wishlist site where you can keep products on your Wishlist, send your friends items for their Wishlists or buy products. It was my first adventure into a real, fully functional, Facebook application. It was tough but it all came together thanks to a great team and I am proud to say that I worked on it. It is going through some major revisions so keep an eye out for those in the upcoming weeks.

The second app we did was for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance. We worked with ESPN for the College Football season and just last week released the new version for College Basketball just in time for March Madness. We implemented a really nice recruiting component for it that I think helps out with the social aspect that all applications strive to find.

The third application is one that hasn’t been fully released yet but I used the new Facebook JavaScript Client Library. Using this allows you to write applications that do not need to live within the Facebook site. Now any site that can use JavaScript can use it. Really nice and once more documentation shows up, it will get only better.

Personally, I released an RSS reader application last October while I was trying to learn just how the API worked. You can find it here. Simply put, the user adds the feed that they want, how many items, and there it is. Still has some issues with it I am finding but not too bad for a first time app I think. Add it and let me know what you think.

So pretty much since October, I have been working on Facebook apps. I’ve done some in ASP.NET C# and a couple in PHP. I gotta say that each has its pros but being a .NET guy, I had a bit of an easier time with those. But that’s the beauty with the Facebook apps. It doesn’t matter what your comfort level is. You can do it in any language it seems. Facebook releases theirs in PHP and Java but there are many APIs written in whatever language you want. At Terralever, we wrote our own API for the .NET framework and I find it really easy to work with.

So if you’re wanting to get into writing your own Facebook app, it’s really easy to get started. There is a lot of people out there to help now. So do what I did and build a dinky little app and go from there.

March 11, 2008 | Taken from Online Marketing Performance by Scott McAndrew

Two recommended books for the online marketer

Here’s two books which I definitely recommend:

Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results
Somehow Call to Action escaped my reading list for years. I learned about it from someone I recently interviewed. The book is based on Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg’s concept of Persuasion Architecture—a methodology which, at a high level, combines consumer psychology, business goals and website design with an overall goal of maximizing conversions.

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
I’m one of those people who can’t get enough of web analytics. Written by respected blogger and Google Evangelist Avinash Kaushik, this book demystifies web analytics in an easy to read, enjoyable manner. The practice of web analytics isn’t as simple as it may appear at a glance. Avinash’s book provides new perspectives in a concise manner.

March 11, 2008 | Taken from refactor by Joel Neubeck

Silverlight how to: Deep Zoom

At Mix08 one of the components of Silverlight 2 I was most intrigued by was the multi-scale image technology called “Deep Zoom” (formerly seadragon). The demos we saw were quite compelling. Immediately I thought of areas where our clients could improve their users interactive experiences through this new technology.

Below you will find my first attempt at using the technology. It took about 10 min to create and showcases an interesting example of composition using deep zoom.

(Hint: Look for the plane in the right part of the sky)

Attached you will find my sample project. It is pretty big in size with the full collection of image tiles. All of the code you see in the page.xaml.cs was taken from Scott Hanselmans blog on Deep Zoom where he leveraged the Mousewheel class written by
Pete Blois

The image of the flags I took last summer and in the original there is a small speck in the sky where I believe a plane was. I found a image of an F16 on the internet and used Photoshop to remove its original background. I replaced it with a sample of the color of the flag photos sky. Using Deep Zoom Composer I placed the new F16 photo over the sky speck and exported the collection.