My Tweets. My Precious – January 22, 2012 – Sync Your SocialSEO

by Alex Grechanowski on January 22, 2012

in Social Media Hacks

It’s been an awesome week for news, podcasts, videos and how-to articles related to online marketing, including SEO vs. Social and traditional vs. new. Here’s what I shared with you on my twitter streams.

PPC

A cool new video uploaded – this time from @ROIRevolution:

Measure

Google+

SEO

Community

Productivity

Social Commerce

  • What’s New on Pikaba: January 2012 http://t.co/ui3uNr4z
  • Starting in December, @Zaarly signed on 1,250 small businesses in New York City
  • @Payvment Launches New Features for Sellers on Facebook payv.me/zM7wLf - “Want”, “Own”, and Create Wishlists
  • To calendar: Social Commerce Summit, a conference hosted by Business Insider on Feb. 7, 2012, in New York http://awe.sm/5dFwO

Good folks who mentioned my tweets:

  • Michael Kolowich - CEO, KnowledgeVision Systems | Editor, Rich Content Daily ! Founding Producer, DigiNovations.
  • Rich LoPresti - Ex Financial Professional Gone Social! SM Technology Communications Expert.
  • Michael Liu - Startup and real estate entrepreneur passionate about traveling and investing.
  • LunaMetrics - a Google Certified Partner.

Related posts:

My Tweets. My Precious. Social Commerce in Bloom
My Tweets. My Precious – July 21, 2011 – Social has Crossed the SEO Rubicon
My Tweets. My Precious. Weekly Digest – May 21, 2011 – Traditional Search Blues
My Tweets. My Precious. Weekly Digest – May 1, 2011 – Avinash, I Feel You

Meet the Boss: Tõnu Runnel, CEO of Edicy

by Alex Grechanowski on January 17, 2012

in Marketing Over Chai

Think Globally!

With a little help of his Estonian friends, Tõnu has built a global-oriented lean startup  - Edicy. They reworked their ten year of web design experience and pulled it out into a single, simple, fresh web app “understandable for your grandma”. So grab your coffee and come watch the presentation he made at Start Smart!

 

Just in case you’re clueless, Edicy is a super simple tool to make a website or blog. Just sign-up and your site will be online in minutes. You can start adding pictures, texts, forms, videos or whatever else to your new site right away.

Tõnu Runnel

Curious to know what will happen next to Edicy? Follow @runnel on Twitter and add him to your cycles on Google+.

Make the call, make progress, and get something out now – while you’ve got the motivation and momentum to do so. ~~ “Rework” by 37signals, one of Tõnu’s favorite books.

Google Analytics Certification Tips – Part II

by Alex Grechanowski on December 9, 2011

in Analytical Ninjutsu

The Google Analytics Individual Qualification is a proof of proficiency in Google Analytics that is available to any individual who has passed the Google Analytics IQ test.

In the first installment of the Google Analytics IQ Tips series, we covered pretty much all the major topics of GA. Since Google Analytics evolved dramatically during 2011, this post will guide you to all the new changes and, hopefully, will make your preparation to GAIQ much easier.

1. The New Google Analytics Streamlined Interface – get to the information you want faster, inluding multiple dashboards.

2. Real-Time Analytics - shows you what’s happening on your site at this very moment. Each pageview is reported seconds after it occurs on your website or blog. Officially in Beta.

3. Multi-Channel Funnels Reports - see how your traffic sources work together to drive sales and conversions.

The Multi-Channel Funnels reports

Also check out Multi-Channel Funnels Webinar with Bill Kee (Product Manager for Multi-Channel Funnels with Google Analytics).



4. Google Analytics Flow Visualization - very useful and beautiful tools. Available in Audience -> Visitors Flow.

GAIQ tips - 1 part

5. Verify Your Site in Webmaster Tools using GA – admin rights are required. Also you need to make sure you have the latest asynchronous code installed.

6. Enable Webmaster Tools Reports in Google Analytics - SEO related reports just in your Google Analytics UI.

7. Advanced Analytics for Google Largest Customers - aka Google Analytics Premium.

8. Event Goals now available - that’s a long waited feature. Say, you want to track PDF downloads as goals. Cool? Cool!

9. Site Speed – want to check out Site Speed from your Google Analytics account? Go to Content -> Site Speed.

Site Speed in Google Analytics

10. Mobile Reporting – see how users are able (or not able) to make purchase decisions. Reports available for: Mobile Device Info (like Apple iPhone or HTC Inspire),  Mobile Device Branding (say Apple, Samsung or Motorola), Service Provider, Mobile Input Selector (touchscreen or clickwheel), and Operating System.

11. In-Page Analytics is now a separate menu in the Content section. Navigate it the way you navigate your site: click any link on your homepage and see reports for it. Then click another link and see reports for that page.

Whatever your business model – eCommerce, lead generation, or blogging – these new tools will deliver interesting insights into your websites.

Good luck with your GAIQ exam, and feel free to let me know your results in the comments.

A Sneak Peek of My SEO Strategy v2012

by Alex Grechanowski on November 11, 2011

in SEO Trenches

“I’ll just sit and grin, the money will roll right in”
~ Nirvana.

I used to write detailed Online Marketing Proposals and SEO plans. Quite often, after initial excitement or even wondering – “it has really brought something to our attention” – it figured out that some clients are not ready to implement things they initially requested and even paid money for: “we believe that we are a premature in putting together an SEO plan because we have not fully defined our goals.” Fair enough.

SEO is a process, it’s a rapidly moving target and it all comes down to ongoing efforts, implementation, testing. Rinse and repeat. New keywords, new features from Google, new competitors – you simply cannot write a plan, do keyword research and then work on it during the next year. Getting more sales with (a little) help of SEO and other online marketing channels is getting harder. You might rank well, one day, but SEO gold rush is over. Actually long ago. Your niche is not exception.

So an important question to ask: how flexible are you, your team and your process to incorporate SEO real-time? Do you have trust in your SEO contractor or department to allow them to make changes quickly based on their findings vs. putting them on hold during days or weeks waiting for your approval? How agile you are?

Choose the right goals for your SEM. Some SEO clients chase wrong keywords or want unrealistic amount of conversions from their PPC campaigns – they think they know it all just after looking at analytics or keyword research tools but sometimes the figures are taken from the air. Some SEO/PPC folks won’t argue. Instead, they do what they told (things you have to do for money) and fail the project. It comes as no surprise to me.

ASAP is poison.
~ Rework

The problem here, again, is that some SEO clients still want to find or hear something one-time, quickly, possibly related to a magic bullet or Holy Graal in traffic: “we want to be #1 for X key phase”. They never ask: “Is it possible for us based on X data to be…” or “What we need to…”

SEO is changing. Search results cannot be gamed – you need to earn trust. SERPs are not the same for all anymore, even the way we type in our searches is different. Add social signals, video, local, mobile, Panda, and the fact that Google hides search referral data with new SSL feature, and you’ll get quite a different view on your SEO efforts.

What does it all mean? It means that SEO with a process wins. It means that long tail wins for an initial SEO strategy. It means that content strategy with user in mind wins. It means that the sites with rich structure that incorporates SEO best practices win. And that link from Facebook or a new +1 also helps SEO.

But, most importantly, it is that SEO is not about only SEO anymore (never was for me). You need an online marketing strategist, a big picture guy who can do small tweaks on a daily basis. At the same time, who understands that search marketing is just a part of a broader inbound marketing channel and who knows what people who convert are doing on your site so he/she can put that knowledge to keyword research, content and link development.

Make Your Google+ Page Look Awesome

by Alex Grechanowski on November 10, 2011

in Social Media Hacks

Connect with the customers and fans on Google+ Pages: not only can they recommend you with a +1, or add you to a circle to listen long-term.

When you upload pictures to an album on your Google+ Page, they are visible in two places: 1) Stream 2) Your albums. What I wanted with some pictures was to be able to use them on the top of Marketing Sutra Google+ page. The way good folks at Eloqua did:

Eloqua Page on Google+

Jesse Noyes helped me on Twitter:

Help from Jesse Noyes

So now it’s a matter of finding the scrapbook section. For this, go to your Google+ profile page.

Select Your Page

Click the Edit Profile button. Just under your profile name you’ll see the the scrapbook section – click Add some photos here:

Add pictures to scrapbook section

Click Add Photo and then “Drag a photo here”.

Go Creative

You’re allowed to upload 5 pictures, one at a time. UPD. You can actually upload more pictures, but the page header will display only five. So make sure your scrapbook album does not have more than 5 pictures to avoid changing the order the photos are displayed.

Uploading pictures to the scrapbook section

Once uploaded, click OK and Done Editing. See the result.

If you still don’t have a Google+ Page for your business, here’s at least one reason why you need it: Why You Need Your Business Page on Google+?

Welcome to the Beta Trial for Real-Time Analytics!

by Alex Grechanowski on November 4, 2011

in Analytical Ninjutsu

A couple weeks ago I signed up for early access of the Real-Time reports. Today I was able to give it a shot.

Hello Google Analytics user!

We are writing to inform you that you have now been added to the beta for Google Analytics Real-Time! As we announced the Real-Time reports show you what is happening on your website as it happens.

You’ll find the Real-Time reports only in the new version of Google Analytics. If you’re not already using the new version, you can start by clicking the “New Version” link in the top right of Google Analytics. Real-Time reports are in the new Home tab. You will have access to Real-Time reports if you are an Administrator on your Analytics account, or if you have access to a profile without profile filters. Real-Time does not support profile filters.

Thank you,
Google Analytics Real-Time Team<

Here are the first sneak peek screenshots from my initial test-drive. 

The number of visitors on the site right now:

Google Analytics real time reporting

Very good points from the Analytics Help on the ways you might use Real-Time:

  • monitoring whether new and changed content on your site is being viewed
  • see whether a one-day promotion is driving traffic to your site, and see which pages these visitors are viewing
  • monitor the immediate effects on traffic from a blog/social network post or tweet
  • immediately verify that the tracking code is working on your site

Active visitors on site

 

New vs returning

 

Data visualization in real-time:

Real time data - timeline

 

Traffic Sources:

Traffic Sources

 

Top Active Pages (this blog post appeared in the real-time reports shortly after publishing):

Active pages

 

Where they are from:

Location

Top Locations Reports in Real Time Reports

 

UPD Nov 16, 2011 

Google Analytics Real-Time (beta) now available to all:

Your Google Analytics account is being updated.

Dear Google Analytics user,

We’re excited to share that the new version of Google Analytics will soon be activated in your account. In addition to a redesigned interface that makes it even easier to explore your data, you’ll also notice some significant new features. Here are a few of our favorites.

Google Analytics Real-Time
Real-Time reporting shows you what’s happening on your site – right now! The reports are updated continuously and each pageview is reported seconds after it occurs on your site. You’ll find Real-Time reports in the ‘Home’ tab.

My Tweets. My Precious. Social Commerce in Bloom

by Alex Grechanowski on October 19, 2011

in Social Media Hacks

October is definitely the month of conferences. This assumption is based on both: my list of events and hashtags on Twitter that pop-up almost every day. I’m having hard time following all the events but the fun part of it is making new friends and learning from them.

Social Commerce in Bloom

  • @amandametcalfe Facebook aim to ‘make big retailers social & social retailers big’ great insights from Gavin here #IRconf
  • @Natalie_Berg 15-20% of google queries happening through mobile, having doubled in one year. #wrc11
  • @guywestlake 50% of adults would consider following a retailer on facebook #IRconf <~interesting stat. B2B & B2C are deefinitely blurring…

Ecommerce people who retweeted me:

  • Roy Rubin (@royrubin05) Co-Founder, CEO at Magento (an eBay company).
  • Priyanka Nambiar (@PriyankaNambiar) Project Manager, Magento
  • Acquisition Engine (@acquisitioneng) Boutique Content Marketing Agency. Content Strategy, Development and Promotion.
  • Developer Steve (@DeveloperSteve) Senior Developer Thinktank Media. Loves Family, Dreaming in code, PayPal Certified.

Almost Whiteboard Friday – SEOmom in Ukraine

by Alex Grechanowski on October 14, 2011

in SEO Trenches

Gillian Muessig (@seomom), Founding President of SEOmoz and CEO Coach on WebmasterRadio.fm was invited to Ukraine by Promodo, a leading Internet marketing company in Ukraine, to participate at the Optimization 2011 conference held in Kharkov, Ukraine on October 14-15, 2011.

I had a pleasure to talk with Gillian during a break on the first day.

As a speaker, Gillian won the people’s choice award:

P.S. Check out a few more pictures from the event.

Huge thanks to Promodo for bringing Gillian and other ninjas to this part of the planet.

The New Magento Connect Introduced Live at #innovate2011

by Alex Grechanowski on October 12, 2011

in Sutra of the Month

We’ve taken the world’s most popular eCommerce application marketplace and made it better.

x.Commerce Conference (http://innovate-conference.com) delivers tools developers need to build end-to-end ecommerce solutions in a single, flexible, open environment and the event is now trending on Twitter in some areas, like Portland.

So let’s find out what’s “new” about the Magento Connect.

Are you following the #innovate2011 hashtag on Twitter? Great talks on social, local, mobile, payments and the future of the Web.

How to Enable Webmaster Tools Reports in Google Analytics

by Alex Grechanowski on October 4, 2011

in Analytical Ninjutsu, SEO Trenches

With a few hacks it’s now possible to see data from Webmaster Tools in Analytics. For these reports a new section is created – it’s called Search Engine Optimization. What’s available, according to GA blog:

  • Queries: impressions, clicks, positions, CTR information for the top 1,000 daily queries;
  • Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, positions, CTR information for the top 1,000 daily landing pages;
  • Geographical Summary: impressions, clicks, CTR information by country.

I will be happy to give this new toy a shot – are you with me?

To enable this functionality, go to new Google Analytics > Traffic Sources > Search Engine Optimization.

Webmaster Tools in Google Analytics

You’ll see the following message: This report requires Webmaster Tools to be enabled.

Connect to the Webmaster Tools data

Let’s click Set up Webmaster Tools data sharing.

On the next screen, you can edit the Web Property Settings:

Enable Search Engine Optimization Reports

If your web property is also a verified website in Webmaster Tools, and you are the owner, you can associate your Webmaster Tools data here. Google Analytics will then be able to display some of that data in some reports. Sweet, click Edit.

In a new window, you’re redirected to your Webmaster Tools page to select a required GWT account.

Link GWT and Analytics

Click Save. Another pop-up appears.

Add association

Click OK. Another redirect goes back to the Analytics page: now we see the Enabled profiles option.

We're all set!

Click Apply. The green confirmation message tells us that we’re up and running:

Success!

Now go to the Traffic Sources section and let’s see what’s happening on the SEO side. Looks good!

Happy Analyzing!

← Previous Entries