Social Analytics is becoming more and more synonymous with Web Analytics for online publishers and internet marketers. But where can you retrieve Social Analytics data from? Here are 7 free services that you can integrate your website/blog with to get this data. 1. PostRank Analytics PostRank Analytics helps you find out, track, and analyze how “socially engaging” your website is (how much it drives visitors to share it). With PostRank Analytics, you can track both your onsite (blog articles, etc), and your offsite (PDF’s, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, etc) content to see how engaging it is. PostRank provides you with analytics from over 20 of the top social networks (digg, twitter, reddit, delicious, etc). It tracks and rates visitors’ different activities that they do with your content like comments, tweets, diggs, rss views, and more. It then gives each “event” a different number of points, depending on the level of effort each [...]

7 free web applications that can help you improve your website conversion rates. Don’t worry… expensive tools like Omniture’s Test & Target are not your only resources for CRO. 1. ClueApp Are visitors to your site not performing the actions you want them to perform? That might be because those actions just aren’t standing out enough! ClueApp is a tool that lets you create a “memory test” for your website to see what things visitors notice/remember from your site. This is a great way to see what things are standing out to your visitors, as well as what impression they’re getting from your site. It can help with conversions by seeing if your call-to-orders/products are highly noticeable or not, or if the actions that you are wanting people to perform are standing out to visitors. ClueApp works by showing a 5-second screen shot to visitors, then asking them what they [...]

WordPress + Dreamweaver + Google Website Optimizer = Awesome Sound cool? Yeah, you bet it does. For those who still aren’t convinced, let me show you why people like you and me need Unbounce: I am a Marketer. Like most marketers, I am constantly trying to think of new ways to improve my landing pages. A/B testing is essential in this process. Unbounce allows you to set up A/B tests and optimize your landing pages for your specific audience without having to call IT. Not only will you improve conversion, you’ll also have data to back you up; it’s all about the numbers. Access your test stats in real-time and make real-time adjustments to your pages. They’ve made the whole process incredibly simple. You can check out their tutorials to see what I mean. Seriously, anyone can use this tool effectively and efficiently. Here is a snapshot of their A/B [...]

8 Metrics You Should Track + The 1 Tool That Get’s The Job Done The purpose of Social Analytics in blogging is to track the Engagement power (or lack thereof) of your blog. It’s all about combining the typical Web Analytics data such as visits, pageviews, bounce rate etc. with data from Social Media sites such as how many retweets and Facebook likes. If you are reading this post I’m going to assume that you are already aware of the importance Social Media has on blogging. It’s critical to say the least. Without it your super-awesome blog posts are like having a Aston Martin but no gasoline to drive it. Your blog posts are not given the “fuel” necessary to get “out there” if you will. This is why Internet Marketers are always talking about how important their social media campaigns are. So enough of the small talk. Let’s get into this [...]

In an ongoing effort to help people realize the value in using the FREE Website Optimizer tool from Google, I’m compiling a list of popular sites/companies utilizing Website Optimizer. These companies see value in using this tool and so should we. The concept of A/B Testing is by no means a new thing. But the tools available to us from Google are and they create a new horizon of opportunity for our websites. So far I have found 10 popular websites using Google Website Optimizer. I plan on adding to this list weekly. If you have any that you know of please leave a comment below and I will add them to the list. 1. MailChimp 2. SquareSpace 3. ZenDesk 4. Dreamhost 5. SiteSell.com 6. 1-800 Flowers 7. Outrigger Hotels & Resorts 8. Famous Footwear 9. Western Governors University 10. Booking.com FYI: I found this by simply viewing the source [...]

One of the most powerful tools for SEO is the suite called Webmaster Tools provided by Google. Thanks to this tool we have some serious transparency between us and the biggest search engine in the world. Lets take a look at 8 specific ways Google Webmaster Central helps you in your SEO efforts. Google Webmaster Central if used correctly can give you a unique in-depth look into how your website performs organically with the Google Search Engine. Also note… this article is a section in my Free SEO Ebook called the SEO Blackbook. 1. See Exactly Where You Rank in Google Organically It’s through Google Webmaster Central where Google returns to you data pertaining to specific keywords and phrases that you rank for and what exactly your rank is. Rather than having to manually check all the time, you can rely on this tool to report back to you more [...]