eMedia Strategist

Google Is Becoming Microsoft

August 1, 2007 – 12:47 pm
A good friend of mine just sent me a link to a very interesting article on iMedia Connection about Google Analytics. I agree with the author, Brandt Dainow, that the analytics companies are in big trouble with the launch of the new Google Analytics interface. Web analytics are becoming a commodity now. But I haven't looked closely enough to know if there is still enough value in WebTrends, HBX, or Omniture to justify the expense of those systems. They have enough extras like conversion funnel analysis, dashboards, cross-property reporting, etc that it may still be worthwhile for larger or more complex web businesses. But certainly for the majority of publishers, marketers, and other site owners, Google Analytics will be plenty for their needs ... and you can't argue with the price. Old Google Analytics Interface   New Google Analytics Interface   But what is particuarly interesting to me is that Google is now doing what Microsoft did in ...

Posted in Metrics & Measurement | 7 Comments »

Key Web Metrics for Publishers

July 24, 2007 – 12:51 pm
I've been talking with several publishers who have asked what are the key metrics they should be using to measure their web site business? Obviously, the number one metrics is revenue per month, but here are the key metrics that I like to use when measuring the health and growth of a web publishing business. Unique visitors per month - Even with the problems counting unique visitors, this is still a useful metric to guage the overall reach of a site. Just remember that cookie deletion is on the rise and the number of unique visitors you report is likely quite inflated over the real number of unique people that actually visit your site each month. Visits per month - As time goes by, I find myself relying on this metric more than unique visitors. Yes, it does count unique individuals more than once per month, but it is much more reliable that unique visitors. It ...

Posted in Metrics & Measurement | 10 Comments »

Been Delinquent on My Blog

July 18, 2007 – 6:32 pm
Wow, what a wild ride the past few weeks have been. I've been incredibly busy working with various B2B and consumer enthusiast publishers. It's been exhilarating and I see so much opportunity in the companies I've been working with. It's exciting to see them really embracing online media and making significant impact on their businesses. However, I realize that I've been delinquent in keeping my blog up-to-date. I feel kind of like your favorite auto mechanic who is so busy working on other people's cars that his own car is neglected. So it's time to get back in the saddle and start writing for the ol' blog again. And while I'm at it I plan to spruce up the place a bit with a new look and some new features. No promises as to when this time, however. LOL!

Posted in Personal | 9 Comments »

The Truth Behind Email Newsletter Metrics

June 18, 2007 – 3:20 pm
Metrics continue to be a real hot spot for publishers and marketers alike. It's become so much of an issue that I am collaborating with a friend of mine to write a strategic report called "Online Metrics Demystified: What Marketers and Publishers Need to Know to Buy and Sell Online Media" ... or something like that. Be on the lookout for it next month. In the meantime, I thought I'd share a conversation that I recently had with someone trying to make sense of email newsletter metrics. They asked me for the definition of several email-related metrics. Hope this helps! What should the circ of a publication's email newsletter be?  ERIC: This completely depends on the size of the market, the targeting of the newsletter, and the strategy used to build the circ. Many publications have a general email newsletter for their entire market and others that are more niche even within their ...

Posted in Email, Metrics & Measurement | 1 Comment »

Seven Rules of Social Media Optimization (SMO) for Publishers

June 4, 2007 – 1:30 pm
NOTE: I wrote this article for the June 2007 issue of Folio. Here is the complete, unedited version...Just when you thought you had the hang of SEO and SEM to drive traffic to your publication's web site, along comes another acronym for you to master: SMO. Social Media Optimization (SMO), was coined by Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy Public Relations in 2006 and is a set of tactics to get more exposure for your site in social media (blogs, forums, social bookmarking sites, etc.). The goal of SMO is to make it as easy as possible for others to link to your content and thus get as many inbound links to your site as possible. This in turn leads to more traffic to your web site and more traffic equals more revenue opportunity.This isn't really a new concept. For years publishers have been encouraging people to bookmark their site and syndicating content to other ...

Posted in Community & Web 2.0, Search | 1 Comment »

Ten Rules for Building an Online B2B Community

May 10, 2007 – 4:24 pm
I had the honor of being on the "smaller publishers" panel discussing social networking at the ABM Spring Meeting in Naples, FL earlier this week. It was a great session with excellent questions and a great group of panelists. One of my fellow panelists was Steve MacMinn, CTO of Globalspec, an internet-based information company focused on engineering and industrial markets. Back in April 2005, they launched their version of a social network called CR4 (which stands for Conference Room 4, BTW). I enjoyed being on the panel with Steve as it was very obvious he knew what he was doing and had experience running an online community. During the discussion, he shared "Ten Rules for Building an Online B2B Community." I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but overall, these are excellent guiding points: 1. Content is King.  If your site feels “dead,” with little content that doesn’t change very ...

Posted in Community & Web 2.0 | 3 Comments »

Web 2.0 Ain’t All That and A Bag of Chips

May 9, 2007 – 11:12 am
(NOTE TO SELF: This is a terrible headline for SEO purposes, but I don't care) I cannot tell you how tired I am about hearing "Web 2.0 this" and "Web 2.0 that." I don't want to get into a diatribe on this post about what Web 2.0 is ... you can read it directly from one of the guys who originally coined the term, Tim O'Reilly. The point I do want to make is that Web 2.0 is just the latest buzzword to come along that technology providers, publishers, marketers, and event producers use to make themselves sound like they are on the cutting edge. Publishers tout their latest web video program as Web 2.0. Industry pundits refer to discussion forums as "social networking" and declare it to be Web 2.0 And of course, any marketer with any kind of application that has any new kind of feature is proudly promoted as leading the Web 2.0 revolution. Baloney... It's ...

Posted in Community & Web 2.0 | 8 Comments »

Has Google Crossed the Ethical Line Too?

May 4, 2007 – 9:51 am
There's an interesting debate going on in my last blog entry about Ziff's use of IntelliTXT over whether in-article hyperlink ads are ethical or not. I'm surprised that I haven't heard much about it, but Google also quietly launched their own version of IntelliTXT in late March as part of their new pay-per-action beta test for AdWords. Here's a quote straight from the official "Inside AdWords" blog at Google on March 20, 2007 (emphasis mine). "You can create text ads, image ads, or our new text link ad format in your pay-per-action campaign. Text link ads are brief text descriptions that take on the characteristics of a publisher's page. These Javascript-based ads will display like regular hyperlinks and allow publishers to embed these links inline with other text to promote your product or service." -- Rob Kniaz, Product Manager for Pay-Per-Action A few Google watchers caught on to this subtlety right away: Google Getting Grayer ...

Posted in Editorial & Content, Rich Media & Ad Trafficking | 1 Comment »