Understanding Your Exit Traffic

Just looked at the website analytics for the Media Association of Pittsburgh again. The Sterling Advertising website is, once again, the biggest referring site of traffic to this media peer group website. It's the third largest referrer over all (behind Google organic and direct hits), and beats Bing as a referrer.

The reason that this is interesting is in what it shows about the media industry and why visitors come to the Sterling Advertising website. People are looking for jobs, not ad agencies, when they search for my keywords. One of the best things I did to help understand the intent of visitors to my site was to put an 'Employment' link on the top navigation. Almost every visitor that came to my site after searching 'Pittsburgh Advertising Agencies' goes to that link. Until that point, I thought that these were visitors looking for a new advertising agency and that I wasn't converting them into customers. It was keeping me awake at night! However, knowing that these are searchers looking for local jobs has made me feel better, and dig deeper for keywords with a greater sense of intent for my intended goal (to hire a brilliant ad agency).

Where this exit traffic goes to is another sign to help me understand what the intent of these visitors was. Most people don't have the ability to see the hits to the sites that visitors leave their site to go to (we created the MAP website and ran it for the last three years), but there is a simple way to make this information visible in Google Analytics. (Click here to see how). Where your visitors exit to is another great way to understand why they came to visit in the first place.

Career Women Make Bad Mothers

Gotta love this campaign.  I have tested this with my own clients in their own ways, but it will really be interesting to see how much traffic this campaign drives to the target website.

Uh, unless it's all by people who read the press about it rather than see the ads (like me!).

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/bulletin/mediaam/article/975428/?DCMP=EMC-MediaAMBulletin

Google Android Phone - Here's Why Google Is Doing It

With the imminent release of the new Google branded and operated Nexus One phone, there has been a lot of speculation on why Google would bother with the hassle of running it's own phone instead of just using other operators and phone makers. Here's my take - Google understands that phones are no longer about telephone calls - they're about communication and entertainment. That's Google's arena - they understand that phones are replacing personal computers as the way that the world will connect to the internet, and Google wants to be right there at the forefront. Already the concept of NetBooks is outdated - why buy a specific device for using the internet when your phone can do it just as well?

There are rumors that they will be releasing an Operating System for PCs too - Google sees internet options being packaged with new PCs - when you buy your new PC you get 'suggestions' from the manufacturer about how to set your internet browser up - such as installing the Yahoo! toolbar. If these manufacturers are suggesting companies other than Google it could cause a loss in market share for Google. So, if Google runs the OS they can suggest Google products, plus set up PCs that will work perfectly with Google's suite of products, which include FREE document editing software, spreadsheet software, etc.

I'd say that Google is seeing a trend and making sure that they are ready to ride it.

The internet is now your local TV company

This article from the BBC is not going to surprise many people who work in marketing or on the internet.  The fact that consumers still want to watch lots of TV and to be entertained is already well-known, but the interesting part for advertisers is to work out where they are going to watch  it.  As this  trend for the internet being the delivery service for your media continues, expect to see more ads and marketing around video-on-demand, and on the internet. 

We watch our movies through an Xbox 360 hooked up to the internet and our Netflix account.  We also watch Survivor and My Name is Earl and The Office over the  internet the day after the show airs.  Marketers need to find a way to advertise to a family like mine, who expect to watch TV when and where they feel like it and without any hassles or delays.

Great Marketing Example

Last weekend at the Fourth of July celebrations in my neighborhood I saw a great, simple marketing example.

The Kettle Corn stand was selling three sizes of popcorn - a small paper bag for $2, a medium bag (about the right amount for two or three people comfortably) for $5 and a massive bag, as big and thick as a leg, for $7.

The beauty of it is in the gaps in the pricing. The small bag is just right for one person. The medium is good for a couple, but the huge bag looks like such a great deal by comparison that they sold more of that bag than any other bag during the 20 minutes I watched their stand, even though nobody needs that much kettle corn.

Add to that the fact that the bag was so big that it was really noticeable as purchasers carried it around, and you get a bonus advertising campaign!

Worth remembering - evenly spaced gaps in pricing are not always the right choice - the biggest ticket can actually close the deal because of it's price.

Claire
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Selling SEO Presentation

I recently gave a presentation to the Pittsburgh SEO Group (in partnership with the local chapter of SEMPO), at Impaqt in Pittsburgh.

You can find a PDF of the presentation here, entitled 'Best Practices for Selling SEO'. Don't forget to click on the comments button on the top left of most slides so that you can get further clarification of the point of each slide.

The presentation was fun to do and the group was a lively and diverse group of smart web professionals and entrepreneurs. The group is hosted through Meetup at http://www.meetup.com/pittsburghwebdesign/.

Thanks to my good friend John LeDonne and everyone at Impaqt for arranging and hosting. Hope you join the group and look forward to meeting you.

Amazing Viral Video

So, you're a little furniture company in North Carolina. You're competing with the big national chains and you need to get attention. One way is to do a funny viral commercial that is getting a lot of attention on YouTube. Good job, guys. Good job having the nerve to do it.

Red House Furniture