I have an interesting perspective.  The majority of my professional career has been spent in web development and online marketing.  I had a short jog outside of this industry and during that time, Google Analytics became the dominant web analytics tool.  Boy, what a difference a little time and a great tool can make.  Google Analytics, in combination with their Authorized Consultants have redefined, reshaped and provided access to advanced analytics for any company that wants it...and oh yeah, Google Analytics is FREE!

Web Analytics- Start Somewhere, Go Everywhere

It's easy to get overwhelmed.  Web Analytics, CRM, Supply Chain Management, etc., etc., etc.  After working with many ... Read More

What is an advanced segment?

Advanced segmentation in GA is a functionality that allows you to further dissect your data and customize Google Analytics reports.  This can help you understand customers better by identifying how different types of visitors behave relevant to your goals.  For example, you may discover that visitors who purchase items on your website interact more with distinct types of content.  Advanced segments can help you to improve your business by identifying trends and patterns.

Why do you need to segment?

Sometimes, it is hard to find meaning in your data just by looking at the standard reports.   While GA does provide you with a few ... Read More

If you are still using setVar to populate a user-defined segment you should be aware that that function has been deprecated. It will still function as is, but any new features or functionality will be introduced using the Set Custom Variable code:

 pageTracker._setCustomVar(index, name, value, opt_scope)

The SetVar field used to be the only way to pass a custom value to segment with to Google Analytics. It served as a wildcard, allowing any value to pass into the default user defined field. Google has expanded upon this functionality by creating introducing custom variables and adding the following;

• 5 Slots for Fields. This allows you to segment by multiple custom field values. If you ...

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Google AdWords has recently introduced a new filtering option available at campaign, ad group, keyword and ad level.

The top right button that exists in all page views called "Filter and Views" allows you to setup one or more filters by which to segment the campaign.

Filtering is an invaluable tool to automate some of the manual optimization that would otherwise be required to identify areas that need attention.

For example, if you are looking at a Campaign overview for a few months, and notice that the ... Read More

There are several activities the smartest email marketing pros tend to nail down when either starting, or perhaps re-starting an email marketing program. This segment of "Getting The Message" is focused on getting your list in order.

Permission. Ask and ye shall receive...or not. The easiest way to undermine the performance of your email database, and reduce it from a strategic digital asset to an under performing headache, is to outright skip, or at any level ignore the requirement to get the subscribers permission to communicate with them. That's right, r-e-q-u-i-r-e-m-e-n-t. While it sounds simple and logical enough, as marketers we sometimes are under pressure to produce instant gratification and results -one of the ... Read More

In a recent news article on Yahoo! Finance, the US GAO advises that the US Postal Service is in dire straits, and is likely to run out of money by September!

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Post-office-cited-by-GAO-as-a-apf-1733443566.html?x=0&.v=4

Email pundits and pros have jumped on this, as with the news of postal mail declining, email marketing continues to grow quickly.

There is good reason to be excited about it, with the advent of increasingly more capable enterprise class email marketing software there is great opportunity to grow sales and share --and save the trees.

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