That said, we still clash with the occasional lonely naysayer, who cites the lack of customized reporting or the limit of only four goals per profile as a reason not to go with Google.

But after today’s announcement from the Google Analytics team, the critics have a lot less to carp about. Clearly, Google has listened to its audience and, in turn, has unveiled some impressive new features that should elicit cheers from even the “power users” (Google’s term for Analytics users who want “fine-grained control over their site tracking and who have a burning desire to understand and manipulate the behavior of Analytics”).

Here’s a quick rundown of what the latest version of Google Analytics brings to the table.

Engagement goals

Once restricted to tracking the loading of specific pages, the Goals report now lets you set customized thresholds for key metrics like Time on Site and Pages Per Visit.

More goals per profile

Ever had to decide which four goals were most important to your site’s success and jettison the rest? Google Analytics now lets you set up to 20 goals per profile—which is a wise move, considering that engagement metrics can now be designated as goal completions.

Improved mobile reporting

Have a mobile-friendly site? A new code snippet (yet to be released) will let you gather data from all web-enabled devices—not just those that support JavaScript.

Advanced table filtering

No one drools over reams of data, but with the addition of Advanced Table Filtering, you can filter thousands of variables in a table according to the specific metrics and percentages that you deem radar-worthy.

Multiple custom variables

You could already track your visitors according to customized segments beyond Google’s preset categories. But with Multiple Custom Variables, you have even more power. Set multiple segments to track according to visitor attributes (are they a member?), session attributes (did they log in?) and page-level attributes (did they view a specific page?) for in-depth reporting with increased flexibility.

Increased sharing

Share a special URL link with anyone who has an Analytics account, and you can automatically import custom templates and segments to their profile.

Automatic intelligence and custom alerts

The above updates are powerful stuff, and most were expected. They’re the necessary culmination of where the market is headed—and what GA users (and detractors) are demanding. But what’s really rousing our interest is the unleashing of Analytics Intelligence. Because more than any other improvement, this one is a potential game changer.

Still in beta, Analytics Intelligence uses an algorithmic-driven engine to automatically record significant shifts in your data and organize them in a new Intelligence report.

Even better, you can customize the major changes that matter to you, and you can use new Custom Alerts to receive automatic notifications with every drastic change. Wondering whether a salacious tweet sent droves of targeted traffic to a goal-centric page? Analytics Intelligence will let you know.

Add to this the option to tweak the level of intensity of your alerts (you can assign a percentage to changes you deem worthwhile—there’s even a nifty slider!) and you’re guaranteed to spend significantly less time sifting through data to see what’s working and what isn’t.

1. If you’re not measuring it, you’re probably losing money. First and foremost, we often find that companies don’t have web analytics at all or, if they do, haven’t installed systems to track essential performance indicators through their entire sales funnel. So technically, they’re using analytics tools, but practically, they’re flying blind—or at least legally blind. And regularly, once we start gathering data, we find that expensive, non-data-driven assumptions are incorrect. For example, we often find that companies spend money on search engine optimization without knowing whether their search results drive qualified traffic. Their “measurement” was simply a visual observation of high ranking. Which brings us to point of failure number two.
2. If you’re measuring the wrong things, you’re probably making the wrong decisions. Another common problem is thinking that you’re measuring effectively just because you’re measuring. In daily life, we usually know what to measure. All else being equal, for example, you’ll buy the shoes that fit. But online, things aren’t so clear, in part because there are so many marketing options, and every business and marketing campaign has different objectives. In part due to this confusion, people tend to measure the most superficial things: whether something looks pretty, has cool functionality, has high search ranking. What’s important is measuring what’s meaningful to your business. After all, pretty, cool shoes are great. But if they’re three sizes too small, you won’t walk very far.
3. If you can’t make your data meaningful, your recommendations are probably meaningless. Too often, and in large part due to the availability of free tools such as Google Analytics, we see companies address issues one and two by gathering lots of data to cover their bases. So, for example, they might create a Google Analytics account and drop the JavaScript code in their footer, thereby capturing a broad spectrum of activity. But without proper analytics installation, configuration and interpretation, this typically results in data overload rather than wisdom. It’s like installing a fire hose to get a drink of water.
4. If you’re spending more on technology than interpretation, you’re probably overwhelmed with data and underwhelmed with insight. The problem of data overload is particularly common in organizations that have over-purchased analytics technology. Carrying large analytics license fees typically means less money for analytics services and human resources. It’s a tough place to be: lots of data, but nobody to make sense of it. Analytics evangelist Avinash Kaushik recommends the 10/90 rule: for every $10 spent on analytics tools, spend $90 on “intelligent resources/analysts.”
5. If your data’s not actionable, it’s probably paralyzing. This is the other end of the spectrum from not measuring anything: measuring too much, including irrelevant details, and having no way to separate signal from noise.  Typically, this happens when organizations recognize point of failure number one, overcompensate with point of failure number four, then find themselves with a morass of data that bogs down rather than enlightens decision-making.

So there you have it. My thoroughly unscientific, entirely anecdotal and experiential analysis of common web analytics failures. Think I missed something? Let me know in the comments.

Yesterday, Google announced a Forrester study, “Appraising Your Investment in Enterprise Web Analytics” (PDF), that helps clarify the situation.

One important finding—particularly for a Google Analytics consulting company like us—is that Forrester recommends spending more money on analytics services than platforms:

Enterprise companies must ask themselves if they are paying too much for capabilities that they simply do not need. In some cases, gaining fewer seldom-used capabilities is a worthwhile tradeoff if funds can be reallocated to hire more resources necessary for analysis.

Also, according to the study, “sixty percent of decision-makers agree that investments in web analytics people are more valuable than investments in web analytics technology.”

Some other interesting findings:

• 53% of enterprises surveyed use a free technology solution as their primary web analytics tool, and 71% use free tools in some way
• 66% of enterprises using a paid tool would consider switching to a free one
• 52% of practitioners fail to effectively use more than half the features of their tools—whether they’re free or paid
• 71% of enterprises surveyed report that web analytics data plays a significant role in decision-making
• Nearly two-thirds of enterprises would abandon their current web analytics provider under the right circumstances

I’m looking forward to digging more deeply into the report, which you can download free by following the link above.

And if your enterprise is considering a switch to—or start with—Google Analytics, or wants to make better use of its current Google Analytics implementation? Let’s talk.

As you probably know, you can track Flash events in Google Analytics. This gives you more robust site statistics—you can, for example, track how users interact with Flash video players, even how much of a video they watch.

But the integration can be a challenge. A few weeks ago, for example, we worked with a client’s Flex developer to integrate Google Analytics into a Flash-based weight loss assessment. Users reached the assessment after clicking a link on an HTML website. After planning and implementing a search marketing campaign to drive traffic to the site, we found that Google Analytics wasn’t properly reporting conversions to their source. Comparing results to AdWords conversion stats, things didn’t add up.

Users appeared to start a new session every time they began their assessment. And that made it exceedingly difficult to know which traffic source had the best return on investment. After working through a list of potential issues, it came down to the equivalent of having an unplugged cord. Looking at the code to embed Flash into the site, we found this culprit:

<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" />

Because of the way Google Analytics functions, this line of code should have been the following:

<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" />

It’s a slight difference, but one that will improve your data’s reliability and usefulness—and prevent you from destroying a perfectly good computer in frustration.

If you're new, you've likely never heard such terms as "swipe file" (a file of others' effective copy you keep for "inspiration"), and never searched back issues of magazines to research competitors' ads. If you're a veteran, you likely find it hard to restrain your creative impulses. After all, it's the innovative campaigns that win awards, not the "me too" copycats. Right?

But if you care most about results, the fastest way to success is to imitate before you innovate. In short, to let competitors do the hard work, then copy their success and experiment to exceed it.

With a looming recession, results are paramount. And in this holiday season, competition is tough. With that in mind, this post guides you step-by-step through a process you can use right now to leverage competitors' Google ads to optimize your own ads' success-a process that can work even better in highly competitive markets.

Step one: Know the theory

The theory's simple: do what works, and let competitors pay to find that out.

In direct-response marketing, advertisers constantly analyze ads to find the best-performing words and phrases. The goal is to get the best return on investment for every dollar.

In print, direct-response copywriters can determine a competitors' best-performing copy by identifying the ads they've run most frequently-thereby pinpointing which content delivers the most cost-effective results.

Google AdWords—the most popular and important search marketing system—is just another form of direct-response marketing. Ads rank higher on a page depending on factors like the amount an advertiser's willing to bid for a click, and on the ad's overall quality-judged in part by the percentage of people who click when it shows up.

Bottom line? In AdWords, a highly ranked ad is more likely to be an effective ad. This is for two main reasons. First, highly ranked ads typically cost advertisers more per click. So you can be sure they've made the necessary effort to make every click count. Second, highly ranked ads achieve high ranking in part through quality. So bad ads slowly fade into obscurity.

There are certainly some confounding factors that I won't go into here. But in general, it's safe to assume that in AdWords, higher ranked ads outperform lower ranked ads.

And typically, the more competitive the environment, the more this applies. For this reason, you can learn a lot about AdWords by simply reviewing results for highly competitive keywords like "insurance" and "weight loss."

Step two: Google your keywords

So let's exploit this knowledge to help you optimize your ad content.

Next time you Google keywords you're targeting, pay attention to the ads that show up.

In particular, pay attention to the ads at the top of the page, or the top of the list on the right.

For example, here's a screenshot for a search on "life insurance"—one of the most competitive keywords:

[insert screenshot here]

Here, the ads at top (in beige) and the top ads at right are likely the most effective at driving clicks for the keyword you're searching.

Again, there are confounding variables (like some advertisers actually wanting a lower position), but in general you can assume that ads appearing either in beige or-for a highly competitive category like this-anywhere at right are effective.

To be more certain, repeat your search a few times and see which ads show up most often.

Step three: Analyze high-performing AdWords text

Now that you're seeing some high-performing ads, you can:

• Subjectively review the results based on your understanding of your market and your marketing. With this approach, you can quickly identify copy that might perform well for you. Your biases, however, might undermine your review. For example, you might not want to consider applying the word "free" to your marketing, even though it's making your competitors money.

• Objectively review the results using a statistical text analyzer. With this approach, you can quickly find words and phrases that effective ads use repeatedly. While density alone doesn't guarantee success, it certainly helps guide you in the right direction.

Let's talk about the second approach, which in my opinion and experience is one of the best ways to start an ad-writing campaign. (If you're going with option one, skip ahead to step four. But you might want to read this before you do.)

For example, I fed the ads from four separate "life insurance" searches into the free (and fun) Textalyser, filtered out brand names and stop words like "and," and found these to be the most common words in top-ranked ads (note that "canadian" and "canada" are due to a search from a Canadian location-and highlight the importance of location to insurance quotes):

• insurance
• life
• quote
• affordable
• canadian
• term
• rates (tied with term)
• canada
• save (tied with Canada)
• get

Step four: Create control ad with high-performing text

After performing your analysis, you'll want to write an ad to serve as your control for future testing-so you can create variations and test their effectiveness.

To do this:

1. Use what you learned from your analysis.
2. Filter it through your knowledge of web writing and persuasion.
3. Adapt it to your offering.

For example, if I were writing a life insurance ad, my analysis above might lead me to a control like this:

Free Life Insurance Quote
Affordable Canadian Term Insurance.
Save on Rates-Get a Quote Now.
www.canadainsurance.com/LifeQuote

Every word here, with the exception of "free" (which almost always drives up clicks) and stop words (like "on" and "a") comes from my statistical analysis of high-performing life insurance ads.
Step Five: Test Variations Against Your Control

While your control might perform well, it might also just be an average performer-after all, if you used a statistical analysis, it's built from an average density across all ads analyzed.

So you'll want to test it against variations. And here's where you can get creative.

For example, a variation for my insurance ad might look like this:

Fast Life Insurance Quote
Affordable Canadian Term Insurance.
Save on Rates-Get a Quote Now.
www.canadainsurance.com/LifeQuote

The switch from "free" to "fast" might have an impact on performance, and if the variation beats the control then I might want to add "fast" to my word arsenal.

Leave it to Google to help with both—and, of course, for free.

The secret, if you haven’t used it yet, is Google Trends.

Like the coolest kid at school, it always knows what’s hot and what’s not.

Identify new niches

Why develop products and services only to find nobody wants them?

Google Trends lets you find emerging markets by tracking searches. So you can create products and services for under-served customers.

And instantly. Just visit the Google Trends homepage and see what’s hot.

For example, right now, "tapeworm" is the number one search on Google:

You probably never thought about creating products to help people fight tapeworms.

But the market, and the profit, might be there.

Validate potential niches

Of course, you should probably validate that there’s long-term interest in tapeworms.

And here’s another astounding use for Google Trends.

Just visit the site, enter keywords and see how interest in them has changed over time.

A search for "tapeworm" reveals that, in fact, there has been steady interest, with occasional spikes like today’s:

Target rising keywords

Once you validate your niche, you can also use Google Trends to determine what keywords to target.

For example, at Commune we offer web writing services.

People looking for "web writing" might also search for "online writing," "writing for the web" and "website writing."

Using Google Trends, we can see how searches for these different keywords have changed over time.

What we learn is that "online writing" has the greatest sustained traffic:

So if you’re growing an online business, or starting a new one, you might want to spend some time analyzing trends. (Did I mention it’s addictively fun?)

And if you’ve already started? Post your examples or tips in the comments below.

So when people tell you to give stuff away for free, you might think they’re insane.

But successful internet marketers would disagree.

Leading them is Eben Pagan, whose concept of "moving the free line" has proven infectious.

The question is: How much free stuff is too much (or too little)?

Why free stuff puts cash in your pocket

Moving the free line may seem counterintuitive.

But when you understand how it works, it makes sense.

The thumbnail version goes like this:

1. You give away something valuable.
2. Your prospects see this and recognize you have the goods.
3. They feel more comfortable buying.
4. You enjoy more selling.

What Apple, detergent and your website have in common

The concept isn’t new.

Direct marketers have known for many decades that sampling drives sales.

(Ever get a bag of laundry detergent in the mail?)

Retailers like Apple know this also applies to product interaction in stores.

So it makes sense that internet marketers would follow suit.

Particularly since establishing credibility is essential to online sales.

And online, a great way to establish credibility is to demonstrate your expertise.

(Confession: That’s why we publish our Breakthrough Web Writing e-book and our online guide to web writing.)

Obliterate the competition with generosity (and steal their customers in the process)

But how much must you give away?

The answer, in part, depends on your niche’s competitiveness.

Use competitors as a gauge.

And if you really want to destroy them, give away more value than their paid products provide.

Think about it.

If they’re charging $50 for an e-book, create a better e-book and make it free (preferably to people who give you their contact information).

Your absence of cost creates a vacuum.

The cost of their paid programs drives prospects into your arms.

And then?

Create higher-value products for higher cost.

Who needs $50 for an e-book when you can charge $1,500 for a set of DVDs?

Knowing, for example, how many more (or fewer) visitors you’re getting. And how much longer (or shorter) people are engaging with your content.

If someone sent a brochure for that service, you would probably read every word. And maybe even sign a check.

Well, put your checkbook away. Because Google, quite quietly, has made this service available absolutely free with Google Analytics.

According to the official Google Analytics blog:

Industry benchmarking is a commonly requested new service that enables customers to see how their site data compares to sites in any available industry vertical. We believe this data will provide actionable insights by providing context for users to understand how their site is doing. For example, if you have a travel website and you get a spike in traffic on Mondays, you may want to know whether other travel sites get that same spike on Mondays.

Sounds great, right?

Well, we decided to test it out.

And being quite thrilled with the results, we thought you might want to give it a go.

Interested? Here’s how:

Step one: Get started

First, you’ll need a Google Analytics account, which is completely free.

You’ll then need to set up your website profile. (Which is, obviously, beyond the scope of this post, but quite simple. You can find help on the Google Analytics site.)

Once you have that, log in and click the link that reads "Edit Account and Data Sharing Settings." It’s here:

Step two: Share your data (anonymously)

Benchmarking goes both ways. So, to see data, you need to share data.

Google affirms that the data is aggregated, anonymous and stripped of any identifiable features.

Here’s the box you need to click:

Step three: View reports

Once you’ve shared your data, click to view reports as you normally would. Just hit this link beside the appropriate profile on your start page:

Step four: View benchmarking

Once viewing reports for a particular profile, you can navigate to the benchmarking tab.

You’ll find this under the "Visitors" link in the left-hand navigation:

Step five: Choose industry

To see benchmarking data, you now have to select an industry.

To compare against competitors, choose your own industry. For a broader perspective, you can also compare against any industry.

Simply choose like this:

Step six: Compare statistics

Once you choose an industry, you can compare statistics.

And now the fun begins.

You can see how well your site stacks up against the competition in such areas as unique visitors, page views, bounce rates and average time on your site.

For example, according to the benchmarking service, visits to this website compared to other marketing service industry websites looks like this for March (ours is blue, theirs is gray):

Of course, there are caveats.

The data depends on which sites are using and opting in to Google Analytics.

But with features such as benchmarking at no cost, the number of such sites should only go up.

So, is Google Analytics benchmarking in your site’s future?

If you’ve never found yourself daydreaming about a flawlessly executed landing page, perhaps you’re not aware of just how important the design and content of your landing page is to your conversion rates. Consider this scenario:

You’ve finally honed a masterful AdWords ad and you’re off and running with a polished email campaign. Prospects are visiting your site in droves, and it’s just a matter of time before your conversion rates match your click-throughs. Job well done, right?

Not by a long shot. Without an effective landing page—one that grips visitors once they’ve arrived and propels them through the conversion funnel—your potential customers will leave your site just as quickly as they arrived.

So what makes visitors stick?

Well, since we’re science nuts who get excited about doing research, we like to think of stickiness in terms of a nifty little equation reported in Marketing Experiments Journal. It goes something like this:

c = 4m + 3v + 2(i – f) – 2a

Got all that? Neither did we at first. But then we put it into words, with which we’re a bit more proficient than algebra. It essentially says that conversion is a function of the motivation of your visitor plus the clarity of your value proposition plus the net impact of your visitor’s incentive vs. the friction they encounter minus any anxiety created by your landing page.

In other words, for a landing page to be sticky, it has to communicate your site’s value immediately and clearly so that it counters visitors’ doubts (anxiety) without distracting them (friction) from the end goal—conversion.

To further unpack all this technical mumbo jumbo, let’s look closer at what you can do to guarantee your landing page actually lands you customers. The following tips should make things clearer.

Keep your promises

Like my single friend who got tired of clicking on one person and meeting another, prospects who click on your ads expect your landing page to be consistent with your claim. Make sure your landing page shares a purpose with the link that got them there—don’t just direct visitors to your site’s home page. An effective landing page will always make good on its call to action. If a visitor has clicked “learn more,” your landing page should have more detailed information. If you’ve lured them with “order now,” see that an order form is waiting for them. And if they’ve clicked “read the full article,” your landing page should have—you guessed it—the full article.

Make it easy

Any time you force a visitor to jump through hoops, you create friction. In other words, don’t make them work any harder than necessary, or prospective customers will move on. Friction can take any number of forms: visitors having to scroll to find a call to action, important content hidden by mouse-overs, links that don’t look clickable, non-natural content flow (up-and-down rather than left-to-right), distractions that dilute your offering, requests for personal information—all of these factors can cause visitors to become irritated and click off.

Display value

Research shows that when a prospect visits your landing page, you have just 13.2 seconds to convince them they’re in the right place. That’s a mere 13.2 seconds to effectively communicate your site’s value. The "benefits before features" mantra is always a safe bet, but it’s absolutely essential for a landing page to quickly and clearly let prospects know what you’re offering and why they need it—and to present a prominent call to action so they can get it—or you’ll risk losing them.

Be credible

It may sound like a tired tactic, but there’s a reason why promotional copy always mentions awards or relates the praises of satisfied customers—it works. Whether your landing page includes testimonials, certifications or even links to your privacy statement, these credibility indicators make you seem trustworthy. They also lend your site an air of authority and contribute to social proof—both of which act as powerful mechanisms of persuasion. 

It’s better to give

By offering incentives—special offers or gifts that encourage visitors to stick around—you’ll do more than keep visitors on your site longer: You’ll encourage reciprocity when it comes time to seal the deal. It’s a simple fact of human evolution that we feel compelled to return even the slightest favor. Give something to visitors, and you’ll significantly increase the odds that they’ll give back. At the very least, you can use the offer to obtain useful information (no more than a name and an email address) about them that could lead to conversion later on.

Find the motive

How motivated visitors are (and the type of motivation that drives them) will determine how much friction they’ll put up with before bouncing. Know their motivations, and you’ll know how to make them stick. This principle is especially applicable in deciding how much copy to include on your landing page. "Less is more" tends to be web gospel, but research has shown that the opposite is occasionally true. If a visitor is motivated from a rational/analytical perspective, longer copy is actually better. But if they’re coming from an emotional/impulse perspective, short copy is the way to go.

Look your best

Do I even need to say this? Does anyone doubt that design reigns supreme when it comes to capturing the attention of potential customers? But effective design involves more than just dazzling colors and captivating images and fonts—it should also be consistent and intuitive, with a common theme that keeps visitors from ever wondering where they are and how they got there. A landing page that is visually distinct from the rest of your site will cause friction when a prospect decides to delve deeper, so be sure to define a clear path from your link to your landing page and through the rest of your site to keep visitors on the road to conversion.

Still not sold on the value of an effective landing page? Consider one last fact: If your ads are already sending potential customers to a landing page, then any increase in your conversion rate is pure profit. Use these simple principles to refine your existing page, and your site will be stickier than you ever thought possible.