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Out with the Old, In with the New

Published January 13th, 2012 SwellPath 6 Comments

SwellPath Loves YouHappy New Year everyone! Hope that 2011 ended well for all our friends, and that 2012 is off to a great start. 2011 was our third year of operation, and it was another one of fantastic growth, and plenty of learning. But we’re really excited about 2012 and where SwellPath is headed.

In 2012 we’re going to continue to focus on what we’ve done exceptionally well for 3 years – making marketing decision making as easy as possible for our clients. John and I launched the company with 3 clients at the beginning of 2009. All three of those clients are still with us – our attrition has been virtually non-existent! That’s because our clients lean on SwellPath for their most important marketing decisions. We inform, support, and facilitate those decisions in ways none of their tools or partners can. We’re going to keep doing that in 2012, and we’re going to find ways to make it better, faster, and ultimately easier for our clients.

Charts and graphs and numbers are great – data should drive decisions. But behind all those things, there ultimately had to be human design. We’ve got an outstanding team here at SwellPath. We added some awesome folks in 2011 (Charles, Dan, Christian, and Danish), and we plan on adding more in 2012. What makes startups fun is the tightness of the relationships that are developed – everything is small and close together. We’re psyched to add more people to the SwellPath team, and develop those relationships. We’re also excited to develop relationships with more clients and partners, and we think we’ll have a lot more of those by the end of 2012.

So that’s a bunch of high-level talk – besides what we’ve always done, anything different? Yes! We’ll have some big announcements this year, so keep your eyes and ears open. We’ve found ways to help way more marketers – we think the “old” way of tackling digital marketing analysis is out – we’re the new.

Finally, what’s with the baby picture? For the first 3 months of 2012, our rockstar Katie Sachse won’t be in the office. Baby Olive was born on 12/31 just before we started 2012. Katie was employee #1 at SwellPath 3 years ago; I still am not used to her not being around. The picture of baby Olive personally reminds me of some things that are important to keep in mind when running a startup. Enjoy it.

ACCELERATE 2011 in San Francisco

Published November 5th, 2011 Analytics, Events 1 Comment

Eric Peterson and the crew at Web Analytics Demystified have yet another project that benefits the analytics community. The first ACCELERATE conference will go down in San Francisco on November 18th. Web Analytics Demystified already is planning for more of these in other cities, but undoubtedly San Francisco will not disappoint for the inaugural event. Best of all, the event is FREE! As a result, it is also sold out. Hopefully you landed yourself a ticket, but if not, keep up on the next ACCELERATE announcement via the Web Analytics Demystified blog.

The conference is ending with an Ignite-like Super Accelerator session. I’ve thrown my hat in the ring and have a few words of wisdom of my own to impart on the crowd. If are making it to ACCELERATE, make sure you stay through the end and see the Super Accelerator session. The list of presenters is great, and it’s sure to be an entertaining hour. Hope to see you there!

For Real this Time: Google Analytics Real Time

Published September 29th, 2011 Analytics 4 Comments

In spring of 2010 I made the call that Google would (probably) have real-time reporting by fall of 2010. I did this publicly at a Web Analytics Wednesday here in Portland. I was off by 1…year. Today Google publicly announced real-time reports for Google Analytics.

Now everyone with Google Analytics can geek out on their real-time data like those of us with Chartbeat have been doing for the last couple years. In all seriousness, real-time reporting is an exciting new feature, and does provide some fantastic insight when there are “momentous” events driving traffic to one’s site. An example might be a rush of traffic from a blog post getting picked up on Digg Reddit. There is a lot of debate in the web analytics community about the value of real-time analytics, with many practitioners saying it is simply monitoring, and not analytics. But with the speed of change these days, and the quickness with which a swell (see what I did there?) can form and move, some type of real-time reporting is necessary.

So will Google put Chartbeat out of business? Hardly; Google has a ways to go before the features are as robust as Chartbeat’s offering. But most sites don’t need most of those features; those that do are already paying the $10/month that Chartbeat starts at. As Google did to the paid analytics platforms when it started to gobble up market share, this will simply force Chartbeat to continue to improve and enhance it’s offering. A challenge Chartbeat is up to, and has proven it is capable of doing for two years. Again Google is pushing the industry, and improving the conditions for all of us.

Finding out about the real-time rollout was one of the more exciting moments at the Google Analytics Partner Summit earlier this month. I am excited for our clients using Google Analytics, and look forward to playing around with it myself. It should roll out to all users over the next couple weeks. Kudos to Google for an impressive enhancement; real-time reporting with the volume of sites Google Analytics is on is no small technical achievement.

Google Analytics Premium – Validation for the Enterprise

Published September 29th, 2011 Analytics No Comments

Google Analytics today announced the release of Google Analytics Premium, a paid version of the platform targeted at the enterprise. For those that still doubted Google Analytics ability to handle enterprise level web analytics, this certainly should provide validation. We’re excited that our clients will now have the ability to implement an even more robust version of Google Analytics, and that Google is so dedicated to raising the caliber of the product.

I won’t go into detail on specific features, as most of that is still confidential. But here are some basic elements of premium:

  • The ability to handle larger sets of data, from collection through analysis.
  • The ability to gather more customized information about visitors and visits.
  • Deeper integration with Google’s advertising networks, providing richer information and more actionable data for advertisers.
  • A more holistic approach to digital analytics.
Ultimately Google has done a great job of making the offerring a win-win for those that can justify the cost. For those that aren’t quite at that level, Google Analytics “Regular” still will continue to improve, and there are some VERY exciting things coming in the near future. But for those that continue to doubt the ability of GA to handle enterprise level web analytics collection and reporting, this should be more than enough validation.

SwellPath is a Google Analytics Certified Partner

Published September 7th, 2011 Analytics, Featured, SwellPath 3 Comments

I’m very excited to announce that SwellPath is now an official Google Analytics Certified Partner! First, big thanks to Greg for helping put the application materials together, and Charles and John for weathering the interview with Google. Thanks to our clients for giving us the opportunity to really push Google Analytics to the enterprise level. Particular thanks to InFocus and Jive Software, who we used for the Partner application case studies.

Finally, thanks to Google for recognizing our expertise. Although we could have applied for the program last year, we chose to wait until we felt like our technical and analytical expertise truly matched or surpassed the other Partners. As our clients on Google Analytics know, we are huge fans of the platform, and we look forward to having a closer relationship with Google and more insight into the future of GA.

Here is a link to our official press release in a PDF format, and here is the copy:

SwellPath approved to become a Google Analytics™ Certified Partner (GACP)
September 7, 2011

SwellPath, a web analytics services provider based in Portland, Oregon, today announced it is entering into a strategic agreement with Google to become a Google Analytics Certified Partner.

Clients working with SwellPath receive professional analytics implementation and consulting services for Google Analytics, a free, enterprise-class online measurement tool. Businesses of all sizes can work with a Certified Partner to receive professional, Google authorized training, implementation, and consulting services to make their websites and ad campaigns more effective. For more information, visit http://www.google.com/analytics/authorized_consultants.html

SwellPath offers custom, advanced and strategic measurement services to clients looking to increase their digital marketing and website performance. Whether you have an established in-house team or are just getting started, SwellPath’s experienced team applies a proven approach to web analytics for a variety of businesses.

“We are excited to become part of the GACP program. Since day 1 we’ve been helping our clients get the maximum value out of their digital efforts with Google Analytics,” said Adam Ware, SwellPath CEO, “ it is great to have Google validate our expertise and bring us into the program.”

“Google is really pushing the product by introducing features like multi-channel attribution, social sharing measurement, and custom variables,” said John Koenig, VP of Marketing & Strategy at SwellPath, “our clients are really able to understand and improve their ROI through the use of our web analytics offering and Google Analytics.

About Google Analytics
Google Analytics tells you exactly how visitors got to your site and how they use it. It can help you identify bottlenecks and gives you ideas for improvements, leaving you to concentrate on your marketing campaigns and increase your returns. Google Analytics is an advanced, easy-to-use tool. The software has all the functions that you’d expect from an advanced web analysis package. For more information, visit www.google.com/analytics

About SwellPath
SwellPath is a digital measurement and marketing agency founded in 2009. The company provides analytics and search services. SwellPath clients include Jive Software, InFocus, KEEN, and Nike Golf. SwellPath is a results-driven organization, focused on helping clients get better measurement and a better return on their digital marketing activities. For more information email info@swellpath.com, or call 503.224.9204.

 

 

Adam Speaking at SMX East in September

Published August 1st, 2011 Events No Comments

For our friends on the East Coast, SMX East in New York is a great opportunity to see the best-of-the-best in search speak and impart their wisdom. I’m excited to be speaking on a panel focused on uncovering “hidden treasures” in Google Analytics – relatively unknown ways to get more advanced data on search visitors and other segments. All this goes down September 13th through the 15th. Please come say hi if you’re going to be there.

Representing at WebVisions 2011

Published May 11th, 2011 Analytics, Events, News No Comments

Quick note to let folks know Adam Ware will be speaking at WebVisions later this month, and we’ll have some other folks at the event. The “pod” He will be leading is all about dealing with the onslaught of data that digital marketers have been presented with in the last few years: Less is the New More.  So come by if you have a chance, or say hello if you see us there.

SwellPath at 2011 Summer WordCamps

Published April 14th, 2011 Analytics, Events, News 1 Comment

Summer is almost here, that means time for camping season! WordCamp season that is. Several good WordCamps in the next few months, including Seattle WordCamp this weekend (April 16th), just up the road from us. I won’t be in Seattle, but I’ll be speaking at WordCamp Orange County on May 14th, and at WordCamp Columbus on June 18th. Both talks will be focused on best practices for web analytics with WordPress sites.

If you’ve never attended a WordCamp, and you’re a WordPress user, I highly recommend making the effort to go.

Please appreciate the WC OC badge to the left – a VW bus getting barreled by a perfect wave. How great is that?

[EDIT] I’ll also be at WordCamp Raleigh in mid-May, and WordCamp Montreal in early July [EDIT]

2011 Web Analytics Conference Season Wrap-Up

Published March 18th, 2011 Analytics, Industry, News No Comments

March is a big month for conferences in digital, with South by Southwest Interactive taking up the lion’s share of the spotlight. For web analytics, it’s the conference month. All the major vendors have their user conferences, and eMetrics takes place in San Francisco. So, I thought it’d be good to provide a quick wrap-up on what went down this year, and what’s new with the major platforms.

Webtrends

The month kicked off  with Webtrends Engage in San Francisco. It was a fantastic event, with some top-notch speakers and sessions. Webtrends put the icing on the cake with the announcement of Webtrends Analytics 10. Justin Garrity, Webtrends Director of User Experience, summed it up with this quote: “We want analytics 10 to be the platform you can see all of your digital presence together in one view.”

The product features a much more “marketer-friendly” interface, and some awesome integrations with Twitter and Facebook data. Ultimately it allows marketers to monitor metrics for activity in these spaces, in conjunction with their own site metrics. One of the other new features that got me excited is integration with PostRank. A very valuable feature in my opinion. There’s a great video of Justin Garrity speaking about PostRank and other Webtrends Analytics 10 features of the product in this post on PostRank blog – definitely exciting to see what Webtrends and Justin have done to extend the platform beyond the boundaries of one’s own site.

Omniture

The second week of the month brought about the Omniture Summit. Always a big party, and maybe even more so with Adobe’s backing in the last several years. This year the Summit peaked with the announcement of new features and a new platform for Adobe Online Marketing Suite. The platform changes are a combination of more robust user interface, and supposedly a more scalable back end. The highlight of the new features is the release of Adobe SocialAnalytics. This new component of the suite promises heavily to help marketers capture the elusive social media ROI, and examine the effectiveness of social touch points in all parts of the customer life-cycle. Adobe has published a brief blog post on the features and capabilities of Adobe SocialAnalytics.

The other change that Adobe has made that should excite some agencies and others running larger traditional digital media buys, is the integration of more 3rd party partners into the suite. The new partners include demand side platforms, ad servers, and video networks. See the official press release for a complete list of the new partners for Adobe Online Marketing suite.

Google Analytics

Just yesterday, following on the heals of eMetrics, the first Google Analytics User Conference was held in San Francisco. Though not an “official” Google event, Phil Mui (Google Analytics Group Product Manager) spoke, and Google used the event to announce the release of Google Analytics v5.  Changes to the platform are a mix of cosmetic and functional. The cosmetic include a more streamlined interface, and changes to how reports are organized in the sidebar. The functional include some nice changes to what and how data can be displayed in dashboards; also moving toward the more marketer-friendly side of analytics. For analysts, the best two new features are the ability to use events for goals, and to use filters in custom reports. The first means that we no longer have to spoof pageviews to track goals that involve clicks or dynamic in-page events; thus avoiding inflated pageview numbers. The second means the ability to apply a filter to a custom report, and have it “saved”. This will save time, and allow for the automated export of more detailed custom reports. Here is a great video from Justin Cutroni highlighting some of the major features and changes in Google Analytics v5.

Other Analytics News

Some other analytics related news to come out of March included the release of comScore’s new analytics platform Digital Analytix. Besides creative use of the letter X, the platform also promises the ability to leverage some of the mountains of data that comScore collects, to provide analysts with a better understanding of who their audience is, and the reach of their campaigns. Definitely a platform we are excited to test and explore.

IBM’s more recent acquisitions in the analytics space are coming together, literally, in the form of Smarter Commerce. This new “suite” promises to provide businesses with a 360 degree view of their market and customer life-cycle. From some conversations I’ve had with folks in the industry, and IBM’s information on Smarter Commerce, this is now a very powerful business intelligence platform for companies with a major presence in digital commerce.

Overall, an very big month for digital analysts and those in the measurement space. Lots of focus on social this year; not as much focus on mobile as might be expected, but it was there. Besides the moves by the bigger players, lots of news being made by some of the up-and-comers in the social analytics and digital measurement space right now, and lots of buzz around some of those companies at SXSWi. 2011 certainly will be a busy and exciting year for digital measurement. Now get out there and measure something.

Add Google Analytics Data to Zoho CRM Lead Forms

Published February 16th, 2011 Analytics 8 Comments

I thought I’d earn some karma and put some instructions up for people who are interested in integrating Google Analytics data into their Zoho CRM Web-to-Lead forms. We were doing this with Salesforce, and since switching (back) to Zoho, we’ve updated the code to work with their system. Here are the steps and a link to the code at the bottom. Big thanks to Art Wells who wrote this jQuery code, and Justin Cutroni; I directed Art to his post on integrating Google Analytics with a CRM to make this happen

First step is to create the fields that will house the Google Analytics cookie data in Zoho. Navigate to Setup > Lead Settings > Fields List and create five new fields:

  • Google Analytics Source
  • Google Analytics Medium
  • Google Analytics Campaign
  • Google Analytics Keyword
  • Google Analytics Content

I set these all up as text fields, in the Description section (see below for how to create their own section), with a length of 100 just to be safe. I’m going to suppose you have a good knowledge of how these fields are used in Google Analytics. If you don’t then you can read up on campaign tracking in Google Analytics, and keep in mind that the source and medium values are used for referrals, organic search, and direct traffic also. Additionally, keyword is used for organic traffic. You’ll see an example later in this post.

With those setup, this next step is optional: I moved them all into their own section on the Lead page, called Google Analtyics data. This is all done in Setup > Lead Settings > Edit Page Layout. Pretty straightforward; setup the section and move the fields down there.

Now you need to get the values that Zoho is going to associate with these in the Web-to-Lead form. I’m assuming that you have a Web-to-Lead form setup and you are using it on your website. If not, you need to get that going; use Zoho’s support tools to figure that out. Moving along: go to your Web-to-Lead form in Setup > Lead Settings > Web-to-Lead Form and add these new fields into the form. Then get the source code.

Dump that code into a text editor, and find the 5 Google Analytics fields you created. They will have an input “name” of something like LEADCF8. You see how this value is configured: lead custom field and then a numeric value. Copy those field values and put them into Evernote or something.

Next, you’re going to take the script provided below and put it into your own .js file on your site. I can’t write code anymore, so don’t post a bunch of comments about how to use this. It’s in the jQuery on our site in swellpath.js. Dig up the file if you need to figure it out in detail. The screenshot shows you where the values from your Zoho Web-to-Lead form go.

Zoho Gooogle Analytics Source Script

Final step. Add this to each of the Web-to-Lead forms on your site, in the <form> tag:
class=’trackmaster’

This class is what triggers the script to add the hidden Google Analytics input values.

So, what do you get with all this? Check this screen shot out:

Zoho Google Analtyics Integration

This is from a test lead, where the term “swellpath marketing analytics portland” was used to find our site. Not much to add; I think the value in this is pretty clear for sites generating leads from these Zoho forms.

iHere is the JavaScript we are using. Enjoy using this!

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Portland, OR 97209
(503) 224-9204
info@swellpath.com