“The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long….and you have burned so very, very brightly, Roy.” – Blade Runner

Let’s look at a real life example of a twitter account that you could subscribe to: The National Geographic Society. Here is a sampling of their ‘twitters’ over a six hour period.

@NatGeoSociety
1. Pluto Has “Upside Down” Atmosphere http://tinyurl.com/b4xkal about 6 hours ago from twitterfeed
2. EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS: Rare Artifacts Return to Afghanistan http://tinyurl.com/arx4j6 about 6 hours ago from twitterfeed
3. Whale giveaway 5! How many calories per day does the average blue whale need for survival? Be the first to answer and win a prize about 8 hours ago from HootSuite
4. Our final giveaway is happening at 3P et. Be the first to answer and win Nat Geo prizes about 10 hours ago from HootSuite
5. Near Costa Rica, scientists study a stronghold of the blue #whale. Read the Nat Geo Magazine article http://tinyurl.com/da4bqs about 12 hours ago from HootSuite

The assumption is that because I have signed up for their Twitter account, I am interested in these topics. The “Pluto Has ‘Upside Down’ Atmosphere” article sounds interesting but is that enough to sustain my interest in their twitter feed. This is a lot of information that I need to digest and there is an assumption that I have the time and interest. In summary, there is no compelling reason for most people to use it, and many existing services — ranging from Instant Messenger to social networks — have overlapping functionality and value.

It is also rare that a communication medium maintains such popularity when it is controlled by a private entity. Opensource mediums that are successful have open standards and work in a distributed fashion with examples: newgroups, email, webpages, etc. Twitter’s growth as the defacto social communication medium is limited. However, its private ownership makes it very attractive to suitors; Facebook had expressed interest in purchasing them and the latest suitor is Google. They are less interested in the technology but desire to absorb Twitter’s bloated subscriber network.

Twitter’s business model will change for the sole reason that eventually the audience will move. It is the same reason we have abandoned malls for online shopping sites. Before that happens, Twitter will be acquired by another company. Any time you have a convergence of newness, mass popularity and little understanding you are liable to get an overrated, and very simple, technology. Twitter is not the first, and it will not be the last.

FYI: You can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/webmarketers

I attended the Online Marketing Summit 2009 in San Diego.  Social Media was of course the hot topic and invoked much discussion.  There was one meeting debate over the effectiveness of Facebook versus Twitter to deliver personalized message.  The argument for Twitter was if you manage an account and develop a good relationship with your followers, you have created a viral communication medium.  Arguments for Facebook were the numerous marketing communication applications that gently exceed the 140 character limit that defines Twitter, period.

In summary, today’s economy mandates marketers derive greater ROI from investments, increase response rates and advance the customer experience.  Successful marketer’s match the target audience with the right message and offer.  Sounds pretty straight forward but many companies fail at this.  Audience’s needs are constantly changing and timing the right marketing message and offer make this a complex endeavor.  Data from CRM or customer support systems lie unused as marketers lack the understanding or motivation to analyze.  Worse too, many companies rehash marketing programs every year without documenting the campaigns pros, cons and leanings.   Unfortunately, marketers tend to jump to personalization to justify budgets and to over promise leads, conversions or ROI.

About Personalized URLs (pURLs)
Personalized URLS (pURLs) was first hailed as the true technology platform for personalization.  pURLs give a personal touch to your outbound communications.  It works this way; I get an email offer and there is a URL link with my name in it, e.g.  michaelsenger.cooloffer.com – by clicking on this link I am taking to a webpage where it reads “Hi Michael Senger, we have an offer just for you.”  The concept of pURLS is that you will see increased conversion because the prospect believes you care about him and knows exactly what he needs.  Variable Data Printing (VDP), like pURLS, personalize direct mail to improve response rates.  Did this work to lift conversions as they were so hyped to be?

My research into the pURLs industry identified two early adopters; MindFire & EasyPurl.  Both companies have moved to a 100% reseller model; selling their services to partners who then resell to the end-user.  In summary, these two companies dominate this space, followed by a plethora of online and printing boutique shops reselling pURLS and/or VDP (variable data printing) services.  As a result of these two companies dominance, their services do not differentiate greatly and their fees are fiercely competitive.

Although pURLS did find avenues into some marketing circles, they never really became a part of the marketer’s arsenal to improve conversion with personalization messaging.  I was surprised in my research to learn there has been little innovation into personalized URLS in the last five years.  Personally, either working for companies or now running my online marketing agency rarely has the “pURLS” topic come into conversation.  If fact, a colleague who works for one of the nation’s largest tax preparation companies, just finished a 2009 direct mail campaign utilizing personal URLs with no impact to conversion rates.  In summary, pURLS did not work to lift conversions as they were hyped to be.

Next week- Part 2:  The new darling couple: Social Media Marketing & Personalization

Congratulations!  After reading Part 1 and 2, the challenging part of web metrics is done.  There is still ongoing work required but the methodology of identifying clear goals and assigning applicable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is a sound business practice.

In addition, make good use of a continued improvement process.  Realize that company objectives will change and therefore your web objectives and KPIs may need to be modified.  Changing objectives and KPIs may seem a daunting task to manage but they are not.  If you focus your web site around a small number of changes, your web metric program will become more manageable.  In a previous position, I was managing Symantec’s enterprise online marketing worldwide.  During the crazy days of the Dotcom boom, quarterly web objectives were set and then changed within the first month.  With rampant growth in new markets, “changing the tires while driving” was our company’s modus operandi.  But this should not be the case with you…hopefully.

Using actual numbers, let’s look at the example I used on my previous blog posting “Part 2 – Where do I begin to start analyzing web data?”   Our company objective was to improve online customer retention for the 1st quarter of 2009.   We will measure this objective by using the following KPI, with a target goal to increase by 10%:

At first glance, we failed on meeting our objective of  improving customer retention.  However, you should be more interested in understanding what could contribute to a lower website customer satisfaction level – therefore further research into the data is required.  We soon learned that a national marketing launch occurred in January.  As a result, there was a huge spike in new visitor traffic to the website.  Marketing and public relations were successful in driving new visitors to the site but was the cause for the drop in % returning customers.

During hard times, there is great pressure to justify every marketing dollar that is spent. A web analytics program that binds company objectives with measurable KPIs, is now expected by Senior Management.

~Michael Senger

Knowing that you have so much data available to you can be both enlightening and daunting.  The question you need to ask is where I begin.  Start with your company goals for the year. If you don’t have any, well that’s a blog topic for another day.  From your company goals, you can create specific marketing objectives that transcend to your website.  From these marketing objectives, you will identify and measure key performance indicators (KPIs).  Your KPIs are key web activities or actions that you want to focus on.

It is unrealistic to state “I want to merely increase web traffic to your website”.  It is more useful, for example, to define a goal of increasing web traffic by 10% to support a product launch for September.

Let’s consider the following company example:

Company Goal:
Acme Company sells consumer widgets and one of their 2009 business goals is to improve customer loyalty.

Web Marketing Objectives:
Benchmark, measure and improve online customer satisfaction KPIs for the 1st quarter of 2009.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Example:
Retention KPI = Ratio of “Returning visitors”/”All visitors”
What it measures: determines how you are doing at retaining visitors
Metric:  increase by 10%
How:  promote webinar and product announcements

Action:
First determine your KPI benchmark to identify a % goal increase.  I usually lean towards measuring the same period before.  Since we are measuring performance for the 1st qtr of 2009, I would recommend you compare metrics to December Qtr 2008.  Use your judgment here; if your company has strong cyclical sales you may want to measure the same period from the year before.

~Michael Senger

Next week: Part3 What do my KPI measurements mean?

This ‘Far Side’ comic reminds me of a company I previously worked for.  This was the typical response from fellow marketers when asked what kind of metric reporting is being done to measure campaigns.  Simply, no one wanted to own the metrics data or be held responsible for reporting it.

The Wikipedia explanation of the phrase origin “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” states the following:

• “…the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments, and the tendency of people to disparage statistics that do not support their positions.”

There lies our second issue; the numbers are accurate but the interpretation and usage by the individual can sometimes be suspect.

In this three part series, it is my intention to dispel this voodoo and to provide a methodology for evaluating and measuring the success of your online program .

Part 1: Keep it simple – Too much data is just that – too much data!

By 1969 in Vietnam, the kill ratio for American jets during dog fights was plummeting.  At one time, 20 to 30 enemy planes were shot down for every one US jet.  By the end of the decade the ratio was one to three.  American jets and their technology were far superior to the Russian Mig Jets but a disturbing trend was happening.

When they interviewed the pilots that were highly successful in air to air combat, they found something in common.  As fighter information technology advanced, so did the pilot’s dashboard and instruments.  The successful pilots identified and focused on a few instruments; ignoring the rest.  One successful pilot had even taped over redundant instruments.  In the engagement of the air enemy, life or death decisions were based on key critical information.

Most web analytics software programs, Omniture, Google, etc. offer the user so MUCH information in their web marketing dashboard to send the user screaming down the hall in frustration.  Keep it simple and too much data is just that – too much data.

~Michael Senger

Next Week:  Part 2  – Where do I begin to start analyzing web data?

When we launched our website in April of 2008, our Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) report identified “Innovative Web Ideas” as a popular but least competitive term we wanted to be indexed by Google. We implemented the best SEO practices; meta tags, H1 headline, key word density, etc. But just three months ago we were nowhere to be found when you searched this term. So what happened?

I want to write today about the importance of your website’s Reputation.

One component of Google’s mysterious algorithm is ranking websites on its reputation. Your website reputation is calculated by the number of websites that link to you and their “Reputation”. The more sites that link to your website improves your “reputation”. Sites that link to you that have a strong Reputation, e.g. IBM.com versus joescrabshack.com, dramatically improves your reputation also.

Here are some simple linking strategy steps to improve your Website’s reputation and rankings:

1. There are numerous free online business directories to list your company information. Hotfrog.com, mycityfaces.com and the yellow pages are just a few.
2. Find your industry non-profit websites – many of them offer free listings
3. Write a blog just like the one you are reading. The long-term benefit is that your blog can be registered with the hundreds of blog sites, adding more links to your website. Here are some tips to get your blog noticed: http://www.johntp.com/2006/04/15/13-tips-to-get-your-blog-noticed/

Finally remember SEO is not just a one-time implementation. It is an ongoing process of launching, measuring results and adjusting accordingly.

Cheers,
Michael Senger

Yesterday’s BlogTalk Radio Show was full of useful tips to help you market your website on the internet. BlendStream founders shared their thoughts on internet marketing and how to do it effectively.

Download or listen to the whole show by visiting  http://www.blendstream.com

Here are some highlights:

• How you treat your customers is very important because word-of-mouth marketing is powerful. It’s very easy for people to share their experiences with your business online. One of the best things about word-of-mouth marketing is that it’s free!
• Define your target market, find out where those people hang out online, and make sure your website speaks to that target market.
• Use social network marketing sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with your target market.

These are just some of things we talked about, but if you’re really serious about bringing in more traffic to your website, I do recommend listening to the whole show!

Download or listen to the whole show by visiting  http://www.blendstream.com