Drowning in Analytics? What to Look For

In my almost 2 years of handling Google Analytics, I feel sometimes that I'm going on and on, around and around with data, and still feel, at the end of the day, that I do not know a website's customers.

Sometimes, I do feel that, especially when there is one product that I cannot figure out why people are buying so much, or not at all.  I will be totally honest.  I have looked at what they look at, looked at what they buy, walked backwards to see how they moved forward in the store, but still somehow, something may be amiss.

In Avinash Kaushik's Analytics an Hour a Day, he clarifies what one should look for in tracking analytics.  It is only now that I realize, I'm not lost.  I'm on the right track, it's just that I see the trees for the forest.  There are days when I face a different aspect of analytics, and another aspect on another day.  Then I totally forget to see the bigger picture and the implications to sell off a product.

I'm sure most of you analytics specialists are already doing these, but lemme just lay it out in 1 little space. 

What to look for in monitoring analytics:
1)  What does your customer want from your site?
2)  When customer gets to the store, what does he do there?
3)  Was the sale closed?

You will find that there are different data involved here.  You will have to combine different information from different sources.  The ones below are simplest, easiest ways to get metrics but of course there are more methods.

What does the customer want from you in the first place?  Some ways to find out:
-  Ask customers.  Personally or through forms.  You can do it, don't be shy.
-  What did the customers click?  You can see this through the map overlay.  You'll see which buttons or categories that people really like.

What does the customer do in your site?
-  Your analytics software will be mainly in charge here.  Keep those eyes open.

The end sale or conversion.  Did you bag it?
-  You can check your analytics' e-commerce section here or your website's accounting system for sales closed.
-  You should also read the numbers from sales generated  from offline methods.

Then put into consideration all your marketing and sales operation, on and offline and hopefully the trees AND the forest help you make crucial decisions to further your company's purpose.

Thank you Avinash for the enlightenment. :-)



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Xoom will no Longer Accept Paypal

Attention, Online Filipino Workers:

If you have clients/ contractors who are sending you your payments through Xoom paying with Paypal, might as well give them the heads up that Xoom will no longer accept Paypal payments.

Odd thing is it will be effective immediately.  As in tomorrow!  (March 24, 2010)

I wonder why there's no time allowance on this.  Plus I don't know if it's just for the Philippines, or if other countries are still allowed to.  There's a number at the bottom of picture below if you need clarifications. 

Oh well, I hope you all won't have sticky issues with payment and everything will be well.

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The Silliest Argument to Not Vote for Villar

I am constantly weirded out when people say, "Oh Villar has spent a lot on his campaign. If he wins, he will surely earn the money he spent on the elections back by corruption."

WTH???

If you are a genius at earning sooooo much legitimate money, why the hell will you suddenly want to earn criminal money?  And in the public eye, as president? 

Come on.  Even if you seem stupid for thinking that muck up,  you wouldn't be that stupid. Heller.

Bobo lang ang gumagawa ng ganyang garapal na katangahan if you have/ are related to the highest power in the land. (Ehehehe, you know who you are.  Yes, you're stupid.)

Kasi naman Manny, ang weird naman talaga.  I do believe the steep increase in your wealth while in Congress and the Senate is due to the meeting a lot of different people as a government official.  If you have a big network, you see a lot of financial opportunities to strike on.  I believe it's all legitimate, but still, this post hoc fallacy leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I do believe in (not the exact words)  "Those who lead, should not have.   And those who have, should not lead."  Dude,  if you win,  Please stop your money-generating projects first.  It'll still be there when you get out after 6 years.


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Public Service : Fastfood Delivery Hotlines in Metro Manila Philippines

If you're looking for delivery hotline numbers, I hope this post helps.

If I have posted an old delivery hotline number, please point out which has been updated so I can change it, thanks.  

(According to main food item)

BURGERS
Jollibee Delivery – 8-7000
McDonald’s – 8MCDO, that's 8-6236
Wendy’s Hamburgers – 533-3333
PIZZA

Pizza Hut Delivery – 911-1111

Greenwich Pizza – 5-5555

Yellow Cab Pizza - 789-9999

Domino’s (now called Angel's) – 922-2222
Shakey’s Pizza – 77-7777

CHICKEN
Kenny Rogers Roasters Delivery – 533-8888
KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) – 887-8888
Max’s Restaurant – 7-9000


CAKES and PASTRIES , etc. 
Goldilocks Bakeshop – 888-1-999
Red Ribbon Bakeshop Delivery– 8-7777


CHINESE
North Park Noodle House Delivery – 73737
Chowking – 9-8888


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How Many Potential Customers Can a Fastfood Website Lose?

I have griped before about fastfood websites in  the Philippines to cut the fancy shmancy features of their websites because their audience is most likely hungry.  I will repeat, hungry or craving people need only

1)  A BIG delivery hotline number

2)  Prices of available items

3)  Posting your delivery charges in a prominent place is a nice touch.

And all the info should load immediately.

Anything more that takes up loading time and click time is unnecessary.  

Specially, if the food you're offering is in season, your website should at least be up and have a contact number.  

- -

The other day, my sister sent me an SMS message asking me for the delivery number of Chow King.  It was very hot and Chow King's halo-halo seemed like a good idea.  She knew I'm online most of the day so it's easy for me to look and text her back.  Lo and behold!  The site was down (still is today).  Tsk tsk.  I'm sure it's not just my sister who wanted to order from them and will use the net to look for the number.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, who have googled chowking for their delivery number.  

Yeah, let's see...  To be pakielamera about it, let's demonstrate to Chow King how much profit they would have missed.

Google searches for this month:

Chowking hotline -       1 000

chowking philippines -  1 900

chowking menu -         2 900  and drumroll, please

chowking -                49 500

Who would type the words "hotline" and "menu"?  People who want to BUY. As in, right now.  Conversions (or that final sale) are SURE when they type hotline and menu.  They are not out to get something from Chowking, like applying for a job, but they want to PAY Chow King for food.  And they will not take days or multiple visits to decide whether they want to buy halo-halo.  They want to order and pay right now.

Put a conservative estimate of percentage from that audience that typed in the plain "chowking" .  How much of that 49,500 searched to order food from them?  Now multiply by average order in Pesos.

It's halo-halo time, Chow King people.  You should have at least a 1-page website up.

Last free tip:  Add to your "sorry for the inconvenience page" your BIG contact number. And if you're really nice, why not add some food items and prices at the side as well, instead of that expensive website being totally worthless and punishing customers to look for your number elsewhere.  

If you are really sorry, you should give the people what they need even if you still don't have those spinning pics up.

And if you stumbled upon my post looking for their contact information, Chow King's delivery number is 9-8888.

Google Algorithm Changes March 2010. As always, as ever.

The top writers have said there have been changes about end of February 2010, but it is only now that the company I work with has been seeing radical shifts in Google standing.  We will be adjusting, as we always do, to pull up those SEO figures. 

What are the newest indicators that the Google algorithms are using now?  Like always we do not know, unless Google wishes to divulge.

There are guesses that big brand names are being taken higher up the rankings.  Not true, according to 1 Google webmaster.  Like always,  Google has refined their searches to bring the you what is most useful to you.  Like always, they are targetting to bring you matches that are most authoritative, trustworthy and the most knowledgeable experts that will be able to give you the information you are looking for.

So for those who are continuously working on their SEO and content, if you are building a trustworthy and reliable website, you have nothing to fear.  Just go about your usual best self, and the Googly spiders will be able to spot you out and give you the top spots in search.  Just don't forget to work on your usability and conversions. There is no point in attracting huge numbers of people if you can't entice them to stay and buy anyways.

For others who are doing periodic scheduled changes to your website, maybe you can consider having regular SEO changes at your site.  This way, your company is prepared whenever there are these "little changes" that affect your search standings.  These are regular changes, about 3-4 times a year, that regular SEO efforts will be well worth it. 


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Quick Guide to Track Twitter Results in your Google Analytics

There has been a lot written about this but I'm doing so to add another simple one to the ones that were written already.

Google Analytics will track your visitors from Twitter.
You just have to help Google Analytics organize and put it into the Campaigns section.

How to help Google Analytics quickly arrange this data?  By putting tags into the URL that you will post in Twitter.

Don't worry, there's an auto-generator for this.

1.  Go to the Google URL builder  .
2.  Fill in your website URL.
3.  Type "Twitter" (use the same case for all) in the 3 spaces with asterisk: Campaign Source, Campaign Medium, Campaign Name
4.  Click Generate.
5.  Whenever you post a link, use the generated URL.  (shorten it if you like)
6.  Check on Google Analytics Campaigns to see if the hits from Twitter are being counted




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Why Would Some Bloggers Exchange Links with Just About Any Blog?

I am very new to BlogCatalog (Don't ask why I joined just now.) and I love the whole set up of being able to see other blogs but meeting the blogger first. Entrecard is okay, but when I use that I try to see who I am talking to first.   BlogCatalog helps me a lot by introducing the blog owner first, then I get to see the content.

I find it odd though, that some of the bloggers in BlogCatalog are flooding the  Discussion Forums of BlogCatalog with "Exchange Links with Me!".

Not to be rude, but why would you want to exchange links with just anyone?  If you're targeting higher page ranks or whatever with gazillions of random links, you might be disappointed.  Google bots see more than you expect.  If most incoming links are not related to the theme of your blog, it won't have bearing on your rankings anyway.  So please, maghunos-dili kayo (calm down.). 

It takes the same effort to spam everybody and to find blogs that are related to yours.  So why not target blogs who have built credibility in your area of specialty?  Do exchange links with related blogs (especially if these blogs are reliable and have been around a long time).  You'll earn better blog rankings, and maybe make new friends with the writers too.



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Binondo Food Massacre 2

My Binondo Food Trip posts are too long.  So I'm putting a quick summary right up here on top (especially since you may be surfing from your mobile phone)  of a list of resturants to go to if you want to go food tripping in Binondo:

1.  Tasty  Dumplings Restaurant - yummy dumplings and pata tim.  Ongpin St. very near Binondo Church.  A sneeze away.
2.  Dong Bei in Yuchengco - for fresh dumplings and oolong.  (Buy some for take home if it's a last stop)  Also near the Binondo Rotonda, enter through Tatyana Street facing the Binondo Rotunda.  End of Tatyana is Yuchengco and you'll see Dong Bei
3.  Manosa's - also in Ongpin. Try the Maki Mi soup
4.  Quick Snack in Carvajal - Try the Beef Sate.
5.  Masuki - I didn't write about because we have eaten there a gazillion times, since my bestie is close friends with one of the family. But its there in Benavidez.  Try the humongous siopao and yummy handmade noodles.

There are other usual joints you go to like President's, so I won't talk about that anymore.

-------

Con't. of my blabbering descriptions:

Another joint to drop by into when you to do a Food Trip in Binondo is Manosa's.  The n has a squiggle on it, such that you say it like Manyosa's  but I'm too lazy to figure out how to type that squiggly n thing.

Anyway, Manosa's Maki Mi soup is well known and we tried it out.  It's a soy and pepper and pork-based  sticky soup.  You can opt to have noodles added or not.  It was the first time I ate something like it and I like it.  (I had a craving for it afterwards and in my desperation, scrounged around for a recipe.  Tip:  It's easy to do something similar.  Too easy. :-)  Anyway, heard from a Chinoy friend Ma Mon Luk in Banawe had better Maki Mi soup.  Maybe next time.

In my return trip to Binondo for this food trip, my bestie forgot to bring her list of where to go. Strange because 1) our main intent is to continue the food walk, so it should be the first thing she should've packed. and 2) My bestie has an eagle-sharp OC  way of doing things so it was quite strange for her to forget anything at all.  Anyway, we just laughed it off and decided to do things by ear.

We remembered the Quick Snack resto in Carvajal, so we trooped there first.  We tried the Beef Sate Noodles there.  It was nice. But I've already tried something like it in my kitchen (whilst I was experiementing for my maki mi, I did a twist  on it which somehow ended up like the the sate noodle) so it was okay for me, but not as exciting if I hadn't had something like it earlier.

Thanks to my bestie's  temporary lapse of OC-ness that she forgot her list, we thought of taking a peek at Merriam Webster, also in Carvajal, to look for a Binondo map.  We were astounded at this bookstore.  They had lots of reprints and there was a treasure trove of cheap (re-printed)  literary classics.  Shakespeare at P69 anyone?  I couldn't believe our good fortune. That classics shelf alone is a gold mine!  We soon giggled at all the textbooks there because those were textbooks I used in high school (almost 20 years ago).  I whispered "This bookstore is stuck in time..." and we giggled some more like little school girls.  I of course checked out the net section/ computer course textbooks cuz there might be goodies for me.  But no.  I can put my typing textbook in first year high school (also available there) beside their computer textbooks and nobody would notice. 

Anyway, next time we drop by Binondo, I'll put in a quick list of where to shop for what in the little stores there.  


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Your Website Never Gets Done, No.

I was introduced to do a business professor who immediately asked me the perennial, "So, what do you?"  ice breaker.

I said I help online businesses increase sales by puttering about the website, tinkering with copy, codes and stuff.

And upon learning I am a resident at some websites, he was quite surprised, "What else is left to do after a website is up?"

Hoo boy.  This business professor obviously knew his way only about brick and mortar stores.

Websites must be continually checked, tweaked, tested.  Yes, websites are living, growing beings.  And like people who become personable, a website has a lot of character-development to do.  If you are a person and you stop adapting or changing and remain "just the way you are,"  man, I can bet you'll be one helluva boring person.

It's the same thing with websites.  A product page may contain all the info you want to put in, but you have to continually check if the page is pleasing customers.  Are they buying?  What are they saying about why they didn't buy?  You note all the positive and less than positive things and continuously work on your web pages, until you get what customers like, earn their trust and buy from you.

Same thing with blogs.  If you put it up, put all the info you want to share,  then suddenly stopped updating, that wouldn't look very interesting now, would it?

So yes, resident online workers like us, we never run out of things to do in a website.  Especially if you keep testing which pages a customer likes, you have to continuously present different versions of a web page until you find one that customers really like.  (Me, I use the free but ever dependable Google Website Optimizer for this one.)  And besides pleaseing the customers, search engines, especially Google, like it when a website has a constant stream of activity.  It can see that the website is up and running and you get nicer search results when people look for your stuff online. 

Give your Website some TLC today.  Some simple ways:

• Look at your old copy, edit for changes.  I'm sure you have learned more about your business since you last put up your website.
• If you can, write some new stuff.  Doesn't have to be long.  Or if you can afford to shell out some, get a writer to add more to your content.
• If you are SEO-savvy, maybe you can look at your codes and see if there's anything you need to update.
• Add some pictures, even to your articles, not just the product pages.  Don't forget to tag for SEO :-)
• Try testing some of your pages with Google Website Optimizer.  Will definitely be worth your time.

Oh, and if you don't have it yet, it's never too late to add in Google Analytics. This will help you see the actual numbers of people coming in to your website.

Don't forget, keep your website activities regular to help your website be found in the searches, PLUS when people get to your website, they will like staying and availing of your products and/or services.

The Chair - for an Online Filipino Worker

The chair is a favorite trivial subject matter in some philosophy classes.  Some study the simple chair for an entire  semester, forcing insights with this reliable piece of furniture.

But for me, a Filipino online worker alone in the house for most of the day, the chair is almost * embarrassed blush* an extended body part.  Where office workers have myriads of reasons to stand up from their desks, typical online workers from home like me can really sit out that toosh for hours on end.  Unhealthy, yes.  But it's kind of like an addiction, not standing up away from the computer.  You know it's bad for you, but you can't help it.

I'm noticing that my thighs feel as though they're are morphing to have the same contour as my chair.

I am getting an executive chair to replace my current one.  I'm getting one that has a high back and cradles the entire head.  I've heard that the best kind of office chairs for one's health are the ones that don't have wheels. I guess the body is more stable and doesn't have to keep adjusting to keep the chair place.

Most likely I'll be getting a plain one like this:

I also saw a chair similar to this (but not exactly the same) in Office 1, I still haven't asked how much though.

But then again, if I get one with the high back that cradles the head, I may find another reason to not leave the computer.  I may even do my night sleeping on this spot by just relaxing my head back into zzzzz-land.

Power Outages for the 1st Automated Elections

Today my online contacts from the different areas of the Philippines reported power outages (or brown outs, as we call it here) throughout the day.  

Yeah, I know the climate is a-changing and all, but I am not amused that power outages have so conveniently become more regular in time for the first automated elections.  Hurg.

I hope this does not become one of the means to cheat electronic voting.

PS.  Meralco, please update everybody often of schedules.  We have work to be done.  I am fortunate that I work at home and therefore can adjust my hours. I just won't be able to if the internet shuts down too.  Now for the other 9-6 companies that keep our Philippine economy afloat, please keep us updated of your outages.  Thanks.