Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Google Analytics is Launched

Recently, Google purchased Urchin and rebranded it as Google Analytics. It launched yesterday, with a new name and a new fee. It’s free now, and if you have an AdWords account you don’t need to worry about the 5 million page view limit they put on the free version (though wouldn’t it be awful to have to worry about such things)?!

You just need a Google account and about five minutes to get set up. After that, you’re able to track as many sites as you’d like. As a bonus, they also offer Conversion Universtity, which has articles on optimizing your site and converting visitors once you have them.

There have been a rash of low-cost analytics services like mint ($30) and Measure Map (free) coming out lately, but Google may just steamroll right over them.

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Monday, November 14, 2005

Ad:Tech…Marketing Needs To Prove Itself, Too

A recent article on ClickZ highlighted the growing demand for marketing to live by the same accountability guidelines that other departments have had to adhere to for years. The story was based on a panel discussion during last week’s Ad:Tech Conference in New York.

Much of the discussion centered around the exemption from hard metrics that marketing and advertising have enjoyed for years. In the past, it was easier for marketing to answer difficult questions regarding effectiveness by using soft data answers such as brand awareness scores or share-of-mind data. No more. Upper management and the board of directors want hard numbers on what type of return marketing is producing.

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Friday, November 11, 2005

Blogs: Four Choices for Companies

Josh Hallett, a business communication expert, has shared what he believes are the four choices companies have in relation to the blogosphere.

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ExplorerDestroyer: Spread Firefox and Earn a Buck

ExplorerDestroyer aims to boost Firefox‘s 11% marketshare by taking advantage of Google’s offer of $1 per referral to Firefox. They’re making it easy for you by providing scripts you can add to your site, (only a few at this point for popular blog/cms software, more coming) that along with some AdSense code, you can start earning a buck for every person you get to download Firefox. I can’t wait to see if Microsoft counters by giving away XBox360’s when you download IE.

Be sure to check out the humorous companion site: Kill Bill’s Browser which lists 13 funny but true reasons to switch.

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Thursday, November 10, 2005

NBC, CBS Join ABC in Selling Shows

Unfortunately NBC and CBS have decided to each go in their own direction rather than join ABC by distributing the shows via the iTunes Store. 

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