I-COM worldmeasurementnews

Measuring Conversion Rate: Are you making an Impact?

Tricia Aanderud [pictured], President at And Data writes: Once you start looking at your Google Analytics, it is thrilling to see that visitors are coming to your humble Web site and some even return. Your first inclination is to create fancy charts to show the traffic patterns, compare the patterns by day of week, segment into New and Returning visitors, soon your charts may even be trending on #StuffDataGeeksDo. More…

In US, Webtrends to Invest $7 Million in 2012, Enjoys Astounding Growth of 418 Percent

Webtrends Expanding IP Footprint in Pacific Northwest by Adding 35 Engineers

02/03/2012 | Portland, OR - Webtrends, the global leader in unified mobile, social and web analytics and engagement, announced today that it is taking aggressive steps to foster IP growth and innovation by adding dozens of talented engineers to the company roster. Over the course of 2012, Webtrends will put $7 million dollars toward the hiring of more than 50 new positions, including 35 in engineering and four in marketing, and significantly increasing program spend.

“Over the last three years Webtrends has focused aggressively on out-innovating the market, particularly in rich and emerging media channels,” explains Alex Yoder [pictured], Chief Executive Officer of Webtrends. “We are the natural pure play in analytics and personalization, providing real time relevance to our customers and driving remarkable ROI. As such, we are excited to extend our commitment to accelerating our leadership position and remain in the driver’s seat of change within our industry. We will be adding more of the best and the brightest people, ranging from seasoned executives to recent graduates. Top tier talent is and will always be the cornerstone of Webtrends’ success.” More…

Google Widens Its Tracks - Privacy Changes to Combine Data on Users, Making Anonymity Harder to Keep

Julia Angwin of The Wall Street Journal writes: In a move that could make it harder for Google users to remain anonymous, Google Inc. said it would start combining nearly all the information it has on its users.

With Tuesday's changes, Google is "setting the stage for one-upping" Facebook in terms of being able to better target online ads to website visitors based on what it knows about their interests, said Brian Kennish, a former Google programmer who runs Disconnect Inc., a firm that offers software to block Google and other companies that collect information about Web users. More…

"We'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience," Alma Whitten [pictured], Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, wrote on the company's blog. More…

Embracing Data Structure Is the Future of SEO

Eddie Choi [pictured], Executive Director, Milton Exhibits Group writes at ClickZ.Asia: While many SEOs still optimize tags and links, search engines today are emphasizing more and more in content structure. In fact, everything is content whether it is text, link, or the user-generated comment in social media.

Start embracing data structure in your future SEO plan.  More...

Future Trends for Web Analytics in China

Michael Xu [pictured], Senior Vice President of Business Operations, Gridsum writes at ClickZ.Asia: As new comers to the world of web analytics, marketers in China are still obsessing about shining key performance indicators (KPI) dashboards, complicated technical implementations, and abundant data reports.

The good news is marketers in China are getting more and more innovative and with enough budget for trial and error. Here is one of the best practices we served clients: standardized reporting in the first year, systematic training on in-house marketers and other related 4A agencies in the second, and monthly analysis on certain tasks of actual digital problems during the last final years. More...

In US, BPA Worldwide launches tool for audited site traffic

Shelton, CT January 11, 2012 – Global media auditor BPA Worldwide today announced the launch of its new online tool for audited site traffic. The free-access tool, available on the BPA website, includes six industry-standard metrics by month, including: page impressions, unique browsers, user sessions, unique browser frequency, user session duration and page duration.

According to Peter Black [pictured], BPA’s Senior Vice President, Business Development, the tool allows media buyers, advertisers, agencies and publishers to analyze BPA-audited traffic data in multiple ways. “Search criteria can be set up by name of site, keyword or market category,” Black explained. “In addition, all queries can be easily converted and opened or downloaded into an Excel format for a more user-friendly interface. This will be the industry’s one stop for audited traffic data.” More...

Will Amazon Offer Analytics as a Service?

Quentin Hardy of The New York Times writes: Specialists in data science say the company has become increasingly interested in the business models of firms that make and sell pattern-finding algorithms for extremely large data sets. They theorize that Amazon wants to move beyond its cloud services businesses — which rents data storage and raw computing power — and add to these offerings analysis software that can be rented, and possibly modified, to suit a company’s needs.

“Amazon has the expertise and the computing power to do something like this,” says Kyle McNabb [pictured], a vice president at research firm Forrester. More…

Unlock The Flock And Nix The Demographics

Amit Avner [pictured], Co-Founder and CEO of Taykey writes at MediaPost: Online behavior is very similar to flock behavior -- people flock to topics and quickly forget about them. This flock mentality renders demographic targeting virtually useless.

You need the tools to tell you who to target right now, based on what is interesting for your demographics -- not based on the demographics themselves. More...

In US, Nielsen and comScore Settle Patent Disputes

NEW YORK, NY and RESTON, VA, December 21, 2011 – Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN), a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers watch and buy, and comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the companies have settled their patent disputes.

“We are pleased with this resolution,” said Steve Hasker [pictured left], President, Media Products and Advertiser Solutions, Nielsen. “This agreement is supportive of and complements the substantial investments Nielsen has made in its intellectual property over the years. More...

“We are pleased to put this matter behind us and to bolster our patent portfolio, enabling the application of this intellectual property to many areas involving the Web, such as ad visibility and Web engagement measurements,” said Dr. Magid Abraham [pictured right], President & CEO, comScore. More…

In US, Tealeaf Acquires Overstat, Inc.

To Extend Online Customer Experience Management Leadership to Usability Analytics

San Francisco, CA, December 22, 2011 – Tealeaf®, the leader in online customer experience management (CEM), today announced that it has acquired Overstat, Inc., a San Francisco-based company specializing in cloud-based website usability analytics. The acquisition of Overstat®'s unique technology — including visual heatmaps and insightful form analytics — will extend Tealeaf's industry-leading Customer Experience Management offerings and power new products and services that will address a range of emerging customer experience needs for companies doing business online and on mobile devices.

"The acquisition of Overstat enables Tealeaf to extend our capabilities by adding even more context about the user experience, so that any company with an online presence can take action to optimize their sites and applications and drive significant business outcomes," said Rebecca Ward, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tealeaf. "We are excited to both broaden our value proposition and to extend that value to new markets and delivery models."  More...