Do you evaluate your employees regularly to measure job performance and assess their ongoing value to your company and its objectives? Of course you do. What about your website? Thing is, your website is no different from an employee (except it works 24/7/365 for very little and requires no breaks). You’ve invested in it to do a job or a set of jobs in an effort to meet continuing corporate goals. Do you measure its job performance regularly? Many do not – even though websites are one of the easiest marketing tools to track and measure performance on.

The three primary reasons we get for this most often are (1) I don’t know how to get started; (2) I don’t understand the data and how to apply it to my goals & objectives; and/or (3) it’s just too cost-prohibitive for my business. All of these concerns are easily remedied through Google Analytics®.

For more than a decade, our firm offered a software traffic reporting system called WebTrends™. This robust, comprehensive traffic reporting system offers everything from simple hit and page view counts to more complex data like entry (and entry source) information, visitation time (down to individual pages), form completion and stop points, and other viable usage information. It has terrific reporting tools allowing for detailed charts and graphs to be created.

The one problem we found ongoing was that WebTrends™ required a lot of server resources to process traffic information and generate reports. In addition, WebTrends™ is not inexpensive. It was for these two reasons that we began seeking out an alternative tracking and reporting system a couple of years ago and came across Google Analytics® – a free service provided by Google™ that seemed to offer everything we would need for not only our own needs, but the needs of our clients as well.

Today, we use Google Analytics® to not only measure and analyze our own site traffic, but we also recommend it to clients and include it as part of all SEM/SEO campaigns we develop. Our team of SEM/SEO experts understand the data generated and how it apply to a dynamic online marketing campaign. We can help you determine what works with your site and what doesn’t. And, since we are a full-service website development firm, we can help make those adjustments on the fly helping you see greater return on investment (ROI).

Right now, we are offering a special rate of $74.95 to install and configure Google Analytics® per site. Whether you decide to use Google Analytics® or some other reporting system, NetPass or another provider, we highly recommend you do something that enables you to track site traffic and determine site performance. If you would like additional information, call us toll-free at 888.296.7277 or e-mail sem@netpass.com. There is never any obligation.

If you read our last post about the Microsoft/Yahoo Merger, you already know that it stands to create more intense competition for Google. Apparently, Google realizes this also because they have now decided to pre-launch a new version of their Search Engine codenamed Google Caffeine. There’s been quite a bit of buzz in the SEO/SEM community, and one reason for this buzz is that Google has decided to release an early version of the new engine to the development community. We’ve included a link to this new version here, http://www2.sandbox.google.com.

What exactly Google has in store is a bit of a mystery. There are quite a few theories circulating throughout the development community. The only clarity established so far was released by Google in this statement:

“For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next generation architecture for Google’s web search. It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we’re opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback.”

Most believe that there will be more than a “few differences” in the new engine on final release.

So the question is how will this affect current rankings within Google? Some fear it may drastically impact rankings and since Google is still the most widely used engine on the market, this is a major concern. Our experience is that Google has never been too concerned with the way rankings are impacted by change, particularly if the result is more relevant listings. And, because Google is constantly working to improve search result quality, you shouldn’t be too concerned either. However, NetPass will keep a watchful eye on the progression of the new search system and, when the time comes for Google to roll it out, we’ll be on top of any submission, advertising, etc. specifications that should arise out of the new launch. Until then, don’t hesitate to contact us at 888.296.7277 or by e-mail seo@netpass.com to discuss your current search positions and get more information on our professional online marketing services.

Recently, it was announced that Yahoo and Microsoft have brokered a deal in which Microsoft will power the searches on a number of Yahoo’s properties resulting in an estimated market share increase of around 22% meaning Microsoft’s new Bing search engine could soon tout market shares as high as 30% up from their previous 8.4%.

Most important to SEO/SEM providers like NetPass and our subscribers is that, according to Gartner analyst Neil McDonald, this deal could result in a positive feedback loop for Microsoft, something Google has already enjoyed for a number of years now. What is a positive feedback loop? Simply put, the more relevance the engine carries, the more individuals will use the search engine increasing the number advertisers and how much they will spend to reach those individuals.

While there are some grumblings in the industry, mostly surrounding the future of Yahoo as a result of this partnership, the most important facet for our industry and those we serve are the changes in how quickly we address this shift and modify our search engine marketing practices to adjust for this shift in the search engine marketplace. For our clients, one thing we’re already addressing is how their current search rankings will be effected once Microsoft powers search results. If left unattended, those rankings could dive resulting in traffic loss which is why we are integrating SEO tactics specific to Bing in an effort to combat this for our existing and all future clients.

Want more information on this and/or our firm, please call us at 888.296.7277 or e-mail sem@netpass.com.

Sources:

CNN.com