Analytics Avenue

To My Blog Readers: Based on my traffic reports for this blog, I've noticed that a lot of you visitors have been using search queries that include phrases such as "yahoo assists", "yahoo analytics", "tracking revenue with yahoo full analytics", "javascript code needed for conversion tracking yahoo", "what is an assist yahoo conversion", etc. I'm here to say that if you have any questions or comments regarding Yahoo Analytics and its reports (such as Assists), I'd be more than happy to answer your questions directly. Simply send me an email at lilligm@yahoo-inc.com with your question(s) and I'll get back to you ASAP. Why waste your time trying to get answers to your questions by reading documentation (like you have to do with "other" web analytics vendors). Yuck. Just because analytics is free, it doesn't mean you have to miss out on quality customer support. I'll see you in my inbox.... Kind Regards, M...

For those who haven't seen the new ClickTale tracking service yet, here you go. It's a new visual tool that monitors the movements of a visitor on your pages. It also provides some interesting mouse navigation heat maps. I find this tool interesting to visually see how people are navigating my own blog. I find it to be a nice change of pace compared to other analytics tools where you are looking strictly at numbers and charts all day. It can definitely be a useful tool for web developers. Based on the stats ClickTale provides me, I was able to tell that this visitor in the video below was: - From the US - Using IE - Actively looking at my blog for 5 minutes and 17 seconds - Referred from Google after searching for the term "web analyst position" - Landed on my post called "How Many Stats Would A Stats Analyst Track If A Stats Analyst Could Tack Stats" Follow the little square (actual mouse movement) on the video..... Here is a snapshot of their h eat map...

A few months ago I did a web analytics interview with my good friend Rich Earle who is the blogger for the business blog "Tokens". Tokens is a blog that provides "impactful tools, tips, and thought provoking messages that provide value in the way you ultimately view, conduct, or renovate your sales, client service and marketing processes." http://www.businesstokens.com/ (select the 'Web Analytics' link under 'Categories')

I invite you to join myself and the Yahoo Analytics team on July 11th at BJ's Brewhouse in Burbank, CA for a Web Analytics Wednesday event. The event starts at 6pm. Address: 107 S 1st St Burbank, CA Telephone: 818.557.0881

For those who have explored Yahoo's latest web analytics options, you have most likely come across the 'Assists' report and wondered what the heck it is. Even more so, you may have asked yourself, "How am I supposed to use it?" First let me break down what Assists are. Assists are simply keywords that played a part in assisting other keywords in getting a conversion. Huh? Ok , here's an example: Let's say I'm a visitor looking to purchase a computer. I go to Yahoo.com and run a search using the term "computer" . I decide on clicking the Sony sponsored search ad for computers. I dig around on the SonyStyle.com web site but end up not purchasing anything. I then come back 14 days later and use the search term "Laptop" on Yahoo.com. But this time I decide to click on a different Sony sponsored search ad....for laptops. I reach the same SonyStyle.com site and I finally decide to make a puchase (conversion). The results in Yahoo.... The ...

Updated Note (11/20/2008): The post below dicusses the analytics found in the Yahoo! Sponsored Search interface (known as 'Conversion Only' analytics and 'Full Analytics'). It does not discuss Yahoo' s new web analytics platform called Yaho! Web Analytics. Information about Y!WA can be found by visiting: www.web.analytics.yahoo.com Yeah, you read it right. Yahoo has web analytics. And I'm not talking about just good old conversion tracking either. With the introduction of Yahoo's new search marketing platform (a.k.a. "Panama"), high end Yahoo advertisers now have the choice of choosing from two analytics options. The first option is the more traditional conversion tracking analytics. Or what Yahoo refers to as 'Conversion Only Analytics". Just like in the past, pay-per-click advertisers can place a java script tag (Conversion Tag) onto their confirmation page to help track form completions or shopping cart purchases. This conversion inf...