ThinkMetrics CEO Brandt Dainow recently wrote a piece for iMedia Connection on the Worst Website Measurement Mistakes . Dainow advises web marketers to ignore total site traffic and focus on conversions. While the article is useful overall and Dainow's arguments are valid, I have one slight disagreement with him and one observation to add. First, the contention that overall site traffic doesn't matter; while it's true that absolute traffic levels don't matter, relative traffic levels do -- site traffic should increase over time. Dainow is absolutely on target in pointing out that one-shot campaigns such as email blasts (or worse, sweepstakes), while effective at driving short-term traffic spikes, often lead to few if any new sales. On the other hand, long term, regular activities such as monthly newsletters, blogs , and SEO activities produce less dramatic but more sustainable traffic growth, which generally corresponds more reliably with sales growth as well. Seco...

Website analytics tools ranging from the elegant but pricey Websense to the cumbersome but free Google Analytics provide an exhaustive array of analytical statistics: how many visitors are finding your site, where they are finding it, how they are searching for it, what they do when they get there, how much time they spend, and on and on. But which statistics do C-level executives really care about? If you are running a search marketing campaign, the measures that top the list for executives, not surprisingly, are leads, cost per lead, and associated trends. These three metrics tell executives how well search marketing efforts are working, how efficient those efforts are, and whether web marketing productivity is getting better or worse over time. Next, they want to know the top search marketing keywords -- which phrases are drawing the highest number of clicks. Needless to say, your website should be naturally search optimized for these terms as well. Third is reverse domains: what...

Marketing Sherpa recently published an excellent and thorough review of webinar / web conferencing vendors. (After February 18th, 2007, it'll cost you a few bucks, but it's worth it.) Key finding: "A MarketingSherpa survey last year found that technology marketers ranked webinars as one of the top three marketing techniques and that 35% rated them as “very effective” -- second only to product demos in popularity." The publication used seven criteria (price, features, registration form / thankyou customization, automated email reminders, call-in audio options, event reporting, and event recording options) to evaluate the following web conferencing providers: - Convoq ConferenceASAP - GoToWebinar - iLinc - Infinite Conferencing - MeetingBridge - MegaMeeting - ON24 (previously covered here ) - Premiere Global Services - ReadyTalk - Vcall - Webcast Group - WebEx - WebDialogs Event Central Some of these vendors (and others not on this list) have previously been reviewed h...

ON24 , a producer of webcasting and rich media marketing campaigns for B2B companies, recently released its annual ON24 Insider on Publishing: Key Webcasting Findings for the Publishing Industry report for 2006. The report details trends in the use of webcasting and podcasting (audio webcasting) by B2B marketers, participation, interactivity and other metrics. Among the key findings: - The use of both video and audio webcasting by B2B marketers increased in 2006 over 2005, though video grew somewhat faster (44% vs. 32%), driven by the increasing acceptance of webcasts as a B2B lead generation tool and the widespread adoption of broadband Internet connections, even in home and small office environments. - Average attendance per event increased by about 9%. - On average, more than half of registrants actually participate in the event. - The use of live webcasts grew significantly faster than on-demand events, and account for the vast majority (85%) of webcasting events. However, archivi...

If you haven't downloaded Marketing Sherpa's Marketing Wisdom for 2007 report yet, check it out -- it's packed with insight, ideas, and a few just plain entertaining stories of real-world marketing. Of particular interest is item #87, which details a highly successful and award-winning direct mail campaign done for a supply chain management outsourcing vendor (okay, I may have had something to do with this). Here's the original story: The challenge: design a direct marketing program to get the attention of C-level executives and VPs at medium to large software companies for a strategic, high-value service, specifically, outsourced supply chain management from Zomax. The plan: a direct mail campaign utilizing an interactive CD inside a DVD case with an insert showing a superhero illustration to give the package a video game feel. The flying superhero wore a high-tech toolpack on his chest with tools creatively labeled to reflect the company’s supply chain servic...