In the SES session “Measuring Success in a 2.0 World”, Matt Bailey, president, SiteLogic said, “The only way to get beyond 1.0 analytics is questions. Something no analytics software will do for you.”
(Coverage of the SES San Jose conference will continue through its end. Keep an eye on Murdok for more notes and video from the event this week.)
Start building context and keep segmenting for more context, so you understand what factors lead to conversion rates. Conversions rates for one group of people may not be comparable to another group.
“People come to your Web site for drastically different reasons. Telling a story is the only way that you will be able to compare and contrast the data that you are getting on your Web site.”
Marshall Sponder, Senior Web Analyst, Monster.com, says that traffic to a lot of social networks comes from social media but it doesn’t come from search. Social media sites like Digg and Reddit bring traffic.
Social media traffic is more directed than search traffic. Traffic to blogs comes from social media sites. You can get visitors to a site, but you need something for them to do. Analytics can help you measure what visitors to your site are doing.
Use monitoring tools such as Radian6 to track the effect of social media conversion. Measure the conversation and the outcomes of the conversation or you miss out on a large amount of data.
Cindy Krum, Director of New Media Strategies at Blue Moon Works, Inc. Blue Moon Works, Inc. is a new media marketing agency that specializes in Mobile SEO, contributed to this article.