How To Pick A SEM Agency: Part 2 Web Analytics
I apologize for the delay in continuing with this series. It should pick up as I’ve been able to clear quite a bit off my plate lately. In the first part of this series we examined Search Engine Marketing and the components that go into picking a successful agency or consultant. The second of five part series will focus on web analytics, and how it plays an integral part of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and should be a major consideration when picking a SEM agency or consultant. The rest of the series will focus on:
- Search Engine Marketing
- Web Analytics
- A/B and MVT Experimentation
- Landing Page Optimization
- Online Marketing
Web Analytics
Search Engine Marketing blogs, articles, and books have primarily focused on Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter when it comes to tips, tricks, and suggestions. All of this coverage is well deserved, but that only covers 50% of the equation. In a future post I’ll detail landing page optimization, but for now I would like to cover web analytics. Web Analytics has taken off in recent years with Google Analytics offering near enterprise level features for free as well as with bloggers such as Occam’s Razor providing insight into analysis and interpretation of the data. In choosing a SEM vendor or consultant you need to ensure that they are fully utilizing a web analytics application to gain insight onto what visitors are doing once they get to your site. They can control the equation before in doing keyword research, writing ad copy, geotargeting, dayparting, destination URLs, etc. What they don’t know beyond what basic conversion tracking tells them is what happens on the landing page without the use of web analytics. Some of the questions that web analytics can answer include:
- Are visitors bouncing at a high rate?
- What specific keywords are driving traffic if you have keywords in broad match?
- What is the average amount of page views and time on site per keyword?
- What keyword position results in the highest conversion rate?
- What is the average revenue per keyword?
Web Analytics is essentially the other 50% of the equation in determining the success or failure of a SEM campaign. Without it you are flying blind. My recommendation is to ensure that your SEM vendor either has access to your existing web analytics or implements a web analytics application along with the launch of any SEM campaign. Quiz them on their knowledge of web analytics, and how they use it in conjunction with SEM. This also provides additional transparency for you the client as you can gauge the impact that SEM is having on your business compared to other Online Marketing efforts that you may be engaged in such as SEO, Email, Display, Affiliate, etc. If setup correctly you should be able to see ROI calculated automatically along with any sales data provided that you have an e-commerce or lead generation based site. The great thing about a tool such as Google Analytics or any other JavaScript based application is that once the data is collected you have historical data that can be used in the future. You may not need it now but you’ll have it should you do need it at some point. While Web Analytics is not the primary reason to select a SEM vendor it is a critical component. If you have any questions about this post or any other blog posts please feel free to contact me.
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