BASIC BUSINESS METRICS FOR WEB ANALYTICS AND SEM

By Gloria Buono © 2006

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM) DEFINITIONS

“Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to various techniques for acquiring Web site traffic from search engines. These may include: 

•         Search Engine Submission (SES)

•         Search Engine Opimization (SEO)

•        Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising”

SEM Definition from Dr. Amanda Watlington, iProspect

“Search Engine Marketing is the Art and Science of increasing a web site’s visibility across the major search properties for a defined set of relevant keywords and phrases.”

MARKET CHRONOLOGY OF ONLINE METRICS

1. Impressions (aka visits) – Gross (duplicate visitors), net (deduped total) and average # hits per visitor
2. Page Views – number of pages visited on a site (gross, net, average)
3. Average Time Spent -  Per visitor and overall average time 
4. Revenue  and Revenue Per Order 
5. Average Revenue Per Order
6. ROI (Return on Investment)

SEM PURPOSE

•        To optimize ways for internet users to find your company’s Web site

•        To increase traffic and generate leads

•        To enable retention of a robust database of customers and prospects for ongoing needs and interests analyses

BUILDING CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS BY WEB ACTIONS

•        Online Purchases (e.g., click on cart)

•        Lead Generation (click for info)

•        Newsletter, White Paper, Blogs (click to become a subscriber)

•        Customer Service (issue resolved online)

•        Branding (clicks to enter contest, answer trivia questions for gift card, etc.); Branding builds web presence and customer loyalty

MARKET CHRONOLOGY- 1ST TIME TO RETURNING BUYERS

1. 1st time purchaser
2. Conversion (2nd purchase/visit)
3. Retention  (3 or more purchases/visits)

RETENTION METRICS

•        Recency

•        Frequency

•        Lifetime Value

Retention metrics can help determine the search words that generate the highest return visits

SEARCH MARKETING ACTION CHRONOLOGY

1. Internet user searches the Web
2. Clicks link from search results
3. Visits site
4. Purchases or just signs on
5. Registers with the site
6. Revisits the site
7. Makes 1st or 2nd purchase

SEM SEGMENTATION

•        Method used for measuring 1st time, conversion and retention (renewal) is by segmenting paid advertising from organic

•        With the popularity of RSS, new strategies are being developed and implemented

SEM SEGMENTS

•        Paid Advertising: search results include color highlighted ad listings

REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICTAION

•        RSS is a process created by Netscape to help internet users see updated headlines from websites or pages

•        Today RSS is used  by big search engines such as Ebay, etc., to help sellers to set up feeds that will automatically send out summaries of the most recently listed items in their store to subscribing RSS feed prospects

RSS RISK OR THREAT?

•        RSS may appear to pose a threat to the email promoter since the RSS subscriber gets the same information for free

•        Marketers should be aware of this trend as this can decrease the potential to advertisers who pay for keyword searches

USEFUL WEB ANALYTICS AND SEM RESOURCES

•        Search Engine Marketing Organization of North America:  www.sma-na.org 

•        World Wide Web Consortium:  www.w3.org

•        WebTrends:  www.webtrends.com

•        iProspect:  www.iprospect.com

•        Web1 Marketing:  www.web1marketing.com

•        Google Analytics:  www.google.com/analytics

•        ExactTarget: email.exacttarget.com/ETWeb/default.aspx

•        History of RSS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)#History

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