Talk about fast... the cd for the Windows update arrived today - so instead of 6-8 weeks it actually took 2 or 3 days. I still haven't gotten the courage to upgrade. But maybe in a few weekends I'll have the time to do it right-- you know back up things before hand etc.

This week we're going to be trying to compile the stats packages into a nice table then choose a couple of them to review further. That update should happen within the next day or two.

Have a good one.

Tim

A few misc. things on this Friday.

Last night we went to a birthday party at our local pool. I've been working with Haley practically the whole summer, teaching her how to swim. Well last night - she just did it - she swam about five or so feet, then more. To me that is a good example of internet marketing. You have to "do" a lot of different things. Many times it may seem that what you're doing isn't worth it, your friends think you're crazy etc. Then everything comes together and you start "doing" it. So DON'T GIVE UP.

Microsoft has releases the big SP 2 update. If you don't want to download it or if you're like me and your internet connection is slow. You can order a CD free from microsoft by going here.
Click Here. I ordered mine today so I'll let you know when I get it. Be warned though, some folks are having trouble with different things with the patch. You can get an idea of those things by checking out the following link.
http://techrepublic.com.com/1200-22-5303956.html?tag=e101


A great article on how spyders and web crawlers work:
http://www.webreference.com/authoring/robots/


Have a great weekend.

We take a break today to bring you a nice tool you can use for your optimization.

URL Info -

http://www.faganfinder.com/urlinfo

You can use this tool to find out almost anything about a url. It's a great tool to check backlinks.
My suggestion would be to start with your URL - then work on the competition.

See you tomorrow.

There a quite a few solutions for ROI that would break the bank. Some of those are listed below.
Our focus is to find some that are useful for small business. So you can do your own research on these.


Webabacus - http://www.webabacus.com
Site Intelligence - http://www.site-intelligence.co.uk
Webtraffiq - http://www.webtraffiq.com
SteelTorch - http://www.steeltorch.com
Nedstat - http://www.nedstat.com
WhiteCross Systems - http://www.whitecross.com
Intellitracker - http://www.intellitracker.com
NetGenesis (CustomerCentric Solutions) - http://www.customercentricsolutions.com/
Clickstream - http://www.clickstream.com
Accrue - http://www.accrue.com
RedSheriff- http://www.redsheriff.com
RedEye - http://www.redeye.com
Speedtrap - http://www.speed-trap.com
Touch Clarity - http://www.touchclarity.com
Visual Insights - http://www.visualinsights.co.uk

Till tomorrow have a good one.

Today we look at two more stats packages -

Sawmill -
http://www.sawmill.net/organization.html

ROI - Possible to track downloads
Normal search stats - Yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Your server
Multiple sites - yes with additional cost
Cost - - $139.00 for a single profile.
More pricing details -
http://www.sawmill.net/us_pricing.html

Funnel Web - We look at the Funnel Web Profiler
http://www.quest.com/funnel_web/analyzer/

Their website is difficult to find answers you're looking for.

ROI - Possible
Normal search stats - Yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Yours
Multiple sites - No
Cost - - Free - additional cost for modules.



Till tomorrow have a good one.

Tim

Weekends sure do fly by - Monday is here though whether we like it or not. But the great thing about Monday is your week is like a blank sheet of paper. You can do what you want to with it.

I found a really great newsletter on the web this weekend. The goal stuff is a great gem. You can find it at the link below.

http://www.marketingsecrets.com/massiveissue.html

This week we continue reviewing the stats programs.... why would we spend so much time on this. If you don't know how many / where your visitors are coming from, how can you know that you're improving (or not).

Tim

Hey it's Friday. Hope you have had a wonderful week.

Next week we should complete the reviews of the stats / ROI programs. Then we'll work on our recommendations.

Here's your assignment for the weekend.
Make a list of your five "best" customers.
Write a letter (NOT an email) to the first one on the list.
Just make it a thank-you letter. DO NOT try and sell them anything.

It can be short / sweet - two or three paragraphs or so. Just thank them for being your customer. Tell them you appreciate them (and why). Make sure to mail it on Monday.

Tim

Two more stats programs today:

Deep Metrix:

http://www.deepmetrix.com/livestats/net/index.aspx

They have several different programs - we'll focus on the commerce one since we're interested in tracking sales as well.
http://www.deepmetrix.com/hosted/commerce/index.aspx

ROI - YES
Normal search stats - YES
Reports - YES
Your server or theirs - Theirs
Multiple sites - NO
Cost - ~ $200.00 / month

Urchin
http://www.urchin.com

Urchin has different modules that you "plug in".
Here's a nice master list of features.
http://www.urchin.com/products/feature_list_master.html

Again we'll go for the campaign module.

ROI - YES
Normal search stats - YES
Reports - YES
Your server or theirs - Either
Multiple sites - Yes (increases cost)
Cost - around 5 k -
http://www.urchin.com/products/purchase.html

Tomorrow we'll have the weeks wrap up.
Tim

Today we're going to look at a couple more trackers.

Free Stats -
http://freestats.com/

ROI - NO
Normal search stats - YES
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Theirs
Multiple sites - No
Cost - from Free (with a banner on your site) to $8.99 / month.
Details on each plan can be found here -
http://www.freestats.com/learnmore.html

CH Web Analyzer

http://www.softngine.com/analyzer/analyzer.htm

Details below are for the professional edition.


ROI - No - but this is just from a quick glance - it may be possible.
Normal search stats - YES
Reports - YES
Your server or theirs - Your Server
Multiple sites - yes see price details below.
Cost - This solution you buy

Pricing details are here: http://softngine.com/analyzer/analyzer_pricing.htm

More tomorrow.
Tim

So far we've reviewed the following tracking systems.

Web Trends - http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/products/webtrends/default.asp
Hits Link -http://www.hitslink.com
Smart Tracking http://www.s-tracking.com/
Open Tracker http://www.opentracker.net/
Index Tools - www.indextools.com
Clicked Tracks (hosted) http://www.clicktracks.com/hosted/

You can check the previous days blogs (or check the archives as well).

Pro Analyzer
http://www.proanalyzer.com/
This program is focused solely on ROI

ROI - YES
Normal search stats - NO
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Installs on your Server
Multiple sites - No
Cost - $97.00 (one time)

Click Alyzer
http://www.clickalyzer.com

ROI - YES
Normal search stats - YES
Reports - YES
Your server or theirs - Theirs
Multiple sites - NO
Cost - Varies to traffic - starts @ $19.95
http://www.clickalyzer.com/subscribe.php

More tomorrow.
Tim

Hopefully Charlie didn't cause too much damage in your neck of the woods.

We had a good weekend here. This week we're going to continue checking out some additional stats programs. Till tomorrow we hope you stay warm, safe and dry.

Tim

This week has flown by - the olympics are coming up this week. Below are some links you might find fun (and useful).

TV Listings - http://www.tvguide.com/olympics
NBC's Olympic stuff - http://www.nbcolympics.com/index.html
The "official" site - http://www.athens2004.com/

Enjoy!

Till Monday.
Tim

It's early :o) - got a couple of additional stats packages to review -

The first is Web Trends. I figured this would be a very expensive one (and they do offer an expensive version), we're going to talk about the $35.00 a month version.

http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/products/webtrends/default.asp

ROI - Yes (if you buy the software version - $495.00
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - no

Hits Link -
http://www.hitslink.com

ROI - Yes (if you buy the software version - $495.00
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - no
Cost - Varies - starts at $14.95 / month - probably figure around $50.00 / month.
http://www.hitslink.com/statistics-pricing.aspx

For some reason I like Hits link.

Tomorrow is Friday!!
Tim

Today we review a couple of more stats packages - one note when we get finished we'll offer some analysis / observations / recommendations.

Smart Tracking
http://www.s-tracking.com/

Features can be found here:
http://www.s-tracking.com/features.htm

ROI - NO
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - no
Cost - Price varies according to number of page views - up to 5,000 / month are free.
Pricing details are here - http://www.s-tracking.com/pricing.htm

ROI - NO
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - no
Cost - Price varies according to number of page views - up to 5,000 / month are free.


Open Tracker
http://www.opentracker.net/

ROI - YES - using click streams
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - Yes
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - no
Cost - $16.99 / month Details on pricing can be found here -
http://www.opentracker.net/pages/pricing_detailed.jsp

More tomorrow.
Tim

We'll work on checking two or three stats packages a day -


www.indextools.com Looks like a good package -

They have premium and enterprise versions -
A good comparison of them can be found here -
http://www.indextools.com/products/pricing.html

ROI - yes - enterprise version
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - 100's
Your server or theirs - Their server.
Multiple sites - yes
Cost - Free trial -
Premium version $19.95 / month (50 k pageviews / month)
Enterprise - $49.95 (50 k pageviews / month)
Extra bandwidth costs can be found here -

Clicked Tracks (hosted)
http://www.clicktracks.com/hosted/

They have different products as well - a comparison can be found here -
http://www.clicktracks.com/product_comparison.php


ROI - yes - enterprise version
Normal search stats - yes
Reports - 100's
Your server or theirs - Their server.Multiple sites - yes
Cost - Free trial -
Analyzer hosted $49.00 / month but is extremely limited - extra bandwidth charges also apply.
Analyzer hosted Pro - $239 /month (starts there)

More tomorrow.

This week we're going to be talking about stats. Without a good stats package / program you're like a fish out of water. With a good package you'll be able to know -
a) where your traffic is coming from.
b) how well your advertising is doing.
c) which pay per click terms are converting (and which aren't),
and much more.

For the next few days we'll be taking a look at a variety of stats packages and comparing them.

Enjoy your Monday.

It's Friday - :o)

Friday's treat is a list of five good business / promotion blogs to visit.
http://www.webmasterworld.com
http://www.ablake.net/forum/
http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/
http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/index.php

Enjoy your weekend.

So what is the best bait - the only way you'll know that is by testing. How do you test - the first thing you'll need is a good stats package. We'll be talking about stats next week - then about testing the week after. For now think a bit about the different kinds of bait that you can use -

- a free newsletter - again like the post you make on forums you want this at least 80% good information and 20% selling your stuff.
- a sales offer - buy 2 get shipping free.
- your pricing - low / high / middle ground which works best.

You get the general idea. Now come up with some on your own.

The folks at Sherpa conducted a survey - you might be interested in the results.

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2780

Till tomorrow.
Tim

So you've found the fish, you've learned where they like to hang out. Now you want to think about what kind of bait you want to use. Since you're hanging out with your customers you'll start to realize some of the things they need / want. Things that keep coming up over and over again. Add these offers to your site and use them as bait.

Example:

Say you have a gift basket site. Your focus is on teddy bears. You learn during your wonderings that a lot of people are asking about baskets for people that already own bears. You work on creating a basket that includes accessories (clothes etc) for current bear owners - you also create a jumbo basket that has the bear and some accessories.

Tim

A Tip today before we learn more about fishing. While you've been finding places where your fish hang out, did you find any forums. My wife when she first started her site got tons of visitors by answering questions on the forum. Just remember:

- follow the forums posting policies.
- make sure advertising for your own site (at the start) makes up no more than 10% of your reply. As you become "known" on the forum you can increase this gradually, but try to keep it below 30%.
- the best thing is to answer questions. Pretty soon you'll become the resident expert.

Till tomorrow.
Tim

One of the best search engine news sources is from search engine watch. You can catch the latest updates by going here -

http://searchenginewatch.com/article.php/2148821 Make sure to check out all the links.

This week (Tuesday - Thursday) we'll continue the series on fishing, which hopefully you'll enjoy.

Till tomorrow,
Tim