Major news in SEO and Analytics

Posted by Dan Katz in Measurement on October 20, 2011

Google has made an announcement that is going to have massive impact on website analytics and SEO.  This announcement is that Google is no longer going to by default pass to sites the search terms people have found your site. This is going to be restricted from those users logged into a Google product and not delivered unless you have a Google Adwords account and campaign in progress.

The impact of such a move by Google to current analytical and SEO practices should not be overlooked. The reality is that Google is the only search engine that delivers a solid steady volume of valued visitors.  We know this because we can (not I should say could have – past tense) see the keywords used in Google to reach and travel through to conversions by every Google referral. Now, without an Adwords account and campaign, this data is only partial and will not entirely reflect the valued data from visitors who find the site from Google.

How important is this?  Massive! The measure of such keywords in often the primary KPI (key performance indicator) of activities to ensure the site is not only found, but clicked through in search results. Then, there is the discovery use.  We use these terms to identify those phrases that we are associated by the visitors to strength or reduce the association.  Without this data we lose some of the most powerful analytics in our tool chest.

Is this good for me and my clients? No. It restricts my practices and in the short term is going to alienate me from Google.  Is this good for Google? No, this is GREAT for Google.  This means that they are going to see an enormous growth in the use of Adwords simply so that sites can obtain this data. I image also that the newly announced commercially supported Google Analytics service probably will have this data available as well.

Here are a couple of good articles on this subject.  I am sure lots more will be published soon.

 

No Comments

Solving the WordPress IIS 500 Error for Image Display

Posted by Dan Katz in WordPress on September 27, 2011

For quite some time we had an issue where on an IIS server there was a WordPress 500 server error anytime we use the media Library to upload images. We set the permissions on the parent directory of the uploads folder but this would not resolve the issue.

It took a long time to figure out the issue and finally I found these posts that provided the immediate solutio – set the PHP/Windows temp directory to be accessible by the IUSR account.  Instant fix.  Thank you to all those who have provided the solution.

Now the request to the WordPress development team – include this in the notes or setup for Windows installations.

 

 

No Comments

Where to Post Job Openings for PHP Developers – Drupal and WordPress

Posted by Dan Katz in Business on May 11, 2011

My firm (www.repequity.com) has some openings for sharp PHP developers.  I am thinking we should post these jobs to places other than the routine of posting to the major jobs boards such as Dice, HotJobs, Monster and Craigslist. We of course post the openings on our Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn accounts. I then found these sites that seem to be those that PHP developers reference.  What do you think of these or other sites?  Are there others we should post openings and freelance work?

Thanks to Finding WordPress Jobs and need a Drupal Expert for inspiration on getting this list started.

 

 

 

No Comments

How to go about selecting a CMS

Posted by Dan Katz in Best Practice on March 21, 2011

A client has come to us for analytics and other consulting.  We then found that they manage their rather large and complex site entirely via manual HTML edits. They know they need a better way and are considering content management systems.  Chatting with them I see they have not outlined in a formal manager the business requirements for the management of not just their website, but their entire digital framework. A good short list of needs that the team agrees upon should be the basis of evaluation and selection.  Here are some questions the business requirements should consider.

  • What is the product road map of the CMS and how is it supported?  Does this match your corporate culture and comfort level.
  • How big is the site and what are particular feature and functional requirements?  Can the CMS package support these items that you currently utilize but also those that may be needed in the future?  For example, every site should expect to have a mobile and location-based requirement even if you do not have the current need.
  • What is the analytics package you will utilize?  Is this supported with tools to customize the metrics and settings within the CMS?
  • What technologies is your IT staff comfortable managing?  For that matter, do you have an IT staff or will this need to be managed by a partner?
  • How many people will need to manage the website?  Where will they be located?  Do you need a workflow for data entry, review and approval?
  • What tools that are in place will need to link to the CMS?  Email marketing, CRM, SEO, SEM, social media monitoring and engagement and others should all be able to integrate with the CMS. Existing partnerships, modules or other linkages will enable a more immediate and cost-effective hook up.
  • Will this be rolled out buy an internal team, external tam, partner or others and with what level of expertise?  This needs to be taken into consideration for the training and service options available?
  • What is the budget range for the initial phase and the eventual enterprise roll out? This is key as there is a wealth of options but many can be priced right out of the budget.

Here are some other good reads regarding CMS Selection.

This is just my short list of items?  What else should be added to this list of considerations?

No Comments

White House Use of Twitter

Posted by Dan Katz in Marketing on May 12, 2010

This NY Times article is a good highlight of the White House policy changes in light of the recent BP oil rig disaster. An interesting note is the following.

The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, announced the proposed changes in the mineral agency Tuesday morning over Twitter.

Two points of interest.

  1. The White House used Twitter as the official release point. Not the press pool, not a release, nor any other channel. Twitter was the first official news channel.
  2. More importantly, the NY Times is nonchalant about the use of the Twitter channel as the release point. This is written as if this is no big deal and a common method for news distribution.

Overall this carries forth such major implications I am stunned that no one else is highlighting this point. Imagine, if the media did not monitor the WH Twitter feed then they would hear about the announcement second hand. Basically, the be a Washington insider this says you must be a Twitter user. It also says that the mainstream media is fully acceptant of this as a channel as this and other stories are again complexly nonchalant about news being released over Twitter before it is ever released over a wire.

Aside: And where are the traditional news wires in all of this – absent. PR Newswire and Businesswire have not integrated Twitter or other delivery other than RSS and email into their distribution models. It looks as if journalists are uninterested in Twitter feeds of releases from these services. Wire distribution now lags so far behind Twitter and other SM channels in the speed of distribution that the relevancy of these services to reach interested parties in an immediate manner is lagging.

No Comments