Category Archives: Analytics

New call tracking solution launched

Posted on by Ben Potter

There is a famous quote in the world of sales and marketing; ‘half my advertising works, I just don’t know which half’. For businesses investing in a range of marketing channels, both online and offline, this is a common problem. This is particularly true when the goal of your marketing efforts is to have prospects call you; it is impossible to know with any real degree of accuracy which marketing channels, or campaigns, these phone calls have originated from. Even if your sales team do remember to ask it is unlikely the prospect will recall whether it was a Google ad, a natural search listing or the flyer they found in the back of a magazine.

But there is a solution to this problem. ‘Call tracking’ is an accurate, simple and cost-effective method of establishing where your telephone leads originate from. It allows you to quickly identify which marketing channels are generating you sales, and therefore providing the best return on investment (ROI). You can track phone calls back to natural search listings, Paid Search adverts and email campaigns, as well as traditional advertising, such as newspaper adverts, radio and TV.

There are various solutions available but having taken a really good look at each of them, we have come to the conclusion that market leaders, AdInsight, offer the tool which is best suited to our clients. Having struck a partnership deal with AdInsight we can now offer their tried and tested system to Leapfrogg clients at discounted rates and with the support of the Leapfrogg team in the implementation and management of the system.

So how does it work? Well, in simple terms, a different telephone number is displayed on your website depending on the origin of the visitor. So for example, a different number would be displayed to a visitor who has clicked on a Paid advert to that of a person clicking on a natural search engine listing.

All calls continue to be routed through to your office or call centre. However, with a call tracking system sitting in the middle, real-time data is collected telling you the exactly where the call originated from. As a result, a much more accurate picture of ROI can be established for each of your marketing channels.

Highly accurate tracking of this kind offers unparalleled marketing intelligence. By acting on the data the system provides you can refine your marketing efforts to focus time and budget only on the channels that you know are providing a return. Now that’s powerful stuff!

For more information call the Leapfrogg team on 01273 322830 and we’ll explain how it works in more detail.

25 things to remember when launching a new website

Posted on by admin

As an Account Manager I regularly oversee website optimisation projects that involve the launch of a new website. In working in partnership with a client, and their developer on a new website project, we have the opportunity to optimise the site from the ground up, which presents significant benefits when compared to optimising an existing website that may have prevalent issues that are difficult to overcome.

One major factor to consider when launching a new site relates to the URLs because more often than not they will change according to a new language, platform or content management system (CMS). Changing URLs without proper planning and implementation of redirects can have serious, negative consequences.

We have worked with numerous clients and seamlessly implemented a redirect strategy after which their traffic and conversion rates continue to rise month on month (with a little help from ongoing digital marketing activity!). However, we have also worked with clients who have completely ignored our recommendations. The worst was one who refused to implement 301 redirects, despite our pleading, and we could only watch as their site lost 90% of its traffic overnight. Nightmate stuff!

We find that with our clients, mostly SME’s, creating a new site is a huge undertaking and investment in terms of time, money and resource, not to mention a stressful and daunting project as there are so many aspects to consider. This is also without the inherent risks of working with external agencies, each of which comes with its own set of concerns.

Often, the excitement of launching a new site takes precedent over a few vitally important steps to work through in ensuring the smooth transition from old site to new. It is here where an experienced pair of hands prove useful. So if you have a new site launch in the pipeline, I have created a set of guidelines to cover the most basic points to remember, useful for clients and Account Managers alike:

Before Launch

  • Be aware that you may see fluctuations with rankings and traffic for a few days, perhaps weeks, following the change. As an Account Manager it is important to manage expectations
  • Run a ‘site:’ search on Google before the launch and note down how many URLs are indexed
  • Ensure webmaster tools and analytics codes are on the new site prior to launch
  • Get redirect information and mappings from the web develop and check through this
  • Keep a record of all key page URLs, if not all URLs
  • Carry out a full audit of the site to ensure everything is present and correct

At Launch

  • Test key URLs in search engine listings and ensure they correctly redirect to the new corresponding page
  • Use a redirect checker to ensure correct redirects have been used, normally 301 for the permanent move of page from one URL to another
  • Check again that webmaster tools, analytics, PPC conversion code and any other tracking code is present on the new site and working
  • Ensure that ecommerce tracking is working if you have this set up
  • Check webmaster tools for errors
  • Run a ‘site:’ search a day after the launch and compare the number of URLs with those recorded before the launch, exploring any discrepancies. If needed continue to do this periodically after the launch until everything has returned to normal. If there are discrepancies it is worth checking that links at all levels (category, sub category, product, news items, testimonials and other info pages etc.) have been redirected and resolved to the new URL
  • By running through the ‘site:’ search check for odd looking URLs that do not appear within the site structure and explore why these are present and what to do with them
  • Ensure duplicate versions of the site or pages do not exist:
    o Does the site resolve with and without the ‘www’.? It should only be visible one one or ther other
    o Does the homepage have multiple versions using /default, /home, /index, etc?. Again, your homepage, and all pages in fact, should have one, definitive URL and not be found on duplicates
    o Do breadcrumb trail links match the navigation links?
    o Does the homepage link in the navigation match the homepage URL?
    o Has the XML sitemap used the same URLs as the navigation?
    o Does the site resolve on both http and https, another common error we see regularly
  • Update the default homepage in analytics if necessary
  • Ensure that goals URLs within analytics have been updated and if necessary edited or expanded. If Goals have changed update them within any templates e.g. stats or other reports
  • Ensure all PPC URLs have been updated
  • Ensure the PPC campaign has been expanded to match any new developments, such as added products
  • Ensure PPC auto tagging is still working
  • Ensure the XML sitemap has been updated
  • If you have not checked this at the start of the project ensure that all necessary IP addresses or ranges have been blocked
  • Check to see if URLs need to be updated within a local listing and that the local listing resolves correctly

Post Launch

  • Check webmaster tools for errors
  • Carefully watch overall traffic and particularly natural search engine traffic for the next couple of weeks
  • Take a record of the new URLs beside the ones

This is a basic list of some of the checks that should be made when launching a site, however each project will present individual challenges and should be dealt with on an individual basis.

I hope this has been useful. Remember ’301 redirects are your friend’ and a vital component in migrating an old site to a new one. But checking the redirects have worked correctly is hugely important, as well as the various other checks outlined above. Do not ruin the excitement of launching a new site with a mammoth drop in traffic because the redirects failed.

Measurement camp: London May 2009

Posted on by admin

I recently had the pleasure of attending Measurement Camp: A “global open-source movement” that was born to encourage the sharing of knowledge, ideas and theories about measuring social media. “A global open-source movement lends itself to the idea that, like open source software, all the ideas and secrets are publically shared and useable by all”.

Conceived by industry specialist and local boy done good Will McInnes of Nixon McInnes who curates the monthly event, Measurement camp attracts a diverse range of attendees from both client side as well as agencies, accountants, and PR’s,  all who benefit from dipping their toes into something a little different. Sponging knowledge from other peoples’ ventures into the slippery subject of social media is priceless. We can all learn something from each others endeavours, success and mistakes in an industry which has continued on an upward trajectory ever since the term web 2.0 was first coined.

The vibe at Measurement camp is very friendly, un-pretentious and wholesome – venue, bodies and brownies are all volunteered and a frank lecture during the intro on how “Measurement camp is not a pitch” keeps the atmosphere relaxed yet professional and the un-capped advice free flowing.

I came back to the office with gusto, and an open mind full of thoughts and ideas to share with colleagues and clients based around others experience, guidance, hints and tips to take how we measure social media up a level.

This open source ethos was inspirational, encouraging me to share the information I have gained on this blog so here are some of the key conclusions.

• Focus on a small but tailored target audience: With so many tools, platforms  and disciplines that make up social media  it can be difficult to know where to start. With some focused research into the target audience before hand, however, it is possible to find a smaller but more appropriate section of people to market the information to. This will, we concluded, in turn, yield a better response with more accurate data to evaluate afterwards. Once this theory has been proved, we are then able to widen this circle out to other areas.

A small focused campaign, for example could include very specific forums, a trouble shoot site, Twitter groups, regional Facebook ads and content.

• Test then test again: By setting up a matrix at the start of a campaign while recording the stats, we are able to test how the campaign is performing at regular intervals. This offers those working on the campaign a chance to evaluate performance and to tweak or change strategies according to ongoing results. We are also then able to keep the client informed throughout the length of the campaign and monitor the performance such as blog mentions, traffic from Flickr etc.

At the end of a campaign we can come back to the figures and evaluate the performance across the board with a more in-depth report which can then be delivered to the client. This does, of course, need to go hand-in-hand with constant feedback from the client regarding leads and sales their end. We need this data to add to our own figures to ensure a reliable and valid final equation.

• Objectives: set clear, specific objectives at the start of a campaign, and we mean more than “increased sales!”. This can include awareness, perception, traffic, influence, creation of leads and creation of non-traditional leads. This can be measured by looking at a cross section of both qualitative and quantitative data (methodological triangulation) in the forms of opinions, interaction with blogs, peaks in trends, traffic in analytics.

• Build Relationships: With traditional link-building still fundamental in campaigns, our social media experts are well versed in charming bloggers and site owners for back links. Remember, nurturing a relationship with the right channels, can result in some positive PR (as well as that warm glow) so all good stuff.  One camper described the story of how creating a wide net of meaningful relationships can result in some beneficial “back scratching”.

• Get your hands dirty and get involved: There are parameters that protect and prevent (and quite rightly so) us as an agency representing a person and client online. With the various platforms that enable us to syndicate (Ping) content around the online sphere, however, some situations will enable us to represent a project or team that a company is working on. If enabled with the appropriate recourse, knowledge and support this can be very productive.

• Research the client: There is no better expert in their market than the client themselves and some thorough research at the start of the campaign may be an extremely helpful insight. Any staff using Twitter? Any bloggers? Forums used? Vital information may be right under your nose…

My experience at Measurement camp was enlightening. I felt very encouraged by all the lovely people that are involved in social media and inspired by their genuine ambition to produce great results as well as their eagerness to share new ideas. Measurement camp is a monthly event so representatives of Leapfrogg will be back and I am looking forward to delivering a presentation of my own there in the future. Exciting times in the industry, no day, result, campaign is the same and the industry itself seems to be in a constant state of flux so with unpredictable variables it is down to us to harness this information into meaningful data for the client. So here’s to stepping into the unknown….

Changes to Google Analytics code – Try Catch Err

Posted on by admin

We have recently noticed data dropping off from a couple of analytics accounts. This ranges from just some data to all of it. After investigating we have found that Google have made “improvements” to the analytics code and added a little bit of extra code which should help with tracking data in some browsers. These tweaks should not have any impact on tracking if the old code is still in place, however we are seeing a few instances of data dropping off as a result.

Has anyone else experienced this?

New Google Analytics Code

Posted on by admin
There are more changes a foot with Google Analytics. We have just noticed that there is a new code to be used for tracking websites. It looks more complex than the previous code and should be able to offer better tracking in the future.

So why have Google done this and what does it mean for us?

The new code is far more complex than the legacy code and this is in preparation for new features that will be introduced by Google over the next year. If you stay with the old code these new features will not work.

They key change we are aware of so far if that the new code will automatically detect if a page is on a secure server.

In the past it was possible if non secure code was present on a secure page that an error message would appear informing the user that the page contains non secure items. If this was your shopping cart it is likely that many users would have been scared off at that point. With the new code this mix up can not occur which is great news.

However the bad news is that it is likely that the old code will be phased out in the next 18 months and as such there is likely to be a lot of time and effort spent by many SEM’s to get this replaced on their client sites. It will also mean for many clients extra costs involved in getting their developers to implement the new code.

As such make sure that from now on you use the new code for any new analytics set ups and possibly to prevent mass panic in the future start to slowly migrate websites from the old to the new code.

How to Link and delete analytics from your Google Adwords account

Posted on by Ben Potter

I have just managed to link a working analytics account to a clients Google PPC account. This might sound pretty straight forward, but not when your clients PPC account already has an analytics attached that isnt in use, and they have another analytics account which is already full of data and needs to be added. Inspired by Simon’s somewhat incestuous post about Link love i thought I’d also share the love.
Ok firstly Log into your client account at https://adwords.google.co.uk and click on the analytics tab then:

1) If you do not have an Analytics account;

  • click the Continue button to sign up for one – DONE


2) If you already have an Analytics account;

  • Click I already have a Google Analytics account.

  • Select the name of the Analytics account you would like to link to from the drop-down list

  • Keep the checkboxes selected on this page, unless you are sure that you would like to disable auto-tagging and cost data imports.

  • Click Link Account and the accounts are linked – DONE

3) If you find that there is an analytics account attached, BUT there is no data in there and the code is showing as not verified.

  • Check your client site contains the same analytics code as the empty analytics account. If it is the same then the client should check if it is set-up properly and this should then start logging data.

  • If the code on the clients site isn’t the same as the code in the analytics account;

  • Call your client and asked them if they have access to the other analytics account,

  • If they do, get them to set your personal Gmail address as an administrator or get the login to set it up yourself

  • Once you are an administrator, log in to the clients analytics with your Gmail address and password

  • Add the email used to access the Ad words account and copy it into the Users with access to profile section in the analytics account as an administrator in the analytics account and save it.

  • To delete the empty analytics account;

  • Call your Google customer service and ask them to delete the empty analytics account from the PPC account, as you can’t do this manually.

  • Once you get an email saying this is done

  • Log in to your Ad Words account at https://adwords.google.co.uk.

  • Click the Analytics tab.

    • Click I already have a Google Analytics account.

  • From the Existing Google Analytics Account drop-down list, select the name of the Analytics account you would like to link to *.

  • Keep the checkboxes selected on this page, unless you are sure that you would like to disable auto-tagging and cost data imports.

  • Click Link Account – DONE

Hope this explanation makes perfect sense!

Google Analytics: Average Time On Site update

Posted on by Ben Potter

Whilst checking client stats on Monday I noticed a huge discrepancy between the June and July figures a jump of around 80% in some cases.
Thanks to: Yohay from the things.co blog for his post questioning this issue. As it happens, Bounce rates are now excluded form the Avg. time on site figures and the update was ran on July 20th which accounts for the escalating figures now.

The analytics support team were quoted to have said:

Previously, the Average Time on Site had been calculated as the total time on site for all visits divided by the total number of visits. Both the total time on site and total number of visits included bounces.
As of July 20, 2007, we began reporting the Average Time on Site as the total ti
me on site for all visits (excluding bounces) divided by the total number of visits (excluding bounces). This change also affected data from earlier dates, not just newer data.
Because bounces have been removed from this calculation, you may notice a significant increase in the average amount of time spent on your site. Please be assured that we have in no way changed your data, only the way that the Average Time on Site is being calculated.

This is quite a significant change and I know a few people are wondering why this wasn’t flagged up by Google prior to the update, their is also a question of whether the removal of bounce rates from average time is industry standard. If I hear anymore I’ll update you.

Everybody’s Talking about the new Google Analytics!

Posted on by admin

We all recently had a little bit of a shock when we saw the new Beta Google Analytics. After mastering the old one we now had to learn where everything was again and also get to grips with some new data.

So has it been improved or is this just a makeover?


Well after using it for the last couple of weeks and talking with a number of clients I would say that it seems to be a resounding success. I was sceptical at first but with every day I am discovering new things which please my little analytical mind more and more.

So some key improvements I have found are:

1. It looks slick and seems to perform even slicker.
2. We can now see the elusive average time on the site which was mysteriously missing from the old analytics!
2. We now have even more detail related to keywords, including pages per visit, average time, new visits and bounce rates.
4. We can now see separate data for all paid and non paid search engine traffic.
5. The new navigational analysis tool is great and you can see more data on where users came from and went to!

I am discovering more and more by the day and can only say that I have been very pleasantly surprised by Google this time!