We have always argued that Google Analytics is an Enterprise-level application, but with the latest release, the tool has a muscular look and feel that puts it solidly in the Enterprise space, along with long-term giants like Omniture. We recently returned from the Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC) conference in Mountain View, and it’s clear that Google is committed to this tool and its long-term possibilities.

Now that it’s arrived, how should it be used? Never has such a powerful analytics tool been available for free. But does that make it different? What challenges do companies face when trying to install it? How should it be marketed? In the next couple of weeks we’ll explore these issues and possibilities.

Some authors have already written at length about the new implementation, including Eric Peterson. We recommend you start there while considering the possibilities of Google Analytics for your company, whether you’re a marketing firm trying to improve your web marketing offerings or a company trying to make sense of what’s happening to their website online.

Google Insights for Search is an exciting tool and if you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, you ought to. This tool lets you research what people search for and when they have done it. It’s the sort of tool that can provide hours of entertainment to people interested in Internet marketing.

Certain parts of the user interface, however, present usability problems. It all comes down to an relying too heavily on the dropdown menu when other controls would work better.
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At Tuesday’s marketing roundtable at Spark Central in Ann Arbor the panel had a very interesting discussion about the future of mobile marketing. They talked a lot about geo-targeted ads that are sent to a potential customer’s cell phone who has opted in to receive such message.

This got me wondering how paid search will work on mobile devices. One option is Google Mobile ads which are designed to appear on mobile websites but what about the growing number of iPhone users that don’t access mobile websites rather they view standard HTML? We can assume they will see paid search ads the same way we view them on a desktop computer. The next question is how many mobile internet users use search engines. A study done by iCrossing showed that 75% of mobile web users conduct searches, which in theory means traditional paid search ads will display 75% of the time mobile web users get online. This is a big number so I think it’s important that paid ads are displayed accurately.

Is a 3” screen is really large enough to be effective with paid ads? First of all I would think you need to zoom in to read any of the search result listings on a cell phone. Regardless of legibility the first 3 paid ads above the organic listings are still be prime real estate but once zoomed in I would think the paid ads along the right hand side wouldn’t be visible. This got me to wondering if cell phones are truly going to be the only way we get on the internet are we really going to settle for that small screen?

At Pure Visibility we work off mobile laptops but when we get in to work we typically plug in out computer to bigger monitors to make it easier to read in addition to keyboards and mice. I am a believer that in the near future both desktop and laptop computers as we know them are going to be gone and replaced by powerful mobile sized computers. If you think about it we are already there. Apple’s iphone, Google’s android, and Blackberrys aren’t just cell phones, they are computers. Once a cell phone/computer is as powerful as my laptop why would I lug around my laptop to and from work and travel? I could just carry the mobile computer and while at work plug it into a bigger monitor with keyboard and mouse. I could have the same set up at home so that I could work quickly and efficiently there too. This would also solve the problem of the screen size and paid search advertisements when I’m working from a stationary place. Some people are speculating that our mobile computers will have screens in front of our eyes that track our eye movement and allow us to control the computer. Sounds too far out for me, but I really like the idea of my work computer being able to fit in my pocket because it means commuting by bicycle is that much easier. My prediction is that paid ads won’t be as effective for people searching on the go, but as far as a mobile internet and a standard internet I think we are heading to standard internet and this idea of a different mobile web will become irrelevant.

Can you still provide “high touch” service through an ecommerce site? Yes.

Touch still happens in ecommerce and can be an important factor in differentiating yourself from your competition. A well-crafted user experience is the touch. Anyone can throw together a website that sells widgets. Crafting an effective and helpful website to sell widgets and combining it with stellar customers service at every point of interaction takes effort and is going to appeal to those with the money to buy a better experience.
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LinkedIn has added a great new feature to help people network!   Last week, LinkedIn added Events, a feature which lets users list events and other users to indicate whether they are going or if they are interested in going. This feature isn’t groundbreaking, but the value of having it in LinkedIn is that it is now easier to promote an event to your LinkedIn connections.

When I found out about this on Friday, I was excited. Within a couple of hours, I created a listing for the World Usability Day event I’m planning here in Ann Arbor. I thought I was exploring uncharted territory. You can imagine my surprise when I saw several listings for upcoming Pure Visibility classes. “What’s up with that?” I said.
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Google Analytics provides powerful aggregate data about general groups or categories, but companies, particularly when targeted a key smaller market demographic, may want data at the level of the individual.

Unfortunately, Google Analytics tools is not designed with this function in mind, for privacy, technical, and philosophical reasons. While we generally agree with this setup, sometimes you just need to get data on individuals. In those situations there are some strategies that you can use to get the individualized data integrated into Google Analytics. Here are four we use a lot:

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The copy on your website has got to be clear. That’s the gist of Erin Kissane’s article on A List Apart, Writing Content that Works for a Living. Her article contains two things that I like a lot: a clear and effective list of questions to ask as you write marketing copy for your website, and a scathing dissection of the copy on an ineffective landing page she visited.

So, what questions should your marketing copy answer?
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Yesterday, election day, Facebook displayed a counter showing how many members had cast their vote. Anyone know what this element was or who developed it?

It can be tough to tell who created what, especially as the company tries to find an advertising model to justify their multi billion dollar valuation.

Below are some examples of advertising and marketing opportunities on Facebook. I don’t think the Election 2008 element is any of these; I think it was created by Facebook, but I can’t find it today. Insight anyone?
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Susan Weinshenck, Ph.D. in Psychology and Chief of Technical Staff at Human Factors International, is launching a blog and about to publish a book.

I have heard Susan speak a few times, at World Usability Day and at Internet User Experience conferences, and she is a terrific speaker, thoughtful and animated. Recently I have heard her talk about persuasion – what makes a website or advertising persuasive and user experience designers can improve websites and application experiences with this knowledge.

I’m always happy to learn from what Susan has to say, and I’m excited to subscribe to her blog. I’m sure it will get me thinking. I’ll let you decide for yourself, here are some recent posts:

• How do people decide? The Order Effect
• Undecided Voters? Not Really.
• Plot by Apple to convert PC users?

Here’s info on her upcoming book: Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? (Voices that Matter), available to pre-order now from Amazon.com.

I’m a fan of LinkedIn. Its helped me keep track of folks I value, and it lets me admire their paths as they move, advance, and change. Yet, now that most social networking sites are allowing me to aggregate my own feeds from elsewhere (think jaiku, friendfeed, being able to syndicate your blog as notes into Facebook, Plaxo Pulse), why should I or you bother aggregating feeds within LinkedIn?

I consider LinkedIn to be my primary professional profile online (due respect to all the others…it’s the leader in my book). The opportunity to enrich it was too good to pass up. As Chris Brogan blogged yesterday Drop everything run to LinkedIn now. What are you waiting for? Read More