Q&A: Dennis Mortensen on Yahoo Analytics
Dennis Mortensen has worked in the analytics, optimization and online marketing industry since 1996. He is an Associate Web Analytics Instructor at the University of British Columbia, the Author of data driven insights with Yahoo! Web Analytics, and a frequent speaker on the subject of analytics and online marketing.
Mortensen joined up IndexTools in 2004 and worked as COO until the company was acquired by Yahoo! Inc., in May 2008. Today he is the Director of Data Insights at Yahoo! and sits on the Board of Directors at the Web Analytics Association. He also writes the popular analytics blog, VisualRevenue.com/blog.
I caught up with Mortensen to discuss the current state of analytics, how Yahoo fits in and why people should stop comparing Yahoo's analytics product with Google's.
Ignore the top of the funnel at your own risk
It's easy to see why search advertising is so popular online. Many brands focus on search because it has proven ROI — according to the IAB, 62% of all online revenue came from paid search in the first six months of this year. Meanwhile 8% of all internet users account for 85% of clicks on display advertising. Numbers like that often keep advertisers pouring money into search and holding onto dollars that might have gone toward brand advertising online.
But while search advertising may have the most proven business model in online advertising, businesses that ignore other areas and methods of increasing sales online do so at their own peril.
That was a recurring theme at Econsultancy's Masterclass in London yesterday, where Ian Dowds, vice president of Specific Media, put it like this:
"At the top of the funnel, there are a host of big brand advertisers standing like nervous tourists, dipping their toe in the online sea, debating the temperature and then turnng and running away every time the water laps above their ankles."
Eyeblaster: Video ads don't work in social media
Online video may be providing some much needed ROI for advertisers desperate to reach online viewers, but video ads do not work universally across platforms online. According to ad server EyeBlaster, video ads are not performing well in social media.
Why is that? Well, for starters, people don't spend enough time lingering on specific pages in social to view them.
Google's trademark policy change worries retailers this holiday season
Google changed its policy on trade marked key words in the U.S. this May, and while it's still too early to fully monitor the implications of those changes on brand marketers, the holidays may become a proving ground for the switch, if the price for search ads goes up as much as some marketers are fearing.
Brand searches go up during the holiday season and Google's self-policing new policy means that key word violators will have more opportunity to buy branded key words and disparage, criticize or otherwise overtake brand searches from trademark owners.
According to ClickZ:
"The holiday season will be a real proving ground, to see how quickly Google responds to issues," Jeremy Hull, account leader at Range Online Media, told ClickZ. "Do they have an adequate team in place, with policies and procedures that are scalable for the holidays?"
Google gets free advertising for Google products by hiring ex-Microsoft employee
Don Dodge was a happily loyal Microsoft employee until last week, when he got laid off with a group of around 5,000 other staffers in a broad reduction of staff. The well-known "Ambassador to Startups" was quickly poached by Google (within 90 minutes no less), where he is now set to work.
The move highlights the differences in culture at the two companies. And Dodge's fairwell note serves another purpose for Google, as an ad for how loyal Microsoft devotees can switch to Google products.
Can Tim Armstrong make AOL king of content by 2010?
AOL's new CEO Tim Armstrong has been quickly buying up talent and increasing AOL's media properties in the lead up to the company's tkt from parent Time Warner later this year.
At the Roosevelt hotel in New York today, Armstrong went into AOL's continuing strategy.
AOL's CEO announced that online content can be "much better."
"That's why we are making such a big bet there," he said during a keynote appearance at the annual Media and Money conference, hosted by Nielsen and Dow Jones.
It's true that content online has a long way to go. But is AOL the one to make it happen?
Can News Corp. win its game of chicken with Google?
The rumors are true. Rupert Murdoch is taking News Corp. content out of Google search.
The media mogul set off a storm last week when he responded to a question about opting-out from Google with the words "I think we will."
And today, News Corp.'s chief digital officer confirmed it. News Corp. content will be off of Google search within the next few months.
But is this a game of chicken that News Corp. can win?
Coupons and discounts sustain etailers
The economy has been making some hints at ressurgance in the past few months, but it's nowhere near a complete rebound, and according to ComScore today, most of the bright spots in third quarter are only relative to the dismal results that occured last year. During its quarterly report "State of the US Online Retail Economy," ComScore chairman Gian Fulgoni characterized a generally dismal third quarter for retailers.
However, it's not all bad. Amid struggling revenues and rising unemployment, some retailers are increasing conversion rates and site visitations. What's their secret? Low prices and reliable online experiences. And there is promise in the fact that young, upper income earners are opening up their wallets again.
Salon bets on ecommerce for Black Friday and the future
As media sites around the internet contemplate erecting paywalls to make up for lost revenue, Salon.com is moving in the opposite direction. Long a proponent of the subscription model, the politics and culture site today announced a redesigned website that backs off of its subscription model in favor of more engaged advertising and shorter content. The company is hoping to increase its readership with shorter, faster posts and make up for lost revenues in a new place: ecommerce.
Starting the day after Thanksgiving, Salon will launch a permanent online store that sells retail items the publisher thinks will dovetail with its readers' interests. While it's not clear that Salon will be able to counter recent revenue losses, the move represents a step that many media companies are likely to make: revenue diversification.
IAB: Media companies need to make a "triple play" for digital business
Everyone online is trying to shift business online. But there are more than a few reasons why the digital shift has hit speed bumps. According to a new study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and Bain & Company, media companies need to offer a true triple-play service model — from direct response to awareness to high impact brand engagement — if they want to earn and keep digital business.
How can companies go about achieving that? Well, there are a few options.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
