Author Archive
Excellent Analytics
Posted by: | CommentsNice post title, right? Excellent Analytics is something we all strive for, but this time the topic is actually the name of a plugin / add-in for Google Analytics which allows you to pull Google Analytics data directly into an Excel spreadsheet for further processing.
Excellent Analytics is free and open source, and has been around for a couple years now, so there’s no reason not to try it except for the fact that it relies on Windows and the Microsoft .NET framework. Click the link above to get the plugin, view the FAQ and a little gallery of sample results.
On the same topic of pulling GA data into other tools, this blog post explains how PBS has automated some of its web analytics reporting with other paid tools such as DataGrabber ($299 street).
The future of tagging
Posted by: | CommentsAn interesting whitepaper crossed through my email inbox today titled ‘The Future of Digital Measurement and Personalization’ by Gary Angel at Semphonic. I always enjoy the papers written by the fine folks there, and you may find this document insightful as well. Basically the concept put forth is that tagging websites for web analytics, functionality and interactivity is unweildy and worsening because governance (change control and stability) is a huge challenge as time goes on. I like the concept of a TMS (tag management system), and we’ve seen each web analytics vendor put forth the bones of TMS such as Webtrends Tag Builder. This document focuses on Celebrus and their tag management and data warehousing solutiuons and I plan to study their solutions in the coming days. Thanks for reading!
Mobile User Experience (UX) topics
Posted by: | CommentsThis well laid-out writeup of mobile web experience delivery came through a LinkedIn discussion today. I enjoyed reading it, because it mentioned the Responsive Web Design concept, which I can’t seem to get enough of. The following methods are detailed, and pros and cons for each delivery method are listed:
- Standard Website
- Responsive Web Design
- Mobile Website
- Mobile Application (mobile apps)
Enjoy!
WATS plugin aids SiteCatalyst implementation and troubleshooting
Posted by: | CommentsI just read about the WATS tool, a Firefox plugin which helps users troubleshoot SiteCatalyst implementations. As always, any help working through Omniture tracking issues is welcome!
Something new called Pion
Posted by: | CommentsHappy New Year! I just read about Pion – a tool from Atomic Labs which works with all the leading web analytics products available today. I will learn more about it and write what I find out. A free edition is available as well as paid service levels.
More tag management
Posted by: | CommentsYeah, this topic deserves more than one post.
Web analytics tag management is important because getting good data into the WA tool you’re using is essential to creating good results. Adobe is now providing the Tag Manager solution which seems to be a flexible, serious tool for managing your tags in a way which gives you the ability to track versions and more. When you visit the link above, take a look on the right sidebar, and sign up to receive the Forrester guide to tag management tools – its a nice freebie indeed.
Web Analytics Tag Management
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve all tried all sorts of tricks to manage our web analytics tags: server-side include files, JavaScript include files, etc.
Here is a tidy little post which lists some online tools to manage web analytics code tags. It does not mention the Webtrends Tag Builder, probably because it is too specific. But I mention it again, because it is a valuable tool for those using Webtrends and the Source Data Collector (SDC). I am anxious to see the Adobe Tag Manager when it becomes available – I think it will be a huge help managing Site Catalyst installations.
Lightbox for Cforms II plugin on WordPress
Posted by: | CommentsSo when exactly did the lightbox craze hit? I’m not sure exactly, but everyone seems to love lightboxes! They are indeed a visually attractive way to create a modal window within a browser which has a nice ‘set off’ from the background page without opening a new browser window or popup window.
Recently I needed to use the powerful Cforms II plugin to create some interactive forms on a WordPress site and I needed to make some of the forms appear in a lightbox. Much to my surprise, it seems no one has combined Cforms II and a lightbox for some reason. Or if they have, they didn’t write about it.
So I tried to write my own shortcodes to get Cforms to work with a certain lightbox plugin. Only had marginal success, in that the lightbox popped, but the form would not render on the screen. Plus the shortcode processing caused WordPress to try to render the lightbox in Admin. Not cool. I quickly abandoned this effort when I found the Form Lightbox plugin. Form Lightbox was flexible enough to work with the special Cforms II tags as follows:
Perhaps others will find this info useful. WordPress is a fantastic CMS platform and it has spawned many excellent plugins. I’m very grateful for WordPress and the vibrant WordPress developer community.
Minty fresh web analytics
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ll get a minty fresh feeling when you try Mint, a rather new kid on the web analytics block. The pricing is reasonable at $30/site. What I like is that it appears to be an easy to use, self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics or AWstats. Ever tried installing AWstats? Well, maybe I had some extra fun trying to make it run on IIS6/Windows, but ease of use really means a lot these days. Give it a spin – it may exactly what you’re looking for, without giving away the store to Mother G.
Tracking Campaigns in Omniture SiteCatalyst
Posted by: | CommentsYes, I realize that Adobe bought Omniture more than a year ago. But you’ve got to admit, Omniture is a cooler product name than Adobe. Adobe is what desert houses are made of.
But I stray from the point of the post. (yes it is getting late)
This article nicely summarizes tracking campaigns with SiteCatalyst. I mention it for selfish reasons of helping me to remember how to find this article.
Enjoy!
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