Content Management Matters ™

Quantcast this week launches a service which enables searching of websites according to key readership demographics. The new facility enables marketers to enter a list of demographic parameters, and returns a list of websites whose readership matches those criteria. As an example, if a marketer is targeting black male readers, over 40, with an income over $60,000, then Quantcast’s new service serves up a list of websites which attracts that audience, and also tells you whether or not the site accepts advertising.

Better yet, the service is free. Just sign up and target away.

Not only do many websites have unreliable metrics; they're usually measuring the wrong things.

It's a rare organization that does not track at least a minimum set of web analytics for their customer facing websites. The problem is rarely that there's no data. Rather it's what to do with that information once you have it in your hands. More often than not, it's under utilized and probably finds it's home in that virtual pile on your desktop.

It doesn't have to be that way. There's an upcoming Webinar co-hosted by Bridgeline Software and the Gilbane Group that will show you how to better use your analytics data to make decisions and improve the customer experience, and in the end improve your bottom line.

SDL Tridion, provider of web content management solutions has a just inked a partnership agreement with Nedstat, a European provider of Web Analytics. This new partnership demonstrates the strategic focus SDL Tridion has on interactive marketing. This new partnership will help their shared clients understand their customer's online behavior faster and better -- enabling them to make sound decisions when applying marketing messages.

Often when I take inventory of a site's navigation and organization, I look at the analytics of the site. However, I don't concern myself so much with demographics or page views -- I am most interested in what things people are searching for. This is a great way to learn what's missing from your architecture, layout and design, as well as to gain a better perspective of what your customers are really seeking.

But there are tricks and tips to help you best utilize the search function on your site. This spring, treat yourself to a workshop that will help you understand the ins and outs of site search analytics.

There has been plenty of discussion recently about the consolidation of the web analytics marketplace due to the Omniture/Visual Sciences deal, and some comments on my last posting speculating about the future of Coremetrics and WebTrends.

We love conference season. This year, the Federation of Enterprises in Brussels, Belgium will be hosting OX2's Web Analytics Day, which takes place next Friday the 14th of September.

The big news is that Ian Thomas, the gent responsible for the Microsoft Gatineau project, will be doing the first public demo of the beta version.

What's Gatineau, you ask? Why, its Redmond's stab in Google Analytics' back.

The Web Analytics Association has just announced the publication of some standard definitions for a few foundational Web analytic metrics.

26, in fact.

These methods cover areas of visits, content and conversion. Adoption by a critical mass will hopefully create consistency across terms in the analytics sector.