Archive for July, 2007
July 27th, 2007 at 10:00am
Under Tracking
Google Analytics should not be a stranger to any of us. In fact, many people still prefer to use other tracking services.
Google Analytics is Google’s (who else) visitor tracking facility. It allows webmasters to track where the visitors are from, through which media channel, time of stay, conversions number and values etc. All is needed is a few simple lines of code on the website. It is a free service. Comparing to other free and similar services, Google Analytics has no limitations, rather the other ones might limit your log size etc.
In the middle of July, a new interface was employed and hence increased usability. Graphical presentation provides more information for reporting and analysis.
The map overlay interface indicates the geographic location of the users, on a map. Clicking on a country provides more details.
The site overlay interface provides information on users’ behaviour.
Setting goals and funnels on ecommerce tracking allows reporting and analysis of a shopping website. The setup is simple enough - copy a few lines of code, define values and that’s done. “Funnels” refers to a path that a user must go through to complete a transaction.
It is highly effective. Why not give it a try? It is free.
If you and your company is good enough on this product, you can apply to Google to grant you a “Analytics Authorized Consultant” title.
By Leo
July 24th, 2007 at 02:34pm
Under Software
No, this is not related to the Internet technologies what so ever. But as a Christian, I cannot stop myself sharing this to all of you.
If you are a Christian as well, then you would definitely agree that using PowerPoint during the service is quite a pain. It involves so much setup and for each single service, you have to create a different PP file.
With EasiSlides, you can define the run down of the service as a template. After that, you just have to change the song / bible verses to a different one every Sunday.
It supports import from PowerPoint as well. You can include a PP file in the run down and it would automatically play it without doing much work. (PP is required to use this feature)
The most common bibles are already included hence no more typing of versus are required.
The interface was divided into 3 parts - editing, preview, and live. You can set one slide to be live (or a blank screen) and edit another one while previewing your next slide. It supports up to 3 video outputs as well.
And yes, it is free! Good news! (Donation is appreciated.)
My own experience is that it does take some time to setup everything. However, once setup, this is so easy to update and configure.
EasiSlides is a FREE Song Projection Software designed for projecting lyrics and Bible texts, with a video projector, onto a large screen during Christian Worship.
By Leo
July 17th, 2007 at 03:34pm
Under Search Engine Advertising
A landing page is commonly employed by search engine advertisers to maximize conversion.
The most important task of a landing page is to keep the internet user on the page and convert it to a sales / lead.
There are a few things to note when designing your own landing page:
1. To-the-Point
Make sure the best features are clearly presented to the internet user. Bullet point is proven to be very effective.
2. Show a Path
Rather than a lot of navigation options, a landing page should contain a conversion path. I usually would only put an enquiry form above the fold. It is better to have minimal links on the website. This would confuse people.
3. Testimonies
Testimonies are good tools as people tend to trust words from the others. Testimonies from large corporate clients would be a bonus. Don’t make it too long.
By Leo
July 13th, 2007 at 11:54am
Under Email
If you need to hire someone to put an email together for you, it is better to make sure that you can get the money back.
Therefore, one very important thing is you must provide lots of links to your website on the email, so that recipients would have better chance of clicking through.
For an e-commerce website, it is better for you to feature a variety of products suitable for general use, and provide a link directly goes to that particular product page.
If you need to tell someone you have a stall in an exhibition, be sure to provide enough information so that people would be able to find you. If you see them face to face you have a big chance of converting.
It is good to include some company news on the email. But keep in mind, the whole point of sending out the email is to make people buy from you. They don’t care if you have got 2 new staff in the Hawaii office. Don’t make this the whole content of the email. Put it on the side in a nicely wrapped table/box.
Remember, lots of links to your website. Guarantees you success.
By Leo
July 13th, 2007 at 11:44am
Under Usability & Navigation
Which one is more important? I have met a lot of amazing technical people who can do something nobody would ever understand (yes, I studied engineering).
One thing that we have learnt during our course is we need to be able to COMMUNICATE with the non-techie of what we are doing.
Putting it in developing a website, it is important to have a website that can produce accurate information. However, you have to remember that a website is built for EVERYBODY to use. Yes, everybody. If you need to download 20 plugins to make your menu flash, then don’t use it.
It is more important to build a website that everybody is able to use, and find the information.
By the way, in a business point of view, if you need 50 hours to build something in a very complex way, it is better to hire another person who can make something with the same functionality in 5 hours. Apparently there is always a simpler way to make things work.
By Leo
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