It’s late, and I’m about to call in a night.    Been thinking about Web Analytics Tracking all afternoon and evening; talking with Maisha Walker earlier today, in preparation for the panel I’m part of next week on Ultra Light Web Analytics got me wondering just what would a Ultra Light Startup want to track, and how would they?

	Ultra Light Startups™
	Tech entrepreneurs, sharing techniques to launch faster and cheaper
February 2009 Entrepreneurs Forum: Ultra Light Web Analytics

Usually, I’ll drawn on my analytics approach when I have a question that drives me  (otherwise, I wouldn’t).

When  working on a real life problem, using real data, insights come to me of what needs to happen next.

After talking with Maisha Walker we agreed I’d come up with a list of all the things you could track using Web Analytics and what would each type of business want to track.  I searched around to see who has written about Web Analytics from this perspective (what to track depending on what your business and goals are) and did not find much.

I’m rising to the occasion.

I suggested we turn it around and have the Ultra Light Startup describe their business model and goals, from which the panel (including me) would suggest what they should be tracking and how – based on the goals of their business.

Brainstorming,  I started making up a list of what to track and threw it into PowerPoint (which implies, how to track), matching it up with the type and complexity of the business you have – found it’s not that easy.

What do you think ought to be tracked if yours is a small startup – its visitation and pathing enough?

On a tagental but related thought Steve Rubel is wondering if Google Cookie Tracking Everyone’s Surfing Habits?

“…they are now tracking every site you visit via a Google cookie and serving the aggregate data up to advertisers. If I am wrong I hope someone will tell me. (If this post is wrong I will correct it – but this is how I am interpreting what Google has put out there so far.)

Let’s take a look at the facts.

First, Google yesterday made some subtle changes to its privacy policy. Coincidence? Maybe.

Second, according to the Google Adwords blog, the search engine has now added a new site traffic metric in Ad Planner called Unique Visitors (cookies). This, according to Google is a new cookie-based metric that “help(s) you cross check and compare metrics, similar to Google Analytics unique visitor metrics.”

I’ll be attending a Mobile Analytics Panel at R/GA tonight and will add to the marketing notes for the session (I’m posting them a head of time):

Measuring the Third Screen: How Analytics Drives Mobile Marketing Success

Mobile device consumption worldwide trumps both TVs and PCs combined. It’s no surprise then that many brands are feverishly experimenting with mobile marketing to create the first breakthrough campaign. From mobile sites to banner advertising to applications, measuring the reach and effectiveness of mobile campaigns is a key component to understanding what works and what doesn’t. Analytics provide brands valuable insights about visitors and the ability to evaluate and improve marketing performance. Come to R/GA to learn from industry leaders about the opportunities and challenges of mobile analytics, as well as the differences between measuring mobile and the Web.

When: Thursday, January 29, 2009

Where: R/GA, 350 West 39th Street (Cross Street: 9th Avenue), New York City

Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Presentation starts promptly at 7pm

Participants: Steve Siegel, Senior Account Executive, Mobile, Microsoft
Adam Kerr, VP North America, Bango
Debra Bluman, Partner, Communications Planning Director, Beyond Interaction
Richard Ting, ECD & VP, Mobile & Emerging Platforms, R/GA
Luane Kohnke, SVP, Managing Director—Analytics & Accountability, R/GA
Dave Edwards, Group Account Director, R/GA

Should be interesting to see what metrics are being used, or planning to be deployed to measure success in mobile marketing campaigns.

Dave Edwards runs the Mobile group at R/GA. Dave is talking about his E71 and spends 3 hours a day on Mobile Web vs. An hour on TV. A number of presenters, each lasting 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The Moderator is a pretty big wig Luane Kohnke, has an impressive resume, SVP Analytics & Accountability R/GA.

Mobile Analytics and Measurement – mobile web surfing in US is surpassing UK, but why is mobile ROI suffering? Answer- not enough case studies (Brands vs. agencies) with Mobile Analytics as the one thing that can change this situation.

Devices are now capable of delivering Rich Media experiences, but few good metrics or benchmarks. Brands are trying to compare Mobile and Treditional ROI, and you can’t.

Omniture, Google Analytics and Coremetrics FAILED US, it’s missing the measurements That are needed, like BANGO. The Mobile only tracking is a good thing.

Steve Siegel works for Microsoft. A lot of people are using mobile devices, and are using mobile for action based information with measurable ROI.

sMS text is good to engagement,POS, or simple Call To Action. Also Microsoft Tagging Specifications. Also, having a Mobile Web site helps conversions, also have unique landing pages for your promotions.

Steve presented several case study shows Brand Awareness, Brand Favor went up because of the mobile campaigns run.

Debra mentions there is no central Ad Server which makes more work on the Agency Side. The problem is you can’t easily attribute delivery per Network when more than one is used.

Traffic and reporting has been manual and makes consolidated reporting is next to impossible.

Adam from Bango, Bango founded 10 years focused on the Mobile Web.

Bango Mobile Analytics- we’re seeing the US driving Mobile Web, now.

Many ways to drive traffic to your site. javascript and cookies, what works for web analytics, doesent,for mobile.

Do people want just mobile analytics or a mixture? Yes.

Bango has very good filters and can measure campaigns, Well and you can drill down and target by handsets. Strong data is needed.

You can use mobile analytics on a PC sites.

Questions- creating a Bango ID (similar to a cookie).

Geo Location is becoming a big thing.

Summary and Takeaways- I can’t write this session all down, it’s moving too fast.

Just want to mention next Monday, February 2nd, please check www.iMediaConnection.com; I’m told my article on “Getting Started with Web Analytics and Social Media” is going to be published.

I’m looking forward to that – the article was written last month, over the holiday.

I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to do additional writings for iMediaConnection.com.

Also, SEOGypsy, David Harry, is interviewing me and pointed me to an WebMasterRadio interview he was just on with Bruce Clay and company (embedded below) – I just wrote most of the text for my interview with David Harry, @theSEOGypsy , tonight, but I don’t know when and where he’ll publish it, yet.

David Harry’s sites include www.Reliable-SEO.com – the SEO Handbook 2008 -
www.the-seo-handbook.com -  Web Development – www.vervedevelopments.com – Web Hosting – www.myoshosting.com – Trail of the Fire Horse ; www.huomah.com.

Webmaster Radio
Personalization on Search Results How is personalization going to change how Internet marketers operate, as fluctuating rankings are devalued as a measure of success, plus David Harry of the Houmah Blog discusses bounce rates as a ranking signal and personalized PageRank. Show Host: Bruce Clay Show: SEM Synergy Channel: Search Engine Optimization