Success leaves clues and so do site logs: your top 6, must-monitor stats

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THIS ISSUE:
"Success leaves clues and so do site logs:
your top 6, must-monitor stats"

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Editor: mharty@SearchEnginePatrol.com

Editor's Note

Your SEO insider recently fled the digital world for more aquatic environs. Yep, just returned from a cruise of the Western Caribbean. (Imagine: a different variety of "colada" every day of the week :-).

I return to you refreshed and re-focused, and yes, no pangs of being "work-sick" struck while I was gone.

While I’m back in Dallas, by the time you read this, I’ll be in LA for the "Survival Tactics for Tough Times" Internet marketing seminar. It’s a great line-up that promises to yield many ideas and insights on boosting traffic among other web marketing topics.

I'll also be connecting with some of the heavyweights in the industry. Stay tuned for my update of the conference in next month’s issue.

(Note: because of my travel schedule, this issue is a bit shorter than usual.)

If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to
SEOInsiderinfo@SearchEnginePatrol.com

Now, on with the show!

News

Search Engine Patrol named preferred SEO services provider for 800+ member ad agency network

We’re pleased to announce that Second Wind, one of the nation’s top three networks of ad agencies, has named Search Engine Patrol as the preferred provider of SEO services to the more than 800 member firms in the U.S and Canada.

According to Laurie Mikes of Second Wind, “In today’s economy, clients want ad agency services that generate measurable, sustainable results. Search Engine Patrol offers our agency members exactly that: a customer-focused service with one of the highest ROI’s of any marketing vehicle.”

Search Engine Patrol currently works with Second Wind member agency Thomas Advertising and their client, RWM Casters.

Principal Candace Thomas, said of Search Engine Patrol “We are quite a distance apart, and it has been so easy to work with them.

"They offer a wealth of suggestions on "tweaking" our client's web site to constantly improve it and help the rankings."

We appreciate the genuine feedback and look forward to working with Second Wind firms in 2003—and beyond.

Additional resources:
Second Wind Network

Commentary

Can you spot the SEO facts from the SEO phonies?

Allow me to add a voice of reason to the din of ridiculous SEO claims screaming at you from the web and via spam email.

You know, “800 search engines, top rankings, only $50/month.”

Or how about: “10,000 web visitors a month, only $79.”

And here’s a new one: “use this easy HTML template and get top rankings in just days.”

Now you may think with a name like Search Engine Patrol, it’s our duty to ferret out these phonies.

Well, we prefer to have customer service and client results on our radar screen. Yet, as long as these “not-based-in-reality” offers suck people in (and their money along with it) we will offer YOU some guidelines on what to WATCH OUT for.

Certainly, we hope you work with us. Yet, we also realize we won’t bat a .1000, so the least we can do is provide you some guidelines to follow:

EIGHT TIPS TO HELP YOU SEPARATE
THE SEO FACTS FROM THE SEO PHONIES

Look for legitimate providers. If they can’t give you a contact person, don’t give them the time of day.
Ask for references.
Ask for case studies/testimonials.
Ask where they're located and where their programmers/tech people are housed.
If it sounds too good to be true: guess what—it is.
Avoid cheap traffic packages. You’ll get traffic except it’s traffic that has ZERO interest in your products or services.
There are no miracle SEO cures. (Even simple techniques that DO work today, might not work tomorrow.)
Beware the fine print. Even more important than a guarantee is the terms and conditions. Read them!

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Featured Article:

"Success leaves clues and so do site logs: your top 6, must-monitor stats."

As search engine optimization professionals, site logs provide a wellspring of data—and if interpreted correctly—key insights into managing your web enterprise.

The stats from a site log form the foundation of any successful SEO program. A thorough review of site stats helps benchmark a starting point, and gives you solid criteria in evaluating the ultimate success of your SEO efforts. (Just like the losing weight ads, you get a definite “before” and “after” SEO efforts have begun.)

Think of your site logs and site stats as a 24/7 marketing research laboratory. You can see who’s visiting, how they got there, how deep into your site they go, where they leave and much more.

Now you think such data would be a treasure trove of web intelligence?

Unfortunately, for many web site owners, web stats are viewed infrequently or seen as a mere afterthought.

One reason is that most web hosting companies don’t make it easy for you. The stats either aren’t presented well or you’re overwhelmed with minutia.

Here are some key benefits from looking at your web stats frequently:

Spot traffic trends and patterns.
Identify the most popular/unpopular areas of your site architecture.
Helps you calculate your conversion ratio. (How many of your visitors your convert to customers.)
Provides valuable insights that you can use for monitoring new products or pages or techniques that you have tested.

How often should you review your site logs? A good rule of thumb is a good 15-30 minutes weekly. Then spend a bit more time looking at the whole month totals.

The 6 most important areas
to monitor with your site logs

Unique visitors. This shows how many one-time visitors have come to your sites.
Page views. This shows how many pages the visitor viewed.
Referring URL’s. A must! This shows how they came to your site (From a search engine or from a linking partner)
Keywords (/Phrases?) used to find your site. Another must for SEO! This shows the words visitors used to search for your site. You may be surprised.
Time spent on home page. If it’s less than :30, you may want to revise it.
Words most searched for on your web site. (If you have an internal site search engine.) This shows the top words visitors were searching for.

By the way, the number of hits is no gauge as to the number of visitors to your site. A hit is registered every time something loads on your web page. (Including images.) So one visitor may visit a page but it looks like 15 hits to your site logs.

Here’s another important distinction: sometimes less traffic is better than more traffic.

The difference is this: the traffic is targeted. You want prospects that are searching for and motivated by purchasing your products and services. That’s why you don’t want the bulk traffic that’s sold so cheaply. They simply don’t represent the quality traffic you’re looking for.

At Search Engine Patrol, the site logs for our clients provide vital clues that help target and refine our ongoing SEO efforts.

Even if you haven’t engaged in any SEO work, make a habit of checking your site logs. It’s the best market feedback you can get. Use it wisely!

SEO INSIDER TIP: before you choose a hosting company, check the site stats package they provide. If it’s subpar, consider another host or buying a separate site stats package such as those offered by Web Trends.

Insider tool: The “Whole Truth” ebook: do their SEO techniques REALLY work?

The Internet marketing world has been all abuzz over a new ebook, “Under Oath: The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth about Internet Marketing.”

Overall, the reviews have been very positive. And there have been some early indications that the techniques recommended in the ebook have been successful.

What’s the SEO Insider’s take? Especially since there has been concern that some of the techniques may penalize the web sites that implement them?

Well, as I discussed via email with Australian Phil Wiley, (of the well-respected “All the Secrets” newsletter, I don’t see the techniques getting a site banned or blacklisted. (Such as cloaking or in some cases, doorway pages will.)

I told Phil we see some merit in the techniques and will be testing them over the coming months. (Note: I actually purchased the book from Phil’s website.).

REVIEW: "Under oath: the Whole Truth and Nothing but The Truth About Internet Marketing."

Content: good stuff, a bit wordy and repetitive at times.

Idea quotient: high. Some good tactics and unconventional promotion and traffic building ideas are presented here.

Techniques recommended: look promising. We are currently testing them.

Author credibility: high. The author, Stephan Pearce, provides impressive documentation to back up his claims.

Overall score: ****1.2 out of 5

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