Omniture Vs. Google Analytics
Understanding the tools needed for the job can reduce the amount of work needed to complete that job - drastically. The evolving battle between Google and Omniture is one of those things that can no longer be ignored. Understanding what each analytics solution provides can make the difference between ease of task at hand or hair-pulling report generating. It can also make a difference between a budget line for an analytics solution or a free service just as robust as the paid solution.
I've toiled over this for a while now; each client/business has different needs which leads to different configurations of software and solutions. I've also struggled with evangelizing a cost-based solution (Omniture) that provides no more relevant data that a free solution (Google Analytics). While Omniture provides, "custom reporting on the fly" it has a terrible time configuring with PPC campaigns; Omniture has "real-time" tracking and actionable analytics while Google lags 3/4 of a day or so. Google can automatically sync one's PPC campaigns (Google Based) into GA's reports while Omni needs click tags for each PPC url; Omniture does high level aggregate trending for multiple domains (50 - 500), but most companies can't even dream of managing that many domains.
While I can concede to saying that each solution has great value respectively; I can't say one is better than the other - yet.
Here are a few articles that will help you get an understanding of what may be best for you.
http://www.haiensheng.com/blog/analyzethis/2009/jan/omniture-sitecatalyst-vs-google-analytics
http://www.bartgibby.com/2006/10/14/omniture-sitecatalyst-vs-google-analytics/
http://actionable-analytics.com/2009/05/google-analytics-vs-omniture-site-catalyst/
http://www.evisionworldwide.com/blog/2009/09/30/google-analytics-omniture-winner/
There are tons more articles out there; these seemed to capture a lot of the chatter around the topic.
Contact Carlyle Inc if you'd like to learn more about how one of these solutions can help you.
Nice Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin
This is a good video to how different SEO tactics can be leveraged depending on competition and target market.
Nice post Rand.
Dissecting Google Analytics for Better Reporting
Here's a video that simply describes the different ways to dissect Google Analytics for better visibility within a website.
Why you should use Google Analytics
There are tons of analytics solutions available for marketers and website owners to use, we realize that. However, we've used Google Analytics more often than not. There are skeptics out there that will always tell you, "You get what you pay for!", but that doesn't always apply.
Google has done a wonderful job of providing a vast amount of data for free to the consumer through Google Analytics and Google's WebMaster Tools.
Here's a great article de-bunking all of the said rumors against it's analytics program.
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-ten-myths-about-google-analytics.html
The Benefits of In-House SEO?
After a few weeks of talking to clients and finding out their needs we've come across an interesting perception in the market.
Larger companies prefer to keep seo efforts in house.
I asked, why?
They said...
- Security - In-house efforts keep passwords, files, strategy, keywords all private.
- Accessibility - Seo vendors need access to change pages, text, information, etc. This can become a pain giving them information and updating them every time the credentials change.
- Knowledge of company - Seo vendors are good at what they do, seo. They're not supposed to be experts in every field that they help optimize for. This can steepen the learning curve for the vendor if the company is larger and more established.
There were a few other reasons that didn't make the list, but these resounded with multiple clients.
However, all clients, big or small did say that having an seo consulting firm was extremely beneficial to their optimization effectiveness. For one reason, Seo companies are on top of trends, best practices and have more depth in their seo knowledge; naturally.
So, why did I post this?
Carlyle Inc believes in making clients sucessful, regardless of the strategy. While we make more money running the show, we would rather see results and establish a long term relationship than work a three month contract only to be replaced by a consulting firm.