As if blogging wasn’t hard enough, I had the fun experience of cleansing this site from a worm that seems to have gone around and infected many WordPress blogs recently.

The site is clean now. The hosting provider (GoDaddy) has also checked over it and found no more infected files.

Users of Trend Micro and Kaspersky virus software were receiving a warning when visiting the site earlier this year. Meanwhile Symantec/Norton and Avast users (like myself) unfortunately didn’t receive a warning.

If you visited this site around May 20th you may have seen a scareware dialog box. It scared you with a fake warning that your computer had malware and to my understanding would redirect you to a malware site and encourage you to purchase fake virus software. Presumably, if you did that then your computer will have been infected (my apologies).  If you didn’t, then you should be fine.

GoDaddy’s blog has a mindblowing description of how this sophisticated worm worked. Even more surprising are articles on the criminal networks that seem to be linked to this worm.

——-

Rebuilding and upgrading WordPress didn’t fix the problem. The worm was coming back in a matter of days.

Technically speaking, the worm was a string of (based64 encrypted) PHP code that was being injected as the first line of every PHP file on my site. Given that this blog is running on WordPress there are countless PHP files being used.

Going down the long list of things that one needs to do for closing holes to worms, finally one of the measures seems to have done the trick.

Keeping fingers crossed.

—–

Until today, I couldn’t Google any useful info about this worm. But my old colleague Ozgur from MicroStrategy suggested decrypting the base64 encoded worm code which was being injected into every PHP file on my site. So I took an old infected file that I had saved away. In it there turned out to be double encoded code that led to a domain name which was registered by a fake Yahoo address. A Google search on that Yahoo address led to all the background info above.

Fingers crossed that the holes are all closed.

Many thanks to Ozgur!

The Practitioner Web Analytics conference in Spain will be in its third year when it comes back this May. It is shaping up to be a great event. Folks like Aurelie Pols, Jacques Warren, Dennis Mortensen and many others are on the list of guests. Plus, most importantly, the local who is who of web analytics with very promising case studies.

I get to do the opening and closing keynotes at this year’s conference. Below is a bit of info on those (and my background) in a 6 min. video.

Come see Akin at Practioner Web Analytics 2010 from Akin Arikan on Vimeo

You can be pretty sure that iPad isn’t anywhere close to being a laptop killer except in the leisure usage department, e.g. watching movies on a plane.  After all, who wants to type anything on an on-screen keyboard more than they need to.

However, I imagine that Amazon’s Kindle will be in big trouble now.

The monochrome Kindle UI unfortunately will seem pretty boring compared to the multi-touch, colorful, and multi-purpose, iPad.

Though I haven’t owned either device and maybe there is something to be said for the Kindle being easier on the eyes.

We’ll see.

Though from measurement and multichannel metrics perspective I can share that:

• I have no idea what kind of measurement the Kindle allows that isn’t completely proprietary to Amazon
• The iPad on the other hand can be measured just like any other mobile device.

For example, in Unica NetInsight it is possible to see web analytics reports that detail how iPad users browse the Internet.

The iPad also runs all applications that were created for the iPhone. And so the same method used for instrumenting iPhone applications with analytics tags for NetInsight also works just as well for iPad applications.

Ship date in the US is April 3d.

If I doubted Twitter before and became a recent convert, … well this week I became a Twitter lover.

What did it for me?

It was watching the tweets come across the ticker in real time on Tuesday while Google were announcing their new features at the emetrics conference in D.C., some 2,500 miles away from me.

It was like being there in person. Thanks to tweets, e.g. by @June_Li. What a great use of Twitter.

But Twitter has a problem:

It hasn’t found a business model.

And, famously, Twitter users also have a problem:

The vast majority of tweets are boring and a nuisance. And some tweeters tweet more often than they have interesting things to share.  It’s a new form of spam! There should really be a frequency crap. [Note on Oct 26th: oh oh, freudian slip, as Mike Keyes caught. That was meant to read "cap"]

Twitter could do everybody and themselves a big favor and solve both problems with a single strike.

I’d propose they should charge an increasing price for each tweet per person per day, e.g. as follows:

• Your first tweet per day is free
• 2nd tweet per day, you pay 50 cents
• 3d, you pay $1
• 4th, you pay $2
• 5th, you pay $4
• 6th, you pay $8

Surely, if something is worth saying to your followers you will spend a buck to do so. And if it isn’t worth a buck even to you, then, by all means, shut up.

Meanwhile, Twitter would leave it completely free to follow as many tweets as you like.

Twitter could forecast how much revenue they can expect from a move like this. Since they aren’t doing this, I presume they will have thought it through and probably concluded that there is a problem with this idea. The numbers might not add up to justify their current $1B valuation maybe.

Other than “How about cookie deletion?” the second biggest question that I have received in the past year when discussing the topic of online-offline integration is the question about privacy.

• Will it be OK with privacy regulations if I integrate click data from web analytics with customer data in order to improve the relevance of my marketing communications?
• More importantly, will it be OK with web site visitors’ expectations?

The regulations side is usually a short answer for me. Mind you, the regulations seem rather cumbersome to read. But the bottom-line boils down to:

• Have a clear privacy policy on the site
• Make it as easy to opt-out as possible, ideally a single click
• Extra credit, if in addition to opt-out you allow the individual to set their own preferences of how they’d like to be contacted and on what topics
• In countries where it is required, work with opt-in

To me, the bigger question seems about site visitors’ expectations.

It may seem we are wearier of being tracked than ever. There is always a big outcry when Facebook et al announce a move towards ad targeting.

But in reality, we are much more public with our lives than ever. especially in our social networks. See this article for instance.

So what is it about this privacy thing that we really want?

The following examples help me.

Privacy in a store

We hate walking into a small store if the sales person is too much in our face and doesn’t let us browse the items on our own. Maybe we fear getting pressured into buying something before we are ready. Heck, we may well be browsing for entertainment and not thinking of buying anything at the moment. And the shop keeper that is in our face makes us feel bad about ourselves.

But we also hate being in a big box retail store and not being able to find someone to answer our questions when we are ready to ask them.

Really, we want the person to be right there — magically — just when we need their help but not before. And we love it if they understand us so well that they can recommend just what we will benefit from buying.

Privacy in a restaurant

We hate when the waiter is too much in our face, especially after we are done with the meal. Maybe we fear pressured in vacating the table for the next guests.

Just as much we hate it when the waiter is nowhere to be found when we need the check or want to order something (else).

The waiter should just — magically — refill the glasses as soon as they are empty. They need to be right there with the desert menu and our check just when we want it.

Magic???

How does it work in those stores and restaurants that do this well? Is it magic?

No magic.

The perfect shop keeper and waiter are super observant. They put a web analytics tool to shame when it comes to tracking our behavior.

But they aren’t in our face about it.

And they don’t pressure us into buying something or ordering an appetizer along with the expensive main course.

They are at our service.

And yet they still do bring us the best cross-sales offer at the best time.

Marketing so relevant that it feels like a service

I still cringe when I hear that marketing should be so relevant that it feels like a service. At first glance it seems a cheesy thing to say. It seems a utopian dream of techies like me.

But wait.

How about all those educational webinars on the web that I love to attend and learn from?

Guess what! The people doing them (e.g. me, myself) aren’t altruistic at all. Their purpose is purely marketing. They cost a ton of money, by the way. Yet, it is a service and doesn’t feel like marketing at all unless the speaker is too salesy.

There are other examples too:

• How about book recommendations on Amazon
• Movie recommendations on Netflix?

They tend to be quite relevant and not at all in your face. Ignore them easily if you want.

In fact, haven’t you come to expect and demand that any product page on a retailer’s web site will contain information on accessories that go with the item?

So, it can be done

These examples prove that marketing, in the ideal cases, can:

1. feel like a service
2. be not in your face and not pushy

My take away is that the combination of click and customer data, if used the right way, can absolutely enable service oriented marketing. But if you abuse it for span, you will cause all of us marketers to look bad and to lose out.
——–
(This post is part of a series on the state of multichannel metrics today, one year after the book came out.)

Just about a year ago, the mutlichannel marketing metrics book was published. Since then I have had a chance to tour through Europe and US to speak with many marketers from online and more traditional sides of the house.

Here is what I am finding as to how far companies have come in the past year.

• Online – offline integration has not yet become mainstream
• But there are more and more examples of companies implementing something and those who do have great business results to show for
• It doesn’t always have to be online and offline integration. Lucrative enough for online marketers can be to integrate click data with online customer data. Business cases that I am aware of also look very strong.

I will share sample business ideas that companies have implemented in a coming series of blog posts.

Before then I should point out some things that haven’t changed yet.

• The question about anonymous visitors and cookie deletion remains one of the most frequent ones that I am asked
• Privacy considerations come up frequently
• Marketers wonder why they should look at web analytics data closely now even if they haven’t yet used other data sources that are available to them to the fullest potential.

Which industries are doing the best job at this?

The leaders today seem to be in the area of highly considered purchases such as automotive, group travel, telco, real estate, B2B high-tech, etc. Common to these industries is that

• Before the WWW, buyers used to get all their advice from a live sales person whereas today most initial research occurs online in a DIY fashion.
• The buying process often crosses online and offline channels, e.g.
  • Awareness is prompted via TV commercials
  • Research is performed online
  • The purchase often occurs offline

In the coming posts we’ll look at examples from acquisition marketing, persuasion, re-marketing, cross-sales, and retention / win-back.

Check the following posts that continue this thread:

1. Online to Offline Conversions
2. A modern example from B2B, National Instruments
3. An example from a B2C, real estate web site
4. Online to Offline cross- and repeat sales in the travel industry
5. Online to Offline cross-sales in retail banking
6. Privacy, Schmivacy!
7. Online-Offline integration for retention marketing

If you missed the May 19 WAA Webcast with Kevin Hillstrom and Jim Novo, you can replay it any time on demand.

By the way, do you think it will be 5 or more like 10 years before all TV will be much like the Internet?

That is to say, you will turn on the tube and a big bing or google box will appear in the middle of the screen. You’ll type in “Kevin  & Jim webcast”  and get your multichannel marketing fix while sipping a cup of old fashioned tea.

Unless, of course, you see my PPV (pay-per-view) ad show up towards the right of your TV screen and click on it to read this blog.

Meanwhile,  recommendations will appear at the bottom of the screen that are targeted to your remote control behavior.

Hopefully, something better than “Meet exciting online and offline marketers in <your city>”.

Lots of questions came in from the viewers of our recent webinar with the CEO of Apogee Search, Bill Leake. Many more questions than we could answer in the limited time. 

No wonder. Who doesn’t want to increase their leads sourced from the web site?

And of course you will employ web analytics, SEO, and PPC. But where do you start? What do you prioritize?

As promised, Bill has been kind enough to write up his responses to the remaining questions. I get to post the Q&A here.

This is a great resource for those who are ready to make time now for improving results. Or, of course, you can also recruit the services of an experienced agency such as Apogee Search. 

Question: What simple, inexpensive steps can I take to get the attention of a narrow segment of B2B prospects using SEO, online advertising, and web analytics?

Answer:  1. Start a PPC campaign.  Test both “Gartner/Analyst” market category keywords and search phrases as well as more narrow “tactical pain” keywords. 

2. Get web analytics installed for your website and talking to your CRM system  

3.  See what keywords work best. 

4.  For the keywords that work best, do SEO aggressively on those top keywords .

5. For the keywords working less well on PPC, consider a “cure” or “kill” strategy –can they be saved with new content/offers?  If not, turn them off.

Question: 1. What percentage of medium and large businesses outsource or plan to outsource SEM efforts?
2. What is the typical technology background of marketing teams assigned to SEM?

Answer:  1. From what we’ve seen in medium and large businesses, in over 2/3 of cases SEM is primarily, but not entirely outsourced.  Most successful large businesses have a blend of outsourced and in-house labor. 

2.  In terms of typical technology background, what seems to work best are folks who are both marketing people (not techies) and very quantitatively comfortable.  In other words, marketing people who are comfortable with numbers.  Technical skills often just mess up SEM, while marketing and quant skills seem far more critical from what we’ve seen

Question: What are the best ways to prequalify click-throughs?  We already put the price in, and that helps, but how can we maximize our clicks in regard to commercial intent?  Of course, keywords are critical and Microsoft has their limited Commercial Intent Tool.

Answer:  Ad copy and keywords (and negative keywords).  Price helps, definitely.  Add negative keywords to filter out searches like “Free” “Cheap” “Discount.”

Question: Please provide suggestions to increase the number of visitors filling out a form in the landing page.

Answer:  Keep the form short.  Have some sort of compelling offer to make it worth their while.  Make it easy (pre-fill elements of the form if possible).  If a long form, break it up across several pages (like a survey).

Question: 1. How do you get, manage and find appropriate one way links?
2. Registering additional domain names – does it help bring in traffic to your main site using 301 redirects or must they have content, etc.?
Answer:  Link building could be a whole different one-day training.  Basically, have good content, and beg / borrow links.  Appropriate links are one-way, contextually themed, and from sites that Google already likes. 

2). I wouldn’t register additional domain names to bring in traffic.  That industry used to exist, but the trafficked domain names are already for the most part long gone, and Google is taking steps to strip out that value anyway.

Question: 1. Is there any data that supports PPC advertising success on Google Ads as opposed to Facebook or vice versa?
2. Is there a source that outlines the details of the current various PPC advertising options?

Answer:  Our Apogee Search Marketing Glossary would be a good place to start.  In a nutshell, your general answer will be that most of the traffic is at Google, and the bargains are at Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.  And nothing else is really worth wasting your time on.

Question: How many keyphrases should be utilized per landing page?

Answer:  For SEO, 3-5.  For PPC, it depends, but it could be a whole category of 100′s of keywords if you were doing a geographic landing page, for example. Generally, the fewer the better.  The more targeted the better.

Question: How fast can the online work be made profitable?

Answer:  It depends.  Can vary from 1 hour to 1 year, depending on how good your offer is, how good your online properties are already, how long your sales cycle is (ecommerce can be instantaneous, while selling an MRI machine to a hospital can take years), and how good your sales force is.

Question: How do you really convert leads into sales? What’s the magic?

Answer:  A good product at a good value proposition, combined with good tracking, good qualification, and a good sales force. 

Question: How are on-page organic search optimization for websites and on-page quality score optimization for landing page mini-sites different?

Answer: They are becoming more and more similar.  The primary difference is that mini-sites will probably never achieve as high of a quality score as a landing page attached to an existing trusted web property.  But things like trust rank, age of domain, clean HTML are common across the two.  One other difference is that on-page quality score optimization these days requires stripping the HTML of obvious affiliate links, while on-page SEO optimization can still do just fine leaving in affiliate links.

Question: How accurate is web analytics-PPC data in general, especially if you are dealing with a low sample size, number of conversions, etc.?

Answer:  Any 3 web analytics tools will disagree with each other somewhat (from 5-10%), even when properly hooked up.  They all measure things somewhat differently.  However, the tracking discrepancies are far less than just about any other form of marketing.  The important thing is getting ONE system in place, and then growing to the point where it is cost-effective to audit that data, and see whether that tool still makes sense.

Question: Will these techniques also assist in increasing organic search results?

Answer:  They will assist in converting organic search results.  They will assist in keyword selection for organic search efforts.  Choosing the right keywords is absolutely critical for increasing organic search results.

Question: With a limited online marketing budget, do you see any value in adding banner ads or geo-targeted banner ads on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.? We are doing targeted PPC and micro-sites to drive leads. Or is this just awareness advertising?

Answer:  This is primarily awareness advertising.  However, once you’ve topped out PPC, display and geo-targeted campaigns can help further improve your ROI.  But they are generally best done as a second step, not as a primary effort.  Again, your mileage may vary, testing is always recommended.  But as a general rule, display and banners are a waste until you’ve first taken PPC to diminishing marginal returns, and are looking for the next uplift.

As the previous post explored the question whether Freshdirect would see increased revenues from user generated content, one of my most resourceful colleagues, Jay Henderson, pointed out an interesting study by Bazaarvoice.

Bazaarvoice, if you didn’t know this already, is a solutions vendor that facilitates customer reviews for retailers and other eCommerce companies. In their own words, they bring “the power of social commerce to the world’s best brands.”

This study was done for Bazaarvoice’s client Bath and Body Works in 2007. Just as Freshdiretc’s CEO likely would, they asked the good question whether customer reviews contribute to increasing revenues. After all, what do we care which soap the customer buys if they are going to buy some soap anyway?

So, the client and/or Bazaarvoice measured whether an email containing customer ratings and reviews would be more successful than ‘the average email” that includes the company’s typical marketing messaging.

And what did the study find?

The email with peer reviews led to increased average order values by 10 percent!

Wow. In addition to this monetary success indicator, session length was higher and bounce rates were lower when peer reviews were included in the email.

This is especially fun to point out since our recommendation to Freshdirect was similar. In the discussion the conclusion was that user generated content around recipes could raise average order by values not by persuading people to buy more food, but more refined food.

Now, admittedly, the Bazaarvoice study isn’t saying that they created the same email content twice, once with reviews and once without, and then did split testing. So the question would be valid to ask whether the test really compares emails that would qualify as an apples to apples comparison.

But still, there is a great indicator here that customer generated reviews do seem to bring  great, tangible business value. And best of all, it is relatively easy for Bazaarvoice customers to run similar tests, measure outcomes, and convince themselves.

Incidentally, I was speaking with John Grech at PowerReviews who are a vendor in the same market as Bazaarvoice. PowerReviews uses a “tag-based” approach to capturing customer reviews. That is to say that reviewers can enter social tags describing products they review.

For example if you  are reviewing a sneaker you might tag it as “Great for running”.

Merchandisers can obtain a data feed from PowerReviews that correlate tags vs. merchandise. Merchandisers can then offer navigation based on these tags, e.g. “Which shoes are great for running?”

Interestingly, there is also a promise for extensible web analytics solutions to make use of the same tag data feed. When integrated, web analytics can then roll up web visitor activity, e.g. by “shoes that are great for running.” The web analytics solution would then also be enabled to correlate that to keywords or referrers that attract visitors that end up viewing or buying shoes “that are great for running”.

And let’s not forget about the offline marketers too.

Marketers can use the user generated tag content as a type of focus group. So if you designed a direct mail catalog about shoes that are great for running you could tap into this peer advice.

PowerReviews too have their case studies available online.

More power to these vendors. And many thanks to Jay for pointing it out.

Bob Thompson, CRM guru and founder of CustomerThink, has been very kind to interview me on the subject of the Multichannel Marketing book. Among Bob’s seven short questions my favorite was:

“Who should own multichannel marketing and why?”

We know how important organizational commitment to measuring marketing ROI is. Without it, few analytics programs have ever succeeded.

That is certainly true in individual marketing disciplines, e.g. online marketing optimized by web analytics and direct marketing sharpened by predictive analytics.

But who should be committed to the success of multichannel marketing given that it spans many marketing departments and discplines? I proposed an answer in the interview.