Performance Marketing with Google™ Analytics: Practical Strategies for Maximizing Online ROI

Chapter 2. Data-Driven Marketing Basics

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Making Online Marketing Measurable and Goal-Driven

• Tools for Understanding Visitors and Performance

This chapter presents a framework you can use to organize marketing into logical categories called channels and orient your activities toward measurable conversion goals. It also explores the concepts and methods behind voice-of-the-customer and competitive research, two complementary areas of analysis required to get the most from your Google Analytics data. The goal of this chapter is get you in the mindset of an analytical marketer and help you understand the immediate steps you can take to get a handle on your organization's online performance.

Making Online Marketing Measurable and Goal-Driven

In the early days of the Web, an army of Web designers convinced businesses to build an "online presence." This design usually involved converting the company brochure into a Web page. Text was often long and difficult to scan (since it had been created for print media), stock photography was everywhere, navigation was confusing, and most sites included little interactivity beyond a contact form. The worst offenders even put 90-second Flash introductions on their home pages. Once a Web site was published, the design sat idle instead of being continuously improved. This was the world of Web 1.0.

The Web 1.0 approach worked well to get businesses online quickly, but it failed in fundamental ways. Most important, it considered the Web site ...