Analytics Glossary: Average Lifetime Value
Average Lifetime Value:
- The average of the lifetime value of a visitor or multiple visitors during the reporting period. Each visitor’s lifetime value is the total monetary value of a visitor’s past orders since visitor tracking began.
Since I recently had a snafu with my analytics, I’ve decided to start this bi-weekly series of glossary terms on analytics and share some things I’ve learned with you about it! Take notes, children!
____
Glossary Definition From Website Magazine, February 2008.
Google Analytics Asleep at the Wheel?
Or, am I?
I installed the code for Google Analytics on the 14th and the tracking data has been rockin’ since I’ve been watching it. It’s SO much better than the former interface I was using. But I admit that I wasn’t very blog active last week and I looked at the analytics dashboard to find this today:
Visitor Flatline since the 2nd. Which I know isn’t right… so what gives? What did I change? I changed the blog over to my own DNS late on the 30th and those few days tracked just fine. The high mark there is Feb 1… so what gives? I did change the template somewhere in there but I’m not sure what day that was…I tried reinstalling the code and I’m not seeing a difference yet, but it’s entirely possible that it’s taking more time than I have patience right now.
Does anyone have any ideas? I know that I’m getting visitors (well I’m pretty sure…), I just don’t know why they’re not tracking at all. I obviously have a lot to learn…
Read MoreThe “it” site Snapbomb
It seems that on a daily basis there are more and more opportunities for bloggers to make money. I was Stumbling around earlier and found a blog post about SnapBomb from a blogger than I tend to take pretty seriously, LaTease Rikard. Usually she’s pretty on the mark about opportunities out there, including signing up for the PsPrint Affiliate Program!
So I went to check out the buzz about this and it’s the easiest thing I’ve done in awhile. The interface is super easy to understand and there’s no lengthy approval process like other pay per post/sponsored review sites. I don’t have a lot of experience with this as I’ve never written a paid post in my life, but from reading other bloggers around the blogosphere, most paid per post/review sites are a bunch of hoops to jump through. It’s refreshing to see something so straightforward out there.
Now SnapBomb is not going to make you a millionaire overnight. From what I can see the starting pay rates are between $5-10 when you start out. But for prolific writers there’s definitely a chance to make some extra scratch there. And I’m sure most bloggers who are attempting to make money from their blogs appreciate every dollar they can get. It’s also a good vehicle for blog marketing.
I encourage anyone looking for some extra dough to check it out at www.SnapBomb.com and poke around.
Read MoreSocial Media Marketing: Wave of the Future?
I figured out a really nifty thing to do on LinkedIn a few months ago… creating an HTML email signature with a link to this blog, to the PsPrint website, and to my LinkedIn profile. I was, sadly, highly amused by this function and emailed a colleague to show it off.
Colleague: Oh that is cool…I am still not 100% comfortable with online communication websites but Linked In seems cool because it’s business connections.
Me: But it’s the waaaave of the futurrrrre. And we’re going to start social media marketing, so get used to it :p
Back in August we decided to do a full frontal attack on social media! I can’t say much yet since we’re still fleshing out the procedures and nitty gritty details, but I’ll be taking the lead on it. That was decided back in August and we still haven’t made any progress on it, other than my blogging efforts here.
It was exciting to get some new responsibilities and start working on a new project. Our mailing services is pretty automated and our affiliate program was starting to go places. I couldn’t wait to talk more about it, but mum was the word at the time.
So I got to thinking about it… is social media and online networking really the wave of the future? What are your thoughts?
Read MoreAnnoying Sales & Marketing Tactics
Annoying Tactic #1: Launch a campaign without communicating it to everyone who needs to know internally.
Yes, if we told you we’d have to kill you. It’s that secret! Or, just not well communicated. There’s a fine line between keeping everyone in the loop and spamming everyone with constant updates. Personally, I’d rather err on the side of caution and go with the borderline spam. At least that way I never hear that dreaded phrase “Well nobody told ME that”. In my opinion, the more informed the employees are, the more interested and invested they are in making the company work and grow successfully. Maybe that’s just me.
Annoying Tactic #2: Contact everyone at the company you have contact info for to push a deal.
While erring to spam internally doesn’t bother me, constant follow up when I have no say in a matter does. I read an interesting blog a few months ago and man does it ring true. Listen up…if I’ve told you that you need to talk to a certain person that’s obviously not me, don’t keep sending me e-mails and calling me. Despite the word “assistant” in my (former) title, I am not this person’s secretary and cannot get them to call you back any faster if they are not interested or, better yet, not in the office. I’ve never been one to respond well to hard sales even if I was genuinely interested in the product. So back off, Salesman Steve. We’ll get to you when we’re good and ready.
Annoying Tactic #3: Make sure everyone you’ve ever met knows where you work and how they could use you.
There’s a fine line between informative introductions and obnoxious introductions. If someone you meet at a show or other non-work related function asks what you do or where you work, don’t be afraid to tell them. It might spark their interest and give you a wide opportunity to explain to them how great your company is without shoving it down their throat. But be careful not to be obnoxious. Princeton’s WordNet search defines obnoxious as “objectionable: causing disapproval or protest”. So don’t leave a sour taste in people’s minds about your company by announcing it off the bat when you shake hands. Yes shows are great networking opportunities, but if you go around spewing information about your company to everyone who didn’t ask, they won’t be likely to use you. Saturation is not always good.
Annoying Tactic #4: Miss deadlines
Missing so many deadlines that the promotion or campaign is practically a moot idea is the most annoying of all. When people get a postcard for a sale and the sale is halfway over, they tend to be ticked off about it and it really doesn’t encourage them to go order right away to take advantage. I know, I’ve received many a sale card mid-sale and thought simply “well, that’s a sale I won’t be able to hit”. Marketing is all about timeliness, so missing the mark is just poor form. It doesn’t motivate your customers to take action and it holds back other people within your department trying to work on the same project.
Read MoreCommenting is Marketing
I was looking through the nominations for the SEMMY awards and came across this great post by Darren Rowse over at Problogger. He talks about 10 ways to hurt your blogs brand by commenting on other blogs. It’s all pretty informative stuff that seems like common sense to me. This read comes at a particularly pertinent time for me as I was recently asked to compile a list of blogs that we should respond to as a company.
I grabbed a few to check up on and added them to my Google Reader to subscribe. I’m very sensitive to spam and I don’t want to be “that guy” (or girl, as is the case). I learned after reading Darren’s post that I’m not doing anything wrong. I’ve been making relevant comments (of course) and throwing in the PsPrint URL when it adds to the conversation of the bloggers post.
I post Darren’s question to my few readers here:
- What practices would you add to the posted list?
- Which would you remove from it (or modify)?
- What advice would you give bloggers when it comes to commenting on others blogs?
- As a blogger – do you police any of these types of things? Do you have a comment policy of any kind?
