Unique Visitors vs New Visitors in Google Analytics

I do not think it means what you think it means. Inigo Montoya, from The Princess Bride Sorry to piggyback off one of the classic lines from The Princess Bride, but sometimes your Google Analytics data does not mean what you think it means, as I found out from a real world example. Recently, I…

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Google Analytics Dashboard Part 2 – Goals and Events

In part 1 of this series, we discussed the initial steps in creating your dashboard, and how to delete what isn’t important.  In this post, we’ll go through the steps in creating events and goals, then we’ll add some some important items to the dashboard. Our destination in this post is going to be to…

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Google Analytics Dashboard Part 1 – Initial Steps

The biggest strength of Google Analytics is the depth and detail of the data it can provide. The biggest weakness of Google Analytics is the depth and detail of the data it can provide. Once you start delving into Google Analytics, the easiest task possible is to get totally lost in the data.  Click here,…

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Search Engine Optimization for $250

Recently, I was working with an organization that was building a new website. My role was to help with the strategic role of the website, work on SEO and analytics, and help them evaluate the bids submitted from a number of companies to build the actual site. Included in one of the bids was a…

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Levels Of Engagement On Nonprofit Websites

For a non-profit organization, it is critical that people become engaged. The organization has a mission, and advancing that mission inevitably involves engaging people for financial, volunteer, or other kinds of support. Society doesn’t change without a push, and the organization is there to provide that motivation. The website plays a role. Exactly what that…

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Why Search Engine Optimization Is Important

This post should have a subtitle:  How I Broke My Website. Even before Dr Jekyll self-dosed himself to become Mr Hyde, the idea of self-experimentation runs through our culture.  As any fan of comic books know, without self-experimentation, half of the super heroes of our fantasy world would never have come into existence. In the…

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Why SEO is Harder For Non-Profits Than Businesses

There is certainly no shortage of search engine optimization tips, tricks, advice, and rules available on the internet. However, the vast majority of the articles you will find are oriented towards business sites, not non-profit or charitable organizations. Despite there being a large overlap between the SEO tactics for businesses and non-profits, there are some…

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The Most Important Factor in Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization is a sexy term these days.  It has worked its way into the standard business language over the past couple of years, and is today’s version of the advertisement in Yellow Pages – something that every business feels it needs, or they might be left behind by their more aggressive competitors. But…

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When Money Is No Object: Value Calculations for Non-Profits

Website analytics, when used effectively, depends entirely upon choosing the right Key Effectiveness indicators for the website.  What is the reason for the existence of the website, and how does it contribute to the business or organization?  What actions on the website indicate a conversion?  And finally, what is the value of each of these…

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