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7 Must Knows for Measuring Web Site Activities
Record keeping measurements for Internet marketing
Record keeping tracks money -- where it goes, when it comes in. Internet record keeping is also required for
success. Yet the statistics show that only one out of a hundred people who own web sites do any type of record
keeping on how much it cost them to be there A system that works hard for you when you don't still requires
monitoring and periodic reviews. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it, then it manages you.
The top keys to making money on the Internet are working smart, planning, testing, immediately stopping when
something isn't working, reinvest in new techniques and approaches that improve and then keep testing. For every
success there are usually 10 to 15 try, sometimes more, that weren't successful. Even prolific writers create a
number of drafts to get to the end result that works.
Here are nine terms you want to become very familiar with and that you want to use to measure your success. As a
past CPA, these terms aren't just for an Internet site, they too are usable in other services or brick and mortar
operations.
1. Cost per action, sometimes also called, cost per acquisition. How much does it cost you to get a visitor to take
a specific action beyond just clicking around in your web site? How many click-throughs does it take for visitors
to make a purchase? Another way to apply this to ezines subscribers -- how many clicks were made before the
subscriber registered for your eNewsletter? You take the total expenses for running your web site and divide by the
number of clicks measured.
Example: If the cost per click is $0.50 and it takes 30 click-throughs to get one person to register for your
eNewsletter, the cost per action is $15. If you write articles, how many registrations do you get for each article?
If your measurement is 10 for each article and it takes you about two hours to produce and deliver the article over
the Internet. If your estimated hour rate is $100 per hour, then each registration is costing you $10 plus your web
expenses.
2. Cost per sale. To measure, divide the marketing expenses by the total number of transactions to come up with the
cost per sale in a dollar amount.
3. Return on Investment, also known as your ROI. Divide your gross sales, this is all your sales coming from your
web site, whether it is from affiliate, commission, advertising, or items sold, by all your marketing costs. All
that you have invested in its production. You come up with a percentage amount which is the bottom line on how
successful your marketing was in terms of sales. Refunds or credits are also taken into account. If you gave away a
number of products you need to count these as part of the items sold even though they didn't land any money in the
bank account. Giveaways are a frequent overview in this calculation and can be a huge eye opener.
Example for service professionals. If you provide a service where you give away the first session as complimentary,
give a presentation for a sale, or prepare a proposal, these costs also need to be included in your ROI
calculations. If you provide this service in person you need to also add in your travel time and an average cost
for car expenses (not just gas). This is why it is so important to prequalify. For coaches, this is why I recommend
only performing complimentary session over the phone or in your office unless you're fee is built in and high
enough.
4. Pay per sale, also called a referral fee for closed transaction . This is typically a percentage of the sales
generated by the advertisement. A commission is paid when a sales is made by the advertiser and not by the number
of click-throughs. Advantageous to the advertiser not to the publisher.
Example: Someone places an ad in your eNewsletter with an agreement to pay a higher percentage fee for each sale
but zero for any nonsales. The responsibility of success for the sale falls mainly on the advertiser. If you enter
into this type of agreement, make sure the advertiser delivers on their promises, and has a structurally sound
sales processing system in place. Not to mention a means for reporting to you what was sold, when and where too.
5. Customer lifetime value. Stated in dollars, this is the average length your customer remains with you divided by
net profit of that value. If you are new in business or don't have the actual figures you will need to estimate.
Example: If you are a coach and average of 22 steady clients per month for an average agreement of six months. Your
net profit for six months would be $46,200. You then divide the $46,200/22 = $2,100. What this means is that every
client that you acquire for six months is worth $2,100 to your business.
6. Cost per click, also known as cost per click-through (CPC). How much you have to pay for every time someone
clicks on your ad -- clicks from that point to the next point, usually your web site.
Example: You purchase a banner space on someone else’s web site for your product or service. That space costs you
$400 for the month. There were 225 click-throughs from that banner to your site during that month. $400 divided by
225 = $1.77. You paid $1.77 for each click-through.
7. Cost per lead, also known as pay per lead. This usually occurs when you purchase prospect lists. These are
specific lists from people who have already given permission to someone else that they are interested in this type
of product or service. In other words, they have opt-in to a similar request, and they are the target market you
are looking for. The leads can be limited to just providing the e-mail address or in great details.
Catherine Franz is a Marketing & Writing Coach, niches, product development, Internet marketing, nonfiction writing
and training. Additional Articles: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
Source: www.ezinearticles.com
Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (VNU Net via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News)
Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies. Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (Computing.co.uk)
Janie Davies, Computing , Friday 4 July 2008 at 10:21:00 A US court has ruled that Google must provide Viacom with details of users who have watched YouTube videos Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.... Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (vnunet.com)
Janie Davies, Information World Review , Friday 4 July 2008 at 11:52:00 A US court has ruled that Google must provide Viacom with details of users who have watched YouTube videos Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.... ...
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