The Seattle-Search.com Blog

At last week’s Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City, Seattle-based Widemile Inc. announced the launch of a new Optimization platform that can reduce the time of testing landing page success to a fraction of other systems.”

Multivariate optimization makes each advertising dollar more accountable and work harder, making it highly appropriate for the current economic environment. The Widemaile system makes it possible to test multiplke factors and testing levels in a fraction of the time, and with a percentage of the transactional data of traditional systems. The methodology is referred to as Predictive Analytics.

Randy Barney, Director of Site Optimization for Avenue A | Razorfish had this to say: “We’re excited about Widemile’s approach and toolset, which is structured to scale with our business and client needs.” [24x7]

At the Search Engine Strategies Travel Show held last week, Microsoft Search Media Analyst Janine Patrick, reminded those assembled at the Marriott Waterfront from Hilton Hotels to TripAdvisor, that adCenter demographics can allow advertisers to target age, gender, and geographic location in their search campaigns — something Google and Yahoo! have yet to touch.

I could not resist asking the obvious follow-on, at least obvious to me as one of the first certified MSN adExcellence members in the the Pacific Northwest, why the demographic features have not been tied to MIcrosoft parameters.

Imagine, for example, if you could use adCenter demographic targeting and incremental bidding, and that the system would allow you to customize the parameters of your MSN-Live Search ad so that it displayed a customized message tailored exclusively for the user profile being targeted. Such is the power of demgraphic mining IF the result can be combined with targeted message delivery. “An excellent idea!” Janine praised, and she will see that it finds it way to the product develpment team. [24x7]

Details are beginning to emerge on Microsoft’s upcoming Google Analytics challenger. Gatineau will launch in beta later this summer to compete with Google and give AdCenter advertisers detailed stats on their campaigns.

Gatineau promises to take analytics one step further with the addition of demographic data. Beta 1 will include the ability to segment data by both age and gender buckets, so you can get more of an idea of what kind of visitors you have.
Google Analytics has already had a major face lift this summer, but Gatineau should provide enough competition to keep the improvements coming.

A Sneak Peek: <http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/want-to-see-gatineau.html>

Wiley Publishing has recently announced plans to publish a book co-authored by ZAAZ Analytics Director, Jason Burby and CEO, Shane Atchison. Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions will provide a detailed understanding of how businesses can use web analytics to set goals, develop strategies to achieve them, and make adjustments to optimize performance along the way.

In the meantime, for more analytics insight and advice, check out these helpful articles by Burby and Atchison:

Web Analytics: Are People on Your Team Accountable?

Data Smog: The Too-Much-Data Problem

Site Changes? Tag with Care for Better Measurement

Web Analytics: The Results of Tabbed Browsing

Analytics Staffing