Hey Client: Web Hosting Is The Least Of Your Worries

I often have new clients walk in for a consultation about a new website and their first questions are about “web hosting” For some reason they are obssesed with web hosting, somehow they have the impression that choosing their web hosting “deal” is the most important part of the project.

Will they get 1GB of data or 2GB? Will they get 5 email addresses or 10? Who CARES? You are not choosing an iPod. You are building a website…

I think this mentality stems from their lack of knowledge. When they research “web sites” they inevitably come across hundreds of sites selling web hosting. It’s true, every website needs web hosting. So I can understand why choosing web hosting becomes the first logical place for many people to start.

But the thing is most web hosting is the same, it’s a commodity. Most small and medium businesses need a standard package. You tick the box, and you move on.

So heres the deal. If you visit a “web designers” site and their homepage is filled with web hosting packages like it’s some big important choice, run… run far away. These people are used car salesman, resellers and I.T Hacks. They dont build websites, because if they did, they would tell you, as I am, that web hosting is the least of your worries.

Now lets talk about how we can build a great website!

3 Critical Google Analytics Tools

I’ve tried alot of Google Analytics apps, add-ons and tools in the past. Here are the top 3 Google Analytics Tools I use on a daily basis, they are all free and they are built by some people who know there stuff. This isnt fluff, these are real tools for working web analysts, SEM’s and web designers.

1) gaAddons

gaAddons enhances the default Google Analytics script. You install it on the page just like the regular javascript code, it’s copy and paste easy.

Automated Tagging

gaAddons automatically tags outbound links, downloads and mailto. You can switch between tagging as events or page views ( if you need to use goals ) You can also specify the path, ie /mailto/%mailto% – Ultimately powerful, this will save you hours of work, ensure consistency and work with dynamic sites and content managed sites.

The latest version is absolutely rock solid. the code is lean and easily understandble by anyone who can copy and paste a jquery snippet.

Compatible with async

The only script of this nature which is compatible with async.

Cross Domain Tracking

the latest version handles cross-domain tracking… OMG awesome.

2) WASP

WASP or Web Analytics Solution Profiler is a firefox extension ( sites down the bottom next to firebug and opens in a sidebar ) that allows you to see how GA code is triggering in real-time.Initially I used it to simply confirm google analytics was on every page, as I became more of a power user I was able to use it to test link tagging, e-commerce variables and much more.

Testing the integrity of your analytics the old fashioned way ( fill out a form an complete a goal, wait 2 hours to see if it’s working ) is finished.

3) Copy Google Analytics Profiles

When you copy a profile with several filters and lots of goals it is hell to re-enter everything by hand… Copy Profiles by Roi Revolution is a greasemonkey script that will actually add a “copy” link into the Google Analytics profiles view.

The greasemonkey setup is a bit confusing, and in my mind greasemonkey always seemed “hackish” but I can vouche that this greasemonkey thing works reliabily and it it really does copy profiles.

Are they a social media guru?

There are so many hacks, scammers and pathetic try hards pretending to be social media gurus now days.

Here is a quick checklist to make sure you have found a bonifide social media guru!

1. They have never designed, programmed or built a website.
2. They mainly run seminars and sell “e-books” about social media to small businesses.
3. None of their clients have actually had success with social media.
4. One of their services is helping clients select there username – LOL?
5. They are a middle aged, work from home mum who is now selling seminars about social media, after attending a social media seminar!

Adwords MCC Dashboard Page is blank and no longer shows the client list.

Recently had a problem where I could not reach my main MCC dashboard. Refreshing, clearing cookies and changing computers did not fix it.

The following solution from the adwords forums solved this problem.

1. Log in to your MCC at adwords.google.com.
2. See blank screen.
3. Modify the browser URL by removing the #c.l at the end of it (or whatever characters follow the pound key sign, including the pound key).
4. Press return.  The page should reload properly and you should be able to access your client accounts through your MCC.

Google Adwords pro centre link removed from MCC interface

The link to your Google Adwords Qualified/Certified page has been removed from the top level MCC interface.

Why?

It just makes no sense. It was useful and you wont find one Adwords manager who disagrees.

Clients receiving unwanted notifications when added as “email only” users under the new Google Adwords MCC report interface

Recently Google has upgraded its Google Adwords MCC reporting centre. There is a major change that will effect Adwords agencies. You can no longer schedule reports to anyone by entering their email into a “send to” box. This is pretty annoying and as it turns out, buggy and unusable.

The solution offered by Adwords: You must add clients as “email only” users under your MCC profile in the access tab. Clients must now accept an invitation to receive reports from Google and create a Google to download the scheduled reports.

Firstly the invitation step is a huge logistical problem because most clients will have difficulty with this step. They might think it is spam, many can’t be bothered creating a Google account and what happens when the staff member receiving the report leaves? How will the next staff member get the report?

While I was willing to overlook to problems caused by the invitation step (because there is no other choice), I went ahead and invited a test group of my new clients to recieve reports under the new MCC reporting system. I set them up as email only users, I was meticulous in turning off all notifications.

The next day I got several emails from confused clients. Some how they had been copied in on an Adwords notification only I should receive. The notification? When I link a new account to my MCC. Even worse all “email only” users were copied into the email, exposing each of my individual clients to my other client accounts with direct emails…

It appears that “core” notifications such as a new account linked under my MCC are still being delivered to all users (even email only users with all notifications disabled).  Of-course this makes scheduling client reports impossible, as to have them see these kind of emails on a daily basis would just be ridiculous, not to mention unprofessional.

I have contacted adwords support and they are investigating the matter, but it appears this is a real bug. It is a bug that is so critical it stops any adwords agency from using the MCC client reporting system to send reports to clients..

If anyone has a similar problem or knows a workaround please let me know.

Hotels Combined – My Response

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your response. I understand your dissapointment, hence why I have asked you to respond. Is it OK for me to post your email on the blog?

I will be doing a final wrapup, and my assesment will be that Hotels Combined can be profitable, but it’s not EASY money and the profit margin is still slim. Furthermore scaling a campaign and maintaining a profit margin may not be worth the investment of time, or the possible risk.

Obviously adding hotels combined as an additional revenue stream from organic sources could be a nice way to make a bit of extra cash. But this experiement was never not intended to consider long term organic growth and the growth of web assests over time, which may counteract short term loses. I believe my readers are aware of these issues.

The main reason for the large loss, is dumping keywords on the foreign countries. I did not spend time managing this as I should have.

That said, I kept an eye on the Australian campaign and still lost money…

Take this example of the Byron Bay campaign

This table is the “all time” results from the PPC Australian targeted search campaign. This is the “search terms” report that shows you what actual keywords were triggered and clicked by the “byron bay hotels” broad match keyword.

Again please note: this is not the keyword list, but the breakdown of which keywords were triggered by the broad keyword “byron bay hotels”

caravan parks byron bay	broad	1	1	100.00%	$1.25	$1.25	4
accommodation byron bay	broad	1	64	1.56%	$0.75	$0.75	7.84375
accommodation byron bay nsw	broad	1	3	33.33%	$1.12	$1.12	4.666666667
cheap accommodation byron bay nsw	broad	1	1	100.00%	$1.30	$1.30	4
byron bay accommodation	broad	10	1241	0.81%	$0.87	$8.71	6.860596293
accommodation in lawson ave in byron bay	broad	1	1	100.00%	$1.27	$1.27	2
byron bay bed and breakfast	broad	1	5	20.00%	$0.52	$0.52	8
byron bay accomadation	broad	1	4	25.00%	$1.00	$1.00	3.25
cheap accommodation byron bay	broad	1	2	50.00%	$0.79	$0.79	10.5
byron bay	broad	1	31	3.23%	$0.77	$0.77	5.032258065
hostels in byron bay	broad	1	1	100.00%	$1.14	$1.14	4
gay byron bay holidays	broad	1	1	100.00%	$1.30	$1.30	5
byron bay hotels and resorts	phrase	1	4	25.00%	$0.72	$0.72	6
byron bay hotels	exact	1	7	14.29%	$0.40	$0.40	4.714285714

As you can see I had 23 clicks in total. In my mind only 4 of these are bad, actually they are not even that bad, just not GREAT.

So lets say I had 19 clicks from good relevant keywords. My ad text clearly states you will be landing on a page which will allow you to compare and book the best hotels in byron bay…

Now lets look at my transactions report and reference the labels which I installed on Day 2.

8119992	5/11/2009 18:17	220.245.114.189		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8120023	5/11/2009 18:25	220.245.114.189	RoamFree.com	Book Button	Tweeve	1.151	Byron_Bay
8120242	5/11/2009 18:49	124.186.164.173		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8120460	5/11/2009 19:06	124.186.156.80		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8191440	9/11/2009 18:57	120.155.254.148	RoamFree.com	Book Button	Tweeve	1.16	Byron_Bay
8222402	11/11/2009 3:23	122.148.114.190		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8222570	11/11/2009 3:30	122.148.114.190		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8561240	29/11/2009 4:12	24.76.161.223		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8561257	29/11/2009 4:15	24.76.161.223		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8561404	29/11/2009 4:22	24.76.161.223		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8616426	1/12/2009 19:06	122.57.7.164		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8684065	4/12/2009 20:17	122.109.33.215		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8684066	4/12/2009 20:17	122.109.33.215		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay
8721102	6/12/2009 20:27	220.233.104.53		Advertisement	Tweeve	0.14	Byron_Bay

I have a total of 2 book buttons and 12 adsense clicks

This is not a 50%-100% conversion rate…

It also reinforces my theory that the adsense units with a flat payout of $0.14 are bad. Since it would be impossible to buy a click to byron bay under $0.14….

I plan to continue my Australian campaign this month AND keep a good eye on it. I would be willing to take any advice you have. Using the above example how could I improve my visitor targeting?

Perhaps if you gave me a list of your top 10 australian regions with the highest conversion rates, I can run an even smaller isolated test on these?

I will supply some conversion tracking in the next few days.

Regards,

Robert Austin.

Hotels Combined Response

I emailed hotels combined and asked them to respond to my experiment. Here it is.

Hello Robert,

Yes, we noticed that you completed your test.

Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed by your efforts.  It doesn’t look like you did anything to optimise your keywords, text ads or bid prices, and you didn’t come back to me for advice once you started losing money.

Overall, your Leads were very good quality, but your Visitors seemed very poorly targetted.  I can tell this because your Visitor-to-Lead conversion rate was only around 7.5% for hotel Leads, and also because around 37% of your Leads were from clicks on Google ads.  Most good Affiliates have an average Visitor-to-Lead conversion rate of 50 – 100%.  Also, most Affiliates only earn less than 5% of their revenue from Google ads, so your high percentage shows that your visitors just aren’t interested in our hotel comparison service.

My suggestion would have been that you used the Label parameter to track the performance of each of your keywords or text ads.  You could even have provided me with your Google Analytics conversion tracking code, so I could’ve placed it on your conversion page.  My experience with AdWords tells me that this would’ve helped you identify poorly converting keywords that you could’ve removed from your adgroups.  For example, the keyword “hotel” appears good at first glance, but if you had it on Broad match, it would attract traffic from searches such as “hotel employment opportunities” or “buy a hotel for investment”.

One of your conclusions was that our Google ads don’t help your profitability.  This is not entirely correct.  Each Visitor can generate multiple Leads, so it adds an extra revenue stream.  Consider an end-user who clicks on a hotel link.  The provider’s website appears in a new window, so when they complete their reservation, our website is still open in front of them.  If they then decide to book a flight or hire a car, they might well reach their next website from one of the Google ads on our page.  In this case, even though you only earned $0.14 from the ad click, you actually earned two commissions from the one Visitor, which should serve to increase your overall Visitor value.

Your comment in week 3 doesn’t give me confidence that you tried very hard at this when you said:

“To be honest I didnt really keep an eye on things this week. Just let it run away.”

If I found that I was losing money each week for the first two weeks of an ad campaign, I would not have simply “let it run away”.  Even if I did, I would not have expected there to be any marked improvement in the situation at the end of that period.

Anyway, I apologise for the negative tone of this email.  You probably tried your best, based on your current experience with paid search and affiliate programs.  I hope that in future you make more effort to reach out to possible sources of assistance.  For example, in this situation I was more than willing to offer my many years of AdWords and affiliate program experience to you in the form of advice and technical support.  If you decide to continue with our Affiliate Program, that offer will still stand.

Regards,

Adam Zebrowski
Business Development

Roamfree Disabled Property Page – Let’s Make It Better

Here are some suggestions to improve the page that appears when a Roamfree AP link has been disabled.

The disabled AP page has always erked me. It really sucks, and I know I lose user confidence and bookings everytime one of these bad boys pops up.

Current Page In Use

• There is no attempt to “upsell” this situation. It just errors.
• The link to “see more properties” is tiny and useless.
• I think this is some sort of javascript popup? Is this accessible?
• The private branding DOES NOT show underneath.

A Very Quick Upgrade

• Private branding remains intact
• A friendly message explaining what has happened
• A big button which the user can click to see similar properties in that same region
• A link BACK to the referring affiliate website
• An automatic redirection to similar properties in that region in 5 seconds with a feedback indicator

Email Alerts ( Current )

It is important that the affiliate is alerted when a property is disabled. So they can remove the listing. No user wants to see broken links. You are supposed to receive an email alert, I believe this is triggered only once when a user loads this page. That may be wrong, but it doesnt matter. The email alert system is broken. I often ring Roamfree and tell them this, my email alerts work for about 2 days, then they stop forever.

Email Alerts ( Improved )

• Alert the affiliate via email. Optionally alert the affiliate via rss or twitter.
• Make sure the email alerts work.
• Add an option in the control panel to A) send me alerts everytime a user reaches a disabled AP B) send me alerts only the first time a user reaches a disabled AP.