More on Banner Metrics
Banner advertisements on third party websites are increasingly common as websites target niche visitors. Tracking how well your banner campaign did is extremely important to justify the expenditure outlay on such campaigns. The key metrics in tracking a banner campaign are:

1. Impressions
 This is the fundamental metric in banner campaigns. It refers to the number of visits to the page on which the banner appears.

2. Click Through Rate (CTR)
The CTR indicates the percentage of people who saw the banner and clicked on it. The more effective a banner is, the more people are likely to click on it and hence CTRs are a key metric to ascertain the effectiveness of a banner’s design, content and location on a page.

The CTR is the number of clicks on the banner divided by the number of total impressions.

Web analysts tracking banners need to be very sure of the query parameters they run. A visitor who sees a banner of XYZ Global Inc. on a third party site follows a sequence shown here to reach the landing page of the banner. 

If the banner leads to a page which has 4 different downloads as in the case of XYZ Global Inc., that’s when web analytics reporting can get more complicated. Visitors to each of the 4 downloads on the page have to be tracked for a comprehensive analysis on the banner campaign’s effectiveness and performance.

Web Traffic reporting based on Key Words and Key Phrases
There is an increased focus on SEO, content optimization, meta tags and page titles of web pages with a view to gain ground in search engine rankings. 

Key words and Key phrases are words and search phrases used by internet users in search engines to locate specific information on the internet. Key words are individual words used in a search query while the complete string of words used in the search is a key phrase.

Some web analytics software allow web traffic reporting based on key phrases only, Omniture for instance. However key words are just as important for market intelligence on websites.

Key words are relevant:
• In detecting emerging themes and patterns in website traffic.
• Have higher usability in site optimization.
• Help to focus on services or products that drive traffic to your website.

If your web analytics software is not configured to include key word analyses, it is worth looking at alternative ways of including key words within the ambit of your reports or even writing a program that does it for you.

Referrers to a Site
Key referrers that are not search engines or your own group sites are an interesting input for any organization. What are the ‘other’ top referrers to your site besides search engines and your own group’s websites? An answer to this question can lead to insights into what drives your website’s traffic and where your visitors came from other than the obvious Google/Yahoo. 

MSDN’s library gives a tutorial on Adding Customized Color Scales using Excel 2007  which allows your numbers to tell their story visually. This is done by applying a two- or three-color scale to your data.  The upside: conveys visually through color gradations the relative values in cells. The downside: you need Microsoft’s 2007 Office System!

This blog on Web Analysis (Analytics), Online Advertising and Behavioral Targeting [http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/08/relying-too-much-on-seo-think-again.html] cautions companies against too much dependence on SEO. The writer makes a strong case for alternative tactics such as branding and diversifying, so that your web traffic is not entirely search engine based because if it is, your visitors could be ‘here today and gone tomorrow’ given the dynamics of serach engine crawlers!

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