Web Analytics

Web analytics, according to it's Wikipedia article is, "the study of the behaviour of website visitors." The article goes on to explain various uses for web analytics. I think that using web analytics software or services, such as Google Analytics is a really great tool for online advertising. Not only can these tools relay traffic data, they can show you email response rates and click heat mapping, to name a few, and they can show what landing pages are most effective in making purchases. As far as online advertising I think that web analytics and relative software and services are fantastic.

A service like Google Analytics can not only serve larger companies, but it can also help show a smaller website's advertising potential. To show how Google Analytics works, as a class, we paired our blogger accounts with Google Analytics accounts. Now, I did ask people to visit my site, but apparently no one outside of C'dale was nice enough to do this for me :( . But I do have a photo site that my boyfriend and I created for his nephew that we happened to have a Google Analytics account for. The screenshot below is the dashboard of the report for the first full month that the site was up. As you can see (kind of) in the line graph, you see how many visits, pageviews, and the average amount of time spent on the site was. The screen shot below is another aspect of the dashboard, that when clicked shows you the states and cities that your visitors are looking at the website from. Since this website is for family, I know where everyone was looking at the website from. For example there is a large circle around the Chicago area, and a smaller circle within that because I know someone from the Chicago suburbs viewed the site. The dot towards the middle of the state represents another set of visitors, and there is also a dot where C'dale is. If I were a professional blogger I could market myself to advertisers as someone who has a wide range of viewers, but the majority of my readers are from the Chicago area.

While the report shown is not an example of click fraud, I do understand that click fraud is a growing concern for online advertising. It's a shame that hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on fraudulent advertising. Although search engines such as Google and Yahoo underestimate the prevalence of click fraud, I think that if they were truly fighting it they would start developing tools to prevent it. With a growing trend like online advertising, I think that they need to do as much as they can to help it grow and put companies that advertise online at ease about spending their money on something that is fairly new and untraditional.

Vlogs?

Video blogs, also known as vlogs, are becoming more and more popular. If you're lucky enough then you'll develop a fan base that will return to your site on a regular basis. If I were an online advertising expert I would only advise my client to associate themselves with this type of medium in the rarest of occasions. For example, the newest video rant is by someone named Chris Crocker. If you haven't seen it click here. Apparently he has a huge fan base, with someone like him or another blogger/vlogger like Perez Hilton, I would go ahead and tell my client to advertise with them, as long as the pairing made sense. One look at the Perez Hilton blog and you can see that he owes most of his income to advertisers, and about once a week he posts a thank you to all of his advertisers and asks his readers to check them out.

Blogs or Vlogs that I wouldn't advise a client to associate would be something like the one you're reading. I'm not a "professional" blogger like Perez Hilton or Chris Crocker (photos to the right). I'm not hosting this blog or trying to make a living off of it. One look and you can see that I'm not in this for the long haul. As far as whether or not this type of media is evolving I would say definitely. Strategy can be involved, but I think for the most part most blogs/vlogs aren't going to end up being profitable. I think advertisers were smart to pair themselves with Perez Hilton because the writer, Mario Laveindera, is branching out to other aspects of the entertainment industry. I'm not sure if his other ventures will be as successful as his blog, but if they are then this will inevitably bring more readers to the blog which will in turn give his advertisers more exposure. The Chanel campaign is something that I really enjoyed reading about. Even though I have never heard of any of the blogs that it is associating itself with, I'm sure that readers of them would be interested in the new Chanel fragrance. One look at them and I think most people would tend to agree.

As for Chris Crocker, some may find him annoying, I know I do, but apparently someone thinks he's can make them lots of money. He just signed a development deal with the production company 44 Blue. Fantastic!

Banners

Banner ads you got to love them...or hate them. Banner ads are those ads that are usually found on the side, top, or bottom of a website. For the most part these ads go by unnoticed, as shown in the picture to the left (red shows the most viewed areas, while the blue shows the least viewed areas). As you can see the areas where banner ads are located are hardly viewed. To read the whole study on banner blindness click here. I think that banner ads tend to get on people's nerves, especially the poorly and cheaply made ones.

Of course there are also those ads that are someone just can't help but look at. For example, here are some banner ads from T-Fal, Answer Insurance, and RedX Club. Even these ads which are supposed to get the consumer to interact with them can be easily ignored. The one that stands out the most is the one for RedX Club and that is pretty much because it deals with sex. These banners are significantly better than those ads that show insurance rates or the ones that offer you "free" ipods. I don't mind banner ads as long as they are creative and you can tell that some effort was put into their creation. Like I said in my last posting I can't totally hate something that I hope to be a part of in the future.

Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is probably one of the best things that could have happened to advertising. By using tracking cookies companies can begin to understand their target audiences’ wants and needs. An advertiser can decide where the best place to put an ad for a new laundry detergent or they can find links between products and find a new co-branding possibility. In any case, the use of tracking cookies makes understanding the target audience even easier than before.

The worst thing about tracking cookies is the fact that most consumers know that they exist and are finding ways to block and remove them ASAP. For example, my boyfriend is an IST major and knows more about computers than the average person. Because of him I now know how to “clean” my cookies and I do so about every 2 weeks. Is this enough time for online advertisers to get to “know” who I am? I think so. I don’t go to that many different websites daily and I still have a bunch of tracking cookies.


Some of the cookies come from ad networks such as AdBrite, TruEffect, AdInterax, and Advertising.com. Since I aspire to be in the advertising industry I can't blame these ad networks trying to get the most information out of consumers as possible. It's also understandable for the mere fact that more and more consumers are using the internet as a research tool. Consumers often times search online, but purchase in store. So even though impulse buying really doesn't happen online, it wouldn't hurt to show the consumer an ad for a product that coincides well with the one that they are researching, maybe they'll see it in-store too and purchase it as well.

As long as a website doesn't use my personal information to harm me I don't really care. Tracking cookies and stuff like malware are on two different levels. Ad tracking cookies are essentially there to help you out while malware and stuff like viruses can potentially harm your computer and give out your personal information. I can't really knock something that I may potentially be a part of in the near future.