Analyzing analytics

Thought: Is the Chrome address bar screwing with your analytics?

With one field for both search and full URLs, I know I don’t need to be specific with my inputs. For example, I want to learn more about Sony’s Alpha Nex camera, so I need to head over to Sony’s website. I know that their home page must be Sony.com, but it’s still easier to throw “sony” into the address bar. Then it’s one quick click on Google, and I’m where I need to be. It is negligibly more difficult for the user to use the search-and-click method instead of hitting the domain directly.

But what’s the consequence here? Unless there’s some way to analytics services to account for this, we’re going to see search engine referrals (and Google’s traffic, by the way) increase. As more browsers evolve and refine their designs, we’ll see a similar data shift. (Or, are we already seeing it?)

Maybe there’s a monetary implication here, as well — or, maybe there isn’t, and this is unimportant. But consider that all those “firstname lastname” keyword searches on your blog might not be new people who want to learn more about you. Maybe it’s your same old visitors, and they just can’t be bothered to type out your actual domain name.

12.28.2011 | post | Business | , , | Feedback (0) Posted from: St. Louis Park, MN

Get what’s comin’ to ya

Earlier this week, I came across this brash but probably realistic post on the old guard of journalism and what it might take to finally take the industry into its next phase.

Probably not what most old school newspaper execs want to hear, but this piece has some pretty salient points. Among them:

  • When will these guys learn that paid content is not the way to go? People have gotten news free of charge on the ‘net for more than 10 years. They aren’t about to stop.
  • This one is probably the most difficult one to swallow for many in the biz: “Quality journalism is expensive, and to the extent that it provides a public good, we will find ways to fund it. But top-heavy, poorly run, arrogant-to-the-bitter-end media companies? This is their crisis, not our crisis, and it certainly isn’t about journalism.”

The media landscape is changing (rocket science, I know). I am very confident that in the end, we’ll still get our news – and it’ll be well done. But it’s not going to look like it used to. Whatever newspaper execs used to make, whatever the business model used to look like – they’re not going to make that much and it’s not going to look like that. The sooner the people in charge stop trying to salvage what’s on the way out and just embrace what’s coming, the better they – and we – will be.

06.12.2009 | post | Business, Journalism | | Feedback (0)