JavaScript Editor Best javascript editor debugger     Freeware editor 
↑


Main Page

208
Before you set up a PPC conversion tracking tool, be sure your organization is
comfortable giving the PPC engine access to potentially sensitive information about
your conversions. Some in the SEO industry have expressed concern that sharing this
information will lead to security breaches or a rise in PPC prices.
With your conversion stats in hand, you’ll have all the information you need to
shape up your PPC campaign return on investment next month!
Tuesday: Get to Know Your Basic Server Stats
You have a website, which means you have a server, which means your server is proba-
bly making server logs. Like a good computer, it logs and logs and logs: who came to
your site, where they came from, what browser they were using, and more. Each time
any action is taken on your website, your diligent server log file makes a note of it.
We hope, for your health, that you never look at a server log file. Doing so can
cause headaches, dizziness, and a desire to escape to the water cooler. What you want
to see, instead, is output from a
web log analyzer
—software that takes the raw server
log file ingredients and whips them up into an easy-to-digest serving of meaningful traf-
fic data. (Don’t confuse the web log we’re talking about here with the other kind of
weblog, the one called blog for short!)
The area of
web analytics
, the measurement and analysis of online activity,
includes products ranging from simple to sophisticated. We’ve boiled it down into an
at-a-glance table so you can get your bearings (see Table 8.1).
Tab le 8.1
Online Conversion Tracking at a Glance
Type of Tracking
Level of Cost
Where Data Resides
Co mplexity
for You
Traffic only
Low
Your hosting service’s
servers
Traffic + conversions (build-your-own) High Low
Your servers
Traffic + conversions (server-side) Moderate Moderate-to-high Your servers
Traffic + conversions (client-side/hosted)
Third-party provider’s
servers
Conversions only (Band-Aid methods) Low
Low
Your site visitors (until
they choose to spill the
beans, at which point it
ends up on your servers)
Free (Google Ana-
lytics)-to-high
Low-to-
moderate
Usually low-cost
add-on to your
hosting package
Now:
Assuming you get clearance, set up conversion tracking on your PPC starter campaign.
c08. 8:08 208


JavaScript Editor Best javascript editor debugger     Freeware editor 
→