Recently Google announced in their Google Analytics blog that they have launched Google Analytics API (Application Programming Interface).

Now what is this?

First definition of Application Programming Interface: API is a set of functions or programs that can be called from an application program to access features of another program.

For example… Google Maps API is an application programming interface that lets webmasters embed Google Maps in any web page with the use of JavaScript.

Please don’t confuse it with Google Maps itself. It is an API of Google Maps and Not the full software that Google Maps uses. This API just lets a webpage CONNECT to Google Maps displaying the exact image users would see by going to the home page of Google Maps.

How can Google Analytics API help you?

According to the Google Analytics blog:

The API will allow developers to extend Google Analytics in new and creative ways that benefit developers, organizations and end users. Large organizations and agencies now have a standardized platform for integrating Analytics data with their own business data. Developers can integrate Google Analytics into their existing products and create standalone applications that they sell. Users could see snapshots of their Analytics data in developer created dashboards and gadgets. Individuals and business owners will have opportunities to access their Google Analytics information in a variety of new ways.

Let’s take a few examples.

Google Analytics for Android will help you to install Google API in the Android phone thus letting you access your analytics data wherever you go. Of course you should have your mobile phone with you.

Currently it costs $3, but imagine the use if you have a website with thousands of visitors coming everyday and you need to constantly monitor visitor behavior to run your business properly. You can’t be always in front of your computer. Can you?

Polaris is a Google Analytics desktop widget that will help you to integrate the API to help you see your analytics data right from your desktop. No need to visit Google Analytics page. Just double click the application and see your data anytime.

MailChimp’s Analytics 360 will let you integrate the API in your email campaigns and will help you to know:

ROI for the campaign
Revenue created
Average value per visitor
Goals completed
Conversion rate
eCommerce transactions

And you know what – it’s absolutely free!

You can see here  how many companies are already using the Google Analytics API to their advantage.

For further information please visit the Google Analytics blog post.

Are you using Google Analytics API? Are you finding it useful?

Internet is one of the rapidly growing marketing medium these days. As a major part of the global population spend a lot of time online, it makes the perfect sense to go for online marketing. Though you can avail of various online marketing tools, the most commonly used tool is email marketing.

If you are still not sure whether email marketing is worth your money, these advantages of email marketing can help you decide if you want to invest in it or not:

• Simplest option: Accomplishing an email marketing campaign is very easy. You won’t need any extensive resources for this and can carry it out from the comfort of your home.
• Beyond geographical borders: Email marketing has a global reach. Irrespective of your own location, the targeted emails can reach any audience.
• Cost effective: Email marketing campaign can cut down your costs considerably. As compared to traditional marketing methods like print or direct mail advertising, such a campaign will need less time, resources and money.
• Interactive: You can get your prospects involved in the email marketing campaign by using interesting videos, graphics, music, games, quiz or whatever that you think will catch their fancy.
• Extremely personalized: You can personalize your emails to greet every prospect of yours. This personalized touch will make a mark on your targeted would-be clientele and help you create special bonds with them.
• 24×7 marketing: With an email, you can let your audience know of the offerings even when you are not online or have left the office. So, if you want your marketing campaign to work round the clock, email marketing campaign should be your choice.
• Targeted marketing: Using custom-built and prepackaged records, you can do targeted marketing. Rather than bothering all and sundry, you can send emails only to those who are likely to need your products, services or solutions. You may use various parameters like age, geography, nature of spending, income etc to select your targeted audience.
• Assessable results: You can evaluate the success of your email campaigns by using tools that let you measure how a person has landed up at your website, the path followed by a visitor after such landing, conversion rates, click-through rates etc.
• Unsubscribe or opt-in alternatives: As emails have opt-in as well as opt-out alternatives, you can select only those prospects who are genuinely interested in your products/services/offerings.
• Quicker response: Though you will receive maximum responses on the first day itself, the average time of response for your e-mails may vary between one to three days. On the other hand, it will require at least 7 to 12 days to get any response from your direct mail promotions. Moreover, it is more cumbersome to answer a direct mail as compared to answering an email.

Remember that a properly planned online marketing can bring a lot of profit to your business. So, start a targeted email marketing campaign today and enjoy the soaring profits. Perhaps your competitors are already reaping the benefits of it.
 
Just a note of caution: Make sure that you are NOT SPAMMING your list. You must mail only to those who have agreed to receive newsletters or emails from you (opt-in subscribers). Sending unsolicitated emails is a punishable offence. Your website may get banned or worse you may have to pay a hefty fine or go to jail.

Read the email marketing laws a.k.a The CAN-SPAM Act, before starting marketing.

Have you ever done marketing through emails?

Eye tracking is the procedure of finding where our gaze is located for a reasonable part of time. Many webmasters use eye tracking devices to find the areas of websites where the viewers look the most. Eye tracking is an eye opener for webmasters as they can see how the eyes of their potential customers bounce around the web pages of the site. It is a common yet wrong notion to believe that people read the content on web pages in an orderly manner. Rather, their eyes may move randomly while looking through the “About Us” page which is quite different in pattern when the same person takes a look at the “Order now” page, the “FAQ” section or uses the “Search” facility at the same site.
Watching how the gaze of a visitor moves across the screen, halting at some places and overlooking some other areas, can give some idea about which areas should be the main focus to convert leads into sales and increase the ROI (Return on Investment) thereby.

It is beyond doubt that eye tracking has a tremendous demonstrative value as it helps a webmaster to identify how their users behave. By having the knowledge of how users watch the screen while browsing through your website, you can get a lot of insight into users’ behavior and the areas of your site that you should target to increase the sales and bring more visitors.

To know about where the gaze of a user rests for a long time, eyetracking “heatmaps” are used. These heatmaps show the different areas of a website where the users looked the most. Usually, the areas colored red in the heatmaps denote the most watched areas of the website. Yellow colored areas point toward fewer fixations while blue areas stand for least-viewed part of the site. The areas of the site that haven’t attracted any eyeballs are generally marked in gray color. So, an eyetracking “heatmap” can give valuable information about which areas the viewers are watching the most after landing at your site.

Eye tracking can be used to evaluate various aspects of a website and the online business related therewith as you can have an insight about:

• branding
•  search efficiency
•  navigation usability
• design
• online advertisements, and
• several other components of the site

By using an eye tracking device, you may even analyze how your competitor site is faring as compared to yours. However, despite so many benefits, eye tracking has its own disadvantages. Firstly, eye tracking devices are expensive. In addition to buying the device, you will also need to spend money so that people can be trained to use it properly.  Secondly, an eye tracker may not work for everyone. Often people having long eye lashes or wearing contact lenses cause problem in the proper functioning of these devices. Lastly, results given by eye tracking devices are difficult to analyze as they vary from one site to another and depend a lot on other parameters that need to be taken into account. Nevertheless, the output offered by an eye tracking device can be extremely helpful.

Another problem is that in order to achieve statistical significance you may need to study the gazing behavior of lots of eyeballs to come to a conclusion. Nevertheless the recent days of modern web marketing is witnessing a lot of online businesses studying eye-tracking on their sites to improve their ROI. If done well this can increase the return on investments many times.

Have you ever used eye tracking on your website to study your visitors’ gazing pattern to increase ROI?