YBO Interactive Blog

Google Analytics is based on Javascript. Since Javascript can be placed only in HTML files, tracking non HTML files like pdf, zip, mp3 and others is a little bit tricky. But it is possible.

In order for Google Analytics track downloads of an mp3 file from your site, do the following:

1. Add the Google Analitycs tracking code ABOVE the the link to your downloaded file. If you already have the Google Analytics code in your site footer, and you probably do, place the same code again, but remove the call to _trackPageview().

example:

<script type=”text/javascript”>
var gaJsHost = ((”https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);
document.write(unescape(”%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(”UA-xxxyyyy-z”);
pageTracker._initData();
</script>

2. Edit every link you want to track, in the following way:
In case your link looks like this:

<a href=”/downloads/file1.mp3″>Hava Nagila</a>

change it to look like that:

<a href=”/downloads/file1.mp3″ onClick=”javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview(’/downloads/HavaNagila’); >Hava Nagila</a>

The clicks on this link will appear in Google Analytics as if the page /downloads/HavaNagila was actually viewed, even though there isn’t really such a page.

You can read more about this issue and others in Google Help Center.

look at this perfectly written email I got from MIVA. I think it is an excellent example for a ‘bring back old customers’ letter.

From: Ed Chambers
Date: Tue, May 20, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Subject: £25 for your thoughts…
To:

Dear Yair,

We noticed you have stopped using MIVA, and we wanted to gauge your thought about why this is the case. We have put together a very short survey (you should be done in 3 minutes or less), and your feedback is very important to us as it helps to improve the service we provide to advertisers like yourself.

We understand that your time is valuable, so by means of thanks we are offering all those who complete the survey £25 in free MIVA advertising – just reply to this email to claim your credit.

Thanks in advance for your feedback, and please do reply to this email with any questions to do with the survey or your MIVA account.

Regards,
Ed Chambers

When you try to bring back old customers, you can’t just tell them ‘come back’. You must give them something in return. And this guy, he didn’t even say come back, he just asked to fill in a survey and in return he will pay £25 (in MIVA credit…).

I’m sure this email has a super high conversion rate.

In case you are interested, MIVA offers $25 free advertising for new accounts. The fact that their traffic didn’t work for me doesn’t mean that it won’t work for you…

Look at this email I got from Plaxo. How many colleagues do you think they can find from YBO Interactive?

Stupid emails like these make me look for the unsubscribe link (I just did!). If you are sending newsletters to your customers, make sure they won’t feel the same. Treat your customer’s mailbox with respect the same as you treat your customer with respect. If your message is not useful for your customer, don’t send it. And if you do, make sure that there is a very easy way to unsubscribe in one click, something like that:

“This email was sent to xxxxx@example.com. If you believe this message is a mistake and would like to remove your address from our system please click here ”

Don’t make your customers hate you just because of your newsletter. It is not worth it.

At the recent Web 2.0 expo, Matt Cutts presented on “what Google knows about spam…”

I watched the 9 minutes video and it is quite interesting to hear it from an official Google representative. After all, everything we know is based on urban legends…

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I found a really nice research article made by the Psychology Department of Wichita Sate University, about The Effect of Website Typeface Appropriateness on the Perception of a Company’s Ethos or  in other words - which font should you use to make your users trust you more.

It makes perfect sense that there are fonts that are more trustworthy, but I never thought about a research proving it. But then again, this is the reason that I’m blogging about it, and they have proved it…