Here we have SES Chicago and Pubcon in the same week. It's like asking a kid to choose which parent to live with. So the Market Motive faculty will be speaking at both events. This Tuesday, John Marshall will be speaking at WebMasterWorld PubCon Vegas Analytics, Tracking Performance - Beyond the Page View The same day I'll be sharing my favorite four ways to game AdWords Quality Score at Quality Score Management At the same conference, Todd Malicoat will be covering Link Baiting - 96 Different Strategies Interactive Site Reviews - Focus - Social Media SEO Tools of

How many of us have gone to a search marketing conference, listened to a big name speaker, and thought, "What if I could get that guru to spend 15 minutes on my campaign?" For me, the big-name speakers included Bryan Eisenberg and Alan Rimm-Kaufman and I'm pleased to announce that they both have joined the Market Motive faculty.

Bryan Eisenberg      Alan Rimm-Kaufman Bryan and Alan fulfill the vision of the "Internet Marketing Dream Team" whose purpose is to teach our members how to be successful in online… Continue reading

Matt Bailey of SiteLogic has agreed to join us as Market Motive faculty covering social media marketing. And we couldn't be happier. There were a handful of other worthy candidates and I'm convinced that Matt is the best choice for our subscribers.

Matt Bailey: Fast Rising Star At a dinner after Search Engine Strategies An Jose, Matt described himself the "Scrooge of social media". That might confuse folks who have heard Matt present. He's an authority on the tactics and still eschews the sensationalist "flavor of the month hype" that drives folks to… Continue reading

Search Engine Strategies sent me a Client Newsle... today. What's wrong with this email? Here's my short list. Do you see anything else?

#1. No use of preview text. Solution: Use your preview text. Your email software has the ability to set the preview text either in an explicit value or, at minimum, in the "alternative text" email content.

#2. The sender text is duplicated in the From text. Solution: Use unique content in both the Subject and From lines. While it is good to name your company in either the From line or the Subject line, it's a waste of space… Continue reading

It seems that every “first” email blast for a new company goes out with some embarrassing glitch. My initial announcement for Market Motive was no exception.  But, this time the error wasn’t in the email.  It was in the press release.  You see, we launched Thursday before last - in 2007.  Not in 2006 as the press release said.  So after  seven days of wonderful press coverage, Brett Tabke kindly pointed out that it seemed we had launched seven days ago rather than seven days and one year.   The rest of you who did notice were probably… Continue reading

What is the ultimate behavior of visitors to your web site? Do you want them to call? To fill out a request form? Do you want them to click a particular link? Or, do you want them to purchase a product or a service on your site?

“I want visitors on my site to ____________________________."

Answer the above question and you have established a “goal” for your site. The next step in web site goal and conversion tracking is to tell your web analytics tool which events on your web site represent a goal (or conversion). The most common way to do… Continue reading

Sting is a bass player. You know, for the Police? One of a myriad of things that bass players admire about Sting is his sparse playing. He leaves space between the notes, and when he does play, it’s brilliant.

So when branding Market Motive, I decided to be like Sting. It wasn’t my idea. It was Bryan’s idea. Bryan runs ZURB, a stellar creative agency. Bryan tolerated me while helping us brand our last company, ClickTracks. To celebrate my departure, I called him and asked… Continue reading

Web stats are fun. Entertaining.  Colorful.  But decision making seems to be reserved for the 15% of web analytics users who are intent on growing a business.  If your website affects your revenue, you owe it to yourself to skip the senseless stats, like hit counts and unfiltered visitor counts, and enter every web analytics session with a question in mind. Questions like: Which ads will I delete today? Which referrers will I reward? My posts in this blog will help move you into the 15% that use web analytics to fulfill a strategic direction. --Michael…