Q: What was the name of the click mapping application that you just showed?

A: The name of the click mapping tool was Crazy Egg.

We really like this tool for a number of reasons:

-It shows us which links are being clicked on a given page

-It shows us specifically where those link are being clicked so that we can see if people are missing the links (so it shows us clicks that are made that weren't on links or buttons as well)

-It show us the click activity by referral source so that we can see how different groups of people are interacting with the page

Give the tool a try and see what insight you can gain from it.

If you missed VKI Studios live AMA webinar featuring Tom Leung of Google and John Hossack of VKI Studios, it is now available to be viewed on demand.

On Demand Play Back

Link building is one of the essential tactics all SEOs must know how to do if they have any hopes of getting a website to rank in Google's organic results. This will remain the case until the day in which Google decides to move away from a links based ranking algorithm.

A big part of the link building process is determining what the value of a link actually is, because without that you'll have no clue as to how much time and effort to invest into getting it. So let's take a look at a few metrics that will help you make that judgment about a link.

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The second question that was asked was:

"Could you please share the presentation slides or similar info that would be equally helpful."

Answer: "The slides from my presentation are currently available at http://www.vkistudios.com/ama/.

Tom Leung's slides will be available from the same URL later today (February 5th, 2008)"

The first question that I have had sent to me is:

"Can you please email me the list of blogs, books, and conferences you mentioned at the end of the AMA webinar about Landing Page Optimization (Data Analytics)?"

Answer: "If you are looking for resources to help you learn more about analytics and conversion testing then there are some excellent blogs by experts in the industry such as Avinash Kaushik, Eric Peterson, and the list goes on. Our blog is worth a look ever now and again as well.

If you are interested in analytics and you want to meet the movers and shakers then you must attend one of the eMetrics summits. eMetrics Toronto is coming up at the end of March 2008. VKI Studios is a proud sponsor and we encourage everyone who is interested in meeting and listening to analytics thought leaders to attend.

Finally, books. There are a number of great books on the topic of analytics and testing. A few of my recommendations are: Web Analytics Demystified: A Marketer's Guide to Understanding How Your Web Site Affects Your Business by Eric Peterson

Web Analytics: An Hour a Day by Avinash Kaushik Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions by Jason Burby and Shane Atchison and Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success by Jim Sterne."

Below is our current travel/exhibit/sponsorship schedule for 2008 (more events will likely be added in the coming months). If you would like to meet and have a face to face with VKI Studios this year please check our conference schedule below. This is our initial list of event that we will be attending, exhibiting and or sponsoring in 2008. Please contact us and let us know if you would like to meet us at any of these events.

Omniture Summit: Orem Utah, Mar 4-7, 2008

Emetrics: Toronto, Mar 31-Apr 3, 2008

Emetrics: San Fran, May 4-7, 2008

SMX Advanced: Seattle, June 3-4, 2008

Internet Retailer: Chicago, June 9-12, 2008

SES: Toronto, June 17-18, 2008

Internet Marketing Conference: Vancouver, September 11-12, 2008

Google has changed the way to select targeted geographical location in AdWords. This new feature provides more flexibility for selecting targeted areas and excluding unwanted visitors.

It is easy to access this new feature. Just login to your AdWords account, select campaign you would like to adjust, click button 'Edit Settings', click 'Edit' in Location section.

[More]

On February 5th VKI Studios will be sponsoring an American Marketing Association live webinar. This webinar will focus on demonstrating how companies can effectively drive improvements to their web sites by creating and implementing a process based approach to analytics and testing.

Presenting will be Tom Leung, Business Product Manager at Google and myself John Hossack, VP at VKI Studios.

Tom will address some testing best practices, a methodology for selecting the best pages to test, as well as offer some ideas of what one should test on a given page.

I will then go through a case study of an online retailer that will illustrate how our process driven approach to landing page and funnel optimization has lead to a 300% increase in monthly revenues in a 12 month period.

If you are interested in learning how to improving your websites performance, then this is webinar that you should attend.

To learn more, or register for this event click the following link: http://www.marketingpower.com/webcast433.php

Recently I've just installed the Quantum DB plugin for Eclipse. So far, in my limited usage, it seems great. Being able to work within the same IDE for different types of development is great.

We primarily work with MS SQL Server 2000+ and MySQL databases and there are JDBC drivers available for both of these.

I thought I'd blog about the installation (in case I need some help again in the future)

To try out Quantum DB yourself, the first thing you need to do is install the Quantum DB plugin for Eclipse.

The following instructions are based on Eclipse 3.3+

To install Quantum DB, you first need to install the GEF plugin for Eclipse

To do this: 1. Open Eclipse and go to: Help -> Software updates -> Find and Install... -> Search for new features to install

2. Select the checkbox next to the Europa Discover Site and click next.

3. Select the default mirror to check.

4. On the result page that lists the new features, expand Graphical Editors and Frameworks and select the Graphical Editing Framework option (you don't have to select the SDK, but you could select that as well if you want).

5. Go through the rest of the installation process and restart Eclipse.

Now you are ready to install Quantum DB.

To do this: 1. Open Eclipse and go to: Help -> Software updates -> Find and Install... -> Search for new features to install

2. Click the button for "New Remote Site", then type the update URL as follows: http://quantum.sourceforge.net/update-site

3. Click next and go through the rest of the installation process.

After the installation and Eclipse restarts, you now have Quantum DB installed.

To get Quantum DB working with MySQL and MS SQL Server I had to download and install the JDBC drivers.

For MySQL, you can download the MySQL Connnector/J from: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/j/ You don't need to register to download the connector, just click the link at the bottom that says "No thanks, just take me to the downloads!"

For MS SQL Server, you can download the SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/jdbc/

Download and extract these to their respective folders and put them somewhere on your hard drive. I put them in the root of the Eclipse folder.

For MySQL, you should find a file called like: mysql-connector-java-5.0.7-bin.jar For MS SQL, you should find a file called something like: sqljdbc.jar

To add support for MySQL, you need to do the following:

1. Go to eclipse and switch to the view "Quantum DB" by going to Window -> Open Perspective -> Other..

2. Add a new bookmark by right-clicking inside the left "database bookmarks" panel and selecting "New Bookmark"

3. Now click "Add driver", from the dropdown list called "type", choose MySQL.

4. Now click "add external jar", point to the file mysql-connector-java-5.0.7-bin.jar (or whatever your jar file is called)

5. Click the "browse" button for the class name "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver", then go on clicking many "OK" buttons.

So, now that you have the driver installed, you need to add a bookmark for the database you want to connect to.

1. Right-click in the "database bookmarks" panel again,

2. Select the MySQL driver and click Next.

3. A dialog will be shown for you input the connection information for the database you are connecting to. Enter, this information and click Next.

4. Now enter a name for the bookmark and click Finish.

The MySQL bookmark for your database is now setup.

To add the MS SQL Server driver and bookmark, repeat the process above for adding a driver and creating a bookmark using the appropriate MS SQL file and database information.

Hope you find this useful!

I was at a friend's place for a pot-luck dinner last weekend. We were all hanging around in the kitchen and I happened to be standing by the microwave. The host handed me a gravy boat and asked, "Hey, can you nuke this for a minute?"

"Sure, no problem," I said confidently. I put the gravy boat in the microwave and closed the door. My eyes then searched for the "Min Plus" button. After all, that's how my microwave works. Aren't they all the same?

Nope. This one was littered with unfamiliar controls. Some obviously dealt with power levels, some set a timer. There were other controls for defrost functions, a cluster of specialized "one touch" buttons for Popcorn, Baked Potato, etc. But there was no "Min Plus" button to be found...

How do I just turn the damned thing ON??

Taking a guess, I pressed 6-0-Start, assuming that would give me 60 seconds. It works on my microwave - and my sister's too. Surely it must work on all of them?

Nope. The panel beeped with every press of a button, but beyond the beeping, the microwave stayed dark and silent.

Hmmm. Maybe I have to enter a power level first? So I pressed the "Power Level", then 9 (figuring 9 would be highish). Then I pushed "Time" and 6-0. THEN I pushed "Start". This has GOT to work, right?

Nope. By now, the other party guests had noticed the long series of unproductive beeps coming from the microwave, and they started to snicker. "Hey Straker, how many years did you spend in university?" one asked sarcastically. The kitchen exploded with laughter, and everyone's attention turned to the moron who couldn't figure out how to use the microwave.

To the amusement of all, the scene continued for another agonizing minute or so, as I tried any number of pushbutton combinations in a futile attempt to bring that dead hunk of metal and plastic to life.

I eventually bluffed my way through with a cheat. I pressed "Popcorn" figuring that would at least turn the stupid thing on. It did, and a round of well-deserved applause erupted. I bowed in triumphant victory.

So... what's going on here? Am I really a hopeless techno-peasant? Well perhaps that's part of it. But I like to think there's another reason I looked like such a fool: when it comes to microwave operations, there's no established standard. Every manufacturer uses a different scheme, so you can't transfer what you've learned from using your microwave and apply it to using someone else's. You're left feeling - and looking - stupid.

And what has any of this got to do with web design? Easy. If you don't want to make your visitors feel stupid - if you want them to be able to accomplish their tasks easily - stick with established conventions. Sure, it's nice to break new ground with a new and "better" navigational system or whatever. But think twice before taking such chances. Remember yours truly at the helm of a microwave. Don't make me use the "Popcorn" button to reheat the gravy. Trust me, it doesn't work well...