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10.17.06
B2B With Marcos Richardson And Jim Sterne
By Manoj Jasra
Marcos Richardson from WebTrafficIQ contacted me for an interview a few weeks ago and together we came up with a cool twist...
...where we would introduce a second interviewee: Jim Sterne and focus the entire conversation around the topic of B2B.
Links: WebTrafficIQ, interview
Here's how it went:
[Manoj]: Can you start by talking a little bit about your background?
[Marcos]: I hold a Business BA (Hons) Marketing to Customers and Markets.
Working for a Marketing agency in 1997 during the dot com boom I gained a wide knowledge of online marketing and tracking technologies: Media Planning & Buying, Affiliate Programs, Strategic Links, Opt-in Email Management, Search Engine Optimisation, News Group Development, Viral Marketing, Log-file Analysis & Browser based tracking.
In 2001 I was employed by Clickstream Plc: a very interesting Web Analytics company that is still slightly ahead of its time today. This is where I gained my technical knowledge which enabled me to go into partnership with a small Web Analytics company that amazingly was the very first page tagging system in the Industry and being used by NASA. I rebranded the solution and service offerings to appeal to the European Market. WebtraffIQ is now well known within the Industry and has been able to boast many more industry firsts. First SMS alerts system, Internet Fraud application, First terrestrial Television to Internet tracking (for Halifax), Radio to Internet tracking for City & Guilds. Most recently the first Web Analytics vendor agnostic consultancy service
Within my Web Analytics career I have worked with Sony, Reuters, MP3.com Europe, The Direct Marketing Association, Business Link, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Publicis, City & Guilds, Universal Pictures and many more.
[Jim]: I started paying attention to the Internet as a marketing medium in 1993, after 15 years in sales and marketing. I've written books, pounded the podium and even started a conference on the subject of measuring and optimizing the web experience for customers because I feel so strongly about the opportunities.
I am the Founding President of the Web Analytics Association, the producer of the Emetrics Summit and an international consultant on how to increase the value of a website.
[Manoj]: Web Analytics is becoming immensely popular in North America, is this similar in Europe?
[Marcos]: Yes most definitely " Companies in Europe have been utilising Logfile analysers on par with the United States, Webtrends was pretty much the global Logfile analyser recognised by all. In 2003 after the dot com bubble burst many online companies became instantly more accountable. This brought Web Analytics as we no it today to the fore. Accuracy of data started becoming a critical part of choosing a good Web Analytics system. Page tagging or browser based tracking became widely accepted as the more accurate when compared to log file analysers although this is not strictly true.
More recently large traditional retailers such as Next are finding that their business models are changing and they are starting to see a slow down in terrestrial sales with the major growth moving to online e-commerce. Reed Business Information is seeing its traditional hard copy growth diminish and sees its future in online sales. All of this has of course put greater emphasis on tracking, measuring and analysing consumer behaviour in relation to marketing, websites and bottom line transactions.
The emergence of Google Analytics has given the Industry another boost in the right direction. With its substantial reach even the small to medium sized enterprises in Europe are now aware of the importance of Web Analytics.
[Jim]: The top European companies are having no trouble keeping up with top US companies in that they understand and have the ability to take advantage of sophisticated web optimization tools. Lucky for them, they are few in number on both sides of the Pond.
This means those who really apply the tools and assign the human resources to getting the most out of them, have a distinct advantage over the rest of the business world.
Complete Article
About the Author:
Manoj has been working in the search engine marketing industry since 2002. He started out as a software developer but now provides in-depth web site analysis using web analytics. http://www.enquiro.com
Manoj is also the author of Web Analytics World. Web Analytics is an essential component in developing a successful
online campaign. Help convert visitors into customers by understanding
them. |
