May 2007
Greetings from MightyMerchant.
Things move fast in the Internet business. Just as we were putting the finishing touches on this month's featured article on Google Analytics, Google released a completely new interface for their flagship statistics program. Read our article to find out how you can take advantage of the latest version of Google Analytics.
We also take a closer look at two popular social networking phenomena: Del.icio.us and Digg. Using these social sites can be fun, they can help you easily keep track of information you might search for online, and they have the potential to lead a lot of people to your website (especially Digg).
This month we had a conversation with MightyMerchant client Dale Muhlenberg from TheDessertCafe.com, a website offering delectable gourmet cheesecakes, cookies, tarts and other sweets.
As always, we welcome your feedback. Please contact us with comments as well as suggestions for future editions.
In This Issue
· MightyMerchant Announcements-- Google Analytics article posted on website
-- Email migration complete
-- Urchin 5 statistics only available through June 30, 2007
-- New business partnership with Constant Contact
· Industry News
-- Google Analytics redesign
-- Google's Froogle now Google Product Search
· Welcoming new MightyMerchant clients
· Del.icio.us and Digg - Social sites for fun and profit
· Client Profile - We speak with Dale Muhlenberg, proprietor of TheDessertCafe.com
MightyMerchant Announcements
Google Analytics is an extremely powerful and useful (and free!) website analytics tool that can help you harness the power of keywords, search engine marketing, and many other tools you use to help other people find your website.
Click here for a link to an informative article for those interested in getting started with Google Analytics.
-- Email migration complete
We have completed the email migration to our new mail servers. Overall, the feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive. If you are not seeing a significant drop in spam, please let us know.
-- Urchin 5 statistics only available through June 30, 2007
We will be turning off the "old" Urchin stats on June 30th. If you have not switched over to Google Analytics yet, please do so as soon as possible.
-- New business partnership with Constant Contact
We would like to announce our new business partnership with Constant Contact. In next month's newsletter we will be giving some in-depth information on how you can use Constant Contact for your email marketing campaigns.
Industry News
-- Google Analytics redesign
In April 2005, Google purchased Urchin Software's analytics system, rebranded it as Google Analytics, and released it as a free service to help people measure traffic to their website. Now, Google Analytics has undergone an update.
A May 8, 2007 post on the Official Google Analytics Blog (http://www.google.com/analytics/index.html), says the service has been completely redesigned to be even easier and more accessible.
The blog indicates that Google interviewed hundreds of "power users," new users, and everyone in between to find out what people wanted in the service. The new version makes important data more accessible, and states statistics and results in a more easily understood language.
We've written an informative article for those interested in getting started with Google Analytics. That article is posted on our website here, so check it out to learn about some really helpful things Google Analytics allows web owners to do.
For those already using GA, the redesign does not affect the configurations of your account. One useful report, "Keyword Considerations," is no longer available in the new interface. Google says this report "didn't meet our demands for reliability and also was not one of the widely used reports." They indicate this may change in the future.
In the meantime, the "Traffic Sources Overview" reports have much of the same information. The dashboard is customizable , and the new interface shows broad categories of information with detailed reports only a click away.
-- Google's "Froogle" now "Google Product Search"
More changes afoot in Google-land. This one involves a rebranding of their Froogle service. In an April 18, 2007 post on the official Google blog, Google execs indicate that the name "Froogle" is being retired for the more straightforward "Google Product Search."
The pun to "frugal" was not always obvious with the Froogle name, and the name didn't intuitively inform people as to what the service was for. Google Product Search will still be a site for searching shopping listings, but with a simplified interface. The update also allows users to set results to display only those items from merchants that offer a Google Checkout option.
