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Having led the development of hundreds of websites, landing pages, online display ads and the like, I always find the challenge between creativity and achieving conversions to be one of the most critical elements to online success. After all, finding the optimal balance between creativity and good usability is what separates “the men from the boys” when it comes to effective web design and development. We experienced a recent example of this and here’s the story.

Over the past couple of months, Google has made it clear it's taking local search seriously. In essence, they have reconfigured the search result page and algorithm so organic and local listings become integrated. Studies suggest websites that implemented best practice SEO tactics weren't largely affected by this change, as local optimization was likely already a part of the overall optimization strategy. In fact, it's been shown that sites that already had strong organic and local optimization saw their overall positions increase. Conversely, sites without a local optimization campaign that implemented grey and black-hat techniques (in other words, simply gaming the Google algorithm based on the most recent exploits) have or will soon experience an overall decrease in visibility and ultimately traffic.

As a fan and user of Apple products, I closely followed the introduction and launch of the iPhone 4 as well as all the problems that ensued. These problems, which I'll get to in a second, became a PR mess for Apple. When Apple came around to respond, they made an argument based almost exclusively on data. Their approach to responding fit well into our philosophy of a company about being data-driven in as many decisions as possible. Likewise, the opposing argument made against Apple was representative of a much different approach. One based more on emotion and sensationalism than actual fact.

Forrester Research recently published an article about the growth of web analytics stating that 74% of websites have some type of web analytics software installed on them. However, they also reported that (only!) slightly more than half of websites have customized their analytics software to track specific activities. This indicates a significant opportunity for many firms to improve their online marketing success.

In these lean times advertisers must ensure they get a good return on every advertising dollar spent. Print advertising is often the most difficult to evaluate impact but with a little thought, it becomes easy, especially if you are using your website the way you should.

Here's the scenario: You're using Google Analytics and have been assigned the task of separating a slew of different traffic sources. This includes PPC, Organic, Direct, and Referral. The first three are very straight forward: a new profile with a basic include filter. However for referral, you need to get more specific. In this case, you want to breakdown individual affiliate referral sites. Once you've done that, you want to categorize them based on Daily Deal sites, coupon sites, etc.