In a recent conversation, one of our clients asked for more research on why their bounce rate has gone up in the past year. Their traffic has quadrupled and while their bounce rate has grown at a significantly slower pace, they still wanted to know if there was any specific cause. It was a reasonable question, and I set off into Google Analytics to find some answers.

The first thing I noticed was that their direct traffic was quite high – over 40%. Which gave me an idea – why not segment their traffic by source and see which had the highest bounce rate? Of course, I anticipated that direct traffic would be the lowest, since those are people who presumably intended to arrive at their site, while those who arrived through search and referring links are somewhat taking their chances.

Wrong. Direct traffic had the highest bounce rate.

Okay, I thought. I’ll look at new & returning visitors for each segment. Surely returning visitors will be lower, since again, they know where they are going and want to be here.

Wrong again. Returning visitors had higher bounce rates across all sources, but highest among direct traffic.

What about search? Surely keywords containing their name will have lower bounce rates. Or they could be as high as 80%.

Hmm…. This isn’t going like I expected.

Surely conversions will most likely come from returning visitors?

Not even close. 97.2% of conversions came from new visitors.

Now I have more questions than answers, but I also have the new Google Analytics advanced filters plus segments. So I can look at multiple dimensions at the same time, and patterns start to emerge – the same keyword can have a bounce rate of 49.28% for new visitors and 89.02% for returning visitors. That high bounce rate for direct traffic?  Under 45% for new visitors and over 85% for returning visitors.

Ah... progress. It seems we have 2 separate audiences that behave entirely differently on the site and have to be analyzed accordingly. Apparently looking at averages isn't going to help us here.

Using the segments for New and Returning Visitors in Google Analytics to separate out these audiences to see what pages they enter the site, where they go, and what pages they leave from becomes much more interesting, and now I have something to tell my client.

And I learn about asking the right questions.

This week, we’re launching a series called How (And Why) To Start a Company Blog—and the fact that we’re doing so on our own company blog even makes it a case study of its own!

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be covering the following topics.

1. Why start a blog? Before you launch any new marketing effort, you first need to determine your goal, expected outcome and how it fits into your overall PR/marketing strategy. We’ll also look at case studies of successful corporate blogs.

2. How to start a blog, step 1. Once you’ve established a clear purpose for blogging, there are several pieces of groundwork to lay. One of them is to determine the types of topics and subject matter that map to your goal and target audience, and then create an editorial calendar to sketch out ideas for the first few weeks or months.

3. How to start a blog, step 2. Hand in hand with an editorial calendar is determining the schedule for your series of posts and topics—and then assigning copywriting to one or more people in your organization. We’ll also cover some essential blog copywriting tips, such as voice and authenticity.

4. How to start a blog, step 3. With the right people, topics, schedule and strategy, you’re ready to start, right? Now you move on to the technical part of the process, actually setting up the blog, from choosing your blogging software to incorporating your blog into your overall web site.

5. Ready, set, go. The last step may be the hardest; starting a project is one thing, but continuing it on, consistently, is your true goal. We’ll talk about ways to keep up with blogging and incorporate it into your regular marketing activities.

We hope you'll join us. If there's anything you'd like to see is cover, drop us a comment and let us know.

[Photo credit: Annie Mole via Flickr Creative Commons]

According to a new comScore study, it’s likely one of a core group of people as the study found that 8% of Internet users account for 85% of all clicks, and 84% of Internet users never click on a banner ad.

Does this mean banner advertising is a waste of money? Not at all – it means that evaluating web advertising may not really all that different from traditional media and we need to find additional ways to measure the effectiveness of the campaign instead of relying on click-through rates.

I asked CDG’s Art Director what he would recommend to clients looking to create an effective banner advertising campaign. He said:

• Understand the main benefit is brand awareness
• The message should be quickly consumed in the ad
• Have a clear call to action and offer a “real world” component

In addition, we have to look at how the ads affect consumer behavior and understand that may have a longer time line than the instant gratification of a click through to a landing page. Did your sales go up after you ran the campaign?

This was all made even more interesting by the news that P&G (owner of brands including Clairol, Iams, Pampers, CoverGirl, Crest and Gillette) now wants to pay publishers by engagement rather than clicks or impressions. Their measures of engagement include users who sign up for newsletters, play games or watch videos. The question is does this more accurately translate into actual sales? What is the true value of an engaged visitor?

Recently, we sat down to discuss the direction of the blog, and identify how we could make it better and more relevant. We’ve seen our traffic grow steadily (and spike exponentially, with the help of Lisa’s cat Bandit and a shout out from feline web celeb Sockington*), but we felt like we needed to do an even better job of serving our audience base.

Our conversation, fueled by this excellent post on Web Worker Daily, led us to an exceedingly—almost embarrassingly—obvious point. In order to produce the best content, we needed to do a better job of defining our audience. Who is it we want to talk to?

Now, we welcome any and every reader to this blog, but I’d wager that most of the folks who wandered over here from Sockington’s Twitter feed weren’t interested in the ins and outs of interactive marketing.

So, we actually sat down and hashed out a profile of the ideal audience member for our blog. That person (who looks suspiciously like many of our fabulous clients) is:

• a mid to senior-level marketing professional
• knowledgeable about the web and social media, but not an expert
• trying to get internal buy-in for online sales, marketing, and communications strategies
• Looking for actionable tools and tips to help manage the company’s web presence
• In search of an amazing interactive marketing agency located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC

OK—that last bullet point is optional. But you get the gist. We hope, that by putting a virtual face on our target audience, we’re able to be an even better resource for our readers.

Do you fit our audience profile? What would you like to see us blog about?

*When Lisa posted about her cat Bandit’s illness, Sockington Tweeted about it to his 1.3 million followers—many of whom took an interest in Bandit’s well-being.  I’m pleased to report that Bandit has fully recovered.

What is a manager or director of sales to do?

At CDG Interactive, we help our hotel clients manage their reputations online. Based on that experience, we suggest you start by understanding--then implementing--these 3 Tips for Managing Your Hotel's Reputation Online.

1. Listen Up. Don't wait until comments are brought to your attention, or show up in search results. Listen proactively to what's being said about your property or brand. A free, easy way to do this is to set up a Google Alert for the keywords relevant to you: property name, brand, city. For more robust monitoring, consider a tool like Radian6. Regularly check review sites, like TripAdvisor or the new Oyster.

2. Talk Back. When you see a comment being made (positive or negative), respond! Consider it an online comment card and use all the customer service tools available to you. Thank a positive reviewer; offer them a special rate code for a repeat visit. Address the concerns of a negative review, and consider an offer for them, too.

3. Accentuate the Positive. If negative reviews are showing up on the first page of search results for your property, make sure your hotel site ranks highest. Seek out inbound links from respected sites and make sure your site copy is optimized for search. Encourage guests to leave positive reviews after their stays; send a follow-up email or provide a suggestion card at check-out. Offer an incentive for guests who leave reviews, such as a monthly drawing for free stays or upgrades.

With just a little extra time invested on a regular basis, you can stay on top of online chatter about your hotel and make sure your online reputation is managed by you--and not for you.

• Hotels: What are your biggest concerns about online reviews?
• Hospitality marketers: What are your best tips for online reputation management?

Firefly Farms, a local Maryland goat cheese producer, is a long-standing CDG client, and a favorite vendor at local farmer's markets. My favorite was always the Buche Noire but now that I've been introduced to the Ginger, Almonds & Honey Meadow Chevre, there's some competition. By luck or happenstance, they are particularly well-situated at the market, right next to a wonderful local baker where you can get croissants or a great crusty bread to complement your cheese.  Plus, it's a great day when you can visit your clients, get some great produce and cheese, and be outside on a beautiful fall day.

The White House Farmer's Market runs every Thursday afternoon from 3 - 7 p.m. until the end of October. There's no decision yet as to whether they'll extend or re-new it for next spring yet. But it's worth a visit, and Mrs. Obama has been known to drop by to pick up a few things, so you never know who you might run in to.