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Universal Analytics: It’s like Google Analytics, but Better.

It can track more stuff – like web applications, mobile touchpoints, and brick-and-mortar store purchases.

Universal Analytics can be customized to track what YOU need to track. Including things outside your website – like POS systems. You can customize it to fit your business metrics, and gets you closer to that Holy Grail of Marketing: calculating ROI.

The Setup: Let’s say your business works this way.

Let’s say you have 7 stores, a product ecommerce website, a web app, a monthly print catalog, a single call center, and a membership system. You have to track customer analytics across all that, effectively! And if you can’t do it, you can’t calculate true ROI! So, we ask you:

Can YOU Calculate:

• How offline sales affect online ones?
• The LTV (lifetime value) of the customer?
• Which customer service calls increase online purchasing?
• Do purchased memberships online stimulate purchasing in-store?
• What is the ROI of an integrated campaign, per channel?’
• Buying patterns of members, across all devices and touchpoints?

With Google Analytics, you can’t answer those questions. With Universal Analytics, you can.

I bet the Universal Analytics logo makes a lot more sense, now.

The Tech: Total Customer Tracking.

Not just website behavior, total customer behavior – that’s what Universal Analytics desires to achieve. As far as integrated marketing solutions go, UA is superior in linking touchpoints together – in store, online, anywhere.

Customer Centricity and Mobile-Focus.

Focusing on the customer centricity is what this analytics software is all about. You can track a customer through their entire purchase lifecycle and understand more than ever before. And, with better Mobile App Analytics, You’re simply tracking your customer better. Improving customer service is the result.

Integrated marketing like POS Integration or Call Center data.

Offline sales can influence online ones, and vice versa – we all know this. What UA gives you is the ability to link it all together. If you have a point of sale (POS) system, UA allows you link those POS purchases (and things like membership data) right to your online analytics. AWESOME.

Custom Dimensions and Metrics.

We all know things like “450 visitors” (that’s a metric) “from Georgia, USA” (that’s a dimension)… but what if you could create your own dimensions to help you track your business? For instance, what if you could actually see stuff like:

• Book publisher: Use ISBN number to track interest in certain books, 
• Product retailer: Membership number to track overall buying patterns,
• Call center: Phone numbers for call center calls that lead to purchasing

With Universal Analytics, you can apply your own dimensions and metrics. And, with dimension widening (mass dimension and metric attribution in big data systems) DOUBLE AWESOME.

The Problem Solved: A Better ROI Calculator.

There are two primary problems with Google Analytics. One, you can’t integrate offline data. Two, there are serious limitations with what you can track. Universal Analytics solves both of these problems with a robust customization and integration capability. That means you can track your customer everyWHERE they go, and on the dimensions YOU choose. Think Around Corners is devoted to getting your business in the habit of collecting the right data to give you the power to make awesome business decisions. Let us help you with Universal Analytics.

 ”Certifications make up for all that crap you learned.” – The Guru.

The GAIQ: Well, it’s official.

My name is Gregory Cox, and I decided to get my Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ) from Google. Took the test last week, passed with flying colors, thought you might want to know.

What is the Google Analytics IQ Test?

Google describes the The Google Analytics Individual Qualification (or Google Analytics IQ) as “a proof of proficiency in Google Analytics that is available to any individual who has passed the Google Analytics IQ test”.

Anyone can use Google analytics. But only a few of us can use it well. This Google Analytics test qualifies me as an individual that knows his GA stuff; a person who can delve into your website traffic from the past, and then predict your future with greater accuracy, discover what’s working – and what’s not.

This gives Think Around Corners a competitive advantage in your competitive online world. No website is perfect. Web Analytics gives you the ability to improve, improve, improve.

What’s the next step for more certifications?

Since getting the certification was kinda fun, we’re going to continue getting them!

We’re definitely going for the Google Analytics Certified Partners (GACP) program, which is a company-wide certification. This is a rare bunch of companies that we hope to join the ranks of very soon. It requires a rigorous qualification, including business requirements (like indemnity insurance) and preferred qualities (like getting my employees GAIQ qualified, too), as well as flying to Mountain View and getting grilled by experts, as well as these requirements:

BTW, are YOU interested in Google Analytics training?

You can study by yourself, or you can get expert help from us for Google Analytics training. Whatever your level of GA understanding, we can custom fit a training program for you and your company. We await your call!

- Gregory

Using Pinterest for business is not only a good idea, but a great one.

Yes, and this is one you’re going to want to use. Using Pinterest for business seems counterintuitive to most business folk. But we are here to tell you that Pinterest for business is a fantastic idea, not just a good one. Why?

Reasons to use Pinterest for business.

1. Pinterest is a visual medium, and we are visual creatures.

Human beings have a far, far larger visual cortex than an audio or olfactory one. Pinterest is a visual medium – way more than Facebook. In fact, Pinterest doesn’t really use text much, except for naming Boards.

Now I know what you’re saying – there’s nothing in my business to share that’s visual. Oh come now, tap into that creativity you call the spark of business why don’t you — after all, this is BUSiness.

2. Pinterest is super shareable.

Shares on Pinterest – or “repins” as they are called – are much likelier to be shared than anything on Facebook. The higher the chance of your material being shared, the better your ideas spread around to potential customers.

3. Build your personal (and/or business) brand.

You can carry personal brand with you – whatever you do in life. Building your personal brand is it darn great idea. But, you can build beyond your personal, and straight into your company’s brand. Building brand strength usually relies upon visual triggers, so, once again, Pinterest is useful, here.

4. Pinterest is just plain fun.

And that means you and your customers are going to use it more often. If you have a product site, Pinterest is perfect for talking about and showcasing new products. If you are a service, the same thing applies – you just have to find visuals for your services and voilà – it works again.

5. It can market your website.

Since you can pin products and services to your boards, and those link back to your website, Pinterest can drive referral traffic – straight to the relevant page. Visuals drive engagement, and that means the potential customers is already engaged before landing.

Well, Greg, how do I use Pinterest for business?

So, what is the Pinterest business model? Is Pinterest your next business social network? Well, that’s going to have to be a conversation for another day, or another article.

Pinterest for Business Seminar

However, we are having a Pinterest for Business presentation at the OMG (The Online Marketing Group) Meetup group I run. The presentation will be given by Bill & Erik at Talking Finger social media marketing. If you’re on the East Coast, sign up here, and join us for a wonderful presentation. Best of all, it’s FREE!

With so many devices being created in the consumer electronics world, creating a website for each device is not realistic.

A better solution is to optimize for all devices, at once.

Responsive Web Design does this. It uses standard CSS3 practices to create a rich adaptive website for all screen resolutions, no matter the device, even devices that have not been created yet.

Here are some helpful links!

• Link to the Books: http://www.abookapart.com/ (brought to you by A List Apart, one of our faaaavorite sites)
• Open up our responsive website in a mobile device! http://www.thinkaroundcorners.com/
• Our Services on Responsive Web Design

WordPress 3.3 gets a healthy facelift!

Here at Think Around Corners, we’re big users of WordPress to develop not only blogs, but full-blown websites. It’s our favorite tool.

So, when WP makes a (relatively) big upgrade to their interface, we’re reporting!

Big Things.

1. Easier Uploading

File Type Detection & Drag and Drop

Now, there is only one type of file type image to click on. A few more file types have been added, too – it can handle rar and 7z file formats, now!

Drag-and-Drop Media Uploader

As the image displays, you can drag your media – whether video, image, or otherwise – right into the Add Media window. That means in images and all types of media are easier to import than ever before

Drag and Drop - SCHWEET.

2. Dashboard Design

Responsive Design

Responsive Design means a design that fits any window – whether desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. WP is now IPad optimized – that means you can work from anywhere, now, with any device. BTW, we do responsive design.

The new "responsive design" of WP 3.3 means you can edit and admin from smart phone, tablet, or desktop.

Flyout Menus

The toolbar now works way better with menu fly outs, that keeps everything compact, and out of your way. Easier to select things, too.

Header + Admin Bar = Toolbar

A new top menu has been streamlined to give you more space to write and build content.

Help Tabs and Feature Pointers

The Help Tabs has a bit of a facelift and better organization. Feature pointers and contextual help Feature pointers give you support for help, which is great, you don’t have to go to another place to find out what a certain thing does. Similarly contextual help is more useful to people learning on the fly.

Little Things.

3. Content Tools

• Better Co-Editing: Co-editing is always been a little clunky. Now, it actually works. If you get an alert that somebody is working on the page that you’re looking out, it means they really are.
• Tumblr Importer: Now, you can import your tumbler information and blog directly into WordPress. This importer is being added to a growing list of importers from other blogging platforms.
• Widget Improvements: Ever test a few themes and then your widgets change position? Got, we hate that. Now, the specific sequence of widgets are held in place for each theme.

4. Under the Hood

• 

  Thank you WP for an Editor API overhaul!

  Flexible Permalinks: You have more freedom when choosing a post permalink structure. Skip the date information or add a category slug without a performance penalty.

• Post Slugs: Sometimes things like “&” can result in strange URL slugs. WP cleaned up the ruleset and it’s more intuitive on what it includes.
• jQuery and jQuery UI: WordPress now has jQuery libraries ‘baked right in’ – so no need to insert code for them anymore (we hope, we’re testing). Basically, this means WordPress is gearing up for more adaptability to modern scripting.
• Editor API Overhaul: For us, this is a major point. We kinda tweak our WP setup, so the streamlining of the Editor API is a big plus for us. We’ll see how it goes, but considering how much the WP community bitched about this, it’s probably fixed nicely.

Isn’t it nice to know that WP gets better and better?

What a bunch of C.R.A.P.!

There are four principles of design that we want you to get under your belt.

If you’re a designer, you’ll know this stuff already. If you’re a programmer, you might not. What’s important to understand is that if you can get these 4 principles under your belt, then over time you’ll develop a feel for why designs don’t work, and you’ll identify that really, really fast.

It’s like you’ll have some secret superpower.

Watch the video, read the stuff below, and suggestion: if you haven’t ever seen this stuff before, print it out, put it on the wall, and absorb!

The 4 Principles of Design

Follow these four rules for better design!

C. is for Contrast.

Creating contrast for elements means that discrete elements stand out. Contrast is all about making things stand out. A call to action that is red on a black and white website will stand out in a big way. Users know where to look first, second, third, last. This helps with scanning, especially with making ‘special’ things stand out.

R. is for Repetition.

Repetition, for instance making a header and footer the same color, makes scanning a website easier. Bullet lists are easy to scan, right? Because the repetition of the little dots makes it so. This can create a cohesive look to a website. Obviously, color and shapes are important with repetition.

A. is for Alignment.

Columns within a page makes it easier to scan horizontally. Newspapers use this to great effect. Aligning a whole bunch of elements with one another makes them scan faster. Alignment makes things easier to read.

P. is for Proximity.

Proximity means that things are associated with one another – or not. The closer things are, the more they are associated. The farther things are away from one another, the less they are associated. This helps immensely in navigation. This kinda folds into the ‘chunking‘ method of making data more digestible.

Tell you what, just watch the C.R.A.P. video, OK?

- Gregory and Mark

Listen: OTL 14 – Communicate Better With EmployeesJoin us for our On The Lakepodcast, where we talk about the importance of employee (and boss!) assessment in the workforce, to harness our natural talents as communicators, as well as controlling our own behaviors when resolving conflicts.

Why we interviewed Dani.

As our team grows, my goal as leader of Think Around Corners is to establish great leadership – and that means great communication on overall goals as a company, as well as ensuring that all my employees have an open channel of communication to me – to voice concerns, and to establish rapport.

So, in hiring Dani Werner, I discovered that although I have great leadership qualities, I need to voice my needs in different ways, and Dani helped me do that. Mark and I are communicating better than ever, and it shows in the quality and quantity of work we have been able to accomplish over the past 6 months.

About Dani.

Dani Werner has been leading creative teams in organizational and leadership  development for over a decade. With a diverse background in learning, technology  and  marketing, she has a deep understanding of the issues leaders face,  particularly in  times of transition.

As Director of Organizational Development for Accord Management Systems,  Werner  provides objective feedback to executives seeking to grow their  businesses in a  challenging economy.

She is a member of Women in Technology International (WITI), the American  Society of  Training and Development (ASTD), the International Society for Performance  Improvement (ISPI), and the Society for Human Resources  Management (SHRM).

Podcast Links:

• All Podcasts
• Our Podcast RSS Feed

Get ready for a nice, long swim. buddy.

Even More Madness.

Even more map fails for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy – G.

A quick and dirty method of user testing, based on the wonderful book by Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think.

User testing?

Yes, user testing! It’s fast, it’s free, and it can save you THOUSANDS of dollars over your web development cycle. Learn what C’mere testing,

Geek out!

- Gregory & Mark

Multi-Channel Funnels allow you to compare the most financially beneficial channels.

If you’re serious about tracking campaigns through AdWords / CPC, Email newsletters, or Affiliate marketing, this video will sum it up for you.

What’s In There…

When you track Google Analytics Campaigns across channels, it’s important to define each channel so the data is clear. Watching this video gives you access to a few very powerful tools, including a bulk campaign tagging tool, very useful to layout all your campaigns in one shot. Here’s another one from EpikOne.

You can find the presentation of the video here in PDF format.