Ad tracking solutions?

Greetings to all,

I like to be as scientific as possible with my marketing, and I've done various forms of testing and tracking over the years. But I've never found a perfect solution for doing so, and frankly have not reached the level of sophistication that I require.

I'm looking for a comprehensive ad tracking solution that can track each individual ad or marketing initiative, all the way through from click to sale. Including opt ins, popups/unders, etc.

Basically, I need an airtight system that tracks every possible "conversion point," without losing the visitor anywhere along the way. I also want to be able to track PPC performance down to individual keywords, as opposed to just overall campaigns.

So far, I haven't been able to find a program that does all this, which frankly I find very surprising. Although I will admit I am not a technically inclined person, so I could have misinterpreted one of the programs out there.

If such a program *does* exist, I'd be most grateful if someone could point me in the right direction. And if not, I'm open to paying someone to create such a system for me, so feel free to contact me if you or someone you know is up for the task.

Thanks in advance!

-Jesse

Jesse,

It's possible that ClickAlyzer meets
your requirements

Harvey




Recommended Ad Trackers

Jesse -

> I'm looking for a comprehensive ad tracking
> solution that can track each individual ad
> or marketing initiative, all the way through
> from click to sale. Including opt ins,
> popups/unders, etc.

I suspect you will need/want one of the shopping cart solutions that can do this. In their Marketing Braindump, Alex Mandossian talks about 1shoppingcart.com as being the one he uses. I see that many people are now going to WebContactPro. I have never used either one but Alex was singing the praises of 1shoppingcart and it sounded like it had the features you require.

The only other solution I can think of is for you to use a tracking script and *track* everything.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Thanks, Harvey. I appreciate the recommendation. When you say it's "possible" that it will meet my requirements, is there any particular flaw or drawback that you're aware of which make you think it won't?

Thanks again,

Jesse

> Jesse,

> It's possible that ClickAlyzer meets
> your requirements

> Harvey

Rick,

Thanks for the heads up on 1shoppingcart. What's funny is that we already *have* a 1shopping cart account and use it for order taking & follow-up emails in one of my businesses!

But someone else in my company set it up and manages it, so I am not familiar with all its features. Certainly I had no idea it could track marketing campaigns with the level of sophistication that I described. I'll definitely look into that.

Should it somehow not be the answer, can you briefly elaborate on what you meant by using a "tracking script?" (i.e. are we just talking about one script which can do it all, how would I go about setting it up, do you have anyone you'd recommend to do this, etc.)

Thanks much for your help!

-Jesse

> Jesse -

> I suspect you will need/want one of the
> shopping cart solutions that can do this. In
> their Marketing Braindump, Alex Mandossian
> talks about 1shoppingcart.com as being the
> one he uses. I see that many people are now
> going to WebContactPro. I have never used
> either one but Alex was singing the praises
> of 1shoppingcart and it sounded like it had
> the features you require.

> The only other solution I can think of is
> for you to use a tracking script and *track*
> everything.

> Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Jesse,

>>When you say it's "possible" that it will meet my
>>requirements, is there any particular flaw or
>>drawback that you're aware of which make you think
>>it won't?

I was not quite sure of your exact requirements
when you mentioned popups/unders but I think you
mean tracking the path from a link contained in a
popup/under. Is that right ?

If so then recording HITS to a site from a
popup/under or an optin or a ppc keyword (which
are the examples you give) is a basic function of
any ad tracker, so the source is not a problem.

ClickAlyzer (also known as NitroStats) is an
advanced tracker which will monitor the visitor
path throughout your whole site, and even off of
your site on to an affiliate site. The only
problem I am aware of is that currently it comes
unstuck at a ClickBank order page.

Harvey

Jesse -

> Thanks for the heads up on 1shoppingcart.
> What's funny is that we already *have* a
> 1shopping cart account and use it for order
> taking & follow-up emails in one of my
> businesses!

Glad to help. *g*

> But someone else in my company set it up and
> manages it, so I am not familiar with all
> its features. Certainly I had no idea it
> could track marketing campaigns with the
> level of sophistication that I described.
> I'll definitely look into that.

Had I not heard the Mizel/Mandossian Braindump audios, I would not have known it either. I think you can still get the audios if you go to cyberwave... blast. Had to go check the URL. *g* It's at cyberwave.com/braindump and it is still free for the streaming version. I will warn you. It's about 5 hours worth! But it may be 5 of the best hours you'll ever invest in your marketing education. I'm not kidding. I'm no stranger to marketing or Internet marketing and I have the library to prove it. *g* (Just ask Gordon. He's seen my library.) It takes something *really* new to impress me. Those guys talk about stuff for 5 solid hours that I had not heard anywhere! It's an advanced education IMO. I have a notepad handy every time I listen to it because it's sure to trigger some new ideas.

Anyway, didn't mean to go off on a tangent.*g* Sorry. Alex discusses in the audio how he used 1shoppingcart to pull up a list of customers to whom they e-mailed the info about the braindump series. Took one click. He also talked about getting info from there into a spreadsheet to determine the top clients of one of his clients. That wasn't brain surgery but he has an interesting way of arriving at the answers. He uses techniques he learned when he was involved with corporate turnarounds.

Anyway, awesome stuff.

> Should it somehow not be the answer, can you
> briefly elaborate on what you meant by using
> a "tracking script?" (i.e. are we
> just talking about one script which can do
> it all, how would I go about setting it up,
> do you have anyone you'd recommend to do
> this, etc.)

I see that Harvey also gave you a reply. Harvey is *much* more knowledgeable about this arena than I.

But yes. Using the method Harvey described, you can install one script and track pretty much everything you listed. Mizel and Mandossian do a *great* job discussing this topic in the audio series I mentioned.

The scripts I'm "familiar" with are CGI. Typically, you install the script and it guides you through creating redirects for the pages you want to track. It then gives you the links which you use in your pages instead of linking directly to the other pages. The script also takes care of statistics but you also have your site stats to rely on. (Do I have that about right Harvey?)

I know about this technology but haven't actually installed one yet. That's why I said "familiar" earlier. I'm getting ready to do that very thing myself. My wife and I have an e-book project about to hit the street. I'm going to be using the tracking script for that. I'm planning on using a "free" one that Wes Blaylock had available awhile back. I think it's U-Track or something like that. I'll report back here on my experiences if you like.

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"

Rick,

>>The scripts I'm "familiar" with are CGI.
>>Typically, you install the script and it guides
>>you through creating redirects for the pages you
>>want to track. It then gives you the links which
>>you use in your pages instead of linking directly
>>to the other pages. The script also takes care of
>>statistics but you also have your site stats to
>>rely on. (Do I have that about right Harvey?)

Yes, that's right.

There are two types of ad trackers
CGI Script - which you install at your site
Online Service - the program runs at the supplier site
although they essentially work in the same way.

At the basic level an ad tracking program records
when your URL has been clicked. It can detect
where your visitor came from (the referring URL),
the browser and operating system and the exact
time. It can record total hits and unique hits
(i.e. where one visitor may click several times)

This data is kept in the system so you can then
pull off reports on any ad campaign over any
period e.g. by month, day or even by hour.

You can go online at any time and view your stats,
which will be immediately up to date. If someone
clicked on your ad just a second ago this
information will already be available in the
system.

Harvey

Harvey & Rick,

Thanks again for your kind assistance here. I'm currently looking into both 1shoppingcart and Nitrostats. Failing that, I may have some additional questions on the scripting you mentioned.

However, for now, I'm getting ready to fly across the hemisphere to Dien & Michael's great country of Australia! So I'll check in again from Down Under.

All the best,

-Jesse

> Rick,

> Yes, that's right.

> There are two types of ad trackers
> CGI Script - which you install at your site
> Online Service - the program runs at the
> supplier site
> although they essentially work in the same
> way.

> At the basic level an ad tracking program
> records
> when your URL has been clicked. It can
> detect
> where your visitor came from (the referring
> URL),
> the browser and operating system and the
> exact
> time. It can record total hits and unique
> hits
> (i.e. where one visitor may click several
> times)

> This data is kept in the system so you can
> then
> pull off reports on any ad campaign over any
> period e.g. by month, day or even by hour.

> You can go online at any time and view your
> stats,
> which will be immediately up to date. If
> someone
> clicked on your ad just a second ago this
> information will already be available in the
> system.

> Harvey

... it's a pleasure to be on the same "team" as you, my friend ..;)

Regards,
Mike "I LOVE SuperTips.com!" Merz


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