I’m a pretty sharp guy, and not a lot of things confuse me for too long because I either figure them out or stop caring about them.

This one though, has me utterly perplexed.

Google Analytics and Google AdWords are Two MAJOR features and I think I’ve been able to successfully hook in a new AdWords account to an existing Analytics account about 1 out of 5 times.

20% Googs.  That sucks and I’m not happy.

The latest attempt was made while I was logged in as the client even and not just using My Client Centre.  I logged in, made sure that Analytics was all set up, went into AdWords, made sure that was all set up, and then went to connect the two.  Every profile on that account was available but the main one I wanted.

So I went into the User Manager, to see if there were any other pimps in there trying to ho it up.  With client approval, I deleted them, and then went back in to try and connect Analytics through the AdWords interface.  Nup, no go.

WTF Google?

This isn’t meant to be a cry for help, it’s just a rant.

Though help would earn a beer, for certain.

Have a good website.

Search Engine Land has an article on some data that a mob called "Chikita" has run on their assorted sites.

While I am usually loathe to chime in on such a ridiculously obvious concept as "#1 in Google is better than #2 or #3" I do love me some data.

According to the data they ran, the top spot gets twice the clicks as the second spot.

To be honest, I like this kind of stat and I always, ALWAYS try for #1, but with such a hugely diaphonously amorphically ever-changing thing such as Google’s algorithm, who would honestly have the time to spend getting a client from #2 to a #1 spot for any given keyword?

Once again, maybe the folks at Search Engine Land can all hang around and play with their linkfarms and leverage their 50,000 blog posts and articles to try and boost a client for one keyword spot, but I don’t personally know anybody that plays in that kind of sandbox.

That said, the stat that hit me the hardest was where they figured out that a site at #10, the bottom of page one (but still ON page one) gets 143% more traffic than the #11 spot (the TOP of page two, but still ON page two).

143%

That’s a pretty big deal.

And THAT’S the kind of thing a fella can chase as a goal, not something as finely sliced as going from the #2 position to #1.

Going from Page 2 to Page 1 is a much more attainable goal, and I’m pleased to say that I’m at about a 95% rate with my clients and their targeted terms.  And for that 5%… I’m actually still working on that, even though they may not even know nor have paid me in months.

Bit of a pride thing, I suppose.

Later folks, and if you’re doing a #2 and want to switch to a #1, I don’t know that I can help you.  I’m no urologist.  HA!

But if you want to go from Page 2 to the Front Page…

Have a Good Website.

Plugin URI: http://www.jexanalytics.com.au/plugins/jex-member-image-upload-plugin
Description: Folks that are logged in to a WordPress site can upload images to a general page of the admin’s choosing (by placing "[jex_member_image_upload_form]" on that page.  The image gets stored in the "uploads" folder and the Admin then gets an email notification that they can ‘approve’ or ‘disapprove’ the image.

Version: 1.0

Author: Judd Exley

Author URI: http://www.jexanalytics.com.au/

Requirements: PHPMailer and some other stuff that I haven’t figured out yet.

WordPress Version: 2.1 and up.

INSTALLATION: Simply copy the jex-image-upload-for-members.php file into your /plugins directory and activate it.  Then, place [jex_member_image_upload_form] on any page that you want people to be able to upload images to.

NOTES: It only works for one page at a time thus far, so if you put the form on multiple pages, it’ll pull all images that have been approved for the whole site.  I haven’t coded it for a "per page" use yet.  YET.

UPDATE: Yes, yes it DOES now work on multiple pages.  Mostly because IHS Web Solutions wanted that and because I rock hard for them.

DOWNLOAD PLUGIN

I suppose it’s a way of flexing my optimisy muscles, but there’s this thread on Port 80 that’s sparked a rather funny debate about whether or not SEO is bullshit or can we call those who do it properly "SEO"s and the rest of them can be "Cookiefarts" or "Snailhelmets" or something equally ridiculous.

In my efforts to explain that I consider myself far, far more than just an SEO, I proposed "Ticklespot Finder" though that’s a fairly narrow frame of reference, particularly when you consider it only applies to my wife and my kids.

That said, I’m the best Ticklespot Finder in town.

Heh, at least that’s something.

Cheers folks, and Have a Good Website.

This on the heel’s of the launch of my own SEO Tools & Services site (grown from this site) is funny to me.  Mostly because I agree with what they’re saying, just not how they’re saying it.

To be honest, you shouldn’t trust completely in ANY tool that supposedly does all the thinking for you.  But, doesn’t that hold true to just about anything, anywhere?  I may think so, but I may also have an overdeveloped common sense.  Heh.

SEO Tools are just like anything else, a tool, not a machine, and they should only aid in your own mental machinations NOT do it for you.

I even put that in all my reports, the part about how all those numbers and fancy terms are for reference, but I wonder sometimes if anybody reads that bit… heh.

Have a Good Website.

Because personally, I’ve been telling people that Site Speed is a ranking factor for over a year now.  The truth is, it’s safe to say these kinds of things because almost everything is a ranking factor!  Even the fact that you link to your site from that blog post you wrote about how tired you are of picking up your dog’s poo.

It ALL gets factored in. Think about it, Googs has to find out what it can about your site from what it’s given.  No magic, no guesswork, no pure fabrication (probably), they hit your webserver, download your pages and see who talks about you, and similar stuff, out there on that big ol’ web.

So take every factor you can think of involved in that process above and consider them ALL ranking factors, for they surely are whether Googs blogs about ‘em or not.

Have a Good Website!

In what’s a bit of a departure from the somewhat corporate-sounding and formal copy on this site (well, except the blog… heh) I’ve written all of the copy on the Jex Solutions site in about as much of a "real me" voice as I could.  Hell, I wrote some of it from flat on my back in the hospital (compressed spinal nerve) while high on morphine, you don’t get much more "real" than that!  It’s cool though, I edited out the parts where I mentioned that I wanted to hug everyone and how Care Bears really are magic.

So, on to more important matters, like what this sucker’s all about.

Basically, I found that I was doing lots of data gathering and figure-finding for each of my clients on every project.  Even the reporting I was doing on some relatively simple things was very time-consuming and I was troubled by the need to do it every single day (even weekends!).

So, I climbed into the PHP side of things in the backend of a (gloriously) hacked-up WordPress site and wrote some applications that would do a lot of the important stuff for me.  Then, I wrote another one and made the first one better.  Then I even woke up in the wee hours of the morning for one that NOBODY was doing, not even WebCEO or any of those other mobs.  Then I made them all better and better until, as stated at the beginning of this missive, bit the bullet and launched it to the public.

I would love to say that none of it would be possible without the help of so-and-so or whats-his-name, but I really did do it all by myself.

I’m kidding!  Sort of.  Though Myles, Alex, Patrick and Brendan were all awesome for their feedback and help with things that are only going to make all of my stuff better.  Thanks guys!

And thanks to those of you that have played with it, even as a concept, and offered up what you thought for me to ponder over.  I may or may not have actually used any of your thoughts, but I liked having that coffee with you.

I’m kidding again!  You’re awesome, all 10 of you.

So, if you’ve made it this far, GO and check it out.  SEO Tools to make you say things like "cool" and "awesome" not only to yourself, but out loud.

Oh yeah, FREE first month’s membership.  FREE, FREE, FREE.  Get in there!

Well, I’ve done it again, and I’ve done it myself this time, only with some help in the form of a talented designer that I may or may not be able to name (because of the nature of our dealings) and the rest is the raw HTML/CSS skillz that I’ve been building over the past 3 years.

So… check it out.  And let me know if shit breaks, because it will, and I’d like to fix it quick.

Cheers, and Have a Good Website.

She’s done it again, with something that hits very close to home with me in an article titled, "Using Analytics To Measure SEO Success"

It has only just occurred to me that my last post was about another article written by Jill… cue the creepy stalker-esque music and I’ll get back to digging through her garbage.  Thanks.

Back to it then, the reason this hits home so much is that I am in exactly the boat she’s writing about.  Servicing SME’s that can’t take their eyes off a ranking report long enough to pay any attention to their analytics.  That, or the fact that there are just some things that the Googs chooses not to show those of us with free accounts, asking for the world and paying nothing for it.

About a year ago, it came to the point in my business that I was so befuddled by the lack of certain functionality in analytics software that I decided to write my own.

I wanted to know the basics, because my clients want to know the basics, and most of the stuff that I want to know isn’t that different from the stuff that they want to know.

The "W"s:

• I want to know WHO came to my site.  IP can tell me where they’re from basically, so that’s what we’ve got to work with there.
• I want to know HOW they got here.  What keywords did they search on to get here?  Direct links from somewhere else are super too, but that has little to do with my SEO efforts, so I want to know what their search results looked like when they chose to click me.
• I want to know WHEN.  Which, when it comes down to it, is really just about how long they spend on each page.  Easy as.
• I want to know WHAT they did on my site.  I want to know if they cruised my portfolio or if they just went straight to the contact form.  I want to know if they read this somewhat dissociative tripe or if they went to the pages and pages of sales and marketing bleah that I’ve got elsewhere on the site.
• And the big one, WHY.  This is the tricky bit, that is more than an analytics program can handle.  But still, I want to KNOW it, and my software can help.

What’s that?  "HOW" has a "W" in it, so shoosh.

So I wrote something I call SEO Success and I’ve been using it on clients’ sites whenever I can.  I’m close to unleashing it upon the unsuspecting populace, so if you’re interested, drop me a line and we’ll talk.

Of course, if you’re one of the chosen few already using it.  Drop me a line and tell me how I can make it better.

This one has been priceless in helping me with my business, and I bet it can help others too.

Until next time, Have a Good Website.

Meh, we all live and learn and will eventually figure it out when it becomes a deal-breaker I suppose.  HA, or the deal gets broken!

Hope you enjoy it though, especially when you either A) look at one and go "Hey, I have a client that thinks that!" or 2) look at one and go, "Hey, *I* used to do that!"

Good times.