'Net Features : web trends

Digital Marketing Maturity Model (DM3) from WebTrends

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:15:00 GMT

Web analytics provider Web Trends is promoting a model for standards in digital media measurement.

The Digital Marketing Maturity model (DM3) is aimed at providing a framework and objective criteria for assessing the strategies, skills, tools and best practices that support the successful measurement of all digital marketing activities. A white paper (PDF) is available to learn more about the model, along with a self-assessment survey.

"For online marketing to continue to grow and mature, there needs to be standardized, structured approaches for organizations to ensure they are getting the most bang for their digital marketing buck," said Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, Webtrends vice president of marketing. "We hope this model leads to consensus about how to build and maintain mature measurement programs across all types of digital marketing investments."

The model helps organizations:

Measure the maturity of digital marketing programs in six core areas (measurement strategy, analytics resources and domain expertise, data integration and visualization, data analysis and insight, adoption and governance, on-going optimization).
Assess measurement programs across all digital channels, including websites, search engine marketing, online advertising, social media and other digital marketing channels.
Pinpoint the skills, staffing and other investments needed to advance within the model's four levels of maturity.

Yahoo! Analytics Beats Google Analytics

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:17:00 GMT

According to research by analyst firm CMS Watch, Yahoo!'s Web Analytics service surpassed Google in several key categories in relation to use by enterprises. You might remember that Yahoo! acquired analytics vendor IndexTools back in early 2008.

CMS Watch released its 470-page Web Analytics Report 2009, which evaluates 20 web analytics platforms against 12 potential use-cases. Vendors reviewed include Bango, Coremetrics, GlanceGuide, Intellitracker, Lyris, Nedstat, Omniture, Unica, Visible Measures, and WebTrends, as well as Google and Yahoo!.

CMS Watch found that Yahoo! Web Analytics surpasses Google in several key areas, including:

Better access control options and simpler approach to multi-site analytics
Larger default monthly page-view limits (200MM vs. 5MM – unless you have an active AdWords campaign)
Access to traffic data: Both vendors retain the right to hold and use your web analytics data for their own purposes, but Yahoo! gives you the ability to export out your raw, unaggregated data
Longer historical availability of raw data

CMS Watch also found that Yahoo! Web Analytics had its drawbacks, including an administrative complexity that accompanied its functional richness, and present lack of 24/7 tech support. "Ultimately, for some enterprises, neither Google nor Yahoo! makes a good fit," explained CMS Watch founder Tony Byrne, "and those customers should consider fee-based web analytics solutions."