Web analytics make it easy for you to know your website’s number of visitors, what they do, where they come from and various other data points that can help improve your company’s marketing efforts. Most marketing automation tools come with some web analytics tools that allow you to insert tracking code into each page of your site. But you don’t have to spend big bucks to get that kind of reporting. Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) is one of the best forms of measuring website traffic, has several advantages, and it’s free. You don’t even need to be a web guru to set it up. Google walks you through the entire process so you can set it up yourself. The data collected is organized into four simple parts: visitors, traffic sources, content and goals.

Visitors

The visitor category in Google Analytics tells you everything there is to know about users of your website.

• Pages visited: You can find out number of visits, absolute unique visitors, total pageviews, average pageviews and amount of time spent on the site. This information is important because you know how to better design your website for those visitors. If you know most people go to a specific product page on your site, you may decide to roll out a marketing campaign promoting that product.
• Technical capabilities: What kind of

Early search engines relied heavily on keyword density, or the number of keywords a site had specified that applied to it. If a company wanted to appear first when you searched for a specific keyword, all it had to do was tag its website with as many keywords as possible. It didn’t take long for search engine companies to realize what was going on and augment their search algorithms. So began an elaborate cat-and-mouse game between the search engine programmers and website builders.

Since search engines began to account for website popularity (clicks), external factors (links) and the relevancy of associated keywords, it’s become nearly impossible to cheat search engines because they are being constantly optimized and refined in order to rank websites in the order sites deserve. However, ways exist to successfully optimize a website in order to provide the best possible page rank, despite the complexity of current ranking algorithms. That’s what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about.

The Mystery Of  SEO

To the uninitiated, SEO seems shrouded in more mystery than the reason for David Hasselhoff’s popularity in Germany. In reality, it’s actually not that mysterious.

Today it is reported that Donald Trump, clearly not feeling the pinch of the times, is upgrading his mode of travel and putting his old 1968 private jet on the block. A nice tour of the facilities may be found here on this very site.

As jets go, it’s pretty standard. The interior looks like a huge stretch, with inverted glassware and the customary burnished wood everywhere you look. Lots of nice seating. Very comfy. Potential purchasers may wish to remove the enormous TRUMP that festoons the side, as well as the large pouf of ruddy, flaxen hair that has been surgically attached to the front dome, but beyond that it’s pretty much in walk-in condition. The price is reported to be between $4 and $8 million.

This doesn’t seem like a lot, frankly, to own a piece of history. I was reading a magazine called Malibu Times last weekend, don’t ask me why, and the smallest, most run-down cottage in that community is going for $4 million and a lot of places are $15 million and up. It’s clear there’s a lot of money around in this supposedly challenged economy. In a few months, employees of the top three bailed out banks, the ones that crawled out from under their TARPs,  will be receiving some $30 Billion with a B in Bonuses. That means $250,000 for each, if it was distributed equally, which it won’t be. Some will get BMWs. Others will receive half

What do you do when surprised with a gift?

And what if it's at work?

Yesterday I was getting a tour of a corporate university when my hostess, the VP of Learning, was approached by a group of 5 employees. The next thing I knew, one of the guys was reading a short, heartfelt note of thanks from the group for her learning leadership, followed by the presentation of a small gift.

I moved back a few steps so they could savor the moment together. It was clearly a total surprise to the VP. What surprised me was how quickly and deeply she expressed her gratitude, and how articulate she was. It was also more than I think I could offer, given the same set of circumstances. After the group left she continued to beam and openly, but humbly, verbalize her feelings.

Gratitude and Gender

Gratitude--the emotion of joy and thankfulness when responding to receiving a gift--turns out to be one of the foundational ingredients for a good life. This comes from Todd Kashdan, associate professor of psychology at George Mason University. In a recent issue of Journal of Personality, Kashdan noted  the research revealed gender plays a role. Apparently, men are much less likely to feel and express (my italics) gratitude than women. 

No doubt women everywhere are

The issue is the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (details here). The net is simple - if the SGR formula/process is eliminated, a quarter trillion dollars gets added to the deficit, because that's the amount the formula/process says has been paid to docs over and above SGR 'limits'.

Current Congressional protocol requires CBO to 'score' any and all health reform proposals; unsurprisingly the SGR 'fix' has not been included in any reform measure, because it will push the cost way, way over a trillion dollars.

Thus, thru legislative legerdemain, Congress is avoiding talking about and being held responsible for the real cost of reform.

As long as we have to 'fix' the SGR - and I'm not arguing that Part B (physician reimbursement) doesn't badly need fixing, hows' about we 'trade' SGR elimination for some real reform, like, say, bundled pricing for specific procedures/conditions? Like, maybe, a flat cost for treating an asthmatic patient over a year including facility and physician and lab and other costs?

Or, for those chronic patients with more than one condition, a

Magical

Traits: creative, deep thinkers who are often good with money. Motivated by ideas rather than results.

Examples: Einstein, Richard Branson.

Jobs: Scientists, research and development, IT, design, innovative or creative roles. 

Romantics

While I don't always agree with Sanghera's pronouncements, this time I think he has had a point. Here are his reasons for companies being unsuited to tweeting:

1. Twitters relies on people having real-time conversations. Companies are not built for swift responses.

2. Twitter restricts users to 140 characters per message. Big organisations just can't keep it short and sweet.

3. Twitter works because its users are open. Companies regard genuine transparency with equally genuine suspicion.

4. Twitter is altruistic and reciprocal. Businesses are not.

5. The best Twitter users have distinct personalities. Corporate drones do not.

And he's right! 

Next week marks the publication of my new paperback – How To Relax Without Getting The Axe. It’s a thorough rethinking and repositioning of my seminal work on executive life, Executricks, or How To Retire While You’re Still Working, published about six seconds before the recession hit over a year or so ago. The premise of that book was that he or she who perfects an executive lifestyle can emulate the existence of an affluent retiree. The basic concept of that book, and the suite of executive strategies contained therein, stands tall to this day, and those who acquired the work in hard cover have nothing to complain about. It was clear, however, when I contemplated the publication of the paperback this fall, that nobody at this juncture is thinking about retirement, affluent or otherwise. We’re all thinking about how to hang on to what we’ve got and protect our flanks from competitors, ambitious peers and colleagues and vicious McKinseyites now running down our hallways with silver hatchets.

So as much as I hate actual work, I sat down and rewrote the book for the somewhat despicable times in which we live. I believe it is very important that we all continue to live and work with distinction as true executives do, even if we are not executives, even if many executives now labor in somewhat reduced circumstances. The basic tools of executive life remain as solid and staunch as

A report by the catchily named Citrix GoToMyPC has found that British workers are wasting 4.6 million hours a day commuting. 62% of the 2,000 adults surveyed said that they wanted to reduce the time they spend travelling to and from work. Frustrations include being stuck in traffic (42%), issues with public transport (38%), travelling in the dark (36%) and cost (30%).

While part of me, on reading this, wishes that British workers would learn to whinge less, and part of me wonders why they haven't accepted that commuting is their lot in life, the [small] charitable part of me appreciates their concern.

This week's National Commute Smart Week has five themes:

1. Flexible working
2. Remote working
3. Virtual meetings
4. Health commute
5. Road congestion and road safety

If you're one of the whingeing workers - er, sorry, 'concerned commuters' - check out their website for suggestions and advice, including their Ten Top Tips for Smarter Commuting.

If you've ever wondered what executive coaches really do that's truly valuable, it's this: We create a relationship that enables people to clearly see reality.

Life isn't a part of business; business is a part of life. So, everything of consequence leads to confronting and resolving some kind of issue that leads to a choice about personal change. All of the choices aren't always huge, but they are necessary in order to develop more healthy and effective patterns of work and leadership.

I started thinking about the kinds of signs that flash to indicate the person across the table really does need to make a change. Maybe one or more apply to you as well. Here are five that stand out for

I stumbled upon a ridiculous blog post about a human resources manager posting a notice in the company cafeteria warning employees not to steal each others' food.   What I found most appalling was not that the employees were stealing each others' food but that the HR manager felt that he/she "had to" post a notice governing refrigerator behavior.  What fools think that it is HR's responsibility to monitor the refrigerator in the employee cafeteria?  And, let me guess, these are the same fools that are upset that they "don't have a seat at the table," that they are "underpaid" relative to their colleagues with similar titles, or that they "don't get no respect."

Come on!  With all of the uncertainty in the economy, health care in its current state, employee engagement at its lowest point in who knows how long, this is not what HR professionals should be focusing on.  Those that do, are missing opportunities to improve the workplace, provide value to their organizations, and make a positive difference in so many other, professional, ways.