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Promising Tool Set For Measuring Mobile-Based Web Traffic
By Manoj Jasra
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-03-18
Growing enterprise demand to measure mobile-based web traffic and video usage has spawned a promising new set of tools and methods which nonetheless remain fairly immature, according to new research by independent analyst firm, CMS Watch.
Traditional web analytics firms can typically analyze video starts, but cannot perform more advanced tracking -- such as capturing pauses, stops, rewinds, and duration of view -- without a significant amount of invasive coding within the videos themselves. New vendors, including Visible Measures and GlanceGuide, have developed systems to capture these events at the video player.
New analytics vendors focused on mobile metrics include AdMob, Amethon, Bango, and Mobilytics. However, established vendors such as Omniture, Coremetrics, and WebTrends all jumped into the mobile fray in the past year.
These suppliers can provide useful reports such as percentage of mobile visitors by screen size, handset manufacturer, and browser type.
However, like video, mobile metrics remains a very young and inexact practice. The biggest challenges revolve around data collection, since JavaScript and cookies (used heavily to measure web traffic today) are not accepted by a high percentage of existing phones.
Mobile device header data can provide useful information, but will vary according to manufacturer, device, carrier, personal preferences, and national regulations. "In particular, 'unique' visitor behavior remains an uncertain exercise," notes Kemelor.
The Web Analytics Report 2009 is available for purchase online from CMS Watch (http://www.cmswatch.com/Analytics/). Next week, CMS Watch will debut a four-hour online certificate course in Web Analytics Technology, including a section on mobile and video tracking.
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About the Author:
Manoj Jasra is an online marketing veteran of almost 10 years who specializes in analytics, social/search strategy and mobile marketing. Manoj is currently a Sr. Strategist at one of Canada’s largest Telecommunications Companies, Shaw Communications Inc., where he leads Social Media, SEO, PPC and Web Analytics strategies. Manoj first started in the search marketing industry with Enquiro Search Solutions, where he spearheaded web analytics, SEO Training and the development of cutting edge search marketing solutions for clients.
Manoj is a Professional Speaker having participated at events such as Emetrics, Web Analytics Xchange, WebTrends’ Engage, Internet Marketing Conference, Social Media Innovation Summit and Search Engine Strategies. He authors Web Analytics World (a top 100 Online Marketing Blog) and consults through his firm Jasra Inc.
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