The Web Analytics Headache

Let’s face it, almost everyone’s using Wordpress nowadays. And despite the hundreds of plug-ins posts with “must have” SEO plug-ins, the most fundamental functionality plug-ins are often left unnoticed, even though site functionality is a critical component to the SEO mix. Let’s explore some of the most important functionality plug-ins for Wordpress and how they can benefit your Wordpress powered blog or site.

1. Wp Super Cache – Plain and simple, this is the best caching plug-in available. Featuring a “half on” legacy mode as well as a full caching mode, this plug-in gives you flexible options for different server configurations.


2. WP CSS – This nifty plug-in compresses your style sheets with Gzip, making the file smaller and faster loading. The plug-in also allows you to use custom style sheets on a per post basis.

3. Yoast Breadcrumbs – Breadcrumbs are great because they help users and bots easily navigate throughout the site. Since easily navigated websites are highly favored by bots and people, this plug-in is a good one to have.

4. Wp Page Navi – It may seem like a simple change, but the paginated navigation is better for SEO and better for the user. Get rid of that boring “older posts” button and replace it with a sexy paginated navigation.

5. WP-DB-Backup – Create frequent database backups for your blog. Databases contain all of your posts, pages, comments and settings, so if your site ever goes down a single DB backup can be a life saver.

6. Optimize DB – Modifying SQL isn’t for everyone, but now you can optimize your Wordpress database with a single click. This plug-in will essentially de-fragment your database, creating a smaller and faster database.

7. Wordpress Automatic Upgrade – Especially for the serious blogger, an update is a big deal. There is a lot that can go wrong during an update, so much so a lot of people do not update and leave gaping security holes open. Ditch the built in upgrade tool and switch to Wordpress Automatic Upgrade, you won’t lose a beat.

8. Wp Security Scan – Easily identify and fix security holes with WP Security Scan. Your blog will be on lock down from now on with this plug-in.


9. Wp Offload – Save bandwidth and speed up your account with the Steady Offload plugin.

10. Smart Update Pinger – A large drawback to Wordpress is that pings are sent when updating posts, which cause duplicate pings and raises spam flags. Fix that problem and ping like a champ with the Smart Update Pinger.
(although development has ceased on this plug-in, it works for now)

Honorable Mention
Akismet – Although everyone has it these days (since it comes with Wordpress), it is by far the best way to control spam. As a test, leave Akismet off for a month or two and see how much spam you accumulate.

Want to learn more? Find out more about SEO and Wordpress on these great posts.
SEO Friendly URL Structure For Wordpress
How to Plug-in SEO to Wordpress : 9 Great Plug-ins
SEO For Wordpress

William Atkin is an SEO Analyst at Search & Social. Atkin, who describes himself as passionate about organic SEO, has a breadth of knowledge in website conversion, ecommerce, branding and user behavior from his experience as an internet business owner.

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

• Video views. Get people to watch an entertaining branded short, quick sales presentation, educational content, or even an ad.
  
  
• Newsletter and e-mail opt-in. The most overlooked and underappreciated metric of them all. Opt-in e-mails are the gift that keeps on giving. No marketer who has a big e-mail list will deny that it's the most valuable asset he has in his online marketing arsenal.
  
  
• Material downloads. The Web can be the ultimate way to hand out flyers, coupons, white papers, anything you want to get into people hands. Yet the tendency is to make people fill out a form to get the item. Try removing the form and letting the material flow! Encourage people to download, print, and share, and measure the results.
  
  
• Page views per visit. Try landing people on an engaging page that funnels them through a messaging sequence that builds your brand and escalates sales. Measure the results and optimize on the path that gets people to the end of the sequence. Also, measure the lift in total page views of your site's high-value product pages. Did the pages that educate consumers about your products go up?
  
  
• Reverse IP lookup. This is the most overlooked metric in business-to-business. Let's say you drive 100 clicks from a source like Google AdWords and only 5 percent convert. Typically, marketers apply zero value to the 95 clicks that didn't convert into a form complete or lead. Use reverse IP lookup to show them the companies that took the time to visit the site, and suddenly the value of those nonconverting clicks will go through the roof.
  
  
• Phone calls. OK, these are conversions but very often they aren't being measured. We apply very complex technology to measure everything online, yet rarely is that level of sophistication applied to inbound calls. Try dynamically publishing the phone numbers on your site and landing pages by source and apply the incoming calls to your online campaign's ROI. We have clients who more than double their online ROI by simply tracking the source of their incoming calls.
  
  
• Social and viral sharing. Turn one click into many impressions and more traffic. Socially enable your ads and content with strong chiclet-based calls to action. If even a fraction of your traffic engages in these activities, your efforts will pay huge dividends.
  
  
• Social connections. I've heard metrics putting the value of a Twitter follower or Facebook fan as low as $2 and as high as $10. I would put that value at the higher end of the spectrum. Incorporate friend and follower calls to action into your campaign and then measure their lift!
  
  
• Return visits. This is an easy one! A visit to a site is good, but a return visit is better. It shows a high level of interest, and of course many conversions happen long after the first visit. What percentage of the visitors you drove to a site come back?
  
  
• Comments, content, and opinions. Have you run a poll asking people about their tastes or opinions? Have you run testimonial content? Asked people for a story, a photo of themselves with your product, or a product review? Not only are these great high-value brand engagements, but they also create very precious content you can use in your search engine optimization and other marketing initiatives. Ask people to engage with your brand and add their content to your site. You may be surprised at how many people say yes.
  
  
• Direct sales escalation. Are you driving clicks to bricks? Measure the things that drive people into your client's stores and into your reps' and resellers' arms. Actions like store locator queries and rep searches should always be measured and are clear indicators that a future purchase may be imminent.