The Jake Group recently produced a series of rich media ads for placement on TalkingPointsMemo.com, one of the millions of websites that are members of Google’s Display Network.

The Google Display Network is the non-search-related portion of Google’s AdWords advertising platform. The Display Network is comprised of millions of websites, blogs, and email newsletters and has a total reach of about 80% of all internet users. Read More …

For an introduction to Google Analytics, see my earlier post. In this entry I will focus on an advanced feature of Google Analytics: Advanced Segments.

What are segments?

Segments are non-destructive filters that you can apply to your data for advanced analyses. Segments are non-destructive in that they do not affect the actual process of recording data from your website. Actual filters applied to a particular website profile, on the other hand, permanently affect the data that is recorded. For example, if I want to know statistics related to visitors from South America, I can create a segment that will display only information for these visitors. Data from all visitors in all countries is still recorded. By creating a filter for the same purpose, I could also see information related only to South American visitors, however Analytics wouldn’t record the data for any visitors outside of South America. In short, segments are filters that are applied after all the data has already been collected. Both segments and filters are valuable for particular applications, however this post will focus solely on segments.

How are segments used?

Segments are extremely powerful for running comparative analyses. Segments allow you to split up your Analytics data into different groups, and you can in turn compare these groups with each other. Google Analytics includes several basic segments like New and Returning Visitors. Your segments can be accessed and applied by clicking the “Advanced Segments” box in the upper right hand corner of the screen. By splitting your data between visitors that have previously been to your site and those who haven’t, you can discover important behavioral differences.

Example:

Our website OnlineStore.com just redesigned the checkout process. Without segments applied, the data looks good. The number of visitors exiting the site after adding items to their cart has dropped… good news? When we split our data into new vs returning segments, we find that the number of new visitors exiting from the cart page has dropped a fair amount, but the number of returning visitors exiting from the cart has risen dramatically. Our changes to the checkout system have clearly alienated our returning customers. Further analysis shows us that our returning customers’ purchases are about twice as large as purchases made by new customers. While a basic analysis would suggest that our changes were positive, analysis with segments has shown us that our cart redesign needs further consideration.

Google Analytics also features the following preset segments:

• Paid Search Traffic
• Non-paid Search Traffic
• Search Traffic
• Direct Traffic
• Referral Traffic
• Visits with Conversions
• Mobile Traffic
• Non-bounce Visits

The “Visits with Conversions” segment is an important tool that allows you to track usage statistics for your most valuable visitors.

Custom Segments

Google Analytics’ preset segments are valuable and easy to use, however custom segments are necessary for more complex analyses. To create a custom segment, click on the advanced segments box in the upper right hand corner of the screen and click on “Create a new advanced segment”. The following page lets you choose any dimension or metric as the basis for the segment. If you are unfamiliar with metrics and dimensions, see my post on custom reporting in Google Analytics. Your custom segment isn’t limited to one metric or dimension; you can create segments combining two or more different criteria for specialized data analysis.

Example:

OnlineStore.com has gone global. We need to know how our customers in Japan are finding our website. We create a custom segment with the dimension “Country” “matches exactly” “Japan”. We then add an “AND” statement, and include the metric “Goal1 Completions” as “Greater than or equal to 1″. We’re done. When applied, our segment will now show us all statistics related to Japanese visitors who convert Goal1, which in this case would indicate a purchase.

There’s no limit to what custom segments can show you. Test out the many available metrics and dimensions to gain a fuller understanding of how your analyses can be improved using custom segments.

What are Photoshop Scripts?

Scripts serve as a great tool to assist designers in increasing their workflow by automating repetitive tasks, customizing commands and even adding new features. Although they debuted way back with version 7, it is surprising how few people even know they exist. Originally scripts were an optional plug-in available via download, but today they come built into the program with a few useful scripts preloaded.

Scripting allows you to combine the power of Photoshop’s tools with custom programming. The feature allows users to write scripts using JavaScript, VB Script, or AppleScript, to do what you can’t with your mouse and keyboard—or simply don’t feel like spending your time on. The scripts are fairly basic, but for those of us not up to the challenge of learning to write custom scripts—there are plenty of freebies available online.

Why Scripts, Not Actions?

Photoshop Scripts are way more powerful than actions or batching and can be as smart as you make them. Some examples of the powers of scripting include:

• You can add conditional logic, so that the script automatically makes “decisions” based on the current situation. For example, you could write a script that decides which color border to add depending on the size of the selected area in an image: “If the selected area is smaller than 2 x 4 inches, add a green border; otherwise add a red border.”
• A single script can perform actions that involve multiple applications. For example, you could target both Photoshop CS2 and another Adobe Creative Suite 2 Application in the same script.
• You can open, save, and rename files using scripts.

Installing a Photoshop Script

Installing scripts is super simple. First download the script (or create your own), then save it into the specified scripts folder.

• PC: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop\Presets\Scripts\
• MAC: Applications > Photoshop > Presets > Scripts.

After copying a script to this folder you’ll need to Quit and then Restart Photoshop before the script appears in the File> Scripts menu.

Examples of Pre-loaded Scripts

Photoshop comes with a few useful scripts right out of the box. Once the program is installed, you can find them under File > Scripts. One example includes:

Layer Comps to Files
This one does exactly what it says, outputting your Layer Comps to separate files. Layer comps are an easy way to create “snapshots” of your comps in various states. Using the script, you can output the comps to various files types PSD, JPG, and GIF. If you have clients who like to see everything in PDF format, there’s also “Layer Comps To PDF” which outputs the layer comps into a single PDF document with multiple pages.

Examples of Free Add-On Scripts

As mentioned previously, you can find tons of free scripts online. Some scripter sites will even write custom scripts for you on request. A few timesaving scripts include:

Remove Copy From All Layers
If you create multiple comps and layers sets in your files and are anal like me, having the word “copy” in half your layers is an annoying Photoshop feature. It takes time to go through each layer and manually remove the word “copy”. Luckily, someone else thought the same thing and created a script to remove them all at once. It removes the word copy and also the number next to it, so “mylayername copy 12″ becomes simply “mylayername”.

Download the script here

NOTE: CS5 now has a built in option to turn this off, so you don’t need the script. You can set it in your layer palette options.

Text Export
This script will export all your layers to a text file so you can easily convert to HTML without having to copy and paste. For example, if you have 3 text layers:

(Layer 1) Lorem ipsum
(Layer 2) This is a headline
(Layer 3) Submit

You run the script and you get a text file with these contents:

Lorem ipsum
This is a headline
Submit

Download the script here

Links and References

Here are a few useful links to learn more about Photoshop scripts:

Trevor Morris Photographic

Jeff Tranberry

Adobe, Photoshop Scripts

PS-Scripts

Kirupa Tutorials

In my previous post, I reviewed how to get started using Google Analytics. In this entry I will discuss how set up and use custom reports.

Custom Reporting

Custom Reporting is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly analyze any metrics of your choosing by nearly any dimension.

Creating a New Custom Report
Clicking on the “Create new custom report” link brings you to a page with lots of blue and green boxes. Anything in blue is referring to a metric, and anything in green refers to a dimension. The easiest way to think about metrics and dimensions is to think of metrics as numbers, and dimensions as text. Anything that can be represented by a number, like pageviews ,or bounces, or clicks, is a metric. Anything that can’t be described by a number, like visitor language, or keywords, or sources, is a dimension.

Custom reports tell you the metrics for a given dimension. If I want to know how many visits came from Europe, I select “Continent” as my dimension, and “visits” as my metric. You can also define subdimensions, which become the dimension that the metric is analyzed against once you click on an item from the primary dimension. In my example, logically I will select “Country” as my subdimension. When I access the report, it tells me that I had 50 visits from Europe. I click on Europe to drill-down to specific countries, and I see that England accounted for 49 of the 50 visits.

Sample Custom Report Structure
I want to know how many purchases my Google ads are driving, and how much it is costing me -
I select “Goal Completions” (assuming you set your goal to be a purchase), “CPC”, “Cost”, “CTR”, and “Cost per conversion” as my metrics, “AdGroup” as my dimension, and “Keyword” as my first subdivision.

Multiple usability studies have proven that today’s online users visit a website for two primary reasons: to get information and/or to accomplish a goal. In general, they are not reading for leisure, nor are they online to appreciate fancy writing or admire complicated graphics. Simply, they want to access content as quickly as possible and interact with the site, as needed.

Studies also show that website users interact differently with a monitor than they do with the printed page. Web users skim content, ignoring our ingrained left-right viewing habits in order to drill down more quickly. They also read about 25% more slowly on screen leading most users to scan a webpage rather than read it word-by-word.

Writers may be tempted to upload the same lengthy content contained in an annual report or firm brochure because they want to communicate as much to the reader as possible. Unfortunately, doing so is a surefire way to lose your online audience. Instead, you must write copy specifically for the online environment keeping in mind these ten essential rules:

• Know Your User. Identifying your target audience is essential. While this should be fairly obvious, make sure to write for your constituents, not the internal organization itself. All copy should be written at an appropriate level for the audience void of acronyms or jargon that may not be obvious to all target users.
• Be Concise. Get to the point, and remember users are not there to savor your fine writing skills. The general rule is to use approximately half as many words as you would in print. Aim for:
• Short headings: 4 – 8 words
• Short sentences: 8 – 20 words
• Short summaries: 30 – 50 words
• Short paragraphs: 3–10 sentences; 40 – 70 words
• Short pages: 2-3 paragraphs
• Use Headings. Since users skim webpages, they look at headings and subheadings first, then scan for hyperlinks, numerals and keywords. Make sure to use prominent headings and subheadings to partition your content.
• Use Lists. For optimal readability, keep sentences short and use bulleted or numbered lists where possible. (Just don’t use lengthy bulleted items!)
• Put Key Facts First. Begin with the most critical information, including Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Remember, web users are impatient, so you should prioritize your content. If you must include lengthy descriptions or documents, place them deep in the site and provide links where appropriate.
• Be Casual. Always write in first or second person whenever possible. Use “you” and “we” in a more conversational style, as appropriate. Remember, the more formal, the less inviting.
• Use the Active Voice. Never use the passive voice when you can use the active voice. The passive voice creates dull, lifeless content.
• Consider the Site Structure. With a proper website structure, your users should know precisely where they are on your site at all times. Still, it is good practice to write web copy that helps readers understand how each page relates to other content elements.
• Encourage Action. Ultimately, you want your website to encourage action, whether it’s registering for a newsletter, providing contact details, or buying your product or service. Always write copy that incites a call-to-action turning passive readers into active participants.
• Edit, Edit, Edit. A good rule of thumb is to edit your copy by 10% even at its last draft. Ask yourself, “Is my message condensed to as few words as possible?”, “Is my content formatted for easy readability?”, “Is this copy necessary at all?” Make sure to edit your content thoroughly before and after you upload it to your website (pre-launch, of course).