WebProNews spoke with Justin Kistner, the Director of Social Products at Webtrends, which is a company that was included in the Alpha testing of Facebook’s new product. He told us that the new Facebook Insights tool focuses more on measuring engagement and not just fan growth.

Incidentally, Webtrends also introduced a tool called Hoverstats that allows page owners to evaluate the effectiveness of their posts. He said the idea behind both tools is to help brands determine whether or not they are reaching and engaging with their fans.

As he explains to WebProNews, when companies base their global strategy on their Web analytics, they are making a big mistake. In these cases, companies look at their analytics and think that they should target the countries that they are getting the most traffic from. Another common mistake with Web analytics is when companies assume that the amount of traffic from a country matches the amount of conversions.

After doing international SEO for 8 years, Bonfils believes that neither of these approaches are very effective.

“There are a lot more components to identifying the markets that you want to go in other than just Web analytics,” he said.

These components include keyword research data, identifying local competitors in the market, technical issues, and ecommerce-related items. Bonfils suggests plugging these factors into a spreadsheet to determine which market is really the best option for your company.

He also points out that simply translating keywords and other search data do not produce accurate results. Every country has its own vernacular, which is often misinterpreted in translation.

Although an international search strategy has many challenges, there are also many global opportunities for businesses. Bonfils recalls that approximately 75 percent of all of Google’s traffic is from outside of North America, which means international programs are expanding rapidly.

Because of the large growth in global search, SEM International is teaming up with the SMX conference series to have one day based solely on international search. For more information on this, check out upcoming SMX shows.

In this interview with WebProNews, Tan Tran explained how FreshDrop offers domain names that are already indexed with the search engines and have PageRank, backlinks, and many other important factors.

FreshDrop has compiled all the popular domain auction sites under its one centralized platform. It allows users to search for domains by keyword, vertical, or analytics. The analytics portion is interesting since users can search backlinks, traffic, and whether or not the domain is listed in directories such as DMOZ, Yahoo, or Google.

Tran said their solution saves money and time. FreshDrop also continuously works to maintain the most current and accurate data.

To learn more about these domains, visit their site.

Taylor Pratt of Raven Internet Marketing Tools talks to WebProNews and offers some advanced advice regarding keyword research. First of all, he explains a trick that users can do with the Google’s AdWords tool. He tells users to conduct a logged out Google search, copy the url, and paste it into the AdWords tool. This will then scan the top 10 results and provide keyword recommendations. Pratt says users can take it even further and use this trick with Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay pages, directories, and more.

Unfortunately, many people often become biased toward certain keywords and, essentially, push for them to win even when they are not performing. Pratt suggests that users take the keyword list from their analytics package, export it, and then block out all the keywords. By doing this, users will only be able to see the metrics, which will determine the keywords that are converting and performing.

Many times, the C-level suite is guilty of showing partiality toward particular keywords. To reach them, Pratt says marketers should talk to them in a way that they understand. In other words, tell them if a long tail term is the one that is bringing in the money and traffic as opposed to the one they simply like.

Pratt also discusses another trick users can do with Google analytics. He says if users look at their keywords, there is a second drop-down menu. From that menu, if users select the “landing page” option, they will see a list of landing pages from which a specific keyword visited their site. This will also show how the keyword is performing. With this information, users can determine what they should be targeting.

In regards to advice for marketers doing mobile paid search, Pratt believes marketers should find out which action terms people are searching for. He goes on to point out that marketers should think about the user, since mobile users know exactly what they want when they search.

Are you taking your keyword research to the next level?

First of all, although social is growing in popularity and value, Clay says it is still hard to determine the extent of its impact on search. Both people and businesses are still learning how to use it. He believes there are two different camps on social. The first is similar to PPC since users can leverage ads in their social networks. This way can be thought of as an ad network, and it allows users to drive traffic and raise awareness.

He classifies the second camp as being closer to SEO since it can be used to encourage people to link to you. In addition, it can be used for reputation management. Just as SEO and PPC are more effective together, using both camps of social media are equally important. He says marketers will miss out on valuable opportunities if they do not utilize social media.

Linking is another area that has changed. As Clay discusses, there are several ways to do links such as stimulating people socially, begging for links, and being a link magnet. Social media is tied to the aforementioned stimulating people for links and also to link begging, since it could provide a target through a social relationship. As he points out, link magnets are the best method because marketers create great content that people want to link to.

Although link networks are also included in linking practices, Clay believes they could become a serious problem. These networks allow one user or company to have some level of control over a group of different sites. Although he has no direct inclination from Google, he believes the search giant will crack down on this practice. He thinks Google has no choice but to either lighten up on its standards, which he believes is wrong, or enforce stronger regulation. If link networks were eliminated, he says there would be a “massive change in the linking structure and rankings.”

In regards to changes in search results, Clay recalls that Google offers more options, maps, and more in the SERPs. He predicts that searchers will be able to selectively turn on live feeds and engagements objects (video, images, etc.). Google has also made efforts pertaining to search intent and behavior. With linking practices changing as well, he believes we will see many new developments in search results. Additionally, he says these changes will continue and traditional SEO will lose its effectiveness.

Are you accommodating these changes?

Content is just one of the fundamental areas of SEO. Not only is the content itself important, but the structure of the content is also important. Bailey says content needs to be scalable, readable, and allow users to understand the content on the rest of the page by simply looking at the headline. This is significant because numerous studies show that the majority of people scan content instead of reading it.

There have been many recent debates pertaining to long content versus short content. People often say they tried blogging, Facebook, or Twitter and found that they didn’t work. However, Bailey believes users need to examine their efforts to see if they are utilizing them correctly.

“The what is going to change daily. The why will never change,” he says.

He goes on to say that if you have a purpose, the “what” doesn’t matter and can always be applied.

Marketers also struggle with the challenge of creating content for both users and search engines. Bailey says the key to this dilemma is in the analytics. For example, it is very possible to have the right ranking with the wrong page. As a result, marketers need to look at their analytics to see which metrics work. He tells WPN that marketers can celebrate when they determine what is profitable, not when they rank high.

Although there will be many more changes for SEO, the job of driving people to a destination will always be constant.

Are you focusing on getting the fundamentals right or are you distracted by the “shiny, new object syndrome”?

Alternatively, he suggests looking at analytics to find the primary areas of focus. Once these areas are determined, think about the customer and what he or she wants instead of simply making uncalculated changes.

Although changes will vary from site to site, Saleh recommends taking things such ad spend into account. In addition, he advises people to look at their analytics to see the navigational path users take. This not only helps site owners understand where the customers are going, but it also could identify any areas that they themselves need to modify.

By taking these factors into consideration, Saleh says people could see meaningful increases in conversion rates. Are you paying attention to these areas?

As she explains, ObjectiveMarketer is a centralized campaign management system that helps businesses operate their marketing efforts across multiple social media channels. It includes a robust analytics program that lets businesses know how their social strategies are performing.

Paul is aware that time and relevance are both critical factors in social media. She says, “If you do not reach your customers with the right content at the right time, you have lost them.”

As a result of this awareness, ObjectiveMarketer allows users to test messages during campaigns, which helps users identify what does and does not work.

To learn more about this tool, visit its site.

There are many tools that are useful such as Google Analytics and Omniture, but Peterson says that these solutions cannot do everything. In other words, marketers have to act upon the data the solutions provide.

According to Peterson, many businesses do not dedicate resources to analytics. He believes this is one of the most common mistakes businesses can make in regards to analytics. If someone could focus all his time and energy on analytics, Peterson says good things would happen.

The next big challenge marketers have is determining which data to pass where within the company. For this, he recommends that a business have a strategy since each department will need different metrics.

Once all these elements are in place, Peterson says companies will be able to make better use of their data.

To make the most of your data, Kaushik recommends using the following strategies: inline segmentation, tag clouds, and keyword trees. These strategies take thousands of keywords and create visualizations that allows marketers to understand all the data.

For example, by using tag clouds, Kasushik tells WebProNews that marketers can determine the relationships between keywords. They can also find out how consumers are behaving and what their intent is.

One big problem regarding data is the way that marketers go to their bosses and try to convince them the invest more in search, based upon data. This is often a problem because the data the marketers use does not usually connect with the boss. To resolve this issue, Kaushik says marketers should calculate the value of each goal they have for their site. In turn, this information would provide more clarity to upper management.

Kaushik also suggests that marketers measure all the site’s revenue to help understand that microconversions are happening and where.

“Quantify the complete impact of the site; otherwise, you’re going to be making very bad decisions,” says Kasushik.

Are you looking at the right data?

By applying attribution to the wrong place, marketers are not able to understand how different channels contribute to the sales process. Zwicky says this of marketers, “Basically, they’re undercutting their own opportunities.”

He goes on to stress the importance of finding the true sources of value in order to increase conversions and, ultimately, grow the business.

Zwicky also talks with WebProNews about a new Eightfold Logic product for link building. The product applies a dating service model to the process of link building. Just like an online dating service, users begin by filling out a profile that explains what they want in a link, instead of a date.

Once a match is found, the system contacts the party and advises it to review the match. At this point, if the user wants an introduction and both parties agree, the system connects the two.

“It isn’t designed to overwhelm you with a lot of links; it’s designed to deliver you high-valued, contextually relevant links, which… in the end, is really more valuable,” says Zwicky.

For more information on the product, sign up here.

According to Gilmore, the tools are all about design and scale. With the new modern architecture of the tools, Bing wants to give users more data, more relevant information, analytics, and more. Gilmore says the three main areas Bing focused on was crawl, index, and traffic.

In addition, Bing is ensuring a simplified user experience and rich visualizations. Interestingly enough, Gilmore indicates that the feedback from users was very instrumental in the development of the tools. He went on to say that Bing wants to create an “open dialogue” relationship with its users.

“We have a whole bunch of things we want to do, so this is just the beginning,” says Gilmore.

Bing is currently fine-tuning the tools before they are released in the coming weeks. For the latest updates, check out the Webmaster Center blog.

The new tool allows users to find out what people are saying about them on Twitter, which ultimately, allows them to discern positive opinions from negative opinions.

Review’d provides a very simple dashboard that gives users information on celebrities, specific keywords, products, brands, and more. The co-founders told WPN that the tool does not offer complex analytics but instead, gives users actionable information that people and businesses can utilize.

To check out how the tool works, users can visit here for a free 30-day trial. The co-founders said to expect many improvements over time.

First of all, you need to know how people get to your form.  According to Vaccarello, Salesforce and others offer solutions that allow this information to be passed through a hidden field. It is an automated solution that not only sorts through the data, but also passes it through an application that builds dashboards, which reveals even more data.

With this information, you can find out important facts such as where your visitors are coming from, who is converting and who is not, where you are spending that is producing profits, and where you are losing money.

After you have gathered this data and analyzed it, you have a stronger knowledge of which leads are worth following up on and how you should approach them.

For starters, Siroker points out that the Obama campaign used new media in many ways other campaigns did not. They did this by focusing on their supporters and the cause instead of the candidate. Although Barack Obama quickly became a celebrity, the campaign focused most of the YouTube videos and blog content on the supporters.

While he doesn’t credit the entire win to new media, Siroker admits it played a large role. He said the demographics of the young supporters helped as well since they were already active on social networks. The engine that the campaign built also made it easy to share information online and spread the cause.

Siroker believes that political campaigns in the future will change as a result of the Obama campaign. What’s even more, he believes businesses can learn from the campaign. For instance, businesses can utilize social media as a way to let others advocate their message for them.

In an effort to encourage businesses in this area, Siroker developed a tool that uses social media to turn existing customers into evangelists for the business. The tool called Spreadly, brings in new customers and also contributes to a cause. Siroker has categorized the tool under a new term: social affiliate marketing. If you are interested in testing the tool, sign up for the private beta here.