Blog
The Doublespark blog is the place to discover what we’re up to. Read our posts to see what we’re currently working on, what or who’s inspiring us and other inside stuff from all our Doublespark locations. We blog in refreshingly non-geeky technical language and will - from time to time - post tutorials and other useful web design and SEO information on this page. You can subscribe to our RSS feed by clicking here.
Can Directory Maximizers Really Drive in Traffic?
For people who want to get traffic in a hurry, some pay third party companies in directory submissions. Some charge a reasonable rate, sometimes at 4 cents per directory and considering that there are a large number of directories on the web today, it is bound to escalate.
Read more … Can Directory Maximizers Really Drive in Traffic?
SEO is An Art and Test of Patience
So you have your site up and the next thing you want to know is for the whole world to know that you exist. How do you go about it? Well for starters, don’t expect an overnight success as far as obtaining a well-optimized site is concerned.
Advertisers will Find You
While there are various commercial sites where you can generate income from your site, bear in mind that there are also private ones who may want to advertise on your site.
Choosing between Blog Sites or Websites
When it comes to putting up sites these days, we can see a fair amount of people left with two choices, blog sites or websites. Some may ask what is the difference between the two since they can both be hosted using any domain and maintained using the standard ways of search engine optimization. Between the two, it seems that blog sites are easier to maintain since with software such as Wordpress or TypePad, you can easily just compose and save your blog entries and even add an image or two and you can start building on rapport on the web.
Web Analytics: Importance and Benefits
We’ve been discussing the various sessionisation methods used to gather data to be used for web analytics but haven’t really touched on the benefits it can bring. Web analytics is in fact very important and beneficial not only to web designers but also to webmasters who take care of the site’s optimisation and to the marketing team behind the website as well.
Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 6: Choosing a Method
After reading about the various sessionisation methods that can be employed to gather th data needed for website analysis the next step is to determine which method(s) to use.
Read more … Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 6: Choosing a Method
Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 5 (Authenticated User)
Non-cookie Sessionisation Methods
3. Autheticated User - This type of sessionisation gives the most accurate information but also “invades” the users’ privacy the most. Authenticated user sessionisation requires users to log in before being able to proceed with whatever they intend to do on the website. Of course logging in means entering a username and password and to have this it means signing up/registering on the website. Note though that registering on a website does not automatically mean revealing personal details beyond your email address, however, in many cases websites do ask for additional information such as name, address, etc.
Read more … Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 5 (Authenticated User)
Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 4 (Session IDs)
Non-cookie Sessionisation Methods
2. Session Parameter/ID - Another non-cookie based sessionisation method is the use of session parameters/ID’s. Compared to using IP-based methods (both IP only and IP plus agent) the use of session IDs actually result in more accurate visit-related metrics. The reason for this is that while IP-based methods gather data by looking at the assigned IP of the machine with this other method session IDs, which are simply random numbers and letters, are assigned to each visitor and sent back and forth allowing the visited site to gather data for each step taken by the visitor. Note that session IDs are erased at the end of each visit so that just like IP-based methods this does not allow for the gathering certain data that can be used to compare repeat visitors and first-time visitors.
Read more … Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 4 (Session IDs)
Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 3 (IP-based Sessionisation)
Non-cookie Sessionisation Methods
As the name implies all the three sessionisation methods listed here do not make use of cookies. Since most people are more familiar with cookies they do not realise that there are other methods, such as the ones we’ll be discussing, that can be employed to gather the data needed for website analysis. This is good news for those developing government sites.
Read more … Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 3 (IP-based Sessionisation)
Web Analytics: Sessionisation Methods Part 2
Cookie-based Sessionisation Methods
- Session Cookies - Session cookies, as the name implies, are cookies that are stored on the user’s computer only for that particular session. Once the user leaves the website or turns off the computer all the cookies that was stored on the hard drive are deleted.
- Persistent Cookies - Persistent cookies, on the other hand, store the cookies on the user’s hard drive even after the computer is turned off. The main difference between the two in terms of functionality is that persistent cookies enable the website (or the third-party) to differentiate first-time visitors from returning visitors, a distinction that is important for those concerned with web analytics since you want to be able to identify and analyse the similarites and differences between user habits of first-time/one-time visitors verus returning visitors.
