Exploring Google Analytics- Hidden Gems
Part 1. Tracking Unique visitors to a Subdirectory
At times, you may need to track the traffic on a particular subdirectory. Say for example you started some new campaign or mini website at /campaign/ subdirectory and want to analyse the traffic to this particular directory.
Here is the solution for Google Analytics users
In order to track visitors to a particular subdirectory, create a new profile by choosing the option “Add a Profile for an existing domain” and name this profile as say “sitename/campaign”
Then go to Profile Settings and Add a new Filter
Filter Type: Include only Traffic to a Subdirectory
Subdirectory: ^/campaign/
**replace campaign with your directory name
That’s all. You are done!
Your this newly created profile will track traffic to your subdirectory only
Note: When you add a profile for an existing domain, the tracking code for the new profile will be identical to the original profile’s code, so data will be imported simultaneously into both profiles. You won’t need to change the tracking code on your site, and any filters applied only to the second profile won’t affect data in the first.
ICANN gears up for Domain Tasting
DomainTools (www.domaintools.com) Internet stats report 98,338,819 active domain and over 311,589,135 deleted domains (more than 3 times the active domain). Thanks to Domain Tasting!
Domain tasting is the practice of a domain name registrant using the 5-day “grace period” at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated second level domain to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain’s web site.
Domains that are deemed “successes” and retained in registrant’s portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic. These domains are usually still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party.
In a recent move, ICANN recently announced the domain fee ($0.20) payable on all domains regardless of whether they are deleted within the 5 day grace period. This would effectively make the practice of domain tasting unviable.
Google has recently said that their AdSense program will now look for domain names that are repeatedly registered and dropped. They say they will drop these domains (but they don’t mention banning the users) from the AdSense program.
In April 2006, out of 35 million registrations, only a little more than 2 million were permanent or actually purchased. By February 2007, the CEO of GoDaddy reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept.
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
Domain name front running is the practice whereby a domain name registrar uses insider information to register domains for the purpose of re-selling them or earning revenue via ads placed on the domains landing page. By registering the domains, the registrar locks out other potential registrars from selling the domain to a customer. The registrar typically takes advantage of the 5-day “domain tasting” trial period, where the domain can be locked without payment.
In January 2008 it was reported that Network Solutions uses data collected from their web-based WHOIS search to register every domain that users check for availability.
Joomla 1.5 goes stable
As Joomla 1.5 goes stable, the open source developer community jumps in joy!
The Joomla! team has codenamed this release as Khepri (named after an ancient Egyptian god).
What is so special about this release? Joomla! 1.0.x was already a perfect solution, and it has gone just better with Joomla 1.5 release.
What’s new in Joomla! 1.5 release-
1. The Joomla! 1.5 Administrator interface is more refined and the main menu simplified.
2. The global configuration has been substantially reworked for simpler presentation and greater control.
3. Joomla!’s Administrator interface is now available in one’s own language using language packs made available at joomlacode.org
4. A single installer is available for all extension types (components, plugins, modules, themes), including languages.
5. The media manager is improved visually and functionally. Images, documents, presentations, and more, can now be stored.
6. Other improvements include multi-delete capability, batch file uploads, and an ability to view media in icon and list formats.
7. The core article manager has been made simpler. Gone are dual editor areas from Joomla! 1.0. Now, a single editor with a “Read More” button for separating the introduction from the full article, supports a more natural writing process.
8. A very popular improvement is Joomla!’s new image manager enabling you to browse media folders to select and insert images directly into your article as you write.
9. More control has been added to article pagination than before.
10. The complexity of choices and steps in the menu manager for Joomla! 1.0 have been completely redesigned for 1.5 in favor of simplicity and elegance. While you would have ended up beating your head while adding a new iteam in the menu (selecting which type of item you wanted to add), adding new menu items have gone really simpler in 1.5 release.
11. Usability improvements, such as the ability now to change the menu type, make changing your site much simpler. Any menu item can now be used to designate the default page. Selecting menu types is now an elegant drill down process supported by a new navigation tree; collapsible parameter sections simplify choices and increase productivity. Other helpful interface improvements include contextual tooltips and the ability to sort any menu manager column.
12. One of the more significant functional improvements are search engine friendly URLs, easily implemented within the global configuration. With SEF URLs in place, system generated duplicate content is eliminated, greatly improving site search engine optimization.
13. The default Joomla! theme gets softer edge giving it more Web 2.0 feel.
For Designers
1. Designers will notice marked improvements with Joomla! 1.5. Under the hood, the code base was better organized by separating program logic from presentation logic. What this does is empower designers with 100% control over how Joomla!’s content is presented.
2. Template designers can use custom layouts, often referred to as template overrides, instead of the typical table heavy output from Joomla! core. The designer’s imagination is the only limit and implementation could not be easier since simply placing a layout file into a designated place makes this possible. This model is being adopted by third party developers who want to offer the same flexibility for their extensions.
3. Another new addition for template designers is an ability to create custom module chrome. Module chrome is how module output is wrapped in a template. While Joomla! 1.0 has a handful of ways to render modules Joomla! 1.5 gives the designer ultimate freedom in the ability to create whatever chrome is appropriate.
4. With 1.5 the need for end users to manually edit variables and settings in template files is ancient history. Template parameters are a new feature that allow designers ability to construct templates in such a way that users can change settings from within the template manager interface. The template manager has also been freshened up with features such as the ability to edit any CSS file for the template.
For Developers
1. The design and architecture of the code base has been planned and executed using current development methodologies and design patterns. Joomla! has been separated into a three tiered stack to keep the internal structure clean and allow developers to leverage the different layers as necessary. The first and most interesting layer for developers is the new Joomla! 1.5 framework. With Joomla! 1.5, developers have an object-oriented, pattern based API that follows best practices and is organized into well structured and logical framework packages.
2. The Joomla! framework is built to support backwards compatibility to PHP 4.3 while also supporting the most current versions of PHP 5. Developers leveraging the framework will have easier transitions with newer versions of Joomla! since underlying classes have been designed with forward compatibility in mind. The idea is to ensure we have a solid foundation for future development while taking advantage of as much code reuse, as possible.
3. Some highlights of the new framework include the document package which gives the extension developer control over the entire document rendered on any given page load whether it be an atom feed, a PDF document, or a standard HTML page. The parameters system gives developers a simple, yet extensible way of generating XML based HTML forms for display. The extensibility of the parameters system allows developers to create their own form control objects as well as leverage the many core control objects, ranging from date selection calendar widgets and menu item selection boxes to standard text input fields.
4. Perhaps one of the most powerful features of the framework is the new MVC based component objects. Developing using the MVC design pattern gives developers a platform for rapid application development and prototyping. The clear separation between logic and presentation helps ensure code reusability and maintainability. Developers can hook into nearly any part of the application stack using Joomla!’s newly reworked events system, implemented according to the observer design pattern.
Visit Joomla! Official website
URL Rewriting with .htaccess
A quick guide to URL Rewriting
#Start URL Rewriting
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
#This will rewrite all non-www urls with www
# ie http://example.com will be rewritten as http://www.example.com
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
#This statement ReDirects all urls with trailing / to urls without trailing slash
RewriteRule ^([_a-zA-Z0-9-]+)/+$ /$1 [R]
#This statement ReWrites all urls of the form http://www.example.com/?blog.php?ID=xx as http://www.example.com/xx
RewriteRule ^([_a-zA-Z0-9-]+)+$ /blog.php?ID=$1
#END URL Rewriting
Travel Distribution India Special
“For how long OTAs in India can sustain aggressive marketing and cash back offers?”
Date Published : 22 Nov 2007
Source: www.eyefortravel.com
This statement came from a traditional player in the travel distribution business in India when EyeforTravel had conducted its first travel distribution conference in New Delhi in October 2006.
While consolidation is yet to take place, questions are being raised about the viability of so many players, about VC funding and how can OTAs focus on `cash flows’.
One of the major but relatively new player in India is Travelocity, which had launched its operations early this year.
Providing a viewpoint on the market status from Travelocity’s perspective, its MD in India, Himanshu Singh shared: “Online travel is evolving in Asia Pacific, and in India, and it’s a highly competitive industry. While we believe there is room for everybody, consumers will vote with their fingers and choose online travel sites which offer great deals, are trustworthy and are here in India for the long term offering a great range of products and the comfort of knowing there’s help at hand if they need it. We are seeing consolidation in online travel globally, in Asia Pacific and so in that respect India is no different apart from the fact that the world is turning its attention to online opportunities here, and acquisitions are certainly one avenue for taking a piece of the growing Indian online travel pie.”
Singh added, “Publicly available data suggests that the top three OTAs in India are spending in excess of USD1 million a month on marketing, and we see consumer cash back offers touching 50%. This coupled with high fixed costs and growing competition will definitely put pressure on existing players.”
Singh, who was recently attended EyeforTravel’s second edition of the travel distribution conference in Mumbai, spoke to EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta in an interview.
When Travelocity entered, it was stated that there business model would absolutely be built around online bookings and payment. What do you think is the key in a market like India to operate on such model? What have been the main challenges in sustaining this promise?
Yes, we remain true to the model. Across Asia Pacific, 75% of air tickets issued by our sites are now e-tickets, and 89% of payments are made securely online. This level of online booking and payment requires a very stable system, secure payment technologies and consumer trust.
We have found that launching with hotels in India was quite a good way for people to begin to get to know the Travelocity brand and become familiar with online bookings and payment.
Transaction values have been very encouraging, our transactions are growing and we’re now seeing over 60% of the hotel bookings made on Travelocity India being for overseas hotels. To me, this indicates a high and growing level of trust in the Travelocity India brand and our technological systems, and I see this continuing over time as we introduce a full suite of products. · Top 5 cities booked in India in July 07: - Delhi, Goa, Mumbai, Bangalore, & Chennai
· Top 5 cities booked overseas in July 07: - Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and Los Angeles
That said, credit card penetration and credit limits in India currently remain a challenge, but not an insurmountable challenge in the foreseeable future.
If OTAs have pure online business models and a player having annual turnover above US$280 million, would it be right to say that Indian consumer’s profile doesn’t fit in with browse online and buy offline behaviour?
Many Indians are definitely comfortable with not only booking, but paying for travel online. We see it every day on Travelocity India.
“It was shared that Travelocity India is going to be the first and only online travel company in India to offer real-time global hotel bookings for 77,000 hotels. What role is hotel bookings, which currently accounts for a miniscule share of online travel business, playing in your revenue matrix?”
Our core business today is real time hotel search for availability, confirmed bookings, and payment. We’ve been very active in growing our suite of domestic ‘Net Rate’ hotels, and international Net Rate hotel choices, as sourced from our international network of Zuji, Travelocity and lastminute.com family sites. For hoteliers, this means great opportunities for hoteliers to market their hotels to Indian travellers, but on the flip side, a unique opportunity for Indian hotels to reach internationally-based travellers.
Compared to the current India competition, Travelocity India has some differentiators when it comes to hotel bookings that are driving a new interest in hotel sales online:
· Our system is very stable, and processes inquiries and bookings at a very high speed – checking availability and pricing in real time.
· Online bookings made on Travelocity India are CONFIRMED reservations. Hotels are notified of the booking via our technologically advanced system when you confirm the booking at your PC. Payment secures the booking. This system is only possible because of our international family of companies under the ZUJI, and Travelocity umbrella.
· There is a wealth of information on Travelocity.co.in about hotels you just can’t get at a local travel agent for hotels around the world (traveller reviews, photos, etc). Further, travelocity.co.in offers instantly-bookable hotels in India and globally which is a differentiator for us.
Shortly we plan to introduce a full suite of travel products including air sales and dynamic packaging onto Travelocity India.
In your opinion, why hotel bookings is far less than airline booking in online travel business? Is due to approach of hoteliers in India or inventory/ commission/ content sharing issues?
Online hotel bookings are a reality on Travelocity India - at the moment hotel sales online are our core business, and it’s going very well.
• Historically (2004-05) online travel sector growth in India was established and driven by Indian Railways, and the second phase of growth was lead by airlines, predominantly Low Cost Carriers (LCCs). This is also a major driver of online travel bookings in other Asian countries. LCCs in India today channel over 60% of their business through their own supplier-direct websites. Online hotel bookings are predicted to grow rapidly in the next 5 years, and on Online Travel Agent (OTA) sites. In fact it’s predicted hotel distribution will grow from 45% to 56% via intermediaries by 2010 in Asia Pacific. In India, the figures are even more dramatic, with growth predicted to grow from 35% (2005) distribution via OTAs today, to 57% by 2010.
Not only are hotels a relative latecomer online, but OTAs themselves represent the third phase of online development as the market matures. Today OTA sales account for less than 16% of the total online travel market, and this is where Travelocity India sees potential. As travellers become comfortable with visiting direct sites, they begin to shop around, and can find great value travel choices on sites like Travelocity India. Hotels is just one part of our long term play.
OTAs in India which have predominantly focused on domestic air bookings. How do you see the battle going forward as traditional offline consolidators particularly air consolidators enter the online space?
It’s about opportunity. And growth. And differentiators which allow huge product choice as Travelocity India will. And that’s why we’re here in India and very optimistic about the future!
There’s a huge asset to being an online agency because loads of data can be compiled – shopping, purchase, etc. – which can be converted into sales leads. How do you think OTAs or Travelocity specifically intends to capitalise on the same?
We encourage membership to Travelocity India. It’s free, and offers subscription to our newsletters. These electronic direct mailers (eDM) are a major and very important source of marketing for Travelocity India. And it’s how travellers learn about our great deals before they’re advertised, so it’s a win-win relationship.
A traditional player had strongly spoken about the brand equity last year and felt that traditional players should provide fulfillment services to online players as another point of revenue. How has this shaped up?
We definitely see some examples of this in the market.
Apart from our B2C site, we have a B2B business stream that allows us to actually work with travel agents to offer them access to our content and technology - our Travel Partner Network business.
Travelocity India offers real time review of hotel availability, traveller reviews, maps and various other information and photo features. How is your company positioned to make the best of the feature-rich online experiences?
Many Indian travellers now seek the “three C’s” that Travelocity India offers: Control, Choice and the Convenience of online bookings.
1. “Choice: Online gives travellers a greater understanding of all options available, in a fashion that can be tailored to suit their requirement. Consumers looking to make a hotel booking in Shanghai for example, can log on to Travelocity India, and have over 300 hotels to choose from, starting at Rs 800, all with instant confirmations. They have hotel information, photos, maps and reviews to help them make a decision. This disappearing asymmetry of information has inspired greater confidence in both travel and online travel. Travelocity India also offers traveller reviews to help travellers choose the right hotel for them.”
2. Convenience: A traveller can do all his research and travel booking in single or multiple sessions, at his leisure, at home or in office. He can choose a mode of payment which he is comfortable with, and pay in a secure fashion. That’s why we believe our offering of instantly bookable travel products that appeal to Indians will help us grow in this market.
3. Control: One of the most popular tools on Travelocity.co.in is the flexible date option. This gives a consumer the power to select a hotel, and look at how the rates increase or decrease over the next Ninety days, to help him choose a better day to book travel in. He can also look for activity and attractions in his chosen destination, and pre book them on the site itself. The very popularity of these tools is evidence enough that the Indian traveller today wants a greater control of his travel schedule, and not be herded around in conducted tours like before.
As a second phase we plan to enhance the hotel content from stand alone hotel bookings, to integrated packaging (dynamic packaging) bookings online where flights and hotels will be able to be searched for availability, confirmed and paid for online.
How do you think Travelocity.co.in has fared so far and what targets have you set for the time to come?
I think the going so far has been great. We are encouraged by the steady growth of our hotel business, and have had great success with our Travel Partner Network business. We have been pleasantly surprised at the way the hoteliers have embraced our global Net Rate distribution program in India.
Our next milestone is launching our full suite of travel products including air sales and dynamic packaging onto Travelocity India.
