So you want to be able to see a report like this:

whereas the first numbers are your internal order ID, the second is the source, next is the medium and finally is the keyword used if from a search engine.  In order to view this report in Google Analytics, it will require that you create 3 custom filters and ensure that your eCommerce tracking is configured correctly (meaning that you can see your order IDs and rev data in GA).

Setup Steps:

Create Custom Filters

Filter 1:

Filter 2:

Filter 3:

OK, so now you have an eCommerce website, your gaining traffic momentum and you know this b/c you set up this thing called Google Analytics (GA).  The question is: How in the heck do I make heads and tails from this data?   Lucky for you, I’m going to simply the process for you. Below is my guide to getting the most out of Google Analytics for eCommerce.

Part I.  SETUP

Create a new profile.  I like to use a naming convention something like this “_brian_example.com” where example.com is your domain and brian is… well, if you can’t figure that out maybe you need stop here.  Why the underscore at the front?  Simple, this puts it atop the list.

Edit Profile Information to toggle ON eCommerce and add site search.

Add transaction source reporting.  This will allow you to view all your orders and see where they came from and if by search engine, which keyword was searched (paid or non paid search).

Set up your DashBoard. Spending a few minutes now will allow you to do the 2 minute quick dive daily.

Schedule Reports. I like to schedule (to be emailed) reports on a weekly and monthly basis.  depending upon your volume, you might want a transaction report daily. 

Part II.  REVIEW DATA

Yea, you could spend 10’s of thousands of $$$ on a complex solution, but I recommend spending your time/money analyzing the free reporting you get from GA.  I can’t tell you how many clients we have with high dollar Omniture solutions where we are the only ones that ever look at the data.  These clients would be much better off spending that same money on an employee who’s sole responsibility is to analyze GA data.  Check back soon for a continuation of this series, where I plan on showing you via video how to identify trends and make the most of your GA time.

Adwords announced on Tuesday a new set of reports that detail the search query ad click and impression behavior leading up to conversion. This is similar to what the Visiture SEM platform has done for years – we refer to it as path to conversion. Basically, we apply a percentage of the conversion value to all of the searched keywords a particular user searched leading up to a conversion.

What is Search Funnel? It’s an additional report (sorry, in Adwords only for now) that helps gauge value of keywords by showing you if certain keywords were displayed and/or clicked prior to a conversion.  So basically, you’re no longer limited to the last click perspective in Adwords.  Here’s the search funnel video

What would Visiture Do? (WWVD) Our reporting suite allows us to set rules allocating a percentage of conversion value to each keyword in the search funnel, thus giving us a much better picture into ROI down to the keyword match type.
For example: “user 1″ runs a Google search for “product A” today, then comes back in 30 days via a new Google search for “yoursite.com” and makes a purchase. The traditional approach was to apply 100% of the conversion value to “yoursite.com”. But in fact, “product A” was the keyword that ultimately led to the sale. In this case, you would up your bids on “yoursite.com” and decrease your bids on “product A”. But, what you really wanted to do is up your bids on “product A”.

What I want to see is for Google to expand this reporting capability into Google Analytics so that us SEO folk can apply it to all our non paid search engine traffic.

Rising search terms "gift cards" using Google Insights

Gift card searches are hot again this year.  Of course gift card searches are always hot keywords this time of year (as seen below), but it has been highlighted by companies’ low inventories due to the recession (and their preparation for the worst).  If your company offers gift cards, it’s a great time to capitalize on these keywords for your Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns.  If your company does not offer gift cards, it might be a good idea to get them.  Increased December traffic is also important to factor into your SEM budget.

2004-Present "gift card" search spikes

Sources: Nathania Johnson of Search Engine Watch & Google Insights

The most important thing to remember right now is that the public trend is to be frugal, prudent and careful with money.  With troubling times, comes re-assuring advertisements.  The keywords that are most effective right now are:
-discount
-sale
-wholesale
-coupon
“Coupon” has become very effective when using Pay-Per-Click advertising.  Visiture has the tools to start and pause your campaign immediately based on your inventory.  As soon as you run out of an item and no longer want your ad to show in those search term results, we can pause it.  This ensures that you will not be paying for a click that is not going to yield any chance for increased ROI.