Google Analytics Desktop Only Segment
Boy was that a fun distraction. My last post got posted on Hack A Day. Thank you so much, Hack A Day. But, today I wanted to bring the focus back to analytics and not security. Recently, I needed to compare mobile traffic data vs. desktop traffic in Google. Google makes it really easy to segment out mobile traffic in Google Analytics, but they decided not to put in a segment for desktop only for easy comparison. When I went to figure out what to do to set it up, I was a little confused as it is hard to figure out by default what the settings for the mobile dimension are. So if you want to...
Read MoreMoving Truck Alarm System With An Arduino & Twilio
Summary:To protect our moving truck (with all of our things inside) on the night before our move I used a WiFi-enabled Arduino and a motion sensor to to create a DIY alarm system that would trigger if someone opened the loading door on the truck. The Problem When we moved last month we decided to load the truck up the night before we drove off to Indianapolis so we could get there and unload our things in the morning. While this makes the move overall easier because it makes it easier to clean up the old place and set up things in the new place, it leads to a nerve-wracking scenario. My wife...
Read MoreDon’t Let Your Website Be A Firework
Being that this week was Independence day, I thought about fireworks. Fireworks are a lot of fun and even beautiful, but by their very nature they don’t last long. This was evidenced this past week by the San Diego fireworks show, when a 17 minute fireworks show went off in about 15 seconds. Websites can often have a similar rush of excitement and then have a loss of all energy. This happens when companies use tricks to gain traffic instead of building lasting value for their customers. This can be seen when companies take shortcuts in SEO, for example, by purchasing low quality links...
Read MoreShould You Advertise Higher Priced Goods To Mac Users?
The WSJ recently had an article in which it identified that Orbitiz was showing higher priced hotels to Mac users, because Orbitz discovered that Mac users were spending up to “$20 to $30 more a night on hotels than their PC counterparts”. What in essense is going on is a type of price segmentation that is happening more and more every day as there is more data available for merchants to be able to discriminate with. This has happened for a while in other direct marketing industries where based on demographic data on a user they will show different offerings. The reason this is...
Read MoreHow Newfangled NBA Analysis Is Like Web Analytics
Everybody is looking for an edge by using analytics these days. You hear new “Moneyball” type stories every week it seems, and frankly I love them. So, I will try and highlight them for you when I come across good articles showing ways people are using analytics to gain an advantage in their business. This week there was an article going around conveniently titled “Moneyball 2.0″ or the full title “Moneyball 2.0: How Missle Tracking Cameras Are Remaking The NBA”. This was a timely article related to new advances in using missile tracking technology to...
Read MoreWebsite Credibility And An Apartment Search
My wife and I have spent all day yesterday looking for a new place to live because we will soon be moving our business to Indianapolis. This has been an all-day marathon event and while it seems like every place is the same after a while, you still come away feeling one or two places are potentially the right one. A big part of the reason these one or two apartments or rentals stand out is because of the trust and credibility that the apartment and its staff portray. Normally, when you go to a new apartment to look at a possible new home, your first stop is the leasing office. But, your...
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