The Red Olive Blog

Using Virtual Pageviews to track events where there is no destination page. Setting up goal tracking in analytics should be one of the first steps of any SEO campaign. I am using this code with an SEO campaign where a particular page has a quick contact form that doesn’t post to a thanks page. So […]

Analytics – Bounce Rate vs. Exit % Rate I regularly get asked what the difference is between bounce rate and exit rate. And I usually forget how to explain it. So here it is, bounce rate vs. exit rate: Bounce Rate Bounces / Entrances = Bounce Rate. “Entrances” are defined as “The number of times […]

General Phrase (“Folding Tables”) vs Small Group of More Specific, Easier to Rank for Phrases. “How to Purchase Form” – General (Short Tail Keyword) vs Specific (Long Tail Keyword) form completion and conversion rate analysis. It”s kind of obvious that more specific keywords are better, but here is some actual data I gathered from an […]

I was curious about what might be the best way to break up content in html for SEO. Not only for SEO purposes, but also to develop a pattern to stay consistent. So I went to the source. I looked at 3 google pages to see how they divided up the content on pages. By […]

PGA Utahselected Red Olive to handle the overhaul of their website for 2011.  Some highlights of the new site are: Custom CMS to handle one off features below that would not exist in an off the shelf cms Course directory by region, alpha, or individual. Trick wallpaper background that can toggle between wallpaper mode showing […]

We work hard all year long and we select a few projects that we are particularly fond of to submit for judging in the AAF – American Advertising Federation. They fly in judges from all over the country to take a peek at the creative works from the local agencies and design studios. Each year […]

Hello Utah Realtor Friends, we are trying to purchase a larger studio but we must first sell the building we are in. Anyone interested in putting up a listing for us on the MLS for a flat fee? Catch: We will pay 3% total commission to whomever sells it, if that’s you great, if it’s […]

The difference between ‘phrase match’ and ‘broad match’ often confuses clients and new Adwords users. So I thought I would explain the differences. And test it, to make sure. Adwords Test: I added two phrases to an Adwords campaign (set to run ‘in’ Utah only). "Hunting Property" Set as Phrase Match in Adwords Hunting Property […]

Twitter and Facebook, profile and brand search volume numbers. I was curious to know if more people search for Twitter profiles versus Facebook profiles. For example, do more people search Google for "Lebron James Twitter" or "Lebron James Facebook?" I have attached the charts and data below. I pulled the numbers using Google’s search tools. […]

Someday I would love to take the time to make well designed error screens for our servers, checkout the brilliantly designed 502 error page on twitter.com :

One of our clients, TSA Motorsports, just dropped off the 1/12th scale r/c model of their Baja trophy truck.  Couple months back we signed a release so they could use our logo as a sponsor on the truck and have been waiting patiently to see / drive the finished product.  Pretty cool seeing your design […]

Do more people search [“Location” + Keyword], [Keyword + “Location”], or [Keyword + “in Location”]? The answer based on the data I am looking at today suggests [“Location” + keyword] almost always wins. Sometimes the difference is minimal, sometimes the difference is huge. The takeaway message is to try and rank for as many keyword […]

The performance gains from using the FastCGI version of PHP 5 are obvious and the preferred method.  If you build apps that require encoding the page in UTF-8 character set you may have noticed that IIS7.5 overrides your settings. You may have tried explicitly stating  it in your php/IIS config or even on the page […]

Last day at the SEO Conference in Seattle. Learning some great landing page, twitter, seo, and traffic conversion tips! I’ll share a few quick tips from @tim_ash, lose the address field on your form and gain potentially 17% more conversions. Also get those trust logos above the fold!