We’ve been working with a wonderful group of people at Ecumen. They are passionate about changing the way we view aging. We are proud to announce the launch of Ecumen’s new website and redesign of the Changing Aging Blog.  Azul 7 worked on with Ecumen’s great team of professionals led by Eric Schubert.

Thank you to the entire team for making the project work so well.

Social Media Basics

View more presentations from Azul 7 .

Here’s a fitting tribute to the game I spent so many hours playing in college on my old Mac SE to avoid studying.

If you are new to web analytics, here are some simple tools to help you get started measuring your online presence and the effectiveness of your website.

The Basics (some level of access for free)

Compete.com - Very helpful for baseline comparison research. View and compare site traffic to your competitors, which sites get most traffic from a keyword, which keywords are sending traffic to your site.

Google Keyword Tool - Number of people searching on Google for keywords related to your industry or organization.

 Alexa.com - Does some of the same thing Compete.com does, such as site traffic comparisons, but can also access top sites, demographics and hot URLs.

Yahoo Site Explorer -  Find out how many pages your site or a competitors has, internal links, site stats, errors on your site and more.

Google Analytics - If you are just getting started with web analytics and website measurement. Google Analytics is a great tool to introduce to your site and organization. Allows you to track all your website basics and tie your Pay-Per-Click AdWords’ buys into one tool. If nothing else, get Google Analytics on your site now. You’ll need to paste some tracking code on your site, so plan with your technical people accordingly.

The Next Level (Enhance the basics)

ClickTale - Allows you to view user interactions on your site (like in a usability test) such as where they click, how far they are willing to scroll on a page, and where they are running into trouble or leaving the site. For site managers that want to know more about how users on “using” your site. Allows you to see up to a certain number of interactions for free per month before you need to pay.

CrazyEgg - A more robust version of the Google Analytics overlay tool allows you to visualize how site visitors are using your site. Start using it for a small fee per month.

Other Ideas

Here’s a link to a post from FrancescoMugnai about some other great web analytics tools to explore.

Now, get measuring!

Lisa Helminiak, principal of Azul 7, will be presenting on analytics at today’s St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce IT Day in St. Paul.

SPACC IT Day Azul7 Analytics Presentation

View more presentations from Azul 7 .

Lisa Helminiak, Azul 7 principal and strategist, will present Search 101: Raise Visibility and Drive Web Traffic to the Minnesota chapter of the American Marketing Association on Tuesday, May 5th at 5:00 p.m.

Check out Lisa’s most recent blog post on MN-AMA’s website: Search Engine Optimization–What Does this have to do With Social Networking?

Azul 7 announces the launch of the Pairings Food and Wine Market site. The market focuses on the pairing of food and wine, while promising to help their customers enjoy this combination as it was meant to be. Pairings will open on May 18th in Minnetonka, MN. 

Azul 7 announces the launch of the On Board Midwest website. On Board Midwest is a coalition of people, businesses, elected officials and organizations who support the proposed high-speed rail line project, which would connect St. Paul to Chicago. The goal of On Board Midwest is to inform people about the rail line project and help them understand how it will enhance the lives of Minnesotans. Follow On Board Midwest on twitter and facebook. 

We were thrilled to have a small part in AIGA Portfolio 1-on-1. A group of students came in for a tour and presentation today (and cookies) as a part of the studio tours for the event. They had also visited the studio of Fame and were heading to Hartung Kemp after our tour. The studio tours are a great way for students to experience the working environments of many different studios in the area. A big thanks to the MN AIGA for involving us, it was fun.