Do you know exactly where your site traffic comes from?
Do you know the exact Company or Person who clicks on the URLs you post?
Do you know which of your campaigns is driving the most traffic?
You can collect all of this intelligence and more by utilizing MergedAnalytics Custom Trackable Short URLs for when you need to post Links to Social Media and/or in your Emails as part of your Marketing Campaigns.
Upon creating MergedAnalytics Short URLs….you can add special Dynamic Parameters to your URLs; to get a deeper understanding of the people who click those links.
This extra information will tell you more information about who clicked your link, where they clicked your link and what pages they clicked on your website after that initial click.
And…instead of posting a long URL that is packed with the parameters you added making the URL look like something no one would want to click on or share… you can condense and custom brand those URLs in MergedAnalytics. Shorter cleaner URLs get clicked and shared more than their longer counterparts.
Below…I created a link I want to post to my Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram audiences. I selected the Dynamic option radio button.
Because I added my own parameters….Now when someone clicks this link….I will know that the link they clicked was for the social media blitz and was part of the campaign called “product launch in 2020”. I will also know which social media site the clicks came from. This will allow me to measure which social media is driving the most traffic.
And…because these are MergedAnalytics Short URLs……I will be notified about the Company Names of the people who clicked these links.
We have been working with multiple business associations like Chambers of Commerce.
The intelligence we deliver is helping these organizations with their membership drives by making it easy for them to understand which exact companies have interest in joining their Chambers.
We also deliver intelligence as to what events their chamber member companies are interested in like….Golf Outings, Trade Shows, Lunch and Learns etc.
This intelligence delivered by MergedAnalytics is making their communication efforts exponentially more efficient and effective.
Since November of last year we have been in the process of courting a highly respected Digital Marketing firm to use MergedAnalytics on their company website.
They were already using our biggest competitor but they agreed to try MergedAnalytics so they could compare accuracy of the data we deliver vs. our competitors.
Long story short….that firm not only has adopted MergedAnalytics for their own purposes…they have signed on to resell a White Labeled version of MergedAnalytics for their customers.
How did we win you ask?
We won for three reasons….
– Our Pricing options
– Our Custom Branded Short URL tool
– A new Revenue Stream was created for their company instead of a monthly expense
Do you A/B test your marketing campaigns? You should and MergedAnalytics makes it easy for you to do so.
A/B testing is the process of comparing two or more versions of a web page, email, or any other marketing asset with just one varying element.
In the above example….Our customer wanted to see where she would get the most clicks from ONE specific landing page for a promotion she was running for the month of February.
She created 5 Short URLs in MergedAnalytics. All 5 Short URLs in the image above will take the people who click them to that exact landing page.
The varying element are the 5 different places she will post those URLs.
Those 5 SHORT URLs will be posted to…FB, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and in an Email campaign.
The click data from those 5 different mediums where she posted the SHORT URLs will MERGE into one location so ANALYTICS can be measured.
COMPANY NAMES and in some cases EMAIL ADDRESSES will be identified as to who did the clicking and she will know where those clicks originated from….Plus….she will see which OTHER pages on her site were clicked after that initial click.
Listen…The big companies ALL have expensive tools that do this type of stuff…luckily MergedAnalytics is leveling the playing field for the rest of us.
I know…The title is a bit misleading since neither the past nor the future exists. All we have is now…right?
As we close out one decade and begin another…some reflection seems to be in order.
2019 was been a banner year for MergedAnalytics. We hit our stride.
Our success was generated by three main things…
– Name change
– Partner growth
– Disruption
Name Change– Simply put…we out grew our name which was Visit Intel at the start of 2019. We felt the word “Visit” in our name…gave off the impression we were only about website visits. Although that is a main feature of MergedAnalytics….We are much more than just website visits!
Our short urls (https://mergedanalytics.com/vzit-co/ ) give our users the ability to understand the entire journey first initial click to final destination…of the people clicking the URLs added to their social media posts as well as the urls in emails they send out to their audience.
With the marketing intelligence we deliver from various sources like social media posts, emails and website visits …our software MERGES those ANALYTICS in one easy to use location so the proper analysis can be performed.
So after much deliberation…MergedAnalytics became our name!!! For more on why we changed our name click here…HERE
Partner Growth – In 2019 as an organization we began to hit our stride mainly because of our partners who distribute MergedAnalytics.
Through our partners…we are experiencing exponential growth.
An obstacle for any David when you are in a world of many Goliaths is getting your message out to the your target audience and scaling up.
It is much more effective to have many others trying to get the word out in addition to your own efforts.
What we have done is formed relationships with Marketing and Web development companies to have them “White Label” MergedAnalytics and integrate our product into their suite of offerings.
Our partners offer our tools to their customers who already know and trust them.
We allow our partners to completely scrub our branding and contact information so they can replace it with theirs. Along with providing a great tool for their customers…as the MergedAnalytics Alerts are delivered to their customer’s inboxes…their customers are reminded throughout the day that it is their Marketing or Web Development service delivering this valuable intelligence.
The emailed alerts gives our partners the elusive….”top of mind presence” with their customers.
For more on why Marketing Agencies love “White Labeling” MergedAnalytics click HERE.
Disruption – No doubt about it…MergedAnalytics has disrupted a section of the digital marketing industry that was taking advantage of large company’s fat marketing budgets while paying zero attention to their smaller counterparts.
MergedAnalytics is destroying that barrier for the small companies…. by leveling the playing field.
Make no mistake…ALL large companies are currently leveraging tools that provide some sort of Website Visitor Intelligence. Most are doing it with cookies which are little software tools used to track your intent behavior online. They spend millions on this technology annually.
MergedAnalytics does NOT USE COOKIES. We have a proprietary application that will tell you the COMPANY NAMES and in some cases EMAIL ADDRESSES of the people clicking on the URLS you post to social media sites and in your emails as well as the pages clicked on your website.
At $59 per month…we are giving small and medium sized companies the tools that only the large companies could afford in the past. And…it takes 5 minutes to set up.
We have and continue to make value-add additions like….
– Adding in Interest index reports – Lets you apply a score of the Companies that were clicking on your URLs and Website pages the most in a given time period.
– Adding Google UTMs- create Google UTMS in the MergedAnalytics Portal
– Adding Integration with CRMs and ESPs
– Adding the Private Block List – block companies and IP Addresses that are not important to your business
– Allowing users to Create Custom Trackable Short URLs for Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Emails at ONE TIME
– Improving User Interface from both an End User and Admin perspective.
What’s Next – Being in the moment is important in living a meaningful life which is why I meditate daily.
In the business world however, constant forward thinking is essential.
Our number 1 mission is to continue to improve the value we deliver to our customers and partners at a reasonable cost while fostering a nurturing/creative/fun environment internally within our own organization’s culture.
I am grateful to all of our Partners and Customers for giving us the opportunity to work together and recognize mutually beneficial successes in 2020 and beyond.
I am grateful to the other 3 Founding Partners of MergedAnalytics. It is very rare that 4 people get together with years of synergistic experience and work together to create something meaningful and beneficial to all who use it.
Most of all I am grateful to my family who provide all the loving motivation anyone could ever need to want to keep pushing to succeed while enjoying the entire journey.
Wishing you all a Healthy, Happy, Safe, Creative and Prosperous New Year,
“Nice product but MergedAnalytics is not for us. We are not getting any meaningful intelligence containing the COMPANY NAMES of the people clicking through our website” said a customer who has been using MergedAnalytics for a few months.
Before I address that statement …. let’s review what MergedAnalytics is and does.
MergedAnalytics is a digital marketing tool for B2B companies which delivers notifications that get emailed automatically when someone from a company click on the URLs you post to social media and in your emails as well as the pages on your website that they click through. https://mergedanalytics.com.
These emailed notifications contain the Company Names of the people who click on your website pages and posted URLs. The delivered intelligence also includes how they found your website and what their specific interests were while there, how many times they returned, how long they were, which campaign drove them to your website and much more.
The ways your website visitors find your website depend on many variables. These variables are mostly determined by the various marketing strategies, techniques and initiatives that are in place at your company. These marketing strategies are designed to drive your target audience to your website in hopes to sell them something.
People find your website by….
Typing in keywords in a search from Google , Bing etc
Sent Emails containing URLs either in the body of the email and/or signature block
Typing in your website address organically
Social media postings and TargetedAds that drive traffic to your site
Press Releases and other Articles/Blogs/Landing Pages
The Digital Advertising strategies you have in place, Google Adword Campaigns ,other Ads etc.
Countless money and time is spent on marketing strategies to drive people to websites.
Once those strategies are put into action….MergedAnalytics simply delivers the intelligence on ALL visitors who click on those URLs and website pages you are driving traffic to.
But…MergedAnalytics is NOT a tool that drives ANY traffic…rather we report on success (or failure) of your various marketing strategies. It is a tool that should be a barometer as to how your marketing and advertising initiatives are working…..or failing.
So by saying MergedAnalytics is not helpful because of the lack of actionable intelligence ….. that means MergedAnalytics is actually giving extremely actionable and useful information.
MergedAnalytics is telling you that your marketing strategies need to be modified in order to get your desired results.
It becomes a “shoot the messenger” situation. If you are not getting the desired results based on the intelligence MergedAnalytics delivers…be grateful for this information and do something about it. When the proper tweaks are made….the actionable intelligence will be there!!!
MergedAnalytics should not be blamed for poor traffic results NOR should we be congratulated when the traffic is up and the actionable intelligence containing the COMPANY NAMES (and in some cases email addresses) start to roll in!
One of my favorite songs is “Man in Black” by Johnny Cash. In that song…Cash answers the question he was asked most of all….”why do you wear black all the time? “ So he wrote his answer into one of his most iconic songs.
So ….Why did we change our name from Visit Intel….to MergedAnalytics? And while we are at it….what is the significance of those three dots in our logo!!!
Glad you asked.
First the name change…
Visit Intel was a great name for what our product was when we started our company.
We were focused solely on reporting the COMPANY NAMES of the people who click on your website pages. That information is priceless. We still provide that intelligence via our proprietary IP Address technology but we have also gone through a natural evolution.
Visit Intel evolved into something more than just website visits.
We added the ability for our users to create Custom Trackable
SHORT URLs. These short urls made our
product very powerful and separated us from our peers.
Many of our customers believe the Short URLs are the key to the entire platform. I would agree!
Now when someone wants to post a link either to social media or in their emails…when those links are clicked….our users know the COMPANY NAMES of the people who CLICKED them and WHERE they clicked that link. The addition of SHORT URLs was the deciding factor for the name change in terms of making our platform more powerful and more useful to a larger audience.
A “CLICK” on a link is not always a “VISIT”. There are times when our users post links that have no relation to their website. An example could be a posted link of an article or a press release.
So…we felt that the name “Visit Intel” narrowly implies….”VISITS “to a website but NOT “CLICKS” on a posted URL.
We wrestled with many names before we settled on MERGEDANALYTICS.
Some names were descriptive of what do
and some had no meaning at all.
We finally decided on one name. Say goodbye to “Visit Intel”….Long Live “MergedAnalytics
LLC”.
How
MergedAnalytics Connects the Dots?
Connecting the DOTS
People ask us all the time…what is the significance
of the three DOTS.
Each of the 3 dots represent the three main sources of data that our users use to analyze and gain a clear picture as to how people from Companies interact with their brand online.
Each one of those dots represent intelligence that when merged together allows for analysis to be performed helping you understand how people are interacted with your digital brand .
The COMPANY NAME(s) of the person who
clicked through your website
How they found your site
The pages they visited
How many times they returned
And more
Dot 2 represents the intelligence delivered regarding the people who clicked on Custom Trackable SHORT URLs you posted separated by Campaign to various social media sites.
Let’s imagine you want to drive people to a specific
landing page. Could be anything….an
article, Press Release, a page on your website etc.
You would create a SHORT URL for that landing page
for each social media site where you think your audience engages with your
digital brand.
You create Short URLs for that landing page for each
social media site where you plan to post it.
Ie. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram . When people click that SHORT URL….the
intelligence that is delivered will allow you to analyze not only the COMPANY
NAMES of the people who clicked it but ….you will understand which social media
sites those clicks came from.
You will understand if LinkedIn is a better place
for your marketing efforts vs. Instagram or Twitter as an example.
Dot 3 is related to Dot 2 except we are
focusing on posting SHORT URLs to the emails you send out. You could place a Short URL in the body of an
email and/or in your signature block.
When the people you are emailing click on your SHORT URLs in your
emails…you will understand from which email (and/or campaign) that click came
from.
Integration
with ESPs( email service providers) and CRMs (Contact Relationship Management
) can be set up as well to get down to
the actual CONTACT information of the person who clicked that SHORT URL in your
emails.
The value comes from MERGING ALL of those
dots (data points) together so ANALYSIS can be performed. Meaning….a person clicks a link from either
an email or a social media post and then from there….click through pages on
your website.
Connecting the DOTS
MergedAnalytics captures that entire journey from
that initial click.
So those three DOTS are the foundation of our
company.
MergedAnalytics connects the DOTs and creates the elusive bridge between your marketing efforts and your sales team!
While we are at it….the YOGA WOMAN on our website represents the Zen feeling our sales and marketing users experience when they use MergedAnalytics!!!
B2B Businesses large and small are using various Digital Marketing tools to understand the behaviors of the people at companies interacting with their brand online. The online interaction between a person from a company with your company could originate from various places including…
Visiting your website following a live conversation
Clicking links posted on Social media
Clicking links posted in emails
Online keyword searches
Clicking on online ads
The interaction does not always end with just one
click. People will often click through
multiple pages on your website and of course….return to your website various
times after that initial visit. 98
percent of all website visitors click through websites anonymously never
letting you know they were ever there.
MergedAnalytics delivers the COMPANY NAMES of the people who click on your posted links to social media and/or in your emails as well as the website pages clicked on your website. We then MERGE this information into one location for analysis so that you can understand the entire journey of the people at companies interested in your company. You can also understand what their specific interests were while on your site.
For many companies, the information we provide is a game changer….however we recognize this tool may not be useful for all B2B companies.
Below are 10 reasons why a B2B company would NOT want to use MergedAnalytics….
Your business does not need new leads – If your business produces too many leads and you do not need anymore…Please stop reading now and take the rest of the day off. The intelligence MergedAnalytics delivers is another resource you may have never had before that helps you not only understand the specific needs and interests of the people interacting with your company….but also the Company Names of those people clicking on your website and posted links. If your business does NOT need new leads….take the rest of the week off and your company does NOT need MergedAnalytics.
Your business does not care if your existing customers are on your website – Do I really have to tell you that your existing customers are your best prospects? By knowing the behavior of your existing customers who are clicking through your website pages will not only allow for you to provide better support but you will also put yourself in a better position to up-sell them as well. If you do not want to support and up-sell your existing customers… MergedAnalytics is not for you.
Your business does not care to understand if the person you met at a networking event took the time to check out your website after you met them – You are at a networking event and had a great conversation with someone you met there. You exchange cards and walk away from each other. You are feeling good because that person seemed very interested in what your company has to offer. You think you found a new prospect. Wouldn’t it be nice to see if that person visited your website after that interaction? If not… MergedAnalytics is not for you.
Your business does not have a social media presence – Understanding the entire journey of the people who interact with your brand from initial point of contact on to their final destination is no longer a nice to have. Is your audience interacting with your company on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? By using Visit Intel Short URLs for the links you post to social media that is exactly the intelligence you will have. You can also shrink and customize links you post to increase the chances of them getting clicked and shared. If you have no social media presence…MergedAnalytics is not for you. Learn more about MergedAnalytics Short URLs …https://mergedanalytics.com/vzit-co
Your business does not care if the company you are in the process of closing a deal with is on your website looking at specific information that could help you close that deal – You present to a prospect and send them a proposal. Then….silence. Nothing. No communication for days. You have no idea what their thoughts or concerns are about moving forward. BUT…since you have MergedAnalytics, you start receiving MergedAnalytics Alerts via email showing you that the company is in fact still interested. You can tell from the reports that they are focused on a specific service you provide on a specific page on your website. This information allows you to proactively check in with them via email and send along reinforcing information about the topic they were spending time while on your website. The intelligence delivered by MergedAnalytics will put you in a better position to win deals and shorten your sales cycle. If understanding prospects concerns that could ultimately help you close a deal is not important….MergedAnalytics is not for you.
Your business does not want to use tools that the big companies use to win more business – The big companies are ALL using tools that identify the Companies interacting with their brands and spend millions of dollars annually doing so. MergedAnalytics levels the playing field for the smaller company that does not have the type of budgets like their bigger counterparts. That is why MergedAnalytics is so compelling….for a small monthly fee of $59 paid annually , you are getting the same intelligence (in some cases better) than the big companies. If using tools that they big companies use is not important…MergedAnalytics is not for you.
Your business does not care about the content being viewed on your website – Are you making sure the content your audience is reading on your website is still relevant? By understanding where your audience is spending time on your website you will make sure the content they are reading is still relevant and up to date. There may be pages on your website your audience is clicking on that may not have been updated or should be taken down altogether. If having a tool that will remind you to update or even remove information from you website is not important…MergedAnalytics is not for you.
Your business does not care if your marketing and advertising dollars are being spent wisely – You may think the money spent on specific advertising and marketing campaigns are producing results as you predicted they would. MergedAnalytics reports what is actually going on….not what you think or want to happen. We tell you where your traffic is coming from and how they got there. You may think your ads on LinkedIn will drive the most social media traffic but Visit Intel may tell you it is Twitter or your Email campaigns producing the best results. Understanding the effectiveness and success of your ad campaigns is just good money management. If you do not care to really understand where your money is best spent in terms of your ad and marketing strategies then MergedAnalytics is not for you.
You believe Google Analytics (GA) gives you ALL the intelligence you need – GA does NOT give you the COMPANY NAMES of the people who click on your website. GA also does NOT filter out the bots, crawlers and server clicks which jack up the total numbers of clicks you think you are getting. What good is only having the number of clicks without knowing which COMPANY NAMES are doing the clicking….MergedAnalytics DOES filter out clicks from bots, crawlers and servers and we provide the COMPANY NAMES of the people doing the clicking. If not knowing the COMPANY NAMES of the people who clicked through your website and if unfiltered click counts are not important to you…then you do not need MergedAnalytics.
Your business does not want to bid on projects earlier than they normally would – If a company has a need and is doing their due diligence by clicking through your website…MergedAnalytics provides you with the ability to contact that company earlier than you normal would. This early contact gives you an advantage over your competition. This early information MergedAnalytics provides will also speed up your sales cycle and the cost of that sale. If bidding on projects earlier than normal is not important….MergedAnalytics is not for you.
If you are a reader of this blog you know how I love finding and then sharing the different ways companies benefit from MergedAnalytics. Many times the benefits are something I would never have imagined.
“MergedAnalytics” is a digital marketing tool used by B2B Companies to uncover the Company Names of the people who click on their Posted URL Links to social media and/or emails as well as the Pages on their Company Website.
Detailed notifications containing the Company Name and activity of the people who clicked your posted URLs and/or website pages are automatically emailed to the right people within your organization so the proper action can be taken.
It was built for businesses who sell their products and services to OTHER businesses….aka B2B (business to business)
For example…there was the Commercial Construction Company that sends cupcakes to their prospects when they receive MergedAnalytics website activity alerts from companies they can tell have construction needs. Read more… https://mergedanalytics.com/visit-intel-cupcakes-revenue/
I came across another business case that yet again surprised me. This time the company who is using MergedAnalyticsis a B2C (Business to Consumer) Company.
A Managing Director of a SAT and College Preparation Tutoring Company contacted me because they came across MergedAnalytics and wanted to give it a try.
Initially I tried to talk this person out of using MergedAnalytics because his business is B2C, but he was still curious and wanted to give it a try.
He understood that MergedAnalytics is a B2B tool…not meant for B2C companies….but he was smart enough to have a vision where MergedAnalytics could be useful to his business in spite of the fact it was built for B2B Companies.
Here’s how…
He sells his services to the parents of the kids that ultimately will get tutored and/or advised. Many of the parents he deals with work and have jobs at established companies.
So here is how MergedAnalytics helps this B2C business in a real life scenario….
– The owner of this tutoring company pitches his services
to a parent
– The parent says they will get back to him with a
decision as to whether they will move forward.
– That parent goes to work and while there…. looks at the
Tutoring Company’s website
– The Managing Director of the tutoring company starts getting MergedAnalytics alerts from the company where that parent works and sees not only that they were on his website but which exact pages they were focused on.
– The Managing Director knows where most of the parents he pitches to work and so he is able to proactively email that parent information that reinforces what they were interested in per the received MergedAnalytics notifications.
And the result is… by leveraging the MergedAnalyticsalerts…he is putting himself in a position to shorten his normal sales cycle and win more deals with information he has not had before now all because of the MergedAnalytics Alerts.
One other aspect of MergedAnalytics he envisioned on his own…..He can also see if there are companies like his out there who may look to partner or even purchase his company. For example…If he starts getting alerts that Princeton Review was on his website …he can react to that information and put his company in a better position to be purchased.
Type in “TOP OF MIND PRESENCE” in a Google search and you will receive
the following … “In marketing, top-of-mind awareness (TOMA)
refers to a brand or specific product being first in customers’ minds when thinking
of a particular industry or category.”
For organizations using MergedAnalytics…Each time someone from a company clicks on one of their posted URLs to social media or in an email(s) and/or clicks on their website pages….MergedAnalytics generates an automatic emailed report detailing the COMPANY NAME, how they found your link/website, what pages were viewed etc. Learn more… https://mergedanalytics.com/ Marketing/Advertising/Software Provider companies are happy to recommend “MergedAnalytics” to their customers because they understand the intelligence that “MergedAnalytics” delivers is an incredibly affordable and valuable lead generator with an instant ROI.
The MergedAnalytics alerts come in to your inbox various times a day with “MergedAnalytics” branding, marketing and contact information all over them.
Marketing Agencies for example…also understand that these “MergedAnalytics” alerts represent a rare opportunity to stay in front of their customers multiple times every single day. The “MergedAnalytics” alerts give them that elusive “TOP OF MIND PRESENCE” they work so hard to create, nurture and cultivate.
So our marketing partners choose to provide a “WHITE LABELED” version of Visit Intel. This means our marketing partners remove all mention of “MergedAnalytics” on the emailed alerts as well as the “MergedAnalytics“ Nurture Portal and replace our branding with THEIR branding, logo and marketing information.
Marketing agencies want THEIR customers to see THEIR branding,
THEIR domain and want THEIR customers to keep them “TOP OF MIND” when a need
presents itself.
But…TOP OF MIND PRESENCE works on the “MergedAnalytics” end user level as well.
We all have the ability to create reminders to contact our
customers, prospects etc. through our CRM apps. This is what sales and marketing folks basically
do for a living.
But… for one reason or another, there are times when some business
relationships fall from your consciousness or you may think a relationship has
run it’s course.
“Visit Intel” can be great memory trigger for this scenario.
Aside from being the CMO here at “MergedAnalytics”…I am also a user! I rely heavily on the intelligence I receive from “MergedAnalytics”. I cannot tell you how many times I receive a “MergedAnalytics” alert that reminds me to contact someone that I have not contacted in a while.
I often see a company that was a prospect, current customer or
even a customer no longer using our services that I have not checked in with in
a while but should have.
The MergedAnalyticsalerts tell me …
The COMPANY NAME of the people who clicked on my
website
What website pages they were spending time on
If they clicked on a POSTED URL LINK from social media
and/or an email I had sent them.
More
This tactic of “innocently” checking in after I receive a “MergedAnalytics” alert has put me in a position to win deals I may not have won or even aware of the opportunity if not for the intelligence “MergedAnalytics” delivers.
