Fantasy Analytics (Part 2)

Employers worry about the impact of Fantasy Football on their bottom lines. One estimate, published in The Baltimore Business Journal, places national productivity losses at $1.1-billion a week due to fantasy football play at work.

The reason is that Fantasy Football is fun, and work is well … work. It doesn’t have to be that way. A slight alteration in the way you view web analytics can change your whole outlook.

The Draft
Keywords and phrases are your players. Your goal is to pick high-performers who can consistently rack up points for you, and then put your starting lineup in the best position to win (using SEO).

Fantasy Football Team Owners might use a Lineup Analyzer; you’ll rely on other tools to assess the demand for your players and the corresponding competition for them.

The Strategy
Most websites and online campaigns lose because they are of poor quality, they do not support company objectives, or they are not aligned with company strategy. The trick is to insure that your site is optimized for receptions (traffic) and completions (conversions).

The Standings
Conduct routine searches to see where your team (company) ranks in the Search Engine Report Pages (SERPs). Winning starts with knowing where you stand. This is the analytic equivalent of reviewing Fantasy Football scouting reports.

An extra point, SERPs also reveal which of your competitors are relying solely on organic search, and which ones are leveraging paid. Use this information to create a balanced attack (ratio of paid vs. organic) and keep costs down. It’s all about creating favorable matchups.

Tracking and Measurement
Fantasy football gurus spend an enormous amount of time tracking and analyzing live scores, trade opportunities, line-ups, injury and progress reports, etc.

If properly set up, you can track scores (sales), gauge player execution (non- or underperforming keywords and phrases) to inform lineup changes, and progress reports (ROI), and all in real-time!

Conflict
While some employers are launching an all-out blitz on fantasy football activities in the workplace, some HR consultants are suggesting that it brings employees together and even boosts careers. Somehow, I think CEOs – while they may be into Fantasy Football as much as you are – care more about the ROI on your marketing budget than the networking opportunities you might be generating by spending so much of your time on a make-believe game.

Real Life
Just spending a half an hour a day evaluating your online advertising and marketing initiatives can make all the difference between whether you’re operating a cost or a profit center.

In the words of Vince Lombardi, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

Success online requires the use of analytics. It’s a matter of discipline. It’s a matter of will. And hopefully, I’ve proved it can be a matter of fun as well.

Fantasy Analytics (Part 1)

Back in mid-August, The Indianapolis Business Journal ran a story about Fantasy Football Leagues and employer fears about their impact on productivity. Among the interesting stats:

• 37 million Americans spend about an hour a week at work managing their make-believe teams
• Employers lose up to $1.1 billion a week in lower productivity

The article included lots of information and advice on what employers can do to reduce Fantasy Football-related distraction infractions. A personal favorite, a warning about how allowing FF in the workplace could leave companies vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits.

A comment about web and email monitoring by employers caught my eye as well: “Eighty percent of companies already electronically monitor their employees in some way.” So, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belicheck isn’t the only one cheating by stealing signals from the competition! If your boss has a team and it’s doing better than yours every week, find out what spy tool he or she is using to monitor your moves.

I found the furor over fantasy mostly amusing until about ten days ago when I accompanied my partners on a sales call. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a web site overhaul. “What should we do? Where should we start?”

Our prospect’s ice breaker, the first half of the meeting, was talking about – you guessed it – fantasy football. Thirty minutes of line-up analyzers, waiver wire and trade challenges, injury reports, sleepers and snoozers. One person in the conference room admitted that they spent five or six hours a week working on their imaginary team.

I finally asked, “How much time do you spend on web analytics every week?”

“Huh?”

Translation: I spend five hours a week analyzing fantasy football results; I don’t spend five minutes a week analyzing the results of my online advertising and marketing programs.

Analytics is not for everyone. I know that. Yet I couldn’t help wondering why someone would spend so much time and money on fantasy football but never dream of spending equal amounts of time and money on their own business. Again, we’re talking about 5-6 hours per week.

Bottom line: fantasy is fun, reality isn’t.

But in reality, if you’re not in the analytics game, you can bet that your competition is, and they’re throwing you for a loss.

In Part 2, learn how to make web analytics as fun as fantasy football. It may not lead you to fame, but it could make you a fortune.