Tracking analytics are a polarizing subject. On one hand, its precise measurements and metrics can provide invaluable, scientifically tested information crucial to fine-tuning your website.

On the other, its very precise nature can quickly escalate into a dim haze of confusing lexicon, a bewildering amount of metrics, and complexities that surpass even many so-called specialists.

So why bother? What can analytics provide for me, and furthermore how is it worth the steep cost...whether that is in money, time, or sanity.

Fire is a funny thing.

Trying to start a campfire or a grill can seem like such a chore. There are right ways and wrong ways; certain techniques to employ and a fair deal of effort and patience.

And yet, so much as stare too hard at a forest in the dry season and it seems a wildfire spontaneously catches. Sometimes even for what appears to be no real reason at all, it just happens.

It's a lot like viral advertising, when you think about it.

These three terms have been thrown around a a lot, and often used alongside each other. SEO and SEM have often been used interchangeably. So what's the deal with these concepts? How are they alike, and how exactly are they different?

Going viral is the holy grail of any online ad campaign, or really any effort at online exposure, period. It's the akin to a TV show becoming a hit, or a movie raking in blockbuster gross sales. It can even be compared to a toy or item of clothing becoming the "hot" thing for the season.

So are these all comparable, or really just the same thing?

What exactly is something that's "gone viral" and why do some things "go viral" while others don't? Can this be predicted, or is it completely up to a whim or some ethereal "x factor" that some things have and others just don't?