Google Analytics: The Must Have For All Marketing Campaigns
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009For decades, business owners and marketing professionals have had to rely on some pretty unreliable sources to determine the success of a marketing campaign. Guestimates, gut instincts, and the always reliable answers to “how did you hear about us?” were usually the best we could do. Today, with the accessibility and affordability of website analytics tools, those days are long gone.
At Pomerantz, we strongly believe that a website is the hub of all marketing strategy; it’s the being that supports your sales and marketing efforts. So if you have a website, it doesn’t matter what type of marketing campaign you are initiating– email, direct mail, social media, print, pay-per-click, banner advertising– everything and anything can and should be measured. Tracking campaigns using an analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, will give you insight into each marketing campaign’s impact on leads, revenue and ROI, as well as the ability to compare the results of different marketing activities to determine where you are getting the most bang for your buck. You will be able to determine which campaigns send the most qualified visitors to your website, assess campaign performance by product or region, discover if new visitors or returning visitors convert more often, and predict future outcomes.
Unless all you care about is website traffic, which hopefully is not the case, the catch is that you can’t track the effectiveness of your marketing strategies if you don’t use analytics goals. A goal, or conversion, is any action that you desire a visitor to your website to take, such as filling out a contact form or completing a transaction. You could have one goal or many goals, it’s up to you. Once you establish your goal(s) and set them up to be tracked in your analytics application, you can start tracking the conversions generated by your marketing efforts.
Here’s an example of how to integrate analytics and goal tracking with a marketing campaign:
Company A launches a marketing campaign consisting of direct mail and email marketing. All pieces drive recipients to a microsite specifically dedicated to the campaign which has the conversion point front and center on the home page of the microsite and on all interior pages on the site. Google Analytics works behind the scenes on this campaign to track visitor behavior and the data obtained allows Company A (or their marketing agency) to quickly determine the success of the campaign and gain insights to help finesse the strategy for future purposes.
The bottom line is– you should not run a marketing campaign without being able to understand and evaluate its success and learn from the results. Take the guesswork out of marketing and let data drive your strategies. Google Analytics is free so there is absolutely no reason not to!
For decades, business owners and marketing professionals have had to rely on some pretty unreliable sources to determine the success of a marketing campaign. Guestimates, gut instincts, and the always reliable answers to “How did you hear about us?” were usually the best we could do. Today, with the accessibility and affordability of website analytics tools, those days are long gone.
At Pomerantz, we strongly believe that a website is the hub of all marketing strategy; it’s the being that supports your sales and marketing efforts. So if you have a website, it doesn’t matter what type of marketing campaign you are initiating– email, direct mail, social media, print, pay-per-click, banner advertising– everything and anything can and should be measured. Tracking campaigns using an analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, will give you insight into each marketing campaign’s impact on leads, revenue and ROI, as well as the ability to compare the results of different marketing activities to determine where you are getting the most bang for your buck. You will be able to determine which campaigns send the most qualified visitors to your website, assess campaign performance by product or region, discover if new visitors or returning visitors convert more often, and predict future outcomes.
Unless all you care about is website traffic, which hopefully is not the case, the catch is that you can’t track the effectiveness of your marketing strategies if you don’t use analytics goals. A goal, or conversion, is any action that you desire a visitor to your website to take, such as filling out a contact form or completing a transaction. You could have one goal or many goals, it’s up to you. Once you establish your goal(s) and set them up to be tracked in your analytics application, you can start tracking the conversions generated by your marketing efforts.
Here’s an example of how to integrate analytics and goal tracking with a marketing campaign:
Company A launches a marketing campaign consisting of direct mail and email marketing. All pieces drive recipients to a microsite specifically dedicated to the campaign which has the conversion point front and center on the home page of the microsite and on all interior pages on the site. Google Analytics works behind the scenes on this campaign to track visitor behavior and the data obtained allows Company A (or their marketing agency) to quickly determine the success of the campaign and gain insights to help finesse the strategy for future purposes.
The bottom line is– you should not run a marketing campaign without being able to understand and evaluate its success and learn from the results. Take the guesswork out of marketing and let data drive your strategies. Google Analytics is free so there is absolutely no reason not to!
Ask The Marketing Coach: Is SEO Really Worth The Money?
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009Dear Marketing Coach,
I’m considering search engine optimization for my website, but I’m not sure if it’s something that is really worth spending money on. Can you tell me what kind of results should I expect and how long it will take before I see the effects of SEO?
When it comes to search engine optimization, exact results can vary greatly, which is why so many business owners have a hard time justifying the cost of SEO services amidst budget cuts and company lay offs. However, if your website hasn’t already been optimized then you should expect to see an improvement in the quality of traffic you receive (which can be measured by an increase in qualified leads or sales), an increase in traffic from search engines, or if you hired a skilled SEO professional you will hopefully get both. Although exact results may vary, SEO campaigns can be measured for success using an analytics tool so it is pretty easy to determine the return on your investment, which we all know is what matters most.
Keep in mind that there are a few things you can do to contribute to the success of your SEO efforts. First off, SEO should be seen as a long-term investment in your business and not as something you do once and then you don’t have to worry about it again. Even if your budget doesn’t support a full-blown SEO campaign, it is a good idea to come up with a 6-12 month SEO plan in order to achieve your goals. With SEO, best results are obtained by first optimizing your website and then focusing on off-page optimization, such as link building, and content creation, which should be done on an ongoing basis as part of your marketing efforts. It is also important that you set proper expectations because SEO results don’t happen overnight. Depending on the competition surrounding your target keywords, and how well your site was doing in the search engines before your started your SEO campaign, it can take more than 6 months before you see a significant increase in search engine rankings. But don’t despair, you should start to see some initial results within a month. But if you are really eager to get a boost in traffic, consider launching pay-per-click campaign while you are waiting for your SEO efforts to kick in gear.
Do you have a question for the Marketing Coach? Go ahead, just ask! Email thecoach@pomagency.com or leave a comment to have all of your marketing questions answered.
Dear Marketing Coach,
I’m considering search engine optimization for my website, but I’m not sure if it’s something that is really worth spending money on. Can you tell me what kind of results should I expect and how long it will take before I see the effects of SEO?
When it comes to search engine optimization, exact results can vary greatly, which is why so many business owners have a hard time justifying the cost of SEO services amidst budget cuts and company lay offs. However, if your website hasn’t already been optimized then you should expect to see an improvement in the quality of traffic you receive (which can be measured by an increase in qualified leads or sales), an increase in traffic from search engines, or if you hired a skilled SEO professional you will hopefully get both. Although exact results may vary, SEO campaigns can be measured for success using an analytics tool so it is pretty easy to determine the return on your investment, which we all know is what matters most.
Keep in mind that there are a few things you can do to contribute to the success of your SEO efforts. First off, SEO should be seen as a long-term investment in your business and not as something you do once and then you don’t have to worry about it again. Even if your budget doesn’t support a full-blown SEO campaign, it is a good idea to come up with a 6-12 month SEO plan in order to achieve your goals. With SEO, best results are obtained by first optimizing your website and then focusing on off-page optimization, such as link building, and content creation, which should be done on an ongoing basis as part of your marketing efforts. It is also important that you set proper expectations because SEO results don’t happen overnight. Depending on the competition surrounding your target keywords, and how well your site was doing in the search engines before you started your SEO campaign, it can take more than 6 months before you see a significant increase in search engine rankings. But don’t despair, you should start to see some initial results within a month. But if you are really eager to get a boost in traffic, consider launching a pay-per-click campaign while you are waiting for your SEO efforts to kick in gear.
Do you have a question for the Marketing Coach? Go ahead, just ask! Email thecoach@pomagency.com or leave a comment to have all of your marketing questions answered.
Ask The Marketing Coach: How Is A Website Optimized For Search Engines?
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009Dear Marketing Coach,
How is a website optimized to make it “search engine-friendly”?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines. This process focuses on 3 main areas of optimization: On-Page, Site-Wide, and Off-Page. When a website is optimized to make it more “search engine-friendly”, the focus is strictly on the On-Page and Site-Wide optimization, meaning the SEO enhancements are made to the actual website. Other external factors also influence search engine traffic and rankings, which is when Off-Page optimization comes into play.
On-Page and Site-Wide optimization techniques ensure that your website is fully accessible to search engine robots so your web pages can be rapidly indexed and appropriately ranked. On-Page optimization concentrates on improving the “search engine-friendliness” of a specific web page whereas Site-Wide optimization addresses the more technical issues that affect the entire website. On-Page optimization includes writing keyword-rich page titles and meta tags for every web page, adding keywords to the content on the site, and weaving hyperlinks throughout the content to link to other internal web pages. Site-Wide optimization identifies and resolves issues with site maps, 404 error pages, page URLs, directory structure and file naming systems.
If your website doesn’t use proper On-Page or Site-Wide optimization tactics, then search engines probably won’t be able to find all of the content on your website. This can result in your site missing out on opportunities to show up in search engine results, which limits your site’s exposure to potential customers on the web.
Do you have a question for the Marketing Coach? Go ahead, just ask! Email thecoach@pomagency.com or leave a comment to have all of your marketing questions answered.