When I first started running my web business, I had no clue what to do. The only thing I knew was listing items on eBay, and tweaking their wordings and designs, hoping that more viewers will buy my products. It wasn’t until when I tried to start my own website that I learned about pay-per-click services such as Google Adwords. I then had to spend a few more months in the dark, trying to learn all the features of the program before stumbling upon Google’s ad tracking features

I’m hoping that you don’t have to learn about online businesses the same way I did. As a matter of fact, one of the purpose of this blog is to make structuring an online business as simple as possible. Think about it. If you are working with a web designer, and you’re not sure what you want to do with your website, you’ll probably spend most of your time writing emails to the developer, instead of running your business. Then, when the website is finally completed, you might have changed your mind about some features, and need to pour even more time and money into it. Instead, just spend 5 minutes with me a day, and you will know exactly how to get the web business you want.

But back to the topic we were discussing. When your web designer first give you the link to your new website, the first thing you need to do is get some traffic on the website. The easiest way to do that is probably through Google Adwords, where you can get viewers to your website in as little as 15 minutes. We’ll talk about different search engine strategies in a later post. But first, let’s talk about tracking your ads with Google Analytics

Why track your ads?

If you are like most business owners, then you are probably advertising your business the same way I did mine. That is, you start running as much ad as you can. Aside from your Google Adwords campaign, you may be distributing flyers on the side, have a few newspapaer ads, and even posting a new ad everyday in free classified sites such as Craigslist and Kijiji.

But here’s the problem: How do you know which ads are working, and which ones aren’t? And if you don’t, how do you know if your marketing efforts are making you money, or losing you money? Most business owners I know would pour so much money marketing their businesses, waiting for that elusive turnaround time. No wonder most businesses go under.

The new way of tracking ads

Before the internet market was developed, companies used to have a hard time tracking ads. The most they can do is toss out different marketing messages at different times, and see how much difference each campaign makes. The same was true with web businesses when internet first started out.

Nowadays, tracking your ads’ performances have never been easier. All you have to do is sign up for a Google Analytics account, and ask your web developer to insert a simple javascript into your website, and Google will tell you exactly how your website has been performing.

Tracking multiple online ads

What if you are running more than one campaigns online? No problem. All you have to do is ask your web developer to create “tracking” pages for each of your campaign. Basically what this means is that your web programmer will direct your ad campaigns to different web pages, each containing a different tracking script. This way, you can tell which ad is performing, and which one is not.

Tracking offline ads

What if you are running both online and offline ads? How would you track them then?

There are two options. If the purpose of your ad is to create an identity to your business, then you would ask your web programmer to place a tracking code on the “index” page. Then create seperate tracking pages for your online ads. On the other hand, if your ad is to bring awareness to a specific aspect of your business, you may want to create a separate “minisite” altogether, and target your marketing campaigns towards that site.

Rule of thumb: your customers shouldn’t have to know you’re tracking them

Imagine going to a store one day. Suddenly, you noticed that there is a store clerk following you. You turn around, and sees that he is writing down everything you are doing in the store. Unless there is a really good reason for you to stay in the store, I’m sure you’d put whatever you are about to buy back on the shelves, and walk out of the store.

Internet users are the same. Most of them know that companies are tracking their interent usage. But as soon as companies start distributing tracking software, most of the time, it is immediately deemed as spyware. So when you are using Google Analytics, make your tracking efforts as hidden as possible. For instance, if your flyers contain URLs such as http://www.yourwebsite.com/tracking.htm, you’ll be surprised how little hits the page receives.

There are too many poorly planned marketing campaigns currently running on the internet, and internet users are generally tired of them. So before you start throwing your marketing funds down the sink, test the water first. You’ll be surprised at what you will learn, and how they can benefit your business.

Just a thought

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