The 6 Most Important Google Analytics Reports for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you probably know that you need to use Google Analytics to figure out if your website is succeeding at attracting and engaging visitors. You’ve heard about Google Analytics at conferences, networking meetings, and marketing workshops for businesses like yours.

You probably signed up for Google Analytics and embedded its code into your website. For most business owners, it’s difficult to know what to look for in all of that data. So, you’re then left with the question: Now what?

That’s why, I’ve compiled a list of what Google Analytics reports you need to look at, how to access them, and what to do with the information once you review them. 

Traffic Acquisition Report

Ideally, the traffic to your website will grow over time. You can track this by using the default Google Analytics graph when you log in to see how many visitors your website received today, this week, or last month.

As important as this is, it’s more important to know where your traffic comes from so you can optimize that traffic. If a traffic source is underperforming, you can spend time fixing it. If most of your traffic comes from one place, is there a way to generate even more traffic from this source? How can you diversify?

You can find out where your website traffic comes from by going to Acquisition > Overview. For a more detailed look into what external sites bring traffic to your site, go to Acquisition > Overview > All Traffic > Referrals.

Source/Medium Report

If you’re investing your marketing dollars by paying for advertisements or SEO services, then you want to know what’s working. This way, you can stop paying for services that don’t work and spend more on those that do.

The Source/Medium report will give you the information you need to determine what’s working for your business, and what needs to be adjusted. This report details the "source" of your traffic (think search engines or Facebook or a Referring website) and what medium, or type of traffic, such as organic search, paid search, or referral from another website. To find this report, go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium.

Use this report to determine which sources of traffic are generating leads and sales so you can make an informed decision about how to best adjust your marketing budget.

Mobile Performance Report

In August of 2016 Google reported that over 60% of searches were conducted on mobile. Google processes roughly 3.5 billion searches per day, that’s a lot of mobile searching and it means that you need to make sure that your mobile website is optimized for users.

Go to Audience > Mobile > Overview to see how much traffic you're getting from mobile devices, how long that traffic is staying on the site, how many pages that traffic is visiting, and how that traffic is converting into leads and sales.

SEO Reports

The Search Engine Optimization reports give you information about how people are reaching your site through Google’s search results. There are three types of SEO reports- Queries Reports, Landing Pages Reports, and Geographical Summaries reports.

• Queries reports show which Google searches resulted in the most impressions for your website. You can also see how many of those impressions resulted in clicks, which will tell you your organic search click-through rate.
  
  
• Landing Pages reports show which pages of your site are showing up in Google’s search results. This helps you to identify which webpages are ranked well and which pages need a little more work.
  
  
• Geographical Summaries reports provide general SEO metrics from different countries. This is helpful to see if your SEO traffic is coming from relevant locations.

Keep in mind that these reports only include information about SEO so they won’t tell you anything about your paid advertising campaigns, social media, or information from other search engines like Yahoo and Bing. To generate your SEO traffic reports, go to Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries and select an appropriate date range. It’s important to note that these reports can only pull data from the past 90 days. Then click the Landing pages report or the Geographical report links.

Google AdWords Traffic Reports

If you’re not advertising in Google AdWords, then you don’t need this report.

For everyone else, I recommend checking your Google AdWords Traffic reports in addition to the reports provided within AdWords. That’s because the reports in Analytics have extra information that provide insight into your visitors’ behavior on your website after clicking on your ads.

The default setting in Google Analytics for your AdWords report shows both your ad clicks and your bounce rate (how often people leave your site after viewing just one page). This information can be used to evaluate different ad copy to see which ads are driving more engaged visitors.

To generate an AdWords Traffic report, go to Acquisition > AdWords > Campaigns and select the appropriate date range.

Social Media Reports

Social Media offers a great opportunity to generate traffic to your website and therefore leads for your business. However, keeping up a strong social media campaign can be very time consuming. Thankfully, Google Analytics provides several reports that can help you track and optimize your social media marketing efforts.

You can see how visitors from all social channels interact with your website, or you can focus on trends and statistics from specific channels such as Facebook or Twitter. These reports will also show you conversions from social media.

To generate the Network Referrals social media report, go to Acquisition > Social > Network Referrals. This report will quickly show you which social networks are bringing people to your site. You can also see which of your pages are being shared most often on social media sites.

Conclusion

Setting up Google Analytics for your business’s website is an important step forward. However, it’s only half the battle. By running the reports listed above, you’ll get valuable insight into what’s working on your website and what needs improvement.

6 Adwords Tips to Maximize Your Campaigns for 2017

This month I've heard a lot about New Year's resolutions and goals for 2017. For businesses using Google AdWords, those resolutions include something about maximizing their ad budgets to ensure a strong ROI.

Here are 6 tips from our AdWords analysts to maximize your campaigns this year. 

Tip #1: Say No to Broad Matching

According to Google, Broad Match "lets a keyword trigger your ad to show whenever someone searches for that phrase, similar phrases, singular or plural forms, misspellings, synonyms, stemmings (such as floor and flooring), related searches, and other relevant variations." While using broad match may enable your ad campaign to show up for more keywords, they may not be the keywords that really convert for your business.

Jane recommends only using Broad Match Modified if you are experienced and have tested your target keywords well.

AdWords provides multiple keyword match types: Exact, Phrase and Broad Match. You should always use Exact and Phrase match in your AdWords account. To get more reach, use Broad Match Modified (not Broad Match). Broad Match Modified can be identified by the + sign in your account.

Here are examples of the different keyword match types:

• Exact Match looks like this: [Adwords ROI]
• Phrase Match looks like this: "Adwords ROI"
• Broad Match looks like this: Adwords ROI
• Broad Match Modified looks like this: +Adwords +ROI

Staying away from Broad Match allows you to conserve budget until you are sure which terms convert well for your business.

Tip #2: Give Top Keywords Ample Budget

Once you have an idea of what keywords convert best for your business, it's important to make sure that your budget is being spent to support those keywords.

While you want to leave some budget to be spent on testing new keywords, it's a good idea to manage your top converting keywords by putting them in their own campaign. Then, you can dedicate the majority of your budget to flow to that campaign so you're investing in what works. This will ensure your ad spend is directed at the keywords that will perform best for your business.

Tip #3: Separate Search and Display Campaigns

Although AdWords offers the option to combine both (search network with display select), it's usually best to run these tactics separately.

There is a lot of variation between search and display performance for most accounts, so by keeping them separate you can better control budgets. When you set up a new campaign, based on what you're trying to target, make sure you choose "search network only" or "display network only."

Tip #4: Always Use Negative Keywords

Adding keywords that are irrelevant to your business as negatives can be just as beneficial as the keywords you're bidding on.

Negative keywords help reduce the amount of times your ad is served on irrelevant queries. For instance, if you run a dental practice that offers root canals, and you're bidding on keywords related to root canals, you don't want your ad to show for someone searching for "root canal malpractice".

Negatives are particularly important when running Phrase, Broad, and Broad Modified match types. You can always see the actual searches that trigger your ads by going to your keywords tab and clicking on the "search terms" button. If any searches show up in that report that you don't want to be advertising on, then add them to the negative keyword list.

Tip #5: Include Ad Extensions to Your Campaigns

Aside from the benefit of adding relevant information about your business, ad extensions work to improve overall metrics. Adding extensions can increase your click through rate, improve your quality score and even make your ads stand out from the crowd.

According to Google, accounts that include at least one ad extension see an average of 10-15% increase in click-through-rate.

You can manually add extensions like sitelinks and click-to-message to improve relevance and lead submissions. Sometimes, Google will include automatic extensions to your ad based on the information it pulls from your AdWords account.

Tip #6: Run Responsive Display Ads

Google recently introduced responsive display ads to replace regular display ads. The main difference between the two is that you no longer need several image ads (or banners ads) to set up a display or remarketing campaign. Instead, you just need to upload an image, a headline, and your destination URL.

The image will automatically adjust its size, appearance, and format to fit any available ad space. This means, your ad can show in a native, dynamic text or image format in any size, on any website with ad space. This new ad format most importantly increases your reach and saves you time with setup.

How Google AdWords Is Like Santa Claus

In a lot of ways Google AdWords is like Santa Claus...

 

And since today is Christmas, it's only fitting that we take a closer look at the similarities.

 

 

To children, Santa represents presents.  On Christmas he travels around the world, shimmies down chimneys, and brings gifts for all the good little boys and girls.

 

To businesses, Google AdWords can also represent presents, but not in the form of a traditional wrapped gift.  AdWords can travel the world and instead of bringing toys, it brings gifts to the "good" businesses in the form of shiny new customers.

 

If you've ever woken up after running a successful AdWords campaign and found new customers, then you know that feels just like it did as a kid waking up to find all those gifts under the Christmas tree. :)

 

But as the story goes, Santa doesn't bring presents to everyone.  For the naughty boys and girls, he just leaves a dirty lump of coal...

Does AdWords Think You're Naughty Or Nice?

From the popular holiday song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, we know that Santa makes a list and checks it twice in order to find out "Who's naughty or nice."

 

Well, AdWords uses a similar system...

 

It's call the AdWords Quality Score.  And if your campaigns are naughty (aka have a low Quality Score), then you're more likely to find a lump of coal than new customers each morning when you check your account performance.

 

To find your Quality Scores and see if AdWords thinks your campaigns are naughty or nice, you need to click on the Keywords tab within your account. Then in the Status column click the white speech bubble icon to the right of any keyword to view the Quality Score.

 

AdWords will give you a score from 1-10 where 1-5 essentially means you're naughty and 6-10 means you're nice.  If you find some naughty keywords in your campaign, then don't worry.  There's still a chance you can turn them around...

 

How to Make a Naughty Keyword Nice

There are many factors that AdWords uses to calculate your Quality Score, but they all boil down into 3 core areas:

1. Click-Through Rate - This is by far the most important factor and it requires you to write compelling ads with strong offers.  Remember, Google only makes money when people click on the ads so it's in everyone's best interest to show the ads that get the highest click-through rate.
   
   
2. Ad Relevance - To make your ads more relevant make sure to incorporate your target keywords into the ad copy.
   
   
3. Landing Page Experience - After prospects click on your ads, then make sure they can easily find what you promised in your ad.  And with more and more people turning to tablets and mobile devices, your website needs to function properly on all devices.

When you're reviewing your Quality Scores, AdWords will highlight which of those 3 areas need the most work.  Focus on making incremental improvements to turn those pesky, naughty keywords around.

 

Why "Negative Keywords" Are Critical to Google AdWords Success

Getting your AdWords campaigns seen by more prospects is a good thing, unless those prospects have very little chances of becoming customers.

That's where negative keywords can help.

Negative keywords instruct AdWords not to display your ads with specific search queries. They follow all the same rules of your standard keyword lists, meaning you can specify broad-, phrase- and exact-match negative keywords.
The only difference is you're filtering your audience rather than growing it.
If you're new to search advertising, you may be asking: "Don't more eyeballs on your ads eventually lead to more business on my website?"

Not always. Especially if you're showing your ads to the wrong people. Rather than get more conversions, you're likely to see a declining click-through rate and a rise in costs per click and end up paying more than you need to.

But fear not. By the end of this article, you'll understand the power of negative keywords and how to use them in your AdWords account. And more good news - you'll likely see an immediate boost in your conversion rate after implementing negative keywords.

What Exactly Are Negative Keywords?

Imagine you're launching an AdWords campaign for a hair salon. Your keyword list contains the phrase-match term "haircut" to make sure your ads are seen by folks searching for all kinds of haircut-related terms. But after a week of running ads, you realize a good portion of your clicks are from people searching for "dog haircuts," and not one of these people has visited the salon.

Clearly, this is a problem - but an easily fixable problem. Just go to your negative keyword list in AdWords and add the broad-match keyword "dog." Immediately, anyone searching for any variation of "dog haircuts" won't see your ads.

Then you can be proactive and take it a step further. Add "pet," "cat," "grooming" and other pet-related terms to your negative keyword list.  That will prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant search phrases.

How to Create Negative Keyword Lists

Building a negative keyword list is easy. You can do it at either the campaign or ad group level, and you'll end up using both options as you get more comfortable with using these keywords.

In scenarios like the "dog haircut" example above, a campaign-level negative keyword list would make more sense considering no part of the business caters to pet haircuts. If you're building campaigns for a multi-faceted business, then you may find ad-group level negative keyword lists to be more beneficial.

To create a negative keyword list, log into AdWords, click the Keywords tab and then click the Negative Keywords tab. Then simply add your negative keywords to either the "Ad group level" or "Campaign level" tables.

Benefits of Using Negative Keywords

Earlier in this article, we discussed why you need negative keywords for your campaigns to be successful. Now we'll go deeper into how negative keywords can help.

#1: Weed out shoppers looking for discount prices.

Online shoppers often search for discounts, coupons, free trials and other bargains. But what if your business doesn't offer discounts or coupons?
Bargain-hunters who click your ads are more likely to bounce if they don't find those deals.

If your business doesn't offer any discounts or coupons, you can eliminate this problem by adding "discounts," "coupons" and "free" to your campaign-level negative keyword list.

#2: Get the biggest bang from your ad budget.

Negative keywords filter out people who are most likely to click on your ads without becoming customers of your business. If you cut out those clicks, then you're instantly saving money! And if you don't trim your ad budgets, then you're essentially reinvesting that money to attract other prospects who are more likely to become customers. The result is more traffic with higher conversion rates, which means more profits without spending more money.

#3: Focus on buyer-oriented keywords.

Earlier, we mentioned how negative keywords can help prevent your ads from being shown to people who are doing research. This is important because folks who are researching goods and services are usually not ready to make purchases.

By adding keyword terms such as "compare," "what is" or "what are" to your negative keyword list, you'll immediately stop your ads from being shown to people who are most likely in research mode instead of shopper mode.

#4: Cut out non-consumers.

In addition to shoppers doing research before buying, some Web users who see your ads might not even be consumers at all. Consider again our hair salon example; in most cases, you wouldn't want your ads to be seen by unemployed hair stylists searching for "haircut jobs." Entering campaign-level negative keywords such as "jobs," "job openings," "careers," "part-time" and "internships" can keep your ads exclusive to consumers.

Conclusion

Negative keywords are often overlooked when you're just learning how to use AdWords. However, failing to use negative keywords can put a strain on your campaigns and drag down their performance, leading to frustration and unnecessary second-guessing. Always think carefully about negative keywords and use them with all of your new campaigns.

The good news is that even a few basic negative keywords can make a big difference. Just remember - success in AdWords isn't just about who sees your ads, but also who doesn't see your ads. Why waste money on clicks that don't convert? Fortunately, you don't have to.

7 AdWords Tips Google Doesn't Want You To Know

Paying more for the same service is never a good business practice.

 

Yet this happens all the time with Google AdWords. People who are new to AdWords set up campaigns and let them run, often with profitable results, but they don't realize they're massively overpaying for their clicks. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, they give up on campaigns that should be profitable when early results don't look good.

 

Either way, Google wins. The search giant makes more than $100 million from AdWords per day. And a good chunk of that cash is from advertisers who run inefficient campaigns.

 

Of course, you'd rather be increasing your profits rather than padding Google's pockets, and that's where we can help. Here we've compiled a list of tips that can help most advertisers optimize their campaigns and make better use of their budgets. Google probably wishes we'd keep these tips under wraps, but we won't lose any sleep over this - Google would do just fine without folks like you overpaying.

 

#1: Don't launch campaigns over the weekend

You can't properly optimize if you lack sufficient data. It's not only that you want to have lots of clicks to analyze, but you also need to have the right kinds of clicks in your campaigns.

 

For many businesses, most of your traffic will occur Monday through Friday, so you should launch new campaigns to get clicks on those days. That means you'd ideally want to start a campaign earlier in the week so you have time throughout the week to collect data. People behave differently when searching the Web on weekends, and you don't want these differences clouding your initial data.

 

#2: Spread the impressions around

In addition to collecting enough data, you also need to make sure your data is properly distributed among your ads. The temptation is to use the AdWords default option to "optimize for clicks," but doing this might cause more traffic to go to certain ads over others. In the first stages of optimizing, it's more important to spread out clicks so you give all ad variations a fair shot. Set ads in new campaigns to "rotate indefinitely."

 

#3:  Block bad Display Network placements

The Display Network is a great source of cheap, high-volume traffic. But if you're not careful, you'll end up paying for a ton of clicks that don't convert into leads and sales.

 

If your Display Network CTR is suffering, try running a Placement report in Google AdWords. This report will show which Display Network websites are showing your ads, as well as metrics such as impressions and conversions from each of those sites. Identify which websites don't send converting traffic and block them in your campaigns. Oftentimes, you'll find these websites have little to do with the goods and services you're marketing.

 

#4: Always split test new ads

A good online advertising strategy is always evolving. Riding the performance of a single high-performing ad is only a recipe for temporary success. Split testing at least two ads per ad group is essential for maintaining success and staying ahead of the curve.

 

Early on in your campaign, don't waste time split testing ads that are just slight variations of each other. Instead, write ads that employ different sales tactics. Try one ad that touts a benefit of what you're selling, then another that mentions your limited-time sale. You can also write ads that appeal to emotions using simple, powerful words such as "imagine" and "discover."

 

Don't instantly give up on ads that you're split testing. Go through your standard steps of optimization. That said, don't hesitate to shut down a struggling ad and replace it with something completely new.

 

#5: Check for landing page congruence

Do your ads make sense with your landing pages? If your ad makes a promise that isn't reflected by your landing page, then your conversion rate will certainly suffer. That's bad for ROI. Landing page congruence issues can become problematic if you've split testing numerous ads and drifted from your original concepts.

 

Landing page congruence is also important for design reasons, especially with campaigns for your mobile ads. Your landing page content could be perfect on desktops, but that doesn't matter if your targeting mobile devices and your mobile landing page isn't properly configured or designed.

 

#6: Create separate campaigns for your top keywords

Finding keywords that win big won't take long. These keywords are great for ROI, but bad for optimization as they'll dominate your clicks and your budget.

 

The solution? Run your proven keywords in their own separate campaigns. As you find more winners, move them over. You can pump up the budget for your winning keywords while spending less money on the rest (including new keywords you're testing).

 

#7: Check your Impression Share

Getting your ads seen can be difficult if you're marketing within a highly competitive niche. If you feel like your impressions are lower than they should be, then you can check your Impressions Share to learn how completely you're reaching your potential audience. Add this data to your AdWords account interface by clicking the Columns tab, then the "Customize columns" and "Competitive metrics" options.

 

To remedy a low impression share, either increase your bid or improve the quality of your campaign. Remember that low CTRs and landing page problems - usually either congruence or page load issues - can sink your campaigns' quality scores, resulting in more expensive costs and less-favorable ad placements.

 

Conclusion

Don't be too hasty when optimizing your campaigns. Take the time to dig into under-performing campaigns and find out exactly what's not working. In most cases, if you can isolate the problem, then you can also create a solution. However, don't be afraid to turn off under-performing ads and keywords. Run with what works while never stop looking for your next big winners.

Marketing 101: Why Conversion is Key to Your Success

Your conversion rate is hands-down the most important metric in digital marketing.

 

Everything you do in online marketing is designed to convert visitors to your website into paying customers for your business.  And conversion rates don't just include sales -- people who make appointments, fill out contact forms, call you, and request free quotes also count as conversions. A conversion can be any desired action that brings your business closer to making a sale.

 

It's easy to get overwhelmed by metrics when getting started in digital marketing. You must watch click-through rates (CTRs) and cost-per-click (CPC) while always considering your return on investment (ROI). But the whole point of digital marketing is to maximize conversions for the cheapest-possible price.

 

In this article, we'll help you understand why conversions are crucial to your success.

 

 

Why Conversions Matter

Increasing the conversion rates of your online marketing campaigns is usually the cheapest way to boost your profits.

 

Think of it this way -- would you rather get more customers from Google AdWords by doubling your ad budget or by optimizing your advertising approach? Optimizing for a higher conversion rate means more bang for the buck. That's a big reason why conversion rates are so important.

 

That's not all - here are three other reasons why conversion rates matter:

#1: Conversion rates can predict success or failure.

Want to know whether your business is on the right track? Conversion rates give a pretty honest assessment, especially once you've optimized your campaigns.

 

With help from analytics reports, you can see which parts of your business get the strongest conversions, and you can predict which audiences are likely to become your best customers. Likewise, weaker conversion rates indicate where your business strategy needs work.

#2: Better conversion rates can save you money.

Campaigns with better conversion rates are generally more efficient than campaigns with weaker conversion rates. A higher conversion rate lets you cover more ground without increasing your ad budget, or you can reduce your ad budget and have cash leftover for testing new marketing tactics.

#3: Focusing on conversion rates will improve your website.

Creating an air-tight sales funnel is the key to boosting conversion rates. Your campaigns, your website and your sales processes need to be as in-sync as possible. As you learn which factors are most important for driving conversions on your website, you'll eventually discover how to make your site more valuable for visitors and customers -- and the benefits of this extend far beyond short-term profits.

How to Boost Conversion Rates

Now that we've reviewed the importance of conversions, the next step is taking action to boost your rates. Here are six easy tips to take your conversion rates to new heights.

 

#1: Sharpen your ads. The first step toward increasing conversions is nailing your ad copy to stand out from the competition.

 

#2: Optimize your landing pages. Deliver on promises made in your ad copy, and use concise, catchy headlines that immediately engage visitors.

 

#3: Test new ad funnels. Create new ads and variations of your landing pages. See how conversion rates change with different advertising approaches.

 

#4: Pare down your audience. Sometimes casting a wider net is better, but tightening your focus to specific consumer groups is an easy way to boost conversion rates.

 

#5: Use FOMO to your advantage. That's the fear of missing out. If you're advertising a sale, say in your ads or on your landing pages that time is running out -- and you can even use countdown clocks for added urgency.

 

#6: Grow your social media. Urge visitors to follow you on Facebook, Twitter and other accounts. Install social media login buttons on your website if it requires a member sign-in; people are much more likely to register using social logins. And if you have a strong social following, display the number of followers or shares on your pages for increased social proof.

 

Conversion Rates Aren't Always Reliable

Conversion rates may be the most universally important metrics in digital marketing. However, any data viewed out of context can be incredibly deceiving. Never be blinded by a high or low conversion rate without carefully evaluating all the data at your disposal.

 

Here are a few ways in which conversion rates can be deceiving:

#1: Higher conversion rates may hide poor performance.

Strong conversion rates are generally positive -- that's what you want. However, you might have a high conversion rate paired with a low sales volume. Or, despite your favorable conversion rate, perhaps high advertising costs are wiping out your ROI. Never assume your campaigns are profitable based on conversion rates alone.

#2: Some of your visitors aren't there to buy.

If you focus too much on conversion rates, you may overlook the multitude of other reasons why people visit your website. Some people may be researching products, and perhaps they'll eventually return to become paying customers. Some may already be customers and they're seeking support or checking on their orders. Do you maintain a blog? You may be building an audience. Don't become so fixated on conversion rates that you forget all the other ways your website is valuable.

#3: Conversion rates can fluctuate with different audiences.

Is your online marketing causing a large influx of new visits? If so, your conversion rates may seem unusually low. That's because new visitors are less likely to buy goods and services than established customers. Also, visitors from different traffic sources tend to convert at different rates. Using Google Analytics reports can help you determine your true conversion rates among different types of visitors.

Conclusion

Conversion rates are immensely important when optimizing your campaigns. Not only do they indicate whether your marketing is profitable, but they also reveal how visitors engage with your website. Conversions aren't all that matter -- you still need to watch your click-through rates, overall spend and numerous other metrics -- but driving conversion rates is generally the key for successful campaigns.

 

 

9 Ways to Measure Digital Marketing Success

A positive return on investment is the goal of every digital marketing campaign.

 
However, while the endgame of digital marketing is to increase profits, not every campaign directly leads to dollars and cents. Some campaigns raise awareness of your brand, while others might bring visitors to your blog – both help increase profits in the long run, but short-term results can’t be quantified with monetary values.
 
This begs an important question – how do you know whether your digital marketing efforts are successful?
 
Here we’ll review nine ways to measure the success of your digital marketing campaigns. And to add further clarity to the question above, we’ve split these methods into two categories: conversions and website behavior.

 

     

Conversions

Conversions occur when visitors or customers take specific actions as a result of your digital marketing. Unlike website behavior, conversions are more directly linked to sales and revenues. Since your ultimate goal is increasing profits, making sure your digital marketing converts is absolutely essential.
 
Here are five types of conversions that can indicate successful campaigns:
 

#1. Online sales

Online sales from your website is perhaps the simplest conversion for gauging success. Tracking your online sales is easy if you use Google Analytics or another Web analytics platform.
 
After installing a small snippet of code on your website, you’ll be able to see which of your campaigns are driving the most online sales. This is the most important conversion for strictly e-commerce business owners.
 

#2: Online-to-store sales

Not everyone who finds your business online will buy from your website. Local customers are likely to visit your store and make in-person purchases. How do you measure these conversions?
 
Don’t worry, there are ways to gauge online-to-store sales.
 
For example, you can collect information from prospective customers on your website, such as email addresses, that can later be compared with data collected at the cash register.  Or, you can offer a special discount code on your website so when customers redeem the discount you’ll be able to easily match it back to the marketing campaign.
 
Or, you can be really low tech and just ask customers whether they found your business online. Clarify how they found you – such as via a PPC ad, Facebook or a Google search — and record their answers in a spreadsheet. Then you can see which campaigns drive more in-store conversions.
 

#3: Leads from Web forms

Most websites have forms that customers can use to request services, schedule appointments or get more information. If you’re using Google Analytics, you’ll be able to see which campaigns result in the most use of your various Web forms.
 
Any visitor who completes a Web form to request a quote could later convert into a customer. Therefore, marketing campaign success can be measured by the number of leads (Web form submissions) generated.
 

#4: Leads and sales from phone calls

Tracking leads and sales from phone calls is also important for businesses that drive sales via the phone.
 
To track calls, you’ll need to set up dynamic number insertion (DNI), which shows visitors different phone numbers depending on how they arrived at your website. You can then view your phone logs to see which campaigns result in the most calls.
 

#5: Leads from live chats

Does your website offer live chat for visitors? If not, then you might consider adding it as another way to engage your visitors.
 
Once you have chat installed on your website, then you need to track which marketing campaigns are driving the most chats.  This can be done using the built in tracking in your chat program or by integrating Google Analytics into your chat tool.  In both cases, you’ll be able to see which campaigns are driving more leads for your business via live chat.
 
Now that we’ve covered 5 ways to measure conversions from digital marketing, it’s time to move on to tracking how visitors behave on your website.  Just because a visitor doesn’t convert right away, doesn’t mean she’s never going to.  For that reason, it’s not enough to only look at conversions.  We must also review website behavior metrics to measure digital marketing success…
 

Website Behavior

Here are four ways to determine digital marketing success based on website behavior:
 

#1: Website visits

This one is simple – which of your digital marketing campaigns are putting the most eyes on your website? Although this is a rather shallow metric compared to e-commerce and Web form conversions, it’s still important to measure visits per marketing channel.
 
This is especially helpful when you view the traffic trends over time.  For example, you’ll want to measure traffic from Organic Search (SEO traffic) over time so you know if your SEO efforts are working. 
 
Plus, you’ll be able to spot potential problems early on if you see a sudden drop in SEO traffic.
 

#2: Page Views per visit

Website visits are important, but they don’t really indicate whether people are engaged by your business. What if nobody who visits your sites clicks around to your various products and pages?
 
Fortunately, Google Analytics can show you how visitors click through your site while also providing average numbers of page views per visit.
 
Pay close attention to which webpages your customers are visiting most. You might find that online customers are more attracted to certain aspects of your business or specific products in your inventory. If you’re promoting your blog, you can also get ideas about the topics your visitors find most interesting.
 

#3: Time spent on the website

How much time are people spending on your blog or website, and which of your digital marketing campaigns is bringing in the most engaged visitors?
 
Analytics can track this, too. Again, time spent on your website doesn’t directly lead to sales, but folks who spend more time browsing are more likely to later buy.
 

#4: Bounce rates

In the world of digital marketing, bouncing is bad for several reason.
 
If any of your campaigns have high bounce rates – meaning people hit their “back” buttons as soon as they land on your website – then there’s probably a serious disconnect between your marketing strategy and your landing page. Just as bad, though, Google might interpret websites with high bounce rates as low-quality or spam, resulting in an SEO penalty.
 
Use Google Analytics to measure your bounce rates over time to spot trends in each of your marketing campaigns.
 

Conclusion

Knowing how to measure the success of your digital marketing campaigns will save you a lot of stress down the road. You won’t need to guess whether you’re wasting your time with various campaigns. You can adjust or turn off campaigns that aren’t working, or you can sharpen campaigns to really hone in on your goals.
 
And one more thing – always know how you’ll measure a campaign’s success before you launch it. Yes, this requires a more carefully constructed game plan for your marketing efforts, but you should never launch a digital marketing campaign that doesn’t have a specific goal.
 
Plan ahead, aim at your target, and you’re more likely to get good news when measuring the success of campaigns.

Google’s Keyword Planner tool just became even more inaccurate

You’re probably familiar with the Keyword Planner tool, which is one of the best sources we have to spot opportunities and make the business case for an investment into paid or organic search campaigns.

One of the things it provides is guidance on the volume of searches for any given query. The numbers reported in the tool have always been somewhat vague. They are rounded up and numbers end with at least one zero. A pinch of salt has always been required when digesting the data.

It turns out that these numbers are now even more imprecise.

Manish spotted that Google has started to combine related terms, pooling them all together and reporting one (bigger) number.

No longer can you separate the data for keyword variants, such as plurals, acronyms, words with space, and words with punctuation.

As such it would be easy to get a false impression of search volumes, unless you’re aware of the change. No sudden jump in search queries, just an amalgamated number. Be warned.
Here are a couple of examples…

Bundling together anagrams and regional spellings

Lumping together plurals and phrases without spaces

The problem could be exacerbated by third party tools. Manish says:

“For those that don’t notice the change – or worse, pulling the data from tools that haven’t updated to take into account the change – this means that some advertisers and SEOs are grossly overestimating those numbers, since many tools will combine data, and there is no notification alert on the results to show that how Google calculates average monthly searches has been changed.”

So yeah, this isn’t exactly good news. In fact, I can’t think of any benefit to the end user, but Google has a history of obfuscating data, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

That said, it once again pushes the focus towards relevance and context rather than pure volume. Advertisers and content creators would do well to focus on optimising clickthrough rate and landing page performance, rather than just shotgun marketing.

Guesstimated data aside, you can use Search Console to make sense of actual performance. Map your page impressions to organic (or paid) positions and you’ll get a sense of how accurate the Keyword Planner data is for any given term.

It’s also worth remembering that there are seasonal factors at play with the reported data. Volumes shown are an approximate figure based on 12 months search data. You might get a better idea of more accurate monthly figures if you cross-reference data from with Google Trends, which will show seasonal spikes (February is a big month for flowers).

Keyword Planner replaced Google’s Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator about three years ago. Users of the old tools initially complained about missing the broad match and phrase match options. Now, they’re going to miss even more detail around keywords and data.


Proceed with caution, as ever. 

How Google Analytics Can Be Misleading...

I love Google Analytics, but their reports can be misleading if you don’t understand the critical concept in the article below.

In today's Check This Out, I’d love to get your input...

 

 

Why Google Analytics Reports Do Not

Match AdWords Reports

 

Out of many popular topics like Facebook advertising, email marketing, mobile website development, and a handful of others, would you believe me if I said more people want help with Google Analytics setup and reporting?  Well, it’s true.  My assumption going into the survey was that bland and boring Google Analtyics would be sitting on the rock bottom.  But it’s right at the top!
 

So with that in mind, I’ve decided to write about a topic that I’ve held back for fear that no one would find it interesting.  However, it’s a very important concept to keep in mind when you’re reviewing your Google Analytics reports.  It’ll also explain why your Google Analytics reports are often very different than your Google AdWords reports (if you’re advertising).
 
It’s call attribution.
 

What is Attribution?

Online attribution is the process of assigning credit for a website conversion, or Goal in Google Analytics. Think of it like giving credit to a salesman for closing a new client.  In that case you’re attributing the sale to one particular salesman.  The same thing happens online when a Goal is completed in Google Analytics.  The program must attribute the sale to the correct source of traffic (i.e. SEO, AdWords, Facebook referral, etc.).
 
This sounds simple until you think about the typical person surfing around online.
 
Let’s say I do a search in Google and click on one of your ads, which brings me to your website.  I read all about your amazing widget and how I would be insane if I didn’t purchase right now.  Then I leave your website. :)
 
I do a little more research into your company, I read some reviews, and find an online press release or two.  Finally, I search in Google again, but this time I use your company name, and I click on the non-paid result (the organic SEO result).  I’m already sold so I quickly make a purchase.
 
In that example, how do you think Google Analytics will handle attribution?  Does the AdWords ad get credit for the sale?  That’s how I originally found your site so that seems like a logical answer.  Or does the non-paid, organic result get credit because that’s the last action I took before purchasing?  Or do both get credit?
 
Take a guess if you’re not sure before reading on.  Don’t cheat. :)
 

How Google Analytics Handles Attribution

By default, Google Analytics uses what’s called “last click” attribution.  That means in my example, the conversion will show up as coming from the non-paid, organic search.  So it’ll look like revenue from SEO, not from the AdWords ad that originally brought me to the site!
 
Ah ha! See why I said this was a critical topic.  All this time you may have been misinterpreting your reports in Google Analytics.  Just because you’re getting all of your leads and/or sales from organic traffic, doesn’t mean your advertising is not performing.  It could be simply a case of mistaken attribution.
 
To make this even more complicated, I need to warn you that Google AdWords reporting uses “first click” attribution. That means in my example, when you run the report in Google AdWords, the sale would be attributed to the keyword and ad that was first clicked on.  So you’ll see the sale in AdWords and you’ll see the same sale in Analytics, but Analytics will be telling you the sale was generated from SEO!
uh oh… which program, Adwords or Analytics, should you trust?
 

Which Attribution Model Is Best For Your Business?

The short answer to my question above is that it depends on your business.  If most of your leads and sales are generated quickly upon the first visit, then “last click” attribution is most likely fine for you.  If you have a longer sales cycle and you know people shop around before making a purchase or contacting you, then first click might be best.  The good news is that earlier this year Google Analytics gave us the ability to report on conversions, or Goals, using 7 different attribution models.  They even let you create custom models if you really want to go nuts.  For the record, I do not recommend going nuts… Stick with the basic models.
 
To see this in action, log into your Google Analytics account and go to Conversions in the left navigation.  Then click on Attribution and then Model Comparison Tool.  You’ll see a report like the one below where you can compare different models.
 

 
I also recommend you review the Multi-Channel Funnels while you’re in the Conversions section of Google Analytics.  The most interesting reports are:

• “Time Lag” to see how many days it takes for prospects to convert.  This is where you can see if the majority of your conversions happen on the first day, or if it usually takes longer.
• “Top Conversion Paths” to see the full path to conversions.  In my previous example, this report would show “Paid Search” led to the “Organic Search” which then generated the sale.  So rather than rely on one single attribution model, you can see the entire sales path.

OK, that’s probably more than enough Google Analytics reporting info for one day.  The key takeaway is to always be aware of how Google Analytics (or any other tool you use) is attributing conversions in your reports.  And if you’re receiving reports from a marketing company, then make sure it’s clear how their tool is handling attribution.  Different attribution models can show vastly different results, which can lead to vastly different decisions about where to focus your marketing budget.