One of the most important business strategies is testing and measuring. It’s only by testing and measuring everything that you know what works and what doesn’t. But the sad thing is that it’s also one thing that so few businesses actually do. And it is even more disappointing when they neglect to do it for their online activity, since it is free and so easy to do.
If you ran a bakery that produced 50 different cakes, pastries and breads each day, how would you know which ones were in demand if you didn’t measure how many of each you produced each morning and how many of those you were left with at the end of the day? Let’s assume you wanted to introduce a new type of bun that you came across while holidaying overseas. How would you know how many to bake each day if you had no idea if it would meet with the approval of your regular customers or not? You could be wasting time and money baking a huge batch based only on the fact that you liked it when on holiday. The only way you would know is if you were to test the bun in your market place.
Testing and measuring is not just for products in the retail environment. You should use it for everything in your business; your business name, your positioning, your product line-up, your advertising, your keywords, your culture, your image … even your newsletters, blogs and websites.
How would you then go about measuring the effectiveness of an Internet ad online? You’d track everything with Google Analytics. Now here’s the interesting thing. Many businesses get this far and then sit back. They do nothing with the information they have received regarding their ad campaign.
The important thing is not to HAVE the information but to TAKE ACTION on it. You have to do something with it. You must understand that if you do nothing, nothing is going to happen. It’s only by doing something that you are going to get closer to the results you are after. It’s only by taking action that is based on solid market intelligence, feedback and research that you will be able to zero in on the outcomes you aim for.
It’s one thing to take action based on what you THINK your target market wants or what keywords they will be searching for; it’s quite another to base your actions on what you KNOW your target market wants and what keywords they actually respond to.
These days it is remarkably easy to get all the statistics you need about your online marketing activities. Google Analytics is a powerful Web analytics tool that gives you all the information you are ever likely to need about how people find your site, how they navigate through it and how they become customers. Once you know this, you can then set about improving or fine tuning your content so that your results improve.
You will receive many reports that will enable you to see whether you are getting better results to keywords in different cities or regions. Histograms tell you who your most loyal visitors are and who your least loyal ones are, the percentage of new visits as well as the percentage of visitors who bounce. I particularly like the tutorial called Conversion University, which details visitor loyalty, average page views, time on site and visitor recency.
The other thing I like about Google Analytics is that it is free. All you need to do is to sign up and start collecting data.
DEC
About the Author
Cool Ben Bradshaw Facts: Started his first business at 14. Created his second business at 17 – Offering Car Detailing & Car Body Kit Services. Became the number 1 sales person in the country for largest flooring company in Australia by the age of 19 selling over 1.5 million dollars per year, he achieved this within his first year. Left his sales career to pursue a career as a Corporate Comedy Magician and Speaker. He was able to quickly turn this into a extremely successful business and became one of the busiest and most successful magicians in Australia within 2 years. Ben has won 2 Guinness World Records For Magic. Ben has won over 10 Business Achiever Awards. Currently CEO & Founder of one of the largest internet marketing agencies in Australia. Ben regularly consults with Google regarding the future of online advertising. Ben will present a brand new internet marketing seminar at the Googleplex Sydney along side Key speakers from Google later this year Ben Bradshaw and his Online Marketing Magic! Ben Bradshaw is one of Australia’s online marketing and Google Adwords pioneers. He is the Director of Australia’s largest Australian owned AdWords Management Company, and one of Australia’s most sought after speakers and trainers on the subject. Ben started to host magic shows at the tender age of ten, and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest escape from a straight jacket. His interest and ability in online marketing began as a magician in his early twenties, trying to get more bookings as a corporate magician. Traditional advertising simply wasn’t working and after trying many different advertising methods, Ben experienced remarkable success for his business following months of research and self education on Google AdWords and how to make it work for his magic business. Through trial and error Ben was able to figure out how to best increase his web traffic and maintain this steady stream of bookings, which meant enormous growth for his business. After witnessing his success with AdWords and the benefit it gave to his business, Bens’ friends, who were all entrepreneurs, started to ask for his assistance in fuelling online traffic and growth for their own businesses. Ben would set-up their Google AdWords accounts and then share his various tips and tricks on how to effectively maintain the accounts. When their businesses started to experience measurable success as a result of online marketing, Ben decided that the next logical step for him was to hang his straight jacket up and start a business dedicated to offering other businesses Google AdWords Management services; thus his online marketing empire was born. Ben’s agency SponsoredLinX has been operational for many years now, located in Brisbane and with a national client base, and has quickly taken over its competitors in the industry as the place for businesses to go if they seek high quality Google AdWords Management. Bens’ ability for AdWords Management was soon noticed by various industry leaders and SponsoredLinX was approached to become one of only a very select few authorised Google resellers, shortly after its inception. Since then Ben has been able to grow his business by a staggering 300%, and it is now Australia’s largest Australian owned AdWords Management Company. Keeping the theme of magic alive, Ben has been able to quickly and seamlessly create and nurture a powerful team of professionals around him, all committed to maintaining the impeccable detail that Ben puts into each account he looks after. This commitment to detail has meant that SponsoredLinX has been able to successfully exceed its clients’ individual needs. During his years in this evolving industry, Ben has received of a number of accolades and awards, including The BRW 2010 Fast Starter Award and The Smart Company Awards Winner 2010. Ben has presented at the Googleplex in Sydney about his involvement and experience with Google AdWords, and this year will release the very first DIY business book dedicated to the subject of online marketing. Without a doubt, this milestone will keep the accolades coming and the magic of Ben Bradshaw alive and kicking.