Ask the Right Questions and Get The Most From Google Analytics

Google Analytics is arguably one of the company’s most beneficial tools (and they have many) for Internet marketers. Yet the majority of users hardly scratch the surface when it comes to exploring the true functionality of the tool. It seems that many are just put off by its apparent complexity. This is a great shame as you do not need to be a logistician, data technician or a Google insider to reap great benefits from the information contained therein.

Google Analytics can seem to be quite daunting at first glance, but if you spend an hour or so just surfing around within the site it will start to make sense. Google makes it relatively easy to implement the necessary tracking code on your site and they have a number of question and answer resources available to help you ensure that it is all set up correctly. If you have a number of different sites, it is worth taking time to ensure that you set up your accounts well in the first instance, as this will certainly help you navigate down the road.

Many people seem to struggle to come to terms with what Google Analytics is really trying to tell them. You can get as much information out of this program as you could ever want, but don’t burden yourself with trying to analyze every conceivable area. Rather, focus on what is really important to you.

You can set up a number of goals and events, enabling you to follow what happens according to triggers that you set up on your website or elsewhere. If you have an ad campaign or article marketing campaign you will hopefully have distinct landing pages within your site, enabling you to categorize visitor arrival points. You need to be able to see what happens when visitors arrive at those pages, where they went from there or whether they moved through your shopping cart to your payment pages, for example. If you notice that they do not go anywhere else once they arrive at your landing page, but just leave, a phenomenon also known as a high bounce rate, then you need to consider whether the content of your landing page is truly appropriate to the trigger that sent them there in the first place.

The program will allow you to break down your visitors according to their geographic source, of great interest to you if you are geo-targeting your campaigns. You can see which keywords are being used most by visitors who arrive at your site, enabling you to create marketing campaigns accordingly.

Google Analytics should be your friend and not something to be scared of. You owe it to yourself to educate and use this remarkable and free intelligence to your benefit.

How do you get the most from Google Analytics?

Adam Toren

Can Your Small Business Culture and Values Win You Sales?

In the United States, do we really value the culture of our people as much as we say we do? After all, this is supposed to be a country that was founded and based on a coming together of cultures, a veritable melting pot, as they say. Culture is something that we should all cherish as it makes us all stand out in one way or the other and allows us to create and diversify. As those sage spokesmen and women say again, it takes all sorts to make a world!

When it comes to marketing, why not go back to your roots and really focus on what makes you and your business different? Where do you hail from and are your standards, beliefs, approaches and values a core part of how you do business? If not, then maybe they should be. By pandering to your strengths in terms of how you essentially live and breathe each day, then you should be making yourself and your brand equity stronger and more vibrant as well.

Always remember that it is to tough to fundamentally change who or what you are and you should be very cautious if you think that you can portray layers and elements that do not really represent your true spirit. However, be free to really underline and take advantage of the things that make you tick.

Very often our small businesses are built on a solid foundation of reputation. If you are known as being a helpful and enthusiastic trigger and always go out of your way to make things happen, then capitalize on this “yes we can” popular culture and make your glass permanently half-full from a marketing perspective.

We know how important social interaction is and how people like to deal with a real, live human being, even though this is becoming more challenging in our increasingly virtual world. With customer service, make sure that your staff are all on the same page and treat the customer in a positive and happy way each day. You will be surprised how clients and prospects warm more to your organization if a genuine feeling of love is being exuded!

Pander to your strengths. If your organization is operating on the cutting edge of your particular niche and if you business is known for its ingenuity or innovation, make your marketing exciting and interesting as well. Don’t be afraid to use individual personalities if they fire when challenged and be careful before repressing any unusual or out-of-the-box ideas.

These days it is very populist to be “green” and any organization that puts the issue of sustainability ahead is sure to gain footing as we go forward. Climate related issues are not going away and as more scientific evidence becomes apparent, linking our lack of efficiency to environmental damage, an organization that operates via the culture of the environment will likely gain market share.

How do you use your culture to best effect?

Matthew Toren

Top Do’s and Don’ts of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing does not have to be rocket science. Many people make it more complicated than it is and tend to shy away from it. They know that they should engage, but still fundamentally do not understand the intricacies and as such, they are missing out on a whole new way of communicating with their clients and would-be prospects. Once you have learned that it takes a different mindset and its not about the hard sell, you just need to be dedicated, believable, valuable and repetitive. And no, repetitive does not mean spamming the same message to the world, it means you must take time out of your schedule on a regular basis to interact.

1. Don’t believe that there is a magic formula.

Sorry to shoot down your dreams in the first sentence, but there really is no magic wand here, either. All these different platforms and sites may offer free membership, free enrollment and a free platform, but this approach takes work. Lots of it. Be assured, however, that if you approach this the right way and make it a long-term project, you will enhance your reputation significantly and will invariably benefit from your efforts. Avoid any schemes that promise instant success.

2. Do focus.

You can certainly get out of your depth very quickly if you try and expand your reach too broadly or employ a scattershot approach. Your aim is to make contacts, good ones and you must be able to sort the wheat from the chaff. Keep a note of everyone you come across in your industry who appears to know what they’re talking about, has a good following or has a special aura. Keep track of these contacts and make sure that you keep in touch. You should aim to read their work regularly, the blog posts, Facebook postings or tweets. Make sure that you respond and get to know them as they get to know you. Yes, it will take some work.

3. Do reach out.

You are rightly proud of your blog, its content and your contribution to the niche. Reach out to others who also contribute good material, by linking to their posts. Over time, people will link back to yours and you will be creating a network of great, interconnected content.

4. Do integrate.

Part of the process of building up your brand is to use a variety of relevant social media platforms and to ensure that they are all appropriately linked. Your Twitter feed should show on Facebook, your Facebook postings on your blog page, your YouTube account videos should be bookmarked and your blog point to your hub website. You are building your social media presence and creating a certain stance for your organization. Make sure that your branding is consistent and that you update your various accounts regularly.

5. Do give value.

In order for any of this to work, you have to be a contributor. You have to be able to listen and learn, find out what all the buzz is about, pick up on some of the problems and write posts and messages that contribute to the issue. Try and resolve problems. If there is a major conversation thread about a subject of interest, make sure you contribute and keep on top of the thread until it naturally dies away. You are not selling anything and you should not suggest that you could, even if you think you have a solution to whatever problem is on the table. You’re building up your presence and making people aware of your existence and, by extension, your brand.

6. Don’t sell.

This follows on from the last point. If you try and directly sell your products or services within any social media network, you will get nowhere. It simply is not done. That isn’t to say that you won’t see thousands of people or businesses trying to do just that, but they are essentially uneducated in the finer points of social media interaction. Remember to educate, inform, entertain and enlighten and watch what happens over time.

7. Do build your brand.

Calculate which social media networks could be of most interest to you from a holistic perspective. Don’t try and focus on every blogging platform, social network, bookmarking site by trying to be active in all, but be selective. Once you have committed, build your brand consistently within and keep up with your profile. Make your presence feel genuine.

8. Don’t be anti-social, be personal.

Probably the biggest mistake that people make when they set out to “conquer” the social media networks is that they forget what it’s all about, to be social. You must get to know the person at the other end and build those relationships one at a time. You can build your list of interested parties exponentially by strengthening individual relationships. By doing this, you can reach out to the contacts of the person concerned and even further, to their contacts.

In social media, what are the biggest “no-no’s” from your point of view?

Adam Toren

Have a Traditional Holiday, Not a Traditional Marketing Plan!

It’s that time of year again, time to break out the mistletoe, watch the Christmas parade, marvel at the Grinch and eat too much. It all comes around very quickly and soon, with a couple of hiccups and an Auld Lang Syne, we will welcome a fresh new challenge. This is a season for traditions, to reflect on what is good in life, to cherish our thoughts and beliefs and there is certainly time to give thanks for the past year, however difficult it may have been! But it is also time to look forward to 2010, to take an even deeper breath than normal and to re-evaluate exactly where we are all going.

Tradition is great around the fire with the family, but to survive in this ultra-competitive and challenging environment we need to make sure that our marketing plan is anything but traditional. So much is changing in our world, brought about by a new wave of thinking, hard economic and financial lessons, technological advances and in our case, a shift in the very way that we communicate.

Now is the time to re-evaluate your relationships and to ask yourself what your business is going to achieve this year. Thinking outside the box is a given, now and you must ensure that your organization is flexible, if not able to roll with the punches. Those traditional measurement methods are not really applicable anymore, but the opportunities are even more exciting. Redefine where you are, where you want to be in 12 months and then work out how you are going to get there.

Your customer base is also changing and your dynamic marketing plan should not be afraid to break new ground. Try something different – talk with your customers and ask them what they want! Use the 80/20 rule to best effect. See how you can modify your goods or services and hook onto something that will really sell in 2010. By asking for feedback, you will serve to strengthen the relationship that you have with your clients and they will see that you are being proactive and really interested in serving them.

Although it’s been said many times, many ways, really focus on making a splash in social media. The majority of organizations do not, yet the population of the social media world continues to explode. The folks you are selling to are out there. Learn how to communicate with them.

As you are preparing your new marketing plan, reflect on everything that has happened in 2009. It has certainly been a tumultuous year and you will inevitably find that you can learn some significant lessons from your journey. Use these reflections to help you prepare your marketing plan. This year, make sure that you keep up with the milestones in your plan and if need be, make additional modifications as you go.

Have you prepared your new marketing plan?

Matthew Toren

Don’t Let Negative Feedback Bring You Down

It’s an integral part of doing business and sooner or later you are going to come across it as well if you are an aspiring entrepreneur. Negative feedback can strike at the heart, especially if you are proud of the work that you do, as hopefully you are! It’s important to understand that, as much as anything else due to the law of averages, you are going to come across someone who is displeased with what you do for one reason or another. This does not have to be a client either, it can be someone who takes a completely polar opposite view to a post you may have placed on your company blog. This person will vent about her interpretation in the comments section and may cause your day to become rather unpleasant, quite quickly.

It’s important not to get too upset and to let these things become blown out of all proportion. If you express opinions within the articles that you write, the blogs you post or even the direct content within your webpages, then you must realize that other people will have different points of view. Some people choose to air these differences rather vocally and forcefully, while others are more tactful and subtle. As the old saying goes, it takes all types to make a world and you’re not going to be able to agree with everyone, no matter what you do or say.

If you receive negative feedback as a consequence of your work – maybe some articles that you have written or design projects you have undertaken – then you must analyze the situation. Most of us are taken aback by negative feedback and our natural reaction may be denial or disagreement. Never, under any circumstances, immediately fire back a reply to this person, most especially if he or she is a client, without calmly reviewing the circumstances! It doesn’t matter how nasty the negative feedback can be, you must compose a professional and well thought out response.

Try and understand where the person is coming from. Be honest with yourself as well and own up if you are in the wrong. Don’t be tempted to come up with any number of lame excuses or even made up responses, as even though you may feel justified, you should couch your response professionally and appropriately. Where possible, offer to make amends and in the case of a client, go out of your way to smooth things over as best you can.

It’s quite possible that you will receive some negative feedback and have no idea why this should be the case. Sometimes the person at the other end has their own agenda, a particular issue, or is just having a bad day. They may be choosing to vent their feelings at you or your organization and this is just unfortunate. Don’t be tempted to get into a “catfight” especially in a public forum such as blog commenting. Try and resolve criticism and move on in these cases.

To be a successful entrepreneur you need to have the skin of a rhinoceros and must not let negative feedback get you down. Always have pride in your work and pay attention to detail and the chances are that this kind of feedback will be few and far between.

Do you have a way of dealing with negative feedback?

Matthew Toren

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