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Q&A – Should I use both Google Analytics and AdWords Conversion Tracker?

October 14, 2008

Yes! Please! I often survey attendees of an AdWords Seminar, and a common theme often emerges.

• Most of the audience uses Google Analytics.
• Most of the audience does not use the AdWords conversion tracker.

They are different tools that should be used differently.

AdWords Conversion Tracking

The AdWords conversion tracker just tracks conversions. You can define a conversion in many different ways (sale, lead form, page view) etc. You can define different conversions within the same account. Once you’ve enabled conversion tracking, you can run reports to see performance statistics by keyword, ad group, campaign, ad copy, landing page, content sites, etc by different conversion types (what keywords lead to contacts vs. shopping cart checkouts).

AdWords conversion tracking passes that stats back to your AdWords account so you can easily access all you conversion information cross referenced with your AdWords data within the single AdWords reporting interface. This is a huge timesaver.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an analytics system. It will give you more information than you need to know about your site and visitors. You can easily define goals (conversions) within your analytics account. Google Analytics will tell you about visitors to your site that came from other sources than AdWords. You can view browser, screen resolution, referring site info, and your AdWords account within Analytics (as well as hundreds of other data points).

Like AdWords conversion tracking, analytics should be used to make decisions. Whenever you decide to implement analytics, the first question you should ask is ‘What information do I need to know to get my job done well?’. You can ask that of the design, marketing, and other departments within your organization. Then look for an analytics solution that fits your needs.

For most small businesses, Google Analytics will fit that need. If you need to make real time decisions, then it will not meet your needs.

However, it is much more difficult to extract data such as what content sites are sending you converting traffic from your Analytics account. From within the AdWords conversion tracker – it’s easy. From Analytics – incredibly difficult.

Use Both Google Analytics and the AdWords Conversion Tracker

Assuming you’re willing to use Google Analytics, and it gives you the data you need to perform your job – then you should use them both. Since these two tools perform different functions, you need a tool for each function. Neither are difficult to install, and the data can be invaluable for increase your website’s effectiveness.

AdWords Conversion Tracking Resources:

• Video: Setting up conversion tracking (watch this first)
• Setting up AdWords conversion tracker FAQs
• PDF guide to setting up AdWords conversion tracking
• Troubleshooting conversion tracking

Certified Public Accountant Marketing

September 24, 2005

You’ve listed your business in the phone book, have great word-of-mouth popularity and you’ve taken the time to have an attractive website put together. But even though you’re a certified public accountant, things aren’t quite adding up.

It’s no surprise that you’re not content with your current marketing strategy.

Things move fast in the world of online advertising, with new methods and properties emerging faster than the layperson can keep up with. One of the fastest growing online marketing methods is local, search-based online advertising.

Search-based online advertising takes advantage of the most current trends in information technology to connect advertisers with potential customers. So how exactly does this method yield such superior results to other types of marketing?

The difference is that search-based online advertising is a highly focused, cost-effective marketing technique that places your ads in front of people that were already interested in what you have to offer.

When tax season comes around, you don’t want to miss out on the busy month because some other quick-on-the-draw certified public accountant beat you to counting the right set of beans.

When you do the math, you’ll find that the answer is an affordable, highly directed Internet marketing strategy. If you run a small- or medium-sized accounting firm, you know that when it comes to making your business grow, every dollar counts.

Local competition can be fierce, with the general public often being unable to understand exactly what sets your service apart from that of your competitors. Any professional faces challenges in communicating what they can do for their potential customers, but on today’s tough playing field, you need to take advantage of whatever will give you that competitive edge.

With all the headaches faced by conscientious certified public accountants-ranging from such technical, nitpicky problems such as mastering annual updates in tax code to the more general difficulties inherent in starting a new business-take a load off your mind with a marketing technique that will bring in customers while making sure you stay in the black.

Legal Marketing

September 17, 2005

Not long ago, it shocked the people of the United States to hear that lawyer Clarence Darrow was paid one million dollars in order to take the defense in the Leopold-Loeb trial. Of course, Darrow was only offered one hundred thousand dollars, to be split three ways, but the fact remains that the days when the American public could be shocked by high prices for legal aid are over and done with.

With today’s global economy, there is no reason why every legal firm should not market themselves in a way with which they can get the best paying or most deserving clients. No matter what your angle, there is a large piece of the pie out there waiting to be sliced off.

In fact, the time is ripe to take advantage of what legal marketing has to offer for your firm.

Many legal marketing departments just rely on the old “word of mouth plus an ad in the phonebook” trick. Then some legal entrepreneurs decided it was time to begin advertising on television, and on mass transportation.

Those techniques are still completely viable, but a new market has opened up for online advertising that may beat out all the rest.

Online marketing represent the best way to give your legal firm a face to the public. Developing an online marketing campaign will really put you on the map.

But choosing the right place to put your ad can be a difficult problem. Make sure that you know which web sites attract the type of customers you want, before you plunk down your advertising dollars.

Some things to consider:

• Is your ad directly targeting the community that you want to see it? Sometimes it is crucially important that only people who could logistically use your firm see your ad, especially when you are just starting out.
• How much money are you willing to spend on your legal marketing system? Remember: the more money you put in, the more money you get out.
• Will my link be seen by the clients that I want to see it? Keep in mind that not all web sites are the same, and that geo-targeting only works when the marketing focus is narrowed to the specific field of clients that your firm deals with.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, and the competition, you must begin using the technologies of tomorrow to reach the clients of today.

Insurance Marketing

August 19, 2005

Living without insurance is like walking a tightrope high above the concrete ground—without a net. One false move and you could plummet to the ground, several stories below. Insurance is the net that carefully breaks your fall, letting you bounce once or twice before coming to a rest, somewhat wiser, a little bit scared, but none the worse for wear.

Insurance companies provide financial support for all sorts of unforeseeable things. From fire insurance to life insurance, no matter what goes wrong, the well insured need not worry about the financial consequences. Insurance provides a bulwark against the worst-case scenario. Whatever unfortunate circumstance may befall us, you can be sure that there is an insurance company ready and willing to provide a plan for those eventual circumstances.

But with all the competition surrounding insurance companies, it can be hard for one to stick out from the rest. Offering good rates, putting an ad on TV or in the yellow pages, and other well-trod marketing techniques are not pulling the weight they used to. It’s clear that most customers are unwilling to search through miles of small-font advertisements before finding the insurance company that looks best for them.

A lucky fluke brought us the Aflac duck, one of the most widely recognized spokespersons of late, and the Geiko Gecko—is he English?—has been pulling some weight of his own. But in order to hire one of the high profile advertising firms that brought us these anthropomorphic creations can break the bank of most small to medium-sized insurance companies.

Advertising online represents one of the best ways for the smaller company to get ahead in the modern world of insurance marketing. With modern advances allowing for more direct marketing of insurance plans mixed with the new technologies driving geo-targeting, things are looking up for those who wish to cast a wide insurance advertising net without spending too much of their budget.

Search-based, online advertising has the potential to reach all of the 100 million American users who log on every day. And when you attach your insurance marketing system to a popular vertical and geo-target your community, you are guaranteeing that every potential customer for your insurance firm will know where you are and what you are offering.

But don’t take my word for it. By signing up for an insurance marketing plan today you can see your profits rise and your salary and vacation days rise with them.

Retail Marketing

August 6, 2005

Retail is one of the oldest forms of business that there is, and in many ways it is the cornerstone of our modern civilization. Without the idea of a market square, where early retailers would hawk their goods, we would not have the city plans that we have today. And without the merchant class that developed due to some entrepreneur’s skill at selling, and at the import and export game, the current class system that we enjoy may not have existed.

But that still leaves us with the question of how to market your retail business. If one type of business lends itself to marketing, and especially Internet marketing, then retail it is. Online shopping has increased 100-fold in the last ten years, with no end in sight.

But you do not have to open an online store in order to get results from an online retail marketing system. Just placing your ad in the place where the most potential customers will see it is one of the best ways to increase your consumer base, and expand your business.

Take, for instance, the case of two clothing retailers. “Sara” was a small boutique that housed many innovative young clothing designers work. “Guava” was another such small boutique. In terms of location and sales they were more or less equal, but then Sara started to pull ahead, and began to increase their customer base. Eventually Sara was able to open several more stores both inside and outside of their original city, and began having designers make clothes especially for them. Guava, on the other hand, had a hard time finding customers, and eventually had to close its doors after only one year of operation.

What is the main difference between these two stores? Sara decided to be pro-active about their retail marketing, and began an online, search-based marketing campaign. With a targeted approach, they could be seen by thousands of people a day, and many of these people decided to pay Sara a visit and buy some clothes.

Because of the nature of retail, there are many verticals that can be counted on to increase your customer base. Retail marketing is now easier than ever, with search-based advertising targeting the customers you want directly. For the modern consumer, without acceptable online visibility, there is no way that he or she will know about your store.

Retail marketing today begins and ends online. Increase your ability to expand by increasing the number of people who know about your retail business. Online advertising is the key to success in today’s world.

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