If knowledge is power than knowledge of Google Analytics is a super power. In a previous post I covered how to understand the Home Page of Google Analytics. In this post, we’ll tackle the Audience Overview Report. This report gives you basic information about a website’s performance and traffic. You can navigate to this report by first logging in to Google [...]
(updated 1/24/16) Ad blocking continues to be the hot topic in digital. Ad blocking has been around a long time but is in the news because of the Apple release of iOS 9 which now allows developers to develop apps for the iPhone that block ads. Ad blocking is not part of the operating system, a user would need to [...]
If you have a website, you should have a website analytics software program loaded to track your website statistics. Google Analytics is a free program that adds a small snippet of code that is placed on all pages of a website. It gathers detailed statistics about a website’s traffic, traffic sources, even tracking conversions or sales. In this post, I’ll [...]
In last week’s post we tackled “What will my traffic/clicks be from my digital ad campaign?” and now we will cover the follow up question that advertisers usually have… “How many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign?” This question is basically asking, what ROI can I expect from my digital advertising? Well, you need to have an [...]
There are two questions advertisers typically want to know about their advertising campaign: how much traffic will my website get (aka how many clicks will I get) and how many leads will I get from my digital ad campaign. If you’re a digital salesperson, you should be able to answer these questions, and if you’re an advertiser, you should ask [...]
When Retargeting was first rolled out, it was a fairly straightforward process. A visitor goes to your website, you drop a cookie on the person, follow that person around the web and show your ad, the person comes back to your website and converts. But, as with all things digital, it is constantly evolving, just as the customer path to [...]
The average drop in viewability between above the fold ads and below the fold ads is 84%. In one eyetracking study the difference was found to be as high as 102%! Above the fold positioning of ads means that the ad appears before someone has to scroll. As the numbers above indicate, where your ad falls on a webpage greatly [...]
CTA is Call-To-Action! You can have the greatest digital strategy implemented but if your ads don’t have an equally great CTA – a compelling reason for the person to click or convert - then your campaign will not get the results you want. So, just what is an effective CTA? Something that reaches out and grabs your potential customer and [...]
A new report by NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) has some fascinating information about how automotive dealerships are using digital advertising and where they are spending their ad budgets overall. Here are some highlights from the report for 2014: This was the fifth year of growth for automotive sales, with the average growth rate up over 9 percent since 2010. [...]
Nielsen recently tackled a question that many advertisers have regarding video advertising. How much does the ad benefit me (if at all) if the person skips it after a few seconds? The answer, their research shows, is…a lot! The study found significant lift in ad recall, brand awareness and purchase consideration even for people who saw the video before it started [...]
Ever wonder just what does Google know about my search history? Think that when you delete your browser cache that also deletes it from Google’s servers? Cue the Jaws theme song music…WRONG! If you want to know what Google has on you (yes, it’s a little scary) the search giant has quietly rolled out a new function that allows you [...]
According to a recent article in eMarketer, digital media continues to surpass traditional media in amount of time spent with major media by US adults. In 2015, the average adult will spend 5 hours and 38 minutes with digital media each day! To put that growth in perspective, that number was just 3 hours and 40 minutes in 2011. TV, [...]
If you are looking to boost the number of conversions your website gets from mobile users, the answer looks like it’s behind door number 3… Contests! Formstack’s “Form Conversion” study analyzed 665,000 user account contributions and 117,577 form types all collected in January 2015. The research only looked at mobile-responsive forms, which are designed to be filled out easily on smartphones [...]
If you want to know what a website looks like when called up on a smartphone, there is a way you can do this right from your desktop. Google Chrome has a great feature that allows you to do this in a snap. You can even look at what the website looks like on different smartphone models. 1. Open up [...]
“Pay-Per-Click works for everyone!” “You’ve got to be doing “AdWords!” “Every media campaign should include Pay-Per-Click!” These are some of the most prevalent myths circulating. These myths are costing local businesses a lot of money in misdirected advertising. The truth is Pay-Per-Click isn’t for everyone, especially small businesses and here are some reasons why. […]
The folks who bring you Google Analytics have just released some first quarter insights from the previous two years that could help you decide when it is best to beef up your marketing in the coming weeks. They analyzed billions of Google Analytics sessions and found that “in particular, the week of February 5th (also known as the week after [...]
The short answer? Yes! I recently was talking with the owner of a plumbing company and I told him that he needed to add a blog to his website. His response? “Who the *&!# is going to read a blog about plumbing?” Fair enough. I explained to him that the purpose of a blog is not just to educate and [...]
Google recommends that advertisers track View-Through Conversions. Here’s what Google says, “Measure the success of your display ad campaigns by using View-Through Conversions… View-Through Conversions are what happens when a customer sees an ad (but doesn’t click), and then later completes a conversion on your site.” In order to track View-Throughs, a pixel code is placed on your website. Google [...]
Giving people too many options or asking them for too much information can quickly reduce your conversions. For example, a study found that by reducing the number of options on your website’s “contact us” form from 6 to 3, you can increase your conversion rate an average of 66%. Even changing something like the “submit” button can increase your conversions. [...]
“So few people actually see posts from top brands on Facebook and Twitter that focusing heavily on those networks can be a waste of time, money and resources.” This quote is from vice president and principal analyst Nate Elliott of Forrester Research in a new research report. He goes on to say that their research showed, “It’s clear that Facebook [...]