Google Small Business Online Marketing Guide - Manual (Page 9)

Measuring Your Results
Online marketing generates a wealth of data
to let you assess and refine your marketing
programs. Start with these easy-to-track
performance measures:
Website analytics
Dig into your visitor data to see where your most promising
leads come from. The quality of your traffic usually trumps
quantity – for example, a referral site that delivers four
buying customers may be worth more than one that delivers
50 window shoppers. Google Analytics (www.google.com/
analytics) is a great place to start, and it’s free.
Clickthroughs
The basic measure of an online ad’s impact is how many
people click on it to visit your site. Clickthrough rates are
often strongest with a compelling visual, message or offer,
combined with placement on the right sites.
Conversions
How many people who see your ads “convert” into buyers
or take a specific action, such as subscribing to your
newsletter? Take a look at your conversion rates to help
determine which outreach efforts are most cost-effective.
Phone Number Tracking
Using a unique phone number in your ads lets you see
exactly how many calls your campaign has generated.
Platforms like AdWords Call Metrics (www.google.com/
ads/innovations/callmetrics.html) make this easy by
assigning a different number to each campaign. This
feature, which lets you track calls by ad and shift your
spending, provides clear evidence that online marketing
can lead to real leads, customers and offline success.
Landing pages
A landing page is any page on your website where traffic
is sent specifically to prompt an action. For example, you
might create different landing pages for different display
ads. Landing pages let you customize your message and
track program performance accurately. Keep the landing
page simple — if you want visitors to buy, make that the
focus of the page; don’t distract them with newsletter links,
webcasts, blogs, Facebook links or cute puppy videos.
9
WATCHOUT
Changing your
marketing
tactics too
frequently
may diminish
your long-term
results.
The Small Business Online Marketing Guide