What Is Google Analytics?

Google analytics is a free web-based service which gives you up-to-the minute website traffic statistics and marketing effectiveness figures. So how can it be helpful to a website owner?

Well, you’ve set up your website but how do you know who has visited it and how effective it is? It may look good to you and your mum will have told you that it looks lovely – but as a business tool, is it working and having the desired effect of bringing in customers and getting you noticed? That’s where Google analytics comes in handy.

The analytics will allow you to see who is viewing your site (and sometimes where they are based in the world), so again you can see whether there are any trends or patterns around who is most likely to hit upon your site and for how long they visited each time. It will also tell you which pages they viewed so you can see which are the most popular and which pages are perhaps not working for you.

You can set up email campaigns which are targeted at your chosen audience and then Google will tell you who has opened them, read them and how many ‘click-throughs’ to your own website you’ve had on the back of them. This enables you to revise your campaigns as you go along so that you know exactly where your marketing tactics need to be improved.

Like any other web tool, it’s relatively easy to set up and use but there are also add ons which you can select if you want to get really involved. It can actually become quite addictive!

On the back of your statistics, you may decide to revise your website completely or just target specific areas which you feel need to bring in the customer further. You will soon get a feel for which bits are working and which aren’t.

You can set up Google analytics to work in conjunction with other Google money-making sites such as Google Adwords, Adsense and so on. Additionally, this allows you to improve your return on investment (ROI) for the business and you can determine which visits to your websites are converting into sales for you – this is a huge enhancement and a very useful tool for any business person. Website hits are all very well and good but we want them converted into referrals and ultimately cash.

So if you’re a natural ‘curtain-twitcher’ and can’t resist wondering what others are up to, then Google analytics is for you and your website! It’s not spyware because it can’t pinpoint who your customers are and where they live exactly – but it can tell you how popular your website is and who is bothering to read your email blasts. Watch those campaigns turn into hits and your hits turn into cash.

Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder - EzWeb123.com

Google – now too expensive for small businesses?

Google AdWords is a growing service which allows you to advertise to people who are searching on Google for a product or service.

AdWords works on a pay per click basis; in other words, you only pay when someone clicks onto your advert. You don’t even need a website to do it. You can set your own keywords, set your own budget and decide where your advert will be displayed. When someone goes into Google and carries out a search using keywords that you have entered into your ad, your advert may appear next to the search results. Sounds great – you could quite literally be seen by millions.

Google is now the most widely used search engine in the world by a large margin, which means that more and more people are likely to see your ad and click on it. Fantastic news! Or so it should be. However, if you are paying a cost per click (CPC) then this could potentially snowball and run up into amounts which some small businesses are unable to afford. Then you get the bill and you had no idea that it was going to cost you so much, despite having capped your ceiling limit.

For every click on your ad, you are paying for it. However, not every click will translate into business for you and so you may not be getting a profitable return on your investment (ROI) – and ROI is what advertising is all about. If it’s costing you more to advertise than you are making in sales from it, then it’s not working as it should be.

In effect, therefore, Google AdWords could be having the reverse effect of what its intentions were in the first place and could be discouraging small businesses; in turn, leaving room for the larger companies to grow even further because they are better able to absorb the costs of this type of advertising.

Then there is the potential for abuse. With every good idea, there is always someone behind it who has the mastermind to turn good into bad. Click fraud is becoming more and more prevalent and there is the risk of being scammed by the system that is supposed to be helping you.

In addition to all of this, some less tech-savvy people may find AdWords too much of a minefield. Although relatively straightforward to get started, it takes time to make best use of the system and to compete with the bigger fish. Some larger organisations actually pay members of staff to do this sort of advertising on a full-time basis and so they are experts in the subject. The likelihood is that the small businesses which will benefit from AdWords the most are those which are selling a unique service or product and whose keywords are most effective.

Do your homework is the best advice. Use an integrated approach to advertising and don’t just rely on one source. Practice makes perfect but make sure that you are comfortable with using AdWords and understand the pros and cons before getting started.

Copyright © Peter Moore 2009 - Co-Founder of EzWeb123.com