Day-to-day internal business affairs rarely get finished without spelled out tasks. Most positions in a company have daily duties that get checked off at the end of the day to make certain everyone is working at capacity and not sloughing off. It’s not unusual for smaller companies to sweep that component under the rug, but it’s a costly mistake. Every single position in a company expecting to grow should have metrics in place, in other words, a way to evaluate performance based on a constant expectation of growth.
Business owners are no exception. When we neglect to track our efforts and measure their effectiveness with little more than a glance at paperwork or bank statements, we’re not positioning our companies to grow. As a matter of fact, we may not even realize when we’re in the danger zone.
When it comes to online marketing, you need to know nine things to keep you moving safely in the right direction:
- How much traffic your website is getting
- What pages, sequentially, do people view on your website
- How long they are hanging out on your money pages
- How many visitors convert to sales, and why
- How many people open your email newsletters
- Do your email subscribers go back to your website
- How many email subscribers are turning into actual leads
- How many interactions are happening from your business Facebook page
- How quickly and steadily your Facebook ‘Like’s are happening
Listen, it’s hard to stay on top of everything like you should. But this is a different era in American history, and today, if you don’t know exactly how you’re drawing people to your products and services, you risk losing out big time. What you don’t know can hurt you.
The list is pretty long, but it’s really not all that hard to know the kind of information you need. There are only three major tools you should be focusing on to know if your online efforts are effective.
Growth Through Tracking And Measuring
Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools
Google analytics are usually set up when your site goes live. If you haven’t done that, it’s free to do and will give you information about how your site is navigated. You can learn what pages your visitors come in through, and where they go from there. You’ll learn if your money pages are effective and if you’re posting information to your blog that people read. That can really help you narrow down your headline choices, page and post content until you get the responses you’re after.
You’ll also be made aware of mistakes that might get you penalized by Google. If you’re signed up with Webmaster Tools, you’ll have 48 hours to make adjustments they warn you about. You don’t want penalties, believe me, they can take your site hundreds of pages back – making your website virtually invisible and taking a long time to recover.
Email Analytics
We use AWeber Email Services for our company and our clients because they really rule reliability standards. We don’t have to wonder if we’re CAN-Spam compliant, they make sure. If you’re using an email service, don’t neglect analytics that will help you understand if your headlines are getting opened, if your links are getting clicked on, and when your subscribers open their mail. All that information will help you become more effective with your email campaigns.
Facebook Admin Insights
I certainly hope you’re taking charge of your Facebook page. That kind of free advertising is unlike any other and the returns can be staggering when this media is mastered. Here, too, you have access to visitor behavior so you can see if all your efforts are paying off.
The last thing I’ll mention might be the first thing you should do. Ask the right questions on the phone. Always find out how your caller found your company, and offer your website, e-newsletter, and Facebook page for additional information.
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the feedback you thought you would, simply keep putting one foot in front of the other and take control of your online performance. Usually results aren’t available overnight, but if you pay close attention and make small adjustments to your routine and message regularly, you’ll be easily found online and on mobile devices. Get started now.
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Disclaimer: Yes, we are proud affiliates of AWeber Email Services. Why not? They’re the best!
