Accessible Tools You Can Use
Cogent marketing requires using marketing tracking tools that are the quantitatively effective. Some are more “secret” than others – that is to say: they are available, but not so many people know about them. Keyword tracking tools, line tracking tools, conversion tracking tools, constant read tracking tools, UTM Codes, Tracking Web Redesign and Analytical Tracking all represent families of available SEO-optimization tools you can use to determine how effective your marketing efforts are. Knowing your effectiveness keeps you from spending money on marketing which ultimately lacks impact.
Keyword Tracking Tools
In order to have the most effective marketing impact, marketing tracking tools which are integral to operations involve keywords. There are a lot of words and word combinations out there that may be suggested, and there are a lot of terms that seem like a good idea but don’t draw any traffic. The best way to go about it is finding which words are most often searched by clients. This can involve chasing geo-targeted Search Engine Results Page (SERP) information stratified by county, city, and zip code. What are the people in county/city/zip “A” searching for? And what do your rankings look like per region? Establishing this information can help you choose the right keywords. One of the best ways to do this, according to searchenginejournal.com, is through the “Now Report“, which is produced by Authority Labs. This report gives in-depth examination of your keywords’ effectiveness.
Link Tracking Tools
It’s better to funnel traffic to your website than away from it. An excellent way to do that is through links that drive the user to you, and increase your page’s traffic. The problem is determining whether or not links you’ve posted which are inbound to your site are ultimately effective. The best way to fix this problem is through marketing tracking tools which measure your link’s effectiveness. There are a number os tools like this available for download, including Majestic-SEO, which offers detailed reports to owners of a given domain; Buzz Stream Link Building, SEOmoz Linkscape, and many more. According to toprankblog.com, such tools are essential in SEO which increases traffic and online sales.
Conversion Tracking Tools
It does not matter how good the product or services you provide are, or how strongly put-together the website is, if there are not conversions. You must have regular conversions, and these must be quantified to determine which efforts are the most successful. Google Analytics will allow you to track conversions by building a tracking URL and using that as an ad destination. The next thing to do is set firm goals and monitor them to see whether your efforts are meeting necessary requirements. Conversion tracking is regularly a free tool, and according to Google support, can substantively increase your ROI. According to Neil Patel, the man who founded neilpatel.com, the best means of ROI measurement is analyzation of direct conversions.
Content Read Tracking Tools
Google Analytics provides one of the best free services for this particular metric available. Basically, the program tracks whether or not users are actually reading the content you provide by watching their scroll-down habits, etcetera. Without following this information, you organization may produce essentially useless content that never gets read. But if you can track it, then you can know you are being as efficient as possible with content production and dissemination. Google Analytics offers a great free solution among content read marketing tracking tools. According to Justin Cutroni of Cutroni.com, tracking content is an excellent way of measuring whether users actually read what has been commissioned.
UTM Codes
A UTM is an “Urchin Tracking Module”, and is labeled because the original software developer was Urchin, though Google acquired them in 2005, and this eventually resulted in Google Analytics. Think of a UTM code as the abbreviated summary on the spine of a library book, making said books easier to file and sort. The UTM designation goes on the back of an URL, and so it becomes easier to track. Say, for example, that you spend a great deal of time marketing via social media. By tracking UTM codes associated with your posts, you can tell how successful something has been, and work to increase that trend. One of the best way to track such success is to find a strategic means of tagging links; doing this early on can save you a lot of trouble and increase ROI. According to David Kutcher of utmftw.com, UTM codes really inform you what’s working and what isn’t. Says Kutcher, “Once you see it, it gets fun!”.
Tracking Web Redesign
A website’s redesign may be irritating clients, or it may be knocking their socks of metaphorically. Marketing tracking tools are essential in determining whether a site redesign has actually been successful. According to searchenginejournal.com, website designs are so essential that it isn’t about “whether” you’re going to implement any kind of redesign, it’s about “when”. That being said, you must use web redesign software to get any idea of effectiveness. You’re looking for several things specifically: bounce rate, pages per session, and goal conversion rate. Again, Google Analytics is essential in determining the success of a website’s redesign. Since their costs are low – free in most cases – going this route makes sense.
Analytical Tracking
Most of the examples stated above are some form of analytical tracking. Basically, you are tracking the data of your website’s success through marketing tracking tools and going on to design digital marketing techniques from there. The problem is that oftentimes sub-par tracking techniques can give information which isn’t necessarily viable or reliable. Google Analytics offers some of the best free analytical tracking software available on the market, and can substantially help you obtain solid ROI from your investment. Additionally, you should consider the analytics tracking software you’re using against actual numbers. After all: a “conversion” may indicate increased traffic to your site, but sometimes a site can experience substantial traffic without ever coming close to an actual “sale”. It’s important to separate the prospective data from that which actually affects your bottom line, and by optimizing SEO operations such that they’re tracked directly, regularly, and in a way that is trustworthy, you can do this well. According to Forbes.com, measuring data turns marketing into science. There’s no need for a trial-and-error approach when you can deftly quantify the success of any outreach.
Solid SEO Tracking Leads To Increased Return On Investment
The higher the return on a given investment, the more successful that investment has been. SEO is absolutely fundamental in modern society, and without it marketing efforts are much more likely to experience failure. Marketing tracking tools are often inexpensive, and have shown themselves to be effective in a way which is somewhat scientific. To recap, be sure you’re using tools which cogently describe the effectiveness of your keywords, and be sure that link tracking tools are likewise correctly implemented, as this leads to conversions. Conversions should increase the more you effectively design your SEO marketing strategy. Another way of ensuring increased conversions is through the creation of content more likely to be read by potential customers, which also requires an analytics program that is likely Google-based. With all that said, don’t forget the value of UTM codes, which make tracking even ubiquitous social media posts straightforward and useful. If you’re doing well enough on certain social media platforms, you may have the ability to curtail spending in other SEO areas while still retaining solid SERP -though be advised, SERP is likely to be higher should SEO techniques extend beyond social marketing. Additionally, you’re website is going to require redesign over time, as that’s just the environment modern marketing has come to at present. Finally, analytical tracking techniques are often inexpensive or entirely free, and absolutely fundamental in ensuring the success of modern business. So don’t retain the quagmire of trial and error. See that which is effective, and that which is ineffective, and trim the fat from your business. This will facilitate more effective marketing in the future, while increasing profitability and expansion over tine in a way directly quantifiable.
Patricia Smith