Google Analytics and SEO for your website
Google Analytics helps you understand a user’s experience on your website. By using this information, you can make changes to your website that will help your website rank higher in search engines and thereby help you gain more qualified website traffic. Google Analytics not only gives you information about the number of visitors to your website, but it also gives a lot of useful information about your website including: individual spends on the website, pages visited in the website, where a person left your website, bounce rate, and much more.
Google Analytics and how it helps with SEO
The question here is how does Google Analytics help with my SEO? Here are some of the ways in which Google analytics can help your SEO campaign:
- Visits: This is the most basic of all of the information you are given. Visits tells you how many visitors to your website you had in a one month period. You can then compare this with past months to see if your traffic is increasing. You will be able to identify trends and if there are seasonal spikes to your website. In turn, this will help you refine your marketing efforts to coincide with period when visitors to your site are the mximum.
- Top referring keywords: This lists the relevant keywords that brought visitors to your website. Based on this information, you can see where your website ranks for these keywords. In turn, you can make changes that will help your website rank higher for the keyword. The end result is that you can tweak your SEO campaign to rank higher for keywords that are bringing visitors to your website. Many times, you will find that there are keywords people are using, that you have not optimized for.
- Referrers: This is another important metric as it gives you an insight about the source of the traffic to your website. If a website is referring visitors to your site, then it tells you the kind of websites you should be present on, which sites the visitors to your site are likely to visit and this can help you refine your link building strategy.
- Click Path: This helps to judge how user friendly your site design is, how people navigate your site and where they are most likely to exit your site. This helps you refine your website navigation and maximize conversions on your website.
- Bounce Rate: This shows how many visitors left your website and which pages they left the site from. This helps you analyze what could be causing people to leave your site and you can accordingly modify the content of your site.
There’s a lot more useful information and data that web analytics provides. The items listed above are the very basic. A proper tracking of your website traffic can provide you with a wealth of information that you can use to refine your SEO campaign and attract more traffic to your website.
Let’s see how Google Analytics helps you track the above details of your website. Google Analytics is a free solution from Google and it can provide you with data that helps you refine your SEO campaigns and attract more traffic. Here’s an example:
In the above image, you can see the details that Google analytics provides about a particular website. You can find that it mentions about number of visits, bounce rates, pageviews, etc. This is a top level view. You can explore details of each of the above metrics, decide refinements to your SEO campaigns and track the impact of the changes you make.
If you do not know the impact of your efforts, it becomes next to impossible to know if your efforts are working. Analyzing the information available through Google Analytics, you can take informed decisions and make changes to your SEO campaigns to drive more website traffic.
About the Author
Chip Curle is the owner of Charles Curle Design, a North Georgia web designer that develops and manages web sites and drives companies to the top of internet search engines through search engine optimization. His work has earned Chip 14 ADDY (American Advertising Federation) awards including 8 Gold, 4 Silver, and 2 Best of Show.
Building Business Networks – 101
There is really no secret to building your network of contacts. There are a lot of resources out there giving tips and tricks on building business networks and expanding your realm of influence, but there are some basic principals to follow that can have a significant impact on how successful your networking events and strategies are. Paying attention to the basic details is often a more effective approach than using any “secrets.”
What is the point of business networking? It is the process of building relationships with complementary businesses, business owners, and business managers to increase your influence and position within a specific market or industry. There are two points to take away here – building relationships and increasing influence and position. Relationships will naturally increase your influence, and influence creates opportunity and improved market position.
The most important value in business is the relationships that are built. Customers, clients, vendors, and colleagues all shape the relationships within a business. Like any other area in life, the quality of the relationships can have a huge impact on the outcome of your interactions with existing and potential clients, vendor/reseller relations, and every other aspect of your daily operations. Focus on building and maintaining positive relationships with your contacts (both within and outside of your company) you will quickly begin to increase your influence with your contacts.
How do you practically build good relationships with new contacts? There is balance and communication to work on. All relationships tend to follow a similar tract – introduction, follow-up, acquaintance, interaction, commitment. There is room between each stage for varying degrees of influence, but most relationships in business tend to fall somewhere in these five categories.
In the introduction stage, you first meet the contact, give some overviews about yourself, find out who they are, exchange contact info, and independently decide whether or not the person is worth a follow-up action. If there is the potential to have a mutually beneficial relationship, or the new contact can possibly benefit you, request permission to follow-up with that person. If you can benefit them, let them know that you would be open to a follow-up communication.
The follow-up communication is where most individuals drop the ball. It is difficult to make time in a busy schedule to get in front of your computer with the intent to follow-up on potential lead or new contacts. If you don’t follow up correctly, a few things can happen: 1) you can loose out on a potential referral, 2) you could loose out on a potential client, 3) you loose out on a opportunity to get connected to a whole different network of contacts, and 4) you can loose credibility by not following up when you expressed an interest to. If networking for increasing influence and position within a market is important to you, then follow-up opportunities should be created – not missed.
If you can get through the follow-up process, your hope is for a favorable response from the people you contact. When favorable replies are made (either by phone or email), you gain an opportunity to create an acquaintance with the contact. This is the real first step in developing a relationship. At this stage, you have made a favorable enough first impression to engage someone a second time, so use this opportunity to win them over. This third step is usually the opportunity to give out some usable information, such as potential leads for each of you, or a request for proposal (or a request to offer a proposal) for services.
Once you have had a few interactions with your contacts, you begin to develop an acquaintance with them. At this point, you both know each other and each others businesses, but you aren’t close with them yet. You may or may not have had any business dealings with them, but they are at least on your radar for future deals, or as someone who you can send referrals to. Most business relationships don’t grow past this phase, but if you continue to follow up with them and remain in contact, often times you will either get a lead or be able to give a lead to someone you stay in contact with.
The final step in the business relationship process is developing a commitment with the new contact. This doesn’t have to be any formal commitment, but typically means that you both agree to continue interacting with one another. Hopefully the commitment comes in the form of a new customer or a referral that turns into a client, but either way, you have built a new business relationship that will only grow from here. It is important to not loose contact with individuals in this stage of the business relationship because they can often be the most influential people in your growing network.
Most business-savvy individuals are always looking to grow their network, which means that follow-up and continued interactions are welcomed. It is your responsibility to bring value to the relationships that you build – don’t just look to your own interest, but to the interest of your new contacts. In doing so, you will begin to increase your influence and position within your industry.
SEOTERIC is an Athens and Atlanta website development and marketing firm specializing in building business websites that generate sales and leads through powerful SEO and marketing strategies.
Common Networking Mistakes
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Common Networking Mistakes Networking is a term that didn’t exist (academically) until almost 40 years ago. It’s a word uttered in and around the business world every day, yet is unclear to most as to how it actually works. Still, it’s a fundamental tool to the success of any business. By definition, the term networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships. It’s not schmoozing; it’s not just handing out business cards, selling, marketing or small talk. Those activities are part of networking, but unfortunately, many people’s misunderstanding of the term causes them to network ineffectively. The following are some habits of unskilled networkers, and they can stand in the in your way of developing mutually valuable relationships. So, next time you attend your Chamber or Association meeting, keep these ideas in mind so you can offer the most value to your fellow networkers. Habit #1: Attitude Much like the development of any skill, networking begins with attitude. Unfortunately, unskilled networkers have the wrong attitude. If you’ve ever attended a networking function before, perhaps you’ve encountered businesspeople who act in the following ways: The hard sell – they believe networking is about one thing and one thing only: selling products and services to everyone in the room. Business only – they’re not there to make friends. They’re not there to have fun. And they’re certainly not interested in developing mutually valuable relationships. It’s all about me – they don’t take the time to help and share with others, but rather focus on their own needs. In other words, they can’t spell “N-E-T-W-O-R-K-I-N-G” without “I.” Attitude is fundamental to effective networking. In fact, it’s the most important habit to understand. Habit #2: Only Dig Your Well WHEN You’re Thirsty. The key to successful networking is making your friends, establishing contacts and developing relationships – before you need them. Getting what you want by helping others get what they want first. Networking should be a big part of your marketing plan! Enter the unskilled networkers, who only network because: a) They need new customers b) They have a new product or service to sell c) Their boss forced them to do so Take my friend Bill, for example. He’s quite successful in the insurance business; however he recently approached me about using networking to obtain some hot leads. “My numbers are down. My manager is on my back. I gotta get out there and start networking…or else! What do you suggest?” “Networking takes time,” I explained, “and you can’t expect to come into loads of business or dozens of potential clients without developing the relationships first.” As you already learned, networking is the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships…over time. If you try to dig your well WHEN you’re thirsty, you may never find a drink. Habit #3: Dealing Out Business Cards is a terrible habit, and it happens all the time. Have you ever seen people distribute 173 of their business cards during the first 5 minutes of the event? They move as quickly as possible from one person to the next. They don’t make eye contact, they don’t ask to exchange cards – they just deal them out. This is guaranteed to make people feel puny and insignificant. Notice these unskilled networkers don’t spend time actually meeting and establishing rapport with new people; but rather concentrate on giving out as many cards as possible. Your business card has no value when they are dealt out without conversation. Habit #4: Unskilled networkers don’t wear professional looking name tags. When you wear a name tag it makes you much more approachable and helps people remember you and your name. Remember that when you wear a name tag you will always be able to measure the benefit by the conversation that results from people that approach you. When you don’t wear a name tag you will never know what you lost as a result of not being approachable! Habit #5: Unskilled networkers not only attend meetings with their friends and/or coworkers, but they talk and sit with them the entire time! These are people with whom they’ve worked 5 days a week, 8 hours a day for the past 3 years! This is not a good technique to maximize your company’s visibility. This habit creates an elitist, unfriendly attitude. And think how uncomfortable this makes the one or two people sitting at the table who don’t work for that company! It’s unfair to them because they’re unable to meet a diverse group of people with whom to develop mutually valuable relationships! Remember: If you’re sitting with YOUR company – you’re sitting with the WRONG company. Habit #6: Unskilled Networkers believe there is only one specific time and place for networking. It’s called “A Room with A Sign Posted Outside That Says So.” In other words, they only network when someone forces them to. They don’t believe networking opportunities in places like elevators, busses, supermarkets or parks. That’s it? A measly half hour for networking? Doesn’t give you much time, does it? The truth about networking is that it can happen anytime, anywhere. There is a time and a place for networking – it’s called ANY time, and ANY place. Network to win in 2010! |
Networking to Win in 2010
As an business person, one of your primary goals is to continue to fill your pipeline with new business. One of the most cost-effective ways to do this–particularly for a smaller business–is through networking. Before you can begin to be an effective networker, it’s important to identify some of the strengths and skill sets that you bring to the table as a business professional. Are you a people person? Do you enjoy public speaking? What kind of professional background did you have before starting your business? How long have you lived in the area where you do business? What other natural skills do you have (such as time management, organizational skills or keeping clients focused) that may not fall directly into your business expertise but are valued by people? One of the biggest roadblocks to networking is the fear that being more of an introvert impedes any successful attempts at networking. In fact, it’s a question I get quite frequently: “How do I network if I’m not a naturally outgoing person?” Go ahead and breathe a sigh of relief, you don’t have to become Mr. Man-About-Town, to be a successful networker. Most business people, over time, naturally develop a certain level of comfort from dealings with customers, vendors and others in their day-to-day transactions. So even people who aren’t gregarious or outgoing can form meaningful relationships and communicate with a little practice..
Become a trusted source for quality referrals and contacts.
Another way to ease into networking is to provide a referral or contact. This could be a direct referral (someone you know who’s in the market for another person’s services) or a solid contact (someone who might be helpful down the road).Let’s say you’re networking, and you run into a person who owns a printing shop. You talk for a while, you hit it off, and even though you don’t know of anyone who’s looking for this person’s selection of print services right now, you’d like to help him out. So you say: Jim, I don’t know of anyone who’s actively in the market for printing services right now, but I do have someone who I think could be a big help to your business. Her name is Jane Smith, and she’s a marketing consultant. I know a lot of her clients need business cards, flyers and things like that printed, and while I don’t know if she has a deal on the table right now, I think you both would really hit it off if you got together. You see how easy that was? You stated right up front you don’t know what will come of the contact. But you then followed up by saying you do think this person could help and briefly described how. Chances are this will sound like a good idea to your new contact.
Business 400 will be hosting the monthly networking events at the beautiful Metropolitan Club in Alpharetta, Georgia on the first Tuesday of each month from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. There will be hundreds of dollars in cash prizes and hundreds of new people to meet. Please visit our website at www.Business400.com to learn more about Business 400 and all the exciting events that have already been planned. Our next monthly networking event will be on February 2nd. We are networking together to win in 2010!
Why Search Engine Optimization is a Great Investment For Any Company
How much money do you pay to have a sales person sell your services or products? How many hours does that sales person work each day/week/month? Did you know that your website is a sales person that works for you 24/7? Having an optimized website is the single most powerful marketing tool that every company should be aware of and implement into their business.
Here are 5 reasons why SEO should be implemented into your marketing strategy before your competition beats you out.
Absence of risk
Search engine optimization is free of any risk. In many cases, paid advertising (banner ads, pay-per-click) is subject to click fraud risk. There are people that that use software to click on their competitors ads, which cost you money each time it is clicked. Google AdWords has protection against this, but it isn’t 100%. Nothing can stop a competitor from clicking your link a few times, costing you money.
Reliability
Banner ads and pay-per-click campaigns work great until the marketing budget for these campaigns depletes for the month. When this happens, your website is no longer listed and customers can’t find you anymore. SEO obtains an organic listing and your company’s website will always be found by your customers. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a site ranked high in the search engine results rather than from a pay-per-click ad.
Brand Awareness
A website that is ranked high means that more people will see the name of your company and become familiar with it and it’s products or services, even if they haven’t made a purchase. Consumers recognize businesses ranked in the top 3 in search engine results compared to those appearing in banner ads. With so many people using pop-up blockers and banner blockers, many people don’t even see the banner ads that are being displayed.
Targeted Traffic
SEO brings those paying customers to you. When a consumer is looking for a specific product or service and you rank high, they will enter the key words/phrases that they are looking for. When they find your site, they are a target lead and more likely to purchase from you. How much money do you spend on sales people getting you targeted leads and sales?
Affordability
In comparison to banner ads and pay-per-click advertising, SEO is a much more affordable service. With banner ads and pay-per-click, you set a budget and when that budget is met, the ads are gone. This could happen a week into your campaign. This means you would go three weeks before your ads appear again. With SEO, your website will stay listed on the search engines and won’t drop off.
As you should be able to see, search engine optimization is vital to your business. If you have a website and people can’t find it when entering keywords of the products or services that you sell, then why did you pay all of that money to have the website built? Remember, your website is a sales person that works day and night and has a global territory. Can you afford to pay your sales person to work day and night?
