Ranking, Link Building & Google Analytics

The best learning experience this week was discovering how much love I have for analytics. I found researching how my website was performing through link building and analytics to be fun and interesting. This week I spent a lot of time learning how to use Google Analytics to improve my visibility online, how to attract a certain audience, and discover what my audience is really interested in. It was helpful to learn the terminology related to analytics and to see the numbers associated with my products according to demographics, gender, device and paid searches.  

Navigating Google Analytics, quantified the effects of any change I made to my website or campaign whether good or bad. It helped me refine a marketing strategy to expand on strengths and develop anything falling short of ideal. 

My key takeaways from this week were 

• Prioritize link building efforts to build on opportunities to increase a presence online through affiliates or through network sharing. 
• Using links to connect with other business, promote through social media, or marketing through Q&A sessions can build a positive reputation for your brand.
• High-quality content should be made up of accurate information, images or videos, and relevant content that is relatable to your audience. 
• Share updated material right away on social media platforms to maximize exposure. 

Social Media for SEO & Social Networking

 

This week was about learning how to use Social Media to maximize SEO in marketing strategies. There was great content within the readings this week for beginners to start doing the research in discovering where the ideal customer base is hanging out, how to get your business seen online by those customers, and how to grow a circle of affiliates to gain reputable mentions to add creditability to your business. 

One of the first things I learned was to have a plan in place with short and long term goals. Some memorable advice in setting goals to market a business using social media are 

1. Discover your target audience by researching other businesses in the same industry. Find where potential customers are going to find information or content related to the products and services you are selling then create a unique marketing strategy to meet the needs of those customers.
2. Include social media advertising within a marketing budget to reach short and long term goals. Social media can help reach goals pertaining to increasing sales or generating creditability through customer shares and recommendations, so an allocated budget is necessary.
3. Once  a customer "hang out" has been realized, create "content that is segmented, searchable, snackable, and sharable."  Learn about segments from analytic tools within the platform you are using to create relevant hash tags, words, and phrases potential customers are using to make your content searchable to those users. 
4. Make significant content sharable throughout diverse platforms by tracking social shares and backlinks. Knowing this data can help reach marketing goals by understanding what your customer base is really interested in and then make adjustments to keep customers interested. 
5. Start with the end in mind. Dream big for the long-run. Where do I want my business to be in five years? One year? Once a long-term goal has been established, work backwards by setting smaller realistic and achievable goals within a doable time frame. 

Landing Page Optimization & Basic SEO

Learning about search engine optimization this week provided more clarity on how important the relevancy of keywords and their placements are to a business website. I also learned how to utilize different strategies to achieve a higher ranking within searches on the web by enhancing my photos through placement and adding alt-text. 

The key points I want to remember this week about search engine optimization are from the video What is Search Engine Optimization. 

Keywords matter because search engines narrow down all the information gathered on the web to to the relevancy of a few key terms used in a users search. 

Page titles offer more details on the content of a website. Having descriptive page titles which include relevant keywords will increase more traffic to the site. 

Web links between other websites lets search engines know a website has a lot of good information. It also adds creditability to the website attracting more users to the site.

Reputation will grow visibility in searches by adding fresh content, being consistent, and offering engaging material to keep users involved on the website for longer periods of time. 

A mentioned earlier, in addition to these tips, other suggestions from this weeks readings that will improve searches and bring traffic to my website are: First, a good URL should include a keyword relevant to the ad. Second, alt attributes included in images can provide an opportunity for images to show up in search results. Finally, the body text of an ad should be comprehensive and include relevant keywords and phrases. 

ROI & Optimizing Ad Performance

To expand and improve my ad performance, I learned there are several ways to give a boost to existing ad campaigns with just a few simple observations and edits. This week offered a review on keyword optimization for improving ad performance and understanding the benefits of conversions. The article that I want to remember from this week was based on the search term report found in my Google ads account. By accessing the search term report, I can see what keywords users are using to search for relevant products related to my business. For example, if a consumer is looking for a relaxing essential oil, they could enter the search term, "calming essential oil." By looking at the search term report, I can improve my keywords to match what potential consumers are searching for to draw more traffic to my website and optimize my ad performance. In Google Ads help, the article, "About the Search terms report," shows how to access the report and explains the difference between search term s and keywords. Other points to remember when using search term reports are: 

• Modifying the search term report to view search terms used on ads, campaigns, or specific ad groups, can help maximize a list of relevant keywords that the majority of people have used resulting in showing my ads. This is a helpful information because I will be able to add, delete or pause specific keywords that are not performing as well, but may be costing me additional money to run.
• Another factor to improving search terms is understanding match types. Match types determine how closely searches come to your keywords. Depending on how close the search terms come to showing my ads, I can make changes to my match types to be more or less specific to increase y ads presence online. 

Understanding how to use conversions to find my ROI, was more challenging for me this week. Although I understand the benefits of determining a value for conversions and how they can help me maximize my campaign budget, I have a lot more to learn in this area. Below are some helpful articles within this weeks readings that I want to reference for future use. 

Return on Investment (ROI)

About return on investment

Setting up conversion tracking

Relevance & Quality Score

 

This week I learned a quality score is the relevance of how useful my company ad is to the user and how well it compares to other advertisers in the same industry. The key metrics that determine my websites quality score are based on the following and will determine a score status of above average, average, or below average. 

1. Relevance of  keywords and text in my ads. If I advertise "essential oils" in my ad, the consumer must be able to click on my ad and find essential oils or any supporting elements I have written in my ad text filling a need.
2. A click through rate which determines how many people clicked on my ad and what is the likelihood that users will continue to do so. 
3. Quality of my landing page and how east it is to navigate for the user.

An example of how this information is useful and how to apply improvements to a quality score would be if my ad had an average CTR, but below average in landing page experience. This means people find my ads interesting, but they are not finding what they need on my website because it isn't relevant enough to my ad. The landing page would need to be improved to match the existing ad. This could improve my overall quality score. 

Although I am new to online marketing, I found the relevance of a good quality score to be significant in streaming traffic to my site. I needed to do some additional research to fully understand the benefits of Google Analytics and how it will impact my marketing strategies. In my research, I found case studies to be informative and creative in finding what is going to work best for me as I develop my own marketing strategies. A case study I found to be helpful was from The American Cancer Society. Although I am a small company, I liked the strategy used in this case study. By organizing traffic needs in three simple categories, a scoring system was developed based on relevance to the user and what the website had to offer. This study was primarily focused on human behavior, but still applicable to the greater interests of any business marketing strategy and improving quality scores in any industry. 

Case Studies

10 Best Google Analytics Case Studies

From this weeks readings: 

Quality Score in Google Ads and how to improve it.

Ads

 Preparing and developing an effective ad campaign was the focus this week. Building upon establishing good keywords from the previous week, I learned the importance of expanding and writing successful ads to increase traffic to my website will also add to the creditability of my business. Some key take-aways to remember from the discussion posts, announcements, and readings this week were:

1. Use creative keywords to build your ad. Sometimes this will include adding keywords from a consumers point of view. It is important to explore words that will describe what they are looking for, but don't necessarily know the official term or name of the item. 
2. Use descriptive and applicable headlines to capture the essence of the business at a glance. To make it easier, Google will generate ideas according to the type of audience you are trying to attract, providing suggestions under categories like "shipping" and "location."
3. Build up your website with relevant content. Google will use the domain name of the business to search for keyword matches that are in your ads. It is also important to make sure the landing page matches the ad, so customers find what they are looking for when they click on the ad.
4. If you are wanting to attract more customers using tablets and mobile devices, check the formatting of your ads. Check for professionalism in content and appearance. 
5. Avoid extra spaces, unnecessary capitalization, and symbols in ads, to maintain the integrity of your business and to produce a high quality ad. 
6. Avoid using to many repetitive keywords and descriptions in ad groups. Using the same keywords will limit the ability to reach a wider audience. 

Finally, a good ad will adhere to the Google policies found in the advertising center: Google Advertising Policies Center. 

Ads & Keywords

 

                                  Photo Source: https://www.dashtech.org/how-to-find-the-right-keywords-for-seo/

This week was an opportunity to learn how to increase traffic to my website by selecting effective keywords in a Google Ad campaign. Through this weeks readings and additional research I discovered to achieve the best outcomes will come from understanding how to create a group of words relevant to my business and products and how to implement them in my ad campaign by creating ad groups and good content.  

A couple of practices to keep in mind when creating an initial list of keywords and ad text are:

1. An ad group should contain 5-20 keywords.
2. Keep text content simple, clear, and to the point.
3. Use specific (not too specific) keywords to describe a product so a customer can find it easily.
4. Create words from the customers perspective. What would they type to find your product?
5. Adding negative keywords to a group can help filter out people who are searching for a different product similar to your keyword.   
6. Pull keywords from my website by adding the URL to my keyword planner
7. Understand how match types work when creating keywords. The example below is a great visual from the tutoring resource page (Source: Google Ads help page). Each keyword match type below will determine how closely related a keyword would need to be to match a potential customers search.

Another resource I found helpful when researching how to create my ads campaign was from a YouTube video How to use Google Keyword Planner. The video provided additional insight in how to set up an effective campaign. It provided tips on how to use filters to maximize clicks, where to locate the plan overview to see location and device data, and how to use group relevance constructed by Google to save time. 

Legal Structures, Licenses & Taxes

 

This week I learned about the types of legal structures and which one would work best to build my business brand. Of the structures, sole proprietorship, partnership, and limited liability, I found a sole proprietorship would work best for my business in affiliate marketing. 

My decision was based on the research from this weeks learning, as well as, several additional informative websites (links below). However, before deciding, I needed to understand the market and industry requirements of my business. To do this,  it required researching other affiliate websites and understanding the affiliate program structure.

I found it significant to understand the business model before deciding on a legal structure because of  tax obligations or acquired penalties if not in compliance with local, county, and state regulations. Each business structure varies in obligation and some structures require more effort in setting up. Some factors I considered before deciding which structure was for were:

1. Control- What level of control do I want over my business?

2. Liability- What is my legal liability? 

3. Cost- Each structure has varying costs when setting up. Do I have any constraints that would prevent me from pursuing the preferred business structure?

4. Tax Obligations- Will I be able to pay the taxes owed under my preferred business structure?

5. Continuing the business- How long do I want my business to run? Is it transferable?

Research Sources

IRS.GOV

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/business-taxes

U.S. Small Business Administration

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/launch-your-business/apply-licenses-permits

USAGov

https://www.usa.gov/business?source=busa

Site Design

     This week's material covered the importance of first impressions when designing the layout of a website. A lessoned learned was from the Smart Insights article, "Good web design is crucial for making the right impression" was "web design is not art." This statement threw me for a loop and had me rethink web design all together. 

Being a visual person, I immediately looked at web design as an opportunity to express the individuality of my brand/company. However, I learned web design should be built on function, ease of use, and purpose with an emphasis on "clarity and absolute completeness."

In addition to this, from the readings, assignments, and discussion boards, I learned an effective website design requires a combined visual and functional hierarchy to maintain interest. The layout should meet the needs of commerce, but also the needs of visitors through compatible payment options, easy to use interfaces, and consistency in branding throughout the website. 

 Moving forward, I would like to keep these tips in mind when designing a memorable website:

1. Imagery used on a website shouldn't over power the content. Authentic images should be be relevant to the the product and/or service while creating an emotional connection between the brand and the consumer. White pace and cohesive topography are also important elements to consumer engagement. 

2. Navigation on a website should come with ease of use. There should be no more than 3-7 menu items on a web page. Anything more will overwhelm, distract or become forgettable for the user. 

3. To much content, video or ads will clutter a site and slow down loading times which will decrease traffic to the site. In contrast, faster load times will increase interest and generate more followers. 

4. When creating a website, keep in mind most people use phones, mobile apps, and tablets to search online. Its important for a layout to adapt to varying screen sizes (responsive web design). 

Site Building & Hosting

                                              https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/05/free-website-builders.html

This week there was a lot of growth in learning which site builder would work with the preferred host and domain name of my choosing. I spent a lot of time researching different site builders, gathering information on plan pricing, host capability, and ease of use to determine which applications would be at my skill level and still meet the needs of my business. 

I found the most important criteria to be for any business owner was personal preference. In researching the many site builder and hosting sites, I learned the majority of website builders integrate hosting in their applications and offer similar plans with competitive pricing. I then realized most site-builders and hosting sites make it easy for a first time e-commerce owner to build a professional website. The simplicity can make it difficult to chose a plan because of the overwhelming choices. Based on the many applications to choose from, it was difficult for me to make a decision. I then started to research some of the downfalls of these sites. For example the terms for cancellation policies, bandwidth requirements, available SEO tools, and subscription agreements. Considering some of the limitations to these applications provided opportunity to expand my knowledge and do some more research. 

What I want to remember from this week is making the effort to research when choosing a site builder and host are well worth the time invested. It would have been easy for me to go along with the popular choice in the discussion boards or to only focus on one criteria to meet the basic requirements of this course, but I wouldn't have fully grasped the concepts taught this week and I would never have known what SEO meant or why its so important to consider when starting an online business. 

By the end of the week, with confidence, I have been able to make an informative decision on what site & hosting plan works for my business. Outside of finding the right applications for my business this week, I also learned critical thinking is equally important when making good decisions. 

Sourcing the Product

Photo Credit: https://diodetech.com/product-source.html

As mentioned previously, creating a web based business is new knowledge for me. It took effort to understand the benefits and drawbacks of using affiliate marketing vs. drop shipping as a business model. At first glance, the answer seemed simple when choosing a method to generate sales. The easier method being affiliate marketing. 

With affiliate marketing, everything was cut and dry. Find publishers, offer a commission, and bring in the profits. It certainly seemed ideal compared to drop shipping which would require overcoming some challenges like chargebacks and extended shipping times. However, what I learned this week was easier doesn't mean better.

I discovered through the readings and resources in the assignments this week that implementing a decision matrix is the first step to targeting what is important to the business owners and the company before making a decision on a business model. Using a decision matrix will aid in establishing a business model by ranking the importance of quantifying criteria based on a comparison between two or more alternatives. Once a ranking of importance is established, an obtainable model can be implemented.

I also found, it's equally important to do the research to discover what will work despite any challenges that come with the best answer. For example, although affiliate marking seemed like the easier route in the student recommendation model, in the long-run, it would require a great deal of time and money to find publishers willing to advertise products on their website. Given the skill set of the student group and their criteria, affiliate marketing may not have been the best answer. Further research into finding the right business model is well worth the investment.