Using Google analytics can be a daunting experience for the inexperienced, and as such many business owners forego it altogether. This is a mistake. Making friends with this magnificent tool is the beginning of understanding how and why your website is performing the way it is, and gives you remarkable insight as to how to correct things moving forward.

Everyone has to start somewhere, so in order to keep things simple, we've knocked it down to 5 reports within analytics you'll want to watch. This is doable, and will give you a glimpse into seeing just how powerful this tool can be for you.

5 Google Analytics reports you'll want to view

1 – Search queries

Google Analytics reports used to show more keyword data than it does now, but a very useful way to get some of this intelligence is by viewing the search queries report. You should have your Google Webmaster account linked to your Analytics for this to work properly.

After you do that, you can see valuable data such as the keywords you are currently ranking for, the amount of impressions they get, and the click-through rate on that Google Analytics report.

2 – Mobile device use

If your site is not optimized well for mobile, and Google has given us plenty of warning about an April 21st, 2015 algorithm change that will hurt sites that are not; this report shows you which pages are doing well with mobile.

3 – Referring sites

Knowing which sites are sending you traffic (and links) on an ongoing basis is something you'll want to check regularly. If that traffic begins to dip, you'll want to know why, and see if there is a fix, such as a bad link, dated content or other reasons.

4 – Session information

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A report showing you data detailing how much time a visitor spends on your site, and on which pages and how long they are there. Since time on site and page is a significant element in the search algorithm, this is highly prized information. Know how a session is defined in Analytics here.

5 – Raw page views and exits

This is how many times your pages are viewed. Closely related is the pages where visitors exit the site from: you want to know this and investigate why.

Keeping a watchful eye on these basic Google Analytics reports will help you stay informed as to how well your pages are doing, and go a long way toward helping you better optimize your business.

The first and sometimes only reason this doesn't happen is that it's a technical area, and most of us aren't up to speed on what it takes to make this happen. Is it a software you have to buy, or who's going to make it work the way it needs to? Let's check out the answers you need to these questions, and get you started out collecting your data today.

Tools to begin collecting and analyzing data

There are lots of tools available out there for tracking and collecting website data, but for those just starting the best option is definitely Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is a free tool provided for you that provides you a glimpse into how visitors are using your pages. Not only that, it cuts down on customer acquisition costs by enabling you to target your marketing, organic search and advertising campaigns far more effectively. This tool has more in it than you'll probably ever use!

What sort of data do you need to track?

There is a wealth of items you may want to track your website data, but at the start here are 5 important ones that everyone should look at.

• Traffic sources – Knowing where your traffic is coming from is crucial to understanding and implementing your marketing campaigns. Oftentimes you may be surprised at what you see!
• Conversions – This metric provides invaluable data regarding conversions, allowing you to make any necessary changes to increase your conversion rates.
• Keywords – Understanding the keywords people are using to find your pages is important, and can lead to more and better traffic.
• Top pages – Which pages are performing the best? This data shows you how many visits each page gets, and helps you understand how people are viewing your site overall.
• Time on page – The more time people spend on your page, the better it will do in the search results.

The ability to track and understand your website data is key to making good and profitable decisions in your small business. Get stated tracking today!

It may seem to you, as it does to many, that whenever we turn our heads around there's a brand-new local initiative from Google. Now it's called Google My Business, and prior before I get snarkier, allow me to say that it looks as though this one is very helpful.

Google My Business appears like it's extremely beneficial and an authentic help to your local company. The mission to bring everything under one roofing is a very long time coming, however seems to be worth the wait.

Basically Google+ is now the platform, and all else focuses on this.

5 Ways Google My Business Will Work for Your Local Business

1. GMB enables you to easily update your info from one location – Once you assert your listing on Google My Business, you'll be able to update anything you want concerning your company or online presence. You likewise have the ability to include pictures as well as virtual tours if you want, thus making it easy for individuals to get a real understanding of your location.

2. Get in touch with your customers through Google+ – You can speak with fans and consumers straight through your company's Google+ page, sharing content, and information. You can even begin and perform a Hangout on air.

3. Handle customer reviews – This one is the most discussed function: the capability to see, respond and handle evaluations on Google from one centralized location. Be certain you have a plan for managing your client's evaluations, excellent or bad, and be certain any individual who will be publishing to this page understands exactly what you want to do.

4. Run your company on the go – Using the Android and iOS apps, you can access any part of the Google My Business platform anywhere you are as long as you have your internet connection.

5. Client Insights – Another cool feature. GMB reveals you a number of beneficial statistics, such as where your customers are driving from. This will certainly work when preparing brand-new campaigns. Another plus is that you can quickly integrate your Google Analytics account into GMB. This is likewise true for Google AdWords.

There are numerous different platforms readily available to marketers wanting to make the most of Display Advertising consisting of Criteo, Ad Roll and Google itself or our very own BWM Local. In this post, I am going to describe 9 various reasons you ought to be making the most of Display Advertising and including it within your total advertising approach.

The Reach

Just going off the Google Display Network alone, it reaches around 92 % of all internet users. 65 % of those users are reached daily.

The Google Display Network is the largest international display network with over 2+ million websites with more than a trillion impressions served to over 1 billion users monthly.

These are extremely considerable data that ought to stay at the forefront of your mind when you are thinking of whether or not show marketing is right for you.

Contextual targeting

There are numerous means that you can target prospective consumers using display advertising and Contextual targeting is just among them. Using Contextual targeting in your projects, your adverts will be down to individuals based upon their search query and browsing history. You specify the kind of searches you want your advertisements to appear for in the same way as you would with basic paid search advertising; include keywords and expressions pertinent to your brand or offering. The network will certainly then position your adverts on sites that are relevant to those keywords matching your advertisements contextually to each expression.

Mesmerizing Adverts

Instead of simply sticking to the plain text advertisements that you see in the regular search engine result, you can get extreamly creative with your adverts drawing individuals attention to your offering. Take a look at some of the adverts below. You can see how much they would attract your eye if you were on a web site and also had a need or demand for what the advertisements were promoting.

Brand name Awareness

Display marketing can be truly inexpensive if you are trying to increase peoples awareness of your brand name. Select the right rates design (I would suggest CPC) and create the best adverts and you can get your brand name seen by thousands of prospective new customers. If you are using the Google Display Network, their technology ensures that your ads do not appear alongside any unfavorable material but I would constantly suggest that you go to the Site Category Options tab in AdWords to particularly exclude your ads from the types of websites you might not want your brand name to be connected with.

High Profile Website Advertising

Utilizing display advertising, you can place your adverts on some extremely high profile internet sites for hardly any cost. Websites such as Expedia, The Train Line and The Independent all show adverts on their website. If you are being related to these sites it can offer the impression that you are investing a lot in your advertising campaigns when it could in fact be costing you a lot less than you think.

Placement Targeting

In the same way as you can go with Contextual targeting in your campaigns, you can likewise define the websites that you want to appear on. These are called positioning. If you are utilizing Contextual targeting, you can constantly evaluate exactly what sites Google are revealing your advertisements on and any that you like you can pull them into their own handled positioning campaign so you can closely keep track of and fine-tune for the extremely targeted sites.

Multiple Pricing Options

You can pick in between Cost Per Impression (CPM) CPM or Cost Per Click (CPC) bidding when it pertains to marketing on the display network. Choosing CPC bidding indicates that your adverts can be seen by thousands of possible clients but you just have to pay when someone really clicks on the advert.

Market Targeting

I don't have much experience with other display advertising platforms but if you are making use of the AdWords Display Network, you can now target by numerous demographics such as these listed below:.
— Interests (travel, home entertainment, sport etc) based upon what they look for or have specified in the Advertisement Preferences Manager.
— Topic (travel, home entertainment, sport etc) based on the sites instead of audience.
— Geographic / Language (English speakers, Worldwide, English Speakers, London) shows ads by area, postcode and language.
— Demographic (age, gender, adult status).

If you want to include more layers of targeting (positioning, topics, gender, age, interests etc) you can include them to either your automatic or handled positioning projects as quote changes (bear in mind to alter the setting to ‘bid only' under the versatile reach tab in AdWords Editor if you wish to have a quote modification on a requirements however still show advertisements when your other targeting criteria show).

View Through Conversions

If you are doing display marketing with the Google Display Network, you should make certain you are utilizing AdWords Conversion Tracking instead of importing your goals straight from Google Analytics.

If you have this in place you can then track View Through Conversions making the data you get from your reports a lot more important. Display advertising might not constantly drive conversions straight from the adverts but the subliminal messaging from the adverts can boost your brand name profile and push individuals to transform with you along the way.

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One great thing about Facebook advertising is that it’s so easy, anybody can do it. Unfortunately, not everybody who uses Facebook advertising gain the same huge benefits. And if you’re wondering what is it that makes others win big at Facebook advertising and why others don’t, here are some of the important things you should know.

Facebook Advertising Strategy

1. Test your ads.

As in any type of advertising, testing your ad is important in order to see what really works. An ad may acquire plenty of impressions but no click throughs, while another ad may obtain many click throughs but no conversions. By testing your ads you’ll discover the right message, the right image, and the right price that will maximize the efficiency of your ads. When testing your ads, it is important to slow down. Change one element at a time on your ad up until you feel it has already reached its maximum level of performance. If you go and try to change everything all at the same time, you might not be able to find out what’s actually working.

2. Use Cost per Impression (CPM) first.

While it’s quite tempting to use cost per click ads (in which you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad), this is not always the best place to start. With CPM, you‘ll be able to test your ad more effectively over a wider range of users. If you start with CPM campaign first, you can test your ads and find out which ads perform well and which give you the lowest return. Although some people might tell you that CPC is the way to go as this is the model we’re familiar with in Google Adwords, you shouldn’t believe them. When you’ve already tested your ads and know which works, that’s the only time you should switch to CPC as you already know how much budget to put in your advertising campaign.

3. Test at various times.

Different ads perform differently at different times of the day, and even on different days of the week. For this reason experts advise that you test your ads at various times of the day and during various days of the week to find out what ad performs best and when.

4. Refresh your ads on a regular basis.

When you’ve already discovered your best performing ad, there’s a tendency to keep it forever. You shouldn’t. Studies show that a Facebook ad has an average lifespan (the time when users start snubbing it) of around one week. Have a good supply of ads (that you’ve tested and proven) which you can interchange to keep your ads always fresh.

5. Keep your followers on Facebook.

Many advertisers commit one grave mistake with Facebook advertising, and that is driving people directly to their website or blog. The problem is that most Facebook users feel much safer on this site and want to stay in their comfort zone. If you’re wise, you wouldn’t want to interfere with this loyalty factor. So instead of directly driving them away from Facebook, just drive them to a tab on your business page, where you can motivate them to like your page or get their information to add to a mailing list. Only when they’re at ease with you should you send them away from Facebook.

6. Measure your results.

As in any advertising strategy, it is important to measure the results of your Facebook ads. Good thing Facebook has its own tools that you can use for this purpose. In addition, you can also use Google Analytics to evaluate what Facebook users actually do after they visit your website. Only then will you know whether your Facebook advertising is working or not.

So these are the elements of the winners’ game plan with their ads at Facebook. Are you ready to be a winner as well? If you're not sure, please contact us if you need help in Facebook marketing.

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The latest offering from the folks at Google is straight appropriate to small and local business. Google My Business is a one-stop page for business to handle their presence on various Google products, from search, maps and Google+, Google Analytics, as well as Hangouts. This is Google's effort to take a few of Facebook's thunder, by permitting its users to publish and share news, events and images one time, and have them populate through the whole of their Google services.

Google states it's dealing with transitioning all business accounts that are on Google+ or Places for Business, and you ought to see this soon. There is likewise an Android app now, and the iPhone app will certainly follow soon.

So how will this one work?

It appears that the primary advantage to this new offering is that all of your Google services are now under one roofing system. That, and the reality that the ease of updating and occupying all your properties is much easier. When you log into Google My Business for the first time, you'll see that Google has actually taken the liberty of populating your account utilizing what you've put into the other Google properties. You have the opportunity to take care of or change what you need to easily.

Next up is the heart of the operation. On one simple screen you have access to the following:

• Google+ Shares.
• Google Insights.
• Customer Reviews.
• Google Analytics.
• Google Hangouts.

You can get to those functions from this screen and add content, handle review and even start a Hangout. The mobile version of Google My Business is smooth and extremely easy to browse.

Is this the final end of Google+?

It might be prematurely to tell what this indicates for Google+. At this point, simply think of this as a change of address. At this time there does not appear to be any loss of functions for Google+ and it might really benefit from the automated environment and much better organization this supplies.