Google Analytics for Your Blog

For the past 3 weeks, I have been monitoring my blog with Google Analytics (GA). While there are certainly many useful tools in GA to help me understand and improve my blog, I have only a few basic questions for now. This is a new blog, and as such, monitoring the limited amount of traffic in highly detailed ways would probably be overkill. For those who are new to Google Analytics, or just starting a blog, my recommendation is to start simple and grow with the traffic.

Therefore, I will highlight a few basic GA metrics and reports that I find very useful to bloggers.

Profile your Blog 

Before getting lost in a sea of analytics, I think it is a good idea to ask the questions that are important to you and your blog’s success. For the purpose of my blog, I would like to explore ways to build readership--but, to do that, I first need to

Facebook Advertising vs Google AdWords

Functionality differences

Adwords and Facebook advertising both offer targeting options. Facebook advertisers can target by location, age, birthdate, sex, relationship status, likes and interests, education and many other profile indicators (“Facebook Tutorials,” 2010). AdWords primarily uses keyword search, contextual search (added in 2011) and demographics, as tools for locating the target audience (“Inside Adwords,” 2011), (“Getting Started with Google,” 2009). With the multitude of targeting options offered by Facebook, it would seem to be the clear winner, but many advertisers lack faith in the purchasing power of Facebook.

Facebook: A year in review

The year 2012 has been rough on Facebook. On May 16, 2012, GM announced it would no longer advertise on Facebook, pulling $10 million in ad dollars from the site (Vera, 2012). Two days later, Facebook went public, and stocks immediately

Is content or conversation king of social marketing?

As social media evolves, our understanding of it as social marketers changes too. Perhaps this explains why many professionals say that content, once "king," has now been dethroned by conversation—that is engaging with the consumer (Novak, 2010).

This argument challenges the idea that good quality content is the prevailing component that drives businesses up the ladder of relevance in search and social media. Catherine Novak, a writer and social media analyst, said, "Content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just advertising." Novak said, "The energy behind the message is what gives it meaning, and a life of its own" (Novak, 2010)."

While I definitely share Novak's enthusiasm

The Challenge of Online Advertising: Reaching the Consumer

“Knowing and understanding targeted customers is the overarching rule of exceptional companies.”

-Alan Hall (Hall, 2012)

The Challenge of Online Advertising: Reaching the Consumer

Consumers are increasingly absorbing online media. Advertisers have obviously noticed as they continue to pump more revenue into their online efforts. Forrester Research predicts that “by 2016 advertisers will spend as much on interactive marketing as they do on TV advertising today (Williams, 2012).”

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, released revenue figures last month showing 95% growth in Mobile advertising "from the first half of 2011 to the same period in 2012." The Mobile ad industry "as a whole grew to an all-time high of $17 billion in revenues in the

What's changed? The Consumer.

What’s changed? The Consumer.

A little history first…

From roughly 2007-2009, I was heavily engaged in link building, social media development, consumer engagement, web analytics, reputation management and content management. I have changed roles lately, becoming more involved in sales than Internet marketing. As I jump back into the realm of SEM, SEO, and Web Analytics, I am reminded that many of the tools and tactics I used just a few years ago are still being used today.

For the most part, it seems that what was important three years ago from a marketing perspective, remains and will always remain relevant—finding, understanding and engaging the consumer.

While there are certainly more web analytics tools, more social media sites, better content management systems, and better technology today than last week, it all still pretty much works the same. The one elusive component that seems to change faster than marketers can keep up is the consumer.  

The biggest change: The consumer

Over the past few years, wireless and mobile technology has also changed the way people use the internet by making us more connected, whether socially or otherwise. A recent study by Google and IPSOS analyzed Internet usage of 1,600 U.S. adults. The study found that “90 percent of consumers now move “sequentially” between different screens