The final key facet to growing your business’s online presence is tracking. In order to see if your business’s digital marketing efforts are effective, you need to analyze the results and report on your progress.
This is a key aspect of digital marketing that makes it advantageous over traditional advertising channels (like magazine ads, TV commercials, billboards and radio). You can quickly track and analyze the metrics of your marketing efforts and make adjustments accordingly. Among more traditional marketing channels, once you’ve paid for something, there’s no making changes. It’s out there for all to see.
Monthly tracking is ideal for most reporting, although there are some areas you may want to track on a weekly basis. Putting systems into place will help you reevaluate what’s working for your business and what’s not so you can shift strategy as needed, whether that involves your PPC efforts, SEO, social media marketing or website.
Each key facet we’ve talked about in this series has its own metrics that need to be tracked. The following list is not exhaustive but foundational. There are so many areas you could be tracking. The list might well warrant a book on the subject, but we will talk about some of the basics of what we like to track and where you might start.
Website Tracking
Use Google Analytics to analyze your website to make sure it is doing all that it can to bring you leads and customers. In GA, you can track:
- Traffic coming into your site through various channels (organic, direct, referral, PPC and social)
- Bounce rate of visitors
- Average time on site
- Average pages per visit
- And more
You can also ensure your site is performing well by doing a monthly manual check. Navigate the site as a user to ensure it is functioning as it should. Check for broken links, usability of the site, make note of anything confusing, etc.
Another helpful tool you can use to analyze specific pages of your website is Hotjar. This will show you what users are doing on your pages. Are they clicking on the call to actions you have placed on the page for them, are they going to another page, etc.?
Search Engine Optimization Reporting
SEO can have a number of reports depending on the project, but the basics you’ll want to focus on include:
- Organic traffic
- Rankings
- Backlinks
- Domain Authority
The whole point of SEO is to gather organic traffic from the search engines. There are a number of methods to use to improve your ranking in the search engines, as mentioned in a previous post about Search Engine Optimization.
An important strategy is high-quality content and keyword targeting. You can see if the keywords you’re targeting and the content you are producing are working by analyzing your keyword rankings. Use tools like SEMrush or Google Search Console to determine where your keywords are ranking and what you can do to improve.
Another ranking factor is backlinks. Are you getting high-quality backlinks to your website? You do this by producing high-quality content and outreaching to relevant, industry-related sources. To analyze these backlinks, use tools like Ahrefs to see what kind of links are going to your website.
Finally, Domain Authority. While DA is not the most important metric to be tracking, it does give you some insight as to how your site is measured compared to your competitors. Moz uses an algorithm to determine DA–an algorithm they believe takes into account most of what Google considers when ranking pages in the SERPs. The higher the DA, the more likely you are to rank higher in the search engines and the more trustworthy users will find your site.
Social Media Marketing Monitoring
It’s trial and error with social media marketing. There is a lot of content that you can share on your social pages–some of which your followers may not be interested in. Using insight tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics can help you see what type of content your users are liking, commenting, clicking and sharing. This demonstrates positive engagement and engagement you want to replicate.
As you monitor how your social posts are doing, you’ll get to know your audience and their likes and dislikes. Share different content on your page to get an idea of what posts resonate with your readers.
What about the number of followers on your social media pages? This is another great metric to track. Is this number increasing or decreasing? How can you better engage with your followers and increase your following? Look back on your social media marketing strategy to ensure you’re doing everything you can to engage with your followers and grow your profile and then try some other strategies like reaching out to the people you follow and engaging with their content. Did they share something interesting that is relevant to your industry? Like it or share it on your page.
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Analysis
PPC requires constant analysis because most of your money is being invested there on an ongoing basis. Analyze impressions, CTR (click-through rate), quality score, CPL (cost per lead) and CPA (cost per action).
Consider how you can improve your ad copy on your ads to bring in more leads for your business. Are there extensions you can add to make your ad stand out among the rest? These are all questions to consider as you analyze your ads and work to improve them.
While you’ll find a lot of insights for your other marketing channels, it may take a while to show you anything and will take quite a bit of guesswork to get it right. With PPC, you’ll be able to see more immediate results. It will provide you with the information you need to improve your marketing strategy as you go along.
Conclusion
Digital marketing for your business requires a lot of analysis, but when your marketing plan is done correctly, it will grow your business. Don’t let the reporting part overwhelm you! There are helpful tools out there to assist you in your reporting efforts.
Qualbe’s Digital Marketing Services also offer such a service. As we work to improve your website, search engine optimization, social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising, we are analyzing and learning as we work to grow your business’s online presence.
We’ll help you establish your digital marketing presence using the key facets listed above at a price you can afford.