Anyone actively participating in AR knows that blogging and Internet related marketing activities are key to your success in finding new business via the Internet. The big question is..."Is what I am doing driving traffic to my site?" There are easy ways to identify where your website traffic....if any is coming from.
Because PrinterBees is an on-line printing company and a good portion of our printing business comes from Internet related marketing activities, I thought it may be helpful to write a blog post about how you can see who is visiting your website and how they got there. The best part is that it is all FREE.
Google has a great tool for measuring and tracking website traffic that is very helpful and easy to use called Google Analytics. Analytics, WHEN USED (all caps...because you obviously have to it for it to be effective) is totally free and will help you determine if you are on the "Google Map", for lack of a better term. I personally check my Google Analytics reports daily, it helps me to determine my Internet related marketing efforts for the day.
You will first need a Google Account to use Google Analytics. If you don't have an account, you will need to create one to access Google Analytics and the reports associated with your site.
When on the Google Analytics home page, you simply need to click where it says "add a site" and follow the steps as indicated until you get to the part where you may be "freaking out" because you see the FRIGHTENING words "Paste This Code In To Your Site". Stop freaking out, it is easy and if you can blog you can figure this out too. LOL
Highlight and copy the code and then you will need to access the back-end of your website. You will need to access the Index page of your site, which is also your home page for starters. Once you find your way to editing your home page, you will need to access the "HTML Code Editor" (no freaking out...seriously...you can do this).
The directions from Google are simple, but confusing if you have never looked at code before, "Copy the following code, then paste it onto every page you want to track immediately after the opening <body> tag".
*There are two easy ways to find the "<body>" tag. One is to scroll down to near the bottom of all that code you see and hunt for it. The other is to simply hold down the "CTRL and F" keys at the same time to get your Internet page search to come up at the bottom of your browser. Once the little search window comes up, type <body> in the search box and you will be taken right to it. Once you find that specific tag...paste the code you copied RIGHT AFTER where it says "<body> it is okay to hit the enter button to go to the next line before you paste the code.
Once you have pasted the code in, click on "verify site". Google will crawl the site to see if the code is present. Once it verifies the code is there, you will be able to access the reports that tell you how much traffic you have coming to your site and where it is coming from. I encourage you to click on all of the different reports available down the left side of the page. It is very insightful and will help give you direction on where to put your efforts.
I put effort in to AR and participate as much as I can because I can see through Google Analytics that we receive alot of Internet traffic from Active Rain and are very appreciative of every visit we receive. After all, we do focus on helping real estate agents find great marketing success.
If you are intimidated by this whole process and just want to pay someone to do it. I think we may be able to
help you. Exclusively for the AR community, we can install Analytics on to your site for $25. Contact us at orders@printerbees.com if you need our assistance and add "Install Analytics" in the subject line. We will get someone in contact with you asap to help you out. If you try to do it yourself and get stuck, feel free to post on this thread and I will see what I can do to direct you. Chances are if you are having an issue, someone else is too.
*If you have a WordPress blog, you can use one of the great free tools available that will automatically install the code for you, you just need to search and install where the tools are located. If you have a webmaster, have that person add the code, it will be very simple for them to do so. If you don't have a website and need one, but can't afford to pay someone to do it. No problem, you can easily build your own site by following the free guide "Blogging For Buyers". It has step by step instructions on how to create a professional blog from start to finish and it's easy.
;)
;)
;)
Great post.... Another great site I use is Craigs List Ad Tracker
http://craigslistadtracker.com/
I do alot of craigslist and kijiji and other classified ads and its a really great site. It helps you figure out what ads work, which are being read, and which get you attention.
Check it out and use it if you do any classified ads.