Google Analytics - How To Set Up Google Analytics

Before one invests in PPC advertising it is important to get "keyword phrases" that are relevant to your product or service.  Single keywords and often dual or triple word phrases are very competitive, especially in the real estate and accommodation (vacation rental) market.

Google analytics will show you how people find your web site (verbatim).  In addition you can drill down into the data for much, much more detail about your website to be sure it's optimized.

Google adwords will show you what the competition for a keyword or phrase might be.  Following these steps to creating a keyword list will help.

Once you have gathered 100 - 200 keywords and phrases, do a search for them to see how many other ppc ads are being displayed.  The idea here is to find keywords that won't break the bank.

Optimize your site:
Once your site is optimized and you are ready to pursue using PPC, do split testing.  The basic idea behind split testing is to create two ads for your product or servce which compete against each other.  Monitor the results and delete the ad which isn't producing.  Then create another ad to split test against the previous winning ad.  Repeat.

PPC is worth the effort. However, without proper management and attention to detail it can be money down the drain in a big hurry.

We do Commercial Photography/Virtual Tours and deliver web solutions for our clients; Websites, Real Estate databases, S.E.O. P.P.C. and manage their Google Analytics account with reports being sent to them monthly. 

When we build a site for a client, we incorporate the Google Analytics code right out of the gate. We submit the websites to global search engines once, and then the major ones monthly.    Once the Google code is in the website, and reports scheduled it runs on auto pilot.

We provide monthly submission and ranking reports along with the Google Analytics reports so that our clients can see what's happening all of the time.  What does this cost?  2 hours per month to the client. 

We use a professional tool (IBP) to gather keyword data, perform ranking reports and a competitive analysis for clients.  This helps them manage the tedious task of PPC advertising.  My advice to most (because most are on a small budget) is to pay the least possible for PPC.

In November of last year we bid 1.00 per day maximum, per ad for a total of 9 ads relating to Commercial Photography and Virtual Tours for the Real Etate and Hospitality industries.  The average cost per click is .60 cents, orders have increased by 20% and is growing as the winter weather subsides.  Being a small local business we refuse to pay 2, 3, 4 or more dollars for someone to click on our ads so we're not going to subject our clients to a high budget commitment either.

•·    We are targeting a specific market audience with each ad, rather than trying the broad advertisement approach.  

•·    We are managing where "geographically" our ads are being shown. For instance, we used a 150 mile radius from our location.  Our ads are not showing outside of this radius so money isn't being wasted.

•·    We are taking advantage of competitor sites which are using Google Adsense (so our ads appear on our competitor sites)

This isn't a sales pitch, it is only to show that PPC isn't the only requirement.  Site management (SEO), ranking management, and competitive analysis are all part of a successful PPC campaign package.  These tasks can be performed by anyone willing to spend the time and effort and....if it's necessary to have someone do the job for you it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. 

These things are a science, but not rocket science.....