|
Essential
Tools
Maximize
Google Adwords ROI
Link
Building Software
Axandra
Search Ranking Study
Free
Trial WordTracker
AdWords
Select Report
Web
Position Gold
Search
Engine School
|
|
SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)ARTICLES
Guide to tracking click-throughs and ROI from
pay- per-click engines
Are YOU getting your Money's Worth
When Buying Traffic? . . .
Beginner's guide to tracking click-throughs and
ROI from pay-per-click engines.
Part 1
by Robin Nobles and Dave Barry
If you're just beginning to try your hand with the
pay-per-click engines, one thing you need to know
is the importance of setting up tracking URL’s
so you're better able to track click-throughs and
sales.
Why go to the trouble? Because if you don't set
up some sort of tracking system, you'll never know
if your keyword purchases are really working for
you. And if you don't know if they're working for
you, you won't be able to make an educated decision
on whether or not to discard a keyword campaign,
expand it, choose different keywords, etc.
There are some excellent software programs and services
on the market that will track individual keyword
purchases and determine your ROI (return on investment),
and we'll name some of them at the end of this article.
For those who purchase large numbers of keywords,
such programs are crucial.
But this article is for those who are just getting
started and who don't want to invest in a software
program yet – they just want to purchase a
few keywords and get their feet wet with the pay-per-click
engines.
Using a Tracking URL to Track Traffic
Overture claims that 95 percent of all Overture
traffic comes from their partner sites, such as
Yahoo and MSN. So, it’s important to track
your Overture traffic so you can be sure how much
traffic you're getting for each of your keyword
purchases.
Let’s say that your URL is http://www.english-bulldogs.com.
To add tracking capability to such a URL, you'd
tack on:
?source=Overture
...so your URL would look this:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture
If the keyword phrase you're tracking is english
bulldog puppies, here’s the tracking URL you
would use:
http://www.english- bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies
Change the URL you have listed with Overture for
that keyword phrase to the tracking URL by going
to Overture’s Managed Listing Section of the
DirecTraffic Center.
If the URL already has a question mark in it, you
will have to add &source=Overture to the end.
For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs
To:
http://www.english- bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs&source=Overture&kw=english
+bulldog+puppies
If the URL has a # character, the ?source=Overture
will need to
be inserted prior to the # sign.
For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/#oscar
To:
http://www.english- bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies#oscar
Be sure to test the new tracking URL to verify that
the modified URL works as well as the original,
and don't use the tracking URL for anything other
than tracking your pay engine traffic.
After setting up the tracking URL’s, you should
be able to look for source=Overture in your server
log files to see how much traffic you're getting
from Overture for each of your keyword phrases.
Your log analysis software, depending on which one
you use, will be able to compile that information
for you.
But How Do You Know Which Traffic Converts to
Sales?
Determining your conversion rate is easier if your
site supports some type of user session tracking,
such as cookies, server-side scripting, etc. If
you create a user session (or set a cookie) when
someone visits your site, then you can count how
many user sessions contained a successful page view
that will let you know that a desired action has
been completed, such as a receipt of goods sold
or signing up for your newsletter. You can then
analyze the referral source for each of your user
sessions to count how many conversions came from
Overture based on each keyword phrase.
How Can You Set up User Session Tracking?
Editors note: These instructions will apply to those
of you already running your web sites on Microsoft's
IIS.
Dave Barry of SmartCertify explains:
Session Tracking is made possible by using .asp
(active server pages) on your Web site. There are
several ways in which to accomplish this. One is
by assigning a query string value to your link or
using the referrer information to assign a proper
code to track. In the asp environment, there is
a large collection of information that you have
access to, including the exact page the visitor
came from, and if a search engine, the keywords
used to find your site.
(Continued in Part 2. Contact robin@searchengineworkshops.com
for
the complete article.)
Robin Nobles, along with partner John Alexander,
teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day search engine marketing
workshops through Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).
Robin also teaches online search engine marketing
courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com),
and her latest books, Web Site Analysis and Reporting
and Streetwise Maximize Web Site Traffic, can be
ordered through Amazon.
Dave Barry is a professional Webmaster, Web designer,
programmer, security expert, and search engine optimizer,
all rolled up into one amazingly talented man who
works for SmartCertify Direct. (http://www.smartcertify.com)
He has also begun working with Search Engine Workshops
to put on “hands on” search engine marketing
workshops at locations across the globe. Dave recently
set up Computer Concierge International, which is
a full-service networking and Internet solutions
company. (http://www.seo-concierge.net)
Return
to FREE articles index |
Search
Engine Marketing: Special
Reports from Page Zero Unleash Amazing Profits
with Google AdWords Select! You advertise your
product, service, or cause online. You've decided
to pay for targeted traffic on a "pay per click"
basis. And now you're considering Google
AdWords Select. Great decision. But if you
don't use the techniques taught in this
special report, you could cost yourself a
fortune. Use it right, and you'll clean up.
Limited
time Special
Get a FREE $10 credit toward your PPC campaign
@ Overture!
|
|
Visit Our Sponsor! WebPosition Gold