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Digital Marketing Metrics for Nonprofits

Published August 31, 2017
Like commercial businesses, nonprofits have a range of specialties. From art to scholarships, housing assistance to helping animals, this is a sector that has a special place in society and our hearts. Of course, no matter how worthy the cause, nonprofits have the same needs as other businesses -- they have to worry about payroll, the cost of providing services and, of course, marketing their cause. When it comes to marketing, no matter who your audience is, a digital presence is requisite and so is effectively measuring its performance.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the data that may be especially useful to helping nonprofits excel at digital marketing.

 

 

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Understanding Conversion Attribution in Facebook Ads

Published August 24, 2017
There may have been a time when a business made a Facebook page simply because “Dude, it’s Facebook, you’ve gotta be on there.” But as the social media juggernaut has evolved, so have the opportunities to use Facebook strategically to drive actual sales. But Facebook doesn’t just have the power to drive customers to websites, it has given us the ability to measure and attribute engagement and conversions.
We’ve talked about setting up Facebook Ads conversion tracking. In this article, we’ll delve further into understanding how Facebook attributes conversions.

 

 

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Using Google Search Console to Improve Your SEO

Published August 17, 2017
When you work in digital marketing it's hard not wish you could talk to Google. Wouldn't that be nice? Imagine being able to ask questions and get feedback about your site.
Ok, so there's no direct line to get in touch with Google's algorithm, at least in part because bots are notoriously bad on the phone. But we do have Search Console. It's not a helpline but it can facilitate some communication with Google.
In another post we talked about using Search Console for SEO analysis and reporting. But in addition to using the information in Search Console to make strategic decisions, you can actually use the interface to make immediate tactical changes.
In this post we’ll cover some of the features available in Google Search Console (GSC) that will help you influence how Google understands your site and improve your understanding of how Google is seeing your site.

 

 

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Using Google Search Console for SEO Analysis and Reporting

Published August 10, 2017
Google Analytics (GA) is one of the most robust and accessible analytics platforms available in the digital world. Not to mention that a standard account is free. But in addition to the Analytics we all know and love, Google also has Search Console (GSC).
Google defines their Search Console as “a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites.” So while GA allows for a deep dive into metrics for traffic acquisition and user behavior, GSC is more focused on the site’s relationship with Google.
That’s a complicated relationship for most of us. Depending on the day, we love Google, hate it, love to hate it or hate to love it. But for better or worse, Google is the largest search engine in the U.S. and much of the world. It’s also the single largest driver of traffic to most websites. For that reason, monthly digital reports can benefit from the insights that GSC provides.
Search Console is an extremely useful platform that allows you to perform meaningful analysis and make changes that can affect how Google crawls, indexes and understands your site content. But for now, we’ll focus on the analysis as it applies to reporting. Don’t worry though, we’ll cover updates and optimization in another post.

 

 

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Digital Reporting Tips for Travel & Tourism

Published August 8, 2017
Travel and tourism is a big business, in fact here in the U.S. it’s not only one of our biggest exports but 2.6% of our gross domestic product.
It’s not surprising then, that travel industry digital ad spending is projected to be $6.77 Billion in 2017.
Like we said, it’s big business.
If you’re a marketer, there is a good chance you’ve had or are currently working with client who is somehow affected by travel, tourism or hospitality. From hotels and airlines to attractions and food services, attention (and money) from these customers is crucial.
Working with a client or in-house for a business in the travel industry comes with many of the same digital reporting metrics we’d use for anyone. But when a site needs to attract travelers, there are a few places it makes sense to spend some extra time.
In this article we’ll cover the areas where a deeper dive is nice for anyone, but can be essential for travel and tourism businesses.

 

 

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ALSO IN THIS BLOG

Evaluating Google Analytics Traffic by Hour & Day
2 June, 2016 | Blog
Remember how your mom told you not to stand too close to the television because it might hurt your eyes?
The same rules can apply to data. If you’re too close, you may miss the patterns and trends that are crucial to understanding your website’s performance. You can’t judge a site’s performance looking at data in the bubble of a single day, you must consider any day’s traffic compared to the days before and after.
Google Analytics makes it fairly easy to analyze trends over long periods of time. But it also allows you to stand right in front of that TV, to look at more granular levels of time, right down to the hour.
There’s a better way to get that close to the data, without burning your retinas. We’ll cover how to analyze traffic effectively in today’s post.

 

 

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Understanding Direct Traffic in Google Analytics
14 April, 2015 | Blog
When the client first came to you, you talked up the value of Google Analytics. You emphasized the importance of seeing where your traffic was coming from. You went on and on about how Google Analytics can show traffic sources to pinpoint whether people came from search, social media or a specific site referral, and how valuable this data was. You sold them on it, so much so that your client looked forward to receiving that first report, the magical day when they would finally understand where visitors were coming from.
But then the report came, and it looked like this:

 

 

It showed that 10% of your client’s traffic came from “(direct)/(none)”. What does this label mean? How do you explain Direct traffic to your client? Better yet, how do you explain “none”?
Let’s take a closer look at understanding Direct traffic in Google Analytics and how we can address it with clients.
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Understanding Google Analytics Channels
7 April, 2016 | Blog
One of the most exciting and important aspects of digital marketing is the ability to understand exactly how your customers are finding you. It informs every single part of integrated campaigns and helps determine which efforts are working and which ones need to be revisited. Google Analytics allows you to zero in on the performances of different marketing channels to evaluate everything from brand awareness to social media messaging. To get the most insight from that data, it’s crucial to understand exactly how Google sorts your traffic.
Channels in Google Analytics are high-level categories indicating how people found your site. While the Source/Medium report shows you in more detail where people came from, Channels are broader, more “user-friendly” names lumping visits together in buckets useful for high-level reporting categories.
For instance, Facebook Sessions often show up in multiple ways in the Source/Medium report. They may appear as facebook.com, m.facebook.com, and l.facebook.com, all of which are variations of the same source. The Channels report will include all of these in the Social bucket, so you can see less granular, aggregate numbers on social media performance.

 

 

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