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Tracking Your Business To Success

by Susan Carroll

Recently I asked my subscribers if they were tracking their ads and 2/3 of them stated they didn't—most said it was because they didn't know how.

Because "not knowing how" seemed to be the biggest reason, I won't bore you with all the reasons tracking is important. Just know that it is.

Now before we get started I am going to admit that I am not a tracking guru. Like most of my readers, I do everything myself and don't have time to set up tracking links for everything. Also, since I don't have the time to set up a lot of tracking links, I haven't installed a tracking program on my host nor do I pay a service to track my stats. So until I start paying someone to help me with my business, I use the stats provided by my hosting service and 1 free service that also provides some traffic (I do have the ability to create tracking links through my autoresponder and have access to a professional tracking service but very seldom use them).

With that said, here are 3 ways to get information to help you track what's going on with your business:

1) Use the information provided by your hosting service.

Gathering statistical information for your business is another reason to have your own domain name and using a hosting service. The information provided is easily accessed, can tell you some very valuable information and doesn't create any additional work (this is assuming your hosting service provides statistical information and most do. If yours doesn't you should find one that does).

Using the stats provided by your host you should be able to see things like what pages are visited most frequently, what country your visitors are coming from, what type of browser they're using, how many unique visitors you're getting, the most popular keywords used to find your site the page, what robots and spiders are visiting your site, the links used to access your site and how many times an e-book has been downloaded.

Looking at my June stats today, June 7, I can tell you that I've received 45 hits from Download Free Gifts. This doesn't tell me how many have signed up but it does tell me how many have visited my sign-up page (that's why I told you how I track where my sign-ups are coming from). I also know how many have visited the newsletter page with the poll so I know how many look at the poll as compared to how many who vote—big difference! I can also see what people are downloading from my site (good for finding out if people are stealing your products).

2) Use a free tracking service.

Free tracking services usually only provide you with a redirection URL (good for hiding affiliate links) and the number of hits to your link. This is not very much information but it can still be useful.

Using these services is very easy since all you have to do is sign up, enter the URL you want to track and a short description so you can remember what your tracking, copy the URL they create and start using that url in all your ads.

I've signed up for 2 of these free services: trackthatad.com and linkbrander.com. I haven't really used trackthatad but do use linkbrander since I also get additional traffic for using their links (also, trackthatad.com has some annoying pop-ups for their tutorials that appear on just about every page).

3) Use the tracking links provided by your autoresponder service.

Many autoresponder services have the capability to create tracking links. Again, all you have to do is enter the URL you want tracked and a brief description so you'll remember what you're tracking. They create a link and that's the one you use.

Now here's an easy way to track your ads in e-zines...

When you enter the URL you want to track in the tracking service you're using, add <?ezinename> to the end of your url (ezinename is the name of the e-zine where you're placing the ad). Example: http://www.friendswhocare.us/join.htm?marketingtips

Do this for every e-zine you're using. Place the appropriate link for the e-zine in the ad you submit.

After the ads have run you can check how many hits came to each link and you'll know which ads worked the best. You'll want to do this for several weeks and be modifying your ads until you find one that works. After you've found one that works keep using it. You may find that different ads work better in different e-zines.

You do not need to be a tracking expert or pay a lot of money to start tracking your ads. You don't have to upload scripts or put page counters on your web pages. With all the free services that are now available you can get some basic stats to start tracking your ads today.

Susan has been helping people with their online marketing for more than 3 years. You're invited to join her free membership site at http://www.friendswhocare.us/join.htm

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