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• Where your traffic is coming from by- The referring website and page- The search engine and keyword used
• Your website visitors by- Their location- Their operating system, browser and monitor resolution- Their network
• Visitor behavior and actions by- Duration of visit (time on site)- Pages per visit (number of pages viewed)- Bounce rate (percentage of users who viewed only one page before leaving)- Conversion rate (percentage of users who completed a preset task)

If you’re planning on doing any kind of web marketing, be it through search engines, email or advertising on other websites, information on your past and current traffic is crucial. Not to mention you’ll want analytics in place so you can properly track the new traffic your promotions will, hopefully, bring in.Tie Your Traffic Sources to Your Users’ ActionsWhen looking at your analytics data the behavior and action metrics mean little by themselves. If the bounce rate of your site overall is 75%, what does that tell you? Well, this is a pretty high bounce rate – you should at least be shooting to have a bounce rate lower than 50%. But does this tell you exactly what is wrong?Likewise, if you have secured advertising or a listing on another website, the number of visits coming in from that site only gives you part of the picture.Tying your bounce rate to a specific traffic source, on the other hand, can tell you a lot. If a given traffic source is generating a bounce rate of 85% or more, for example, this indicates that users are not being satisfied. There are a few possibilities as to why:

• The users may not be well-qualified – or the site where you are listed or advertising might not have the best audience for your content/offer.
• The listing/ad may promise something that the entry page does not live up to (or, at least, the promise is difficult to locate once the user arrives at your site).
• Your site is simply not usable, is unattractive or unprofessional, causing users to leave immediately (and most don’t come back)
• Your users are not connecting with your content/offer.

There are other possibilities, but you’ll want to find the most likely answer here – and try to fix it. Then, using the same metrics (traffic source + bounce rate), you can see whether things improve moving forward.Using metrics like these you can also get a sense of which advertisements are bringing you a return on your investment and which aren’t. With goal tracking in Google Analytics, for example, a conversion rate is added to just about every traffic metric, including referring websites. If you’re finding that a website is sending you plenty of traffic but none of it is converting, re-examine the referring website’s audience, how your site is being presented and the user’s experience when they click through.The PointYour website is more than a brochure. It’s an interactive tool for your users. The only true way to find out how they’re using it (or not using it) is to get web analytics set up properly on your website (including setting goal points to track conversions).And the best way to improve your website in the aim of building your business is to use the information your web analytics give you.The age of blind advertising – of throwing money at the problem and hoping for the best – is dead.If you aren’t tracking everything, taking time on a regular basis to understand what the data reveals about your users and adjusting your efforts based on this information, you’re missing an opportunity to optimize your advertising and get a better return on your budget.In this economy, is that something you can afford?About The AuthorMike Tekula is the President of Unstuck Digital – a Long Island, NY web marketing company that offers proven solutions and training for growing your business online. 

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savíngs.2. Use Value-related keywords.3. Ensure your ad groups are targeted and relevant.4. Don’t waste money on irrelevant clicks.5. Make it easy for customers to buy.6. Focus your money on your high-performers. (End Quote)

Sound advice and I especially like the idea of focusing your marketing on low prices and savíngs mainly because people want bargains in tight economic times. I also like the fact that you must make it easy for your customers to buy… something as simple as putting your “order/buy link” above the fold can improve your conversions.Also, targeting value-related keywords, is a very effective marketing tactic. Relating your keywords to “discounts, bargains, cheap, inexpensive, lowest prices…” will help improve your sales. So too, is catering to phrases that suggest the searcher is in a buying mind-set: gifts, presents, gift ideas, wedding gifts… shoppers searching those words are ready to buy. Plus, focusing your time and money on your high-performers is solid advice. Sometimes succeeding online is simply finding a market niche that works/performs – then running with it. Once you have found the keywords and products that perform well with your site or sites – focus the majority of your time and energy developing those niche markets.Now here are some of my most effective marketing tactics that have worked for me and tactics I will be relying on in the coming years – even in these hard times.Make Keywords Your #1 GoalThis is the single most important factor for my own online success. You have to make keywords and ranking high for them in all the search engines your main objective if you’re marketing online. Might sound obvious, but many beginning marketers don’t truly understand how important getting top rankings for your chosen keywords will be in your online success.Target less competitive long tail (multi-worded) keywords to get started and slowly work your way up to more popular keywords. Center your marketing around getting those first page listings (Top Five) for your keywords. Achieve this goal, (especially in Google) and it will be almost impossible for you not to succeed and make a profit with your online marketing even in bad times.Autoresponders, Líst Building & Online RelationshipsKeeping in contact with potential buyers is mission critical. You must use autoresponders to send follow-up messages to build trustful relationships with your potential customers.So building a large contact líst is essential. That’s why the social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace can be very effective marketing tools for building this online contact and trust. Truth be told, all these social networks are, more or less, just glorified autoresponders and líst builders!Your Unique Selling PositionYou must give potential customers some very good reasons for them to buy from you or your links. Offering special bonuses and discounts works wonders for your sales. Some of my most successful pages simply consist of coupons and discounts offered by different companies. If buyers can save $100′s OFF by buying thru your links, they will.Always remember, besides looking for the best deal or bargain, consumers are also looking for a quality product. If you’re into affiliate marketing, only pick top quality products to promote. Picking top brand names also makes it easier to make sales. So too is only promoting popular online merchants like Amazon which can be an effective marketing strategy. Most importantly, always remember consumers are also looking for INFORMATION on the products they are considering buying, give them helpful information and you will succeed.Go With The FlowIf you’re marketing online, you have to follow what’s working for you. Most times you will try countless ideas or tactics – once you have found a process or system that works, really work it or scale it up. Making your first dollar is the hardest, but once you do something that earns you that dollar, just repeat that “something” a thousand times.Tracking what works is very important so keep a close eye on your site’s traffic logs to find where your customers are coming from. Something like Google Analytics is simply priceless for “fine-tuning” your site and your internet marketing. It will tell you what’s working and what’s not.Target Recurring or Residual IncomeOne of my most effective marketing strategies is to promote and sell products and services that give you a recurring or residual income. Make one sale and get paíd for years or for the life of that referred client. Concentrate on services like web-hosting, telephone, marketing programs… once customers sign up to these services, they will likely keep them for years. I am still earning income from sales I made five years ago.Building a large residual income could be the key to surviving in tough economic times. This will be income which will carry you or your business over the rough patches since it is based upon past performance and not on your current selling situation.Automate EverythingThe real beauty of marketing online and using computers… you can automate just about every process in your marketing system. Make it a point of automating everything you do… use autoresponders to follow-up with potential buyers, use automatic check-outs, automatic reporting… just set-up your whole internet marketing system that runs itself with little or no supervision from you. This will free up your time to concentrate all your efforts on marketing/promoting your site or product. Besides, nothing beats coming back from a vacatíon and finding out you have earned the cost of your vacatíon and then some – all the while you were lying in the sun and miles away from any computer.Find The Top Online MarketersIf you’re just starting with internet marketing, you need to find the top successful marketers and “model” what they’re doing. This is relatively a new industry and you have to seek out the experts and pioneers who have set the groundwork. When I first started marketing online, I was quite fortunate to come into contact with some web marketing heavy-weights such as Marlon Sanders, Ken Evoy, Neil Shearing… and SEO experts like Brad Callen and Aaron Wall.Make Google Your FriendWhether you love or hate Google doesn’t matter, you just have to make it your number one ally in your online marketíng. Google has just about conquered the world-wide search market, Yahoo and MSN are still important, but Google is the deal-breaker when you’re selling stuff online. Consumers have enormous respect for Google, a number one listing for a lucrative keyword simply means money in the bank.I have found using Google Search, Google Adwords, and Google Adsense have played a more than significant role in the success of my own online sites and marketing. Google tools such as Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Webmaster Tools… all have been invaluable and an enormous help in achieving my “web-based” lifestyle and livelihood. Of course, Google has also driven me around the bend more times than I can count, but no one is perfect. Besides, when it’s all said and done, anyone marketing on the web must truly embrace Google if they want to reach their highest level possible.About The AuthorEveryone has a story. Mine is called: “In Search Of The $100 Click or How I Found A Full-Time Online Income And Came To Love The Internet“. Everyone is profiting from the web. Find out how you can too at: marketingtoolguide.com. 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.