Google Analytics 1-Page MindMap

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Response was so good to the Google Adwords Optimisation 1-page MindMap that I recently published that I decided to follow up with a Google Analytics 1-Page MindMap as well.

Get The Google Analytics 1-Page MindMap Here

Google Analytics is powerful and easy-to-use system for tracking how users are interacting with your website.  Yet according to a survey of 324 Australian business owners and marketing professionals that we conducted, 81% of website owners are not using ANY analytics program to track their website results (excluding free services such as Webalizer or AWStats that come standard with many webhosting accounts).

There’s no excuse, when Google Analytics is readily available and FREE.

While there are plenty of advanced things you can do with Google Analytics, you can reap big returns by simply inserting the tracking code into your site and setting up a goal or two.   Come back in a week or a month and you’ll begin to see patterns and useful insights you can use to improve your website and get more online sales.

If you’re already using Google Analytics, you may find the mindmap gives you a few more ideas, or if you’d like professional help turning your website data into profitable results, check out our Google Analytics consulting services.

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SEO vs PPC – Which Is Better For Lead Generation Websites?

Here’s a question I’m often asked:

“Which is better: optimising my site for “free” search engine rankings, or paying for clicks on Google Adwords?

My answer is always the same – if you can profitably generate website traffic with both, it’s best to do both to generate maximum returns.

But you should also keep in mind that free search engines and paid search engines are very different animals.

Let’s look a little deeper so you understand the pros and cons of Search Engine Optimisation for the “free” search engines (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click optimisation on paid search engines (PPC).

SEO vs PPC

PPC (paying for clicks) is good because…

1. It’s a very fast way to generate targeted traffic – you can literally generate visitors to your website within 10 minutes. SEO takes much longer to see results.
2. You can easily decide where to send each visitor (e.g. if a visitor searches on “blue widgets”, you can direct them to your “blue widgets” product page.) With SEO, the search engines decide for you.
3. You can easily test multiple headlines / copy / offers by testing ads in Google Adwords.
4. You can easily drive traffic for a broad range of keywords. With SEO, you’re wise to focus on fewer keywords.
5. Your website doesn’t have to be “search engine friendly” for PPC to work. (Websites built with “Flash” are notoriously UN-friendly to search engines, but they don’t necessarily affect PPC traffic.)
6. You’re optimising for conversion results, not the ranking formula for a particular search engine.
7. You can easily change positions on the page in order to find the best Return On Investment.
8. Changes in “the rules” of Pay-Per-Click search engines tend to be smaller and less frequent than changes to the “free” SEO rules.

SEO (free traffic) is good because…

1. It’s free!
2. You can generate hoards of traffic for search terms that it would be un-economical to bid on with Pay Per Click.
3. The long-term Return On Investment is often better than Pay Per Click. It’s slower at first, and the risk is higher if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s cheaper in the long term.
4. Once you get good rankings, it’s relatively easy to maintain them with little incremental effort.
5. You can build incredible momentum and dominate your market while your competitors bleed themselves dry trying to compete with you on PPC search engines as they pay for every click.

Conclusion: SEO and PPC both have their place in any online lead generation strategy for your business website.

But the Search Engine Optimisation field is riddled with mis-information and half-truths that can waste your time, blow your budget and frustrate the heck out of you, all at the same time.

That’s why I’ve decided to totally rework my audio program, “Search Engine Strategies for lead generation websites”. It will contain what I believe to be the most concise, most effective way to generate free Search Engine traffic to your “real” business website. And…it will be available for less than $50.

This new program will be launched on Tuesday 10th March at 12 noon AEST, but if you want to get access before everyone else, and gain access to extra Early Bird bonuses, you can join the pre-launch notification list here.

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Online Advertising Still Robust But Growth Flattening

Here are some recent stats that give a quick snapshot of the Australian online media landscape (data from this report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Australia).

Exhibit A: Online advertising spend grew 27% from 2007 to 2007

Exhibit B: Compare Q4 2007 with Q4 2008 and you’ll note a healthy 22% increase.

Exhibit C: Now take a look at a comparison of Q3 2008 with Q4 2008 – growth is still positive, but it’s slowed to just 2% (an annualised rate of 8%).

Conclusion: there’s still plenty of activity online and advertisers are still spending money to make money.  But as competition for customers hots up, renewed focus on testing and tracking ROI is essential.

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Use A “Next-Best-Steps” List To Get More Done

A quick distinction that may help you get more done.

One of the challenges that plagues many people is a feeling that there just isn’t enough time in the day to get stuff done.

I know myself, I’ve often been guilty of poring over my “To Do” list with a vague sense of anxiety over what do do next.

Before I know it, I’m off down a rabbit hole, checking my ClickBank sales or “researching”.   Then I snap out of it and an hour has gone.

The problem with a traditional “To Do” list is that it’s no good for managing multiple, shifting priorities and projects.  It soaks up so much mental RAM that you don’t have any left to get done what you need to get done.

And that leads to the subject of this post:  most people have to much in the “Doing” pile.

Let me explain.

There are 3 stages in the task “Life Cycle”:

1. To Do
2. Doing
3. Done

You only get paid when a task is “Done”.  There is very little value in a task that is “In Progress” (Doing), whether it be a half-finished website, a 90% completed manuscript or a three-quarters serviced car.

But by NOT focusing on one task to completion, you end up with too many tasks in the “Doing” pile and not enough in the “Done” pile.

That equals a feeling of busyness and stress without the rewards of “Getting Things Done” (to appropriate David Allen’s phrase – GTD is awesome BTW).

Not a good place to be.

One of my solutions is what I call a “Next-Best-Steps” list.  In other words, a To Do list that must be done in order.

You do item 1 to completion, then item 2, then item 3, and so on.

This helps you remain focused on only your Next Best Step to get you from where you are now, to where you want to be.

It’s also vital that you have a clearly defined outcome of what you’re trying to achieve.

Here’s an example of one of my recent Next Best Steps lists.  The outcome is boosting traffic volume to the Marketing Results website.

Next-Best-Steps ToDo List

You may find my scrawl a little hard to decypher, but number 1 refers to Google Adwords optimisation.  Number 2 is On-page SEO optimisation – specifically, making sure that we’re not canibalising results for certain keywords by optimising for the same key phrases on multiple pages.

So instead of getting bogged down on the desired outcome of “more website traffic”, I was able to remain focused on specific action steps to bring about the desired outcome.

The Next Best Steps list is one productivity hack of many, but if translating desired outcomes into prioritised tasks, then real results is a sticking point for you, you may find it useful.

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Beating Economic Blues Requires Upgraded Mental Software

Anders Sorman-Nilsson from Thinque wrote a very thought provoking blog post this morning that struck a chord with me.   In Australia as in most countries right now, the government is throwing cash at everyone almost everyone in a bid to “stimulate” us out of the recession.

Says Anders (emphasis added by me):

I believe people out there are genuinely scared, and they need strong leadership. Leadership that is inspirational, certain, innovative, creative – even funky! Leadership that declares that ‘we will make it through this’. Leadership that says, ‘hey, we have enjoyed 17 years of unprecedented economic growth, we are currently experiencing a slow-down, but we need to upgrade our thinking, our marketing, our positioning, our universities to ensure we get back on the right track.’

Strong leadership is not just ’stimulus packages’. Does anybody feel ’stimulated’ by the logical, analytical number-crunching administration talk of hand-outs?

[Read the entire blog post]

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it - Einstein

Handouts without inner change will be spent in less than a month, to be replaced by inevitable fear because “we tried and it didn’t work”.

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