If you are thinking of launching a new Advertising or Search Engine Marketing campaign, Google Insights for Search is a great tool that, when used correctly, can help determine the best search terms for the best times and locations.  Using Google Insights for Search, you can compare the interest in different search terms over time, determine search term interest trends over time, research search term interest by area and much more.  In this post, we will give a quick run through on how to use this awesome tool so you can make your next Search Engine Marketing campaign that much more effective. 

Step 1: Determine Your Search Terms

To start, determine the search terms you would like to build your campaign around.  The terms you use are completely up to you but I would suggest going with similar terms with slight differences (example:  landscaping, lawn care, lawn maintenance … all are services, centered around lawn care, that you pay for but each is a different term) once you have them down, enter them into the search terms box, comma separated, as indicated in the example image below.

Step 2: Determine Your Filters

The next step is to determine how you want to filter your results.  This is where you drill down the type of search you would like the results to come from (Web, Image, Product, and News), the geographic location (you can get down to the metro area level), time frame and categories, as indicated in the image below. If your marketing campaign is location based, you can research the interest level for your search terms, by the locations you are targeting.  Once your filters are selected, click search.

Step 3: Analysis of Results

The third step in this process is analyzing the results of your search.  Many tidbits of information can be gathered from the results but we will focus on 3 main ones: Comparison of Search Volume / Trending, Search Volume by Location and Top / Rising Searches.

Comparison of Search Volume / Trending

General comparison of the search volume for your terms is important because it indicates which term is being searched the most and also trending over time.  With this information you can plan out your advertising or marketing campaign based on when people search for that keyword the most and increase your chances of the campaign being successful.  Out of our example phrases, landscaping trumps the the other two in volume but it shares a common trend with lawn care.

Search Volume by Location

Google Insights for Search also reveals great data on the search volume, for your selected search term, by geographic location.  Using this information you can accurately plan your local search marketing campaign and target specific areas for different search terms.

Top / Rising Searches

The Top / Rising Searches section gives you great insight into other search terms, similar to yours, that are at the top  and also those that are rising in volume.  This information may help you determine what other search terms might benefit your campaign and give you an overall view of what people are searching for most often.

Review

So now you know the basics of how to use Google Insights for Search to improve your search engine marketing campaign.  We have covered how to get the report and a brief analysis of 3 different parts of the report.  If you have more questions about this awesome tool, visit our contact page and send us an email or call us at 210-519-7729.

Below are some live charts from the example search.  Enjoy.

Thank you for visiting.  If you have a website project or online marketing campaign to be completed, we can help you with that as well.  Check out our SEO, Folio, Web and Marketing pages for more information on our services and contact us to see what we can do for you.

Hey folks. As your Arlington based Website Design / Marketing company, we want to make sure and keep you in the know with tips and things to watch out for so you can start improving your company presence online and your marketing efforts overall.

Today we will discuss tracking because if you can’t measure it, you can’t use it.  This is a simple concept that is often skipped over when going through the day to day activities of running a business and that is tracking information. I’m not talking about tracking sales and profits and all that. I am talking about tracking the events that cause your sales and revenue to go up. Now regardless of whether or not you have a service or product you are selling, you need to be sure to track the events that cause your sales so you can then capitalize on them and generate even more business.

So how do I track events?

There are several ways of tracking events online including website analytics and the built in analytics programs many email blasters and online advertising systems have built in. These numbers and figures are often over-looked but oh so important as they tell you what happened when and where specifically for those marketing efforts.  This info is crucial for determining whether or not that marketing effort (SEO, advertising online, directory listing, mass-emailer, etc.) is worth continuing.  Once you know what is effective, you can then try to duplicate that effectiveness across the board.

Tracking offline is often more difficult to keep up with but also just as important.  It could be as simple as asking the new clients that phone in where they found you or including it in the conversation when you meet with them.  For those selling products, you can include the “where did you find us?” question in the shopping cart sign up (online) or just ask the person buying from you and write it down.

Tracking does not need to be high-tech to be effective at giving you a bigger picture of where your marketing is working and where it isn’t.  Often times, asking your clients where they found you or how they heard of you can be great for tracking and conversational.

The point is folks, if you don’t track, you are losing out on bundles of info that you can use to get the edge upping the ROI from your marketing efforts.  Ultimately, if you can’t track it, you can’t tell how effective it is and then you end up with money spent ineffective marketing without the expected return.

I hope this post has been helpful for your business and I encourage you to start tracking as much as possible as soon as possible.  Here at Big Cloud Media we specialize in tracking.  We also specialize in installing tracking tools online, analyzing website analytics, comparing real-world numbers with online and offline marketing results and much more.  This is our passion so if you feel you don’t have the time to do it or the know how, we can help.  Once tracking is in place, you can then start seeing the benefits of it in the more effective marketing and the increased sales and client numbers that result from it.

Thanks for reading and contact us today if you would like to have a consultation about your online marketing and how to make it more effective.

Big Cloud Media

ps.  feel free to leave a comment about this topic or send it to someone you think will benefit.