Conversion tracking

Conversion Tracking is easy if you remember to understand keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns. You want to know your Return on investment in order to make good decisions about spending money. You can see who is viewing your site and view cross-device, cross browser, and other conversion data in your "All-conversions column

Here is the process for tracking:

You add a conversion tracking tag, or code snippet, to your website or mobile app code. When a customer clicks on your ad from Google Search or selected Google Display Network sites, a temporary cookie is placed on their computer or mobile device. When they complete the action you defined, our system recognizes the cookie (through the code snippet you added), and we record a conversion.

Some kinds of conversion tracking don’t require a tag. For example, to track phone calls from call extensions or call-only ads, you use a Google forwarding number to track when the call came from one of your ads, and to track details like call duration, call start and end time, and caller area code. Also, app downloads from Google Play will automatically be recorded as conversions, and no tracking code is needed.

Weebly

Having an online presence is something that has been stressed throughout this class.  It is essential for a colleague or future employer to look you up on the internet.
That being said your internet presence should be as professional as possible.  Obviously, a professional and public linkedIn is important and an up to date blog can be beneficial.  However, some people do not consider creating a personal website.  A personal website is an easy way for people to view your skills and interact with you electronically.
Weebly is a great way to create this professional presence.  Weebly is also a free domain that is easily edited and accessed by users. Users can make an online store to sell products. The site can be attached to google analytics, and can allow viewers to e-mail the account holder with questions or information.
By having a weebly account a user can practice using google analytics by attaching the site to analytics and setting goals and tracking conversions. Additionally, the site holder can promote the page using facebook or other social medias in order to increase traffic and exposure.  The site can also have links to various other networks.  All of which can expand an individuals reach in this globally connected world.

Analytics

This blog will highlight the google analytics test and helpful steps to pass the test. First, one might take the exam at https://www.google.com/partners/#p_overview.  To pass  the exam you must get an 80% or higher.  Upon passing the exam you will receive a google analytics certification.  This certification is a good tool to use in a job hunt or when promoting your own company.

I have struggled to pass the google analytics certification test. However, I have done a decent amount of studying and thought I might share some links that I found to be helpful.  The first study tool is to set up a google analytics account. This will allow you to browse the application and learn new things by actually doing them.  Google analytics is free to set up and weebly is a free website builder that will allow a user to test the things they learn in real time.

The following is a helpful link for studying. http://www.yocazo.com/google-analytics-test-answers

What Color is Your Parachute

ARE YOU PART OF THE 80%?

"80% of all workers toy with the idea of starting their own business at some point during their job life time" (Bolles, 249).  Yoy will not need a lot of money but you will need to think outside of the box, research and use the internet.  From the cases discussed in the book, all of the business owners researched heavily. You must first be creative and think outside the box.  Be unique and do your own thing.  Success is ignited from notraditional thinking and hard work. Then, know what you do not know and find the answers to your questions.  Finally, use the internet.  The internet is a source of endless data and examples.  It is free and must be used for success and new ideas. 

There are four steps to cration.  1. Write- jot down your thoughts, take detailed notes for future reference. Get to know who you are and what you hope to accomplish. 2. Read- understand what is expected of running your own business.  What will it be like and how have others done it.  Know what you do not know and conquer those uncertanties. 3. Explore- now research the competitors and learn from their triumphs and mistaes.  4. Get Feedback- take others advice.  The business owner that is unwilling to addapt is the first to fail.  Your peers and your customers will have the best input for your innovations will come from the people viewing the idea from the outside and without bias. 

Lastly, good luck and work hard!

What Color is Your Parachute

The Five Ways to Choose/Change Careers:

1. Internet
Search the internet and determine what jobs are out there, what occupations can you choose from.  There are many different jobs that a person may not even know existed unless they do a little be of preliminary research.

2. Tests
Tests do not specifically find a career for a person but they can divide the population into groups. It is also important to allow the test to ask questions.  Do no anticipate questions or try and beat the test.  A test is attempting to help you to determine what is best.  If you are outguessing the test for a destiny that you have predetermined for yourself, then the test is not for you. Remember testing has mixed reviews and is not the solution for all users.

3. The Flower Exercise
This is a repeat from my blog about chapter 7 of the What Color is Your Parachute book.   The flower test is the basic outline for discovering who you are.

4. Two Steps to Changing A Career
      a. Title- the title is what exactly you do for a job.
      b. Field- this is the area that a job is in.

5. Find Out What the Job Market Needs

Analytics

Chapter 8 of the Intro to Google Analytics:

Google anayltics and Google Adwords can both be useful tools to track website traffic.  Adwords can provide more insight than Google Analytics.  If a user is running both an Adwords campaign and using Analytics, they can link the two in order to create even more information to analyze. A user can do Google searches on ecommerce tracking in Adwords.  This will allow the user to track their online stores presence and the traffic to their website simultaneously.  

By linking sites to Google Analytics a user can now accumulate large amounts of information that pertains to their site.  The user can determine the servers that visit the site.  The city, country, or continent.  Analytics can even track the type of phone used to access the site or even if the site was visited off of a mobile device or a desktop.  Furthermore, analytics can provide what pages in the site were actually viewed and how long those pages were viewed.

It is a powerful tool for marketing and research.  All a user needs is about 20 minutes, the tracking code and a fun website to start tracking traffic themselves.

"The World is Your Oyster"

The title of this post is just a quote from the web analytics book for this class that stood out to me.  The world is my oyster and it is important to build momentum on the success that I have had. For example with Connecticut Cuff, when we launched our website we had positive numbers of visits to the web page, however, when we lost momentum was when we did not follow-up the launch with an advertisement.  Unfortunately, now our website is a bit stagnant and boring.

It might be time to spend money to make money. Connecticut Cuff can get Google Adwords.  This means that Google will boost our site.  Boosting our site will drive traffic and this traffic will bring in customers.  Dr. Kelsey has said that 98% of people that view the website at first are not ready to buy.  However, if we can bring people back multiple times they might convert to buyers.  All of this can be tracked easily through google analytics.

Analytics

My last post about analytics was regrading me beginning a marketing campaign for my company Connecticut Cuff.  Unfortunately, I have not begun my marketing campaign.  I have been busy with classes and midterms.  I want to take time to develop a well thought out marketing strategy for a new campaign before publishing an advertisement.  If the advertisement that I post is well thought out, targeted properly and visually professional; I predict that there will be a more positive response.

Head shots

Today in class we went over the importance of a quality presence on LinkedIn. Part of this presence includes a professional head shot.  Employers and users want a visual of who you are, a photograph is a good way for people to see you.  LinkedIn is simply a social media outlet.  Any social media outlet needs a visual of the account holder.  Your head shot is your visual for LinkedIn.

Additionally we had the opportunity to take professional head shots in class.  The attached photo is the head shot that I chose to include on my LinkedIn, and my e-mail.  This photograph is a professional view of myself that I want to portray to possible connections and employers.

What Color is Your Parachute

We all want a good job or purpose in life.

It is important to know who you are first.  Knowing a couple ways to describe yourself goes a long way when it comes time to decide what career path you want to choose. If you have various ways to describe yourself you will have various job markets that you can consider entering. This diversity provides more options and channels for success. Furthermore, this research will ultimately lead to more education of various markets.  Eventually, the job search will not be you waiting for a firm to approach you for employment but you can then approach them.  Your research will provide you with knowledge and you will have a personal connection to the firm.  You will be approaching the firm based on your personal desire to work with them, rather than your desire to simply be employed.

Connecticut Cuff Analytics

As I have previously posted, I run a company called Connecticut Cuff.  I have the website for this company linked up to Google analytics so I can track the traffic that my page experiences.  Over time I have experienced a significant correlation between social media posts and the traffic to the web page.  My page experiences more an more traffic with every post I make to twitter and Instagram.  If I fail to regularly post on social media, my website traffic declines.  (The attached image illustrates this idea). I wanted to test this theory so for a couple weeks I did not make social media posts.  The result was not surprising.  I went from 43 visits to the website to about 3 per day.  That is a significant difference.  Even more significant is I currently do not advertise on social media.  The next test is to invest in social media ads and see how the traffic is affected.  Judging from the traffic that simply posting on social media generates, I hypothesize that an ad might double or triple the traffic to the page.

What Color is Your Parachute?

Never Give Up!
Never Give Up!
Never Give Up!

There are two ways to get a job. The traditional approach, and the parachute way. I will start by outlining the criteria for a job hunt.  First you need to identify your wants. You are interested in finding a job.  How do you see yourself? Do you have a plan? Preparation? How do you figure out who is looking for employees? How do you contact hiring firms? What purpose does your resume serve? Do you have interview goals? Are there interview talking points? Do you have questions? How do you end the interview?

These questions are relevant to both job search strategies. However, the strategies are different.  Traditional job hunts start with the need for work, building a resume, finding a way to sell yourself before you hunt for work, research what the job market is looking for, wait for an employer to post a job, send out your resume, sell them on why they need to hire you, discuss your qualifications, ask if they are interested in you, and ask when they with contact you. Finally, you will follow-up and thank them for the interview. In contrast, the parachute way consists of a search for a dream job. This is a job that you can use your favorite skills, fields and knowledge to make an impact. You are no longer a job beggar but a resource to a company. Then you can determine what job you would die to do. When you prep for the job hunt you want to do a self assessment that will determine what you are best at and will most love doing. Do informal interviews and determine what firms are interested in you.  Use a bridge person to personally connect you to a firm. Your bridge person can personally hand a resume and cover letter to the firm. Do a first interview, and get a second interview. Let the interviewer lead the interview and ask questions about the work day, environment, and company info that is not covered in your research. The question then becomes do you want them and do they want me.  Once you determine this is a job for you, urge the firm that you are a good fit and can help them and ask for the job. Then send a thank you letter for the interview.

Connecticut Cuff Analytics

This year I started a life style brand called Connecticut Cuff. We specialize in preppy cuffed shorts.  This is clothing company that reflects my personal style and a growing resurgence in the fashion industry of the "preppy" look.  Kiel James Patrick, Vineyard Vines, Southern Tide, Nantucket Buckets, Knot Clothing Co, Harding-Lane, Nantucket Reds, and many more have begun to really manufacturer and market their clothing as more than a product, but a life style.  the resurgence of "preppy" is becoming more of a life style than simply a product.  As a result of the growing trend and the saturation of the preppy clothing/ lifestyle brand market marketing and analytics have grown more and more important to the success of these brands. For this reason yesterday I explored linking my website with google analytics.


Along with the start of my company, I recently launched an online store.  I bought a domain name, e-mail address and online store through GoDaddy.com.  This allows me to sell my product, market my product, and interact with other businesses, companies and colleagues.  Over the last couple of weeks in my analytics class we have learned the importance of tracking website traffic and the different types of information that can be assessed.  As a result I set up a google analytics account for my website. The below image is  a shot of some basic information that I was able to track since the website's launch. I can look at the average time spend visiting the website, if the users are new or returning, their age, interests, and what social media platform they accessed a link from.  There are several more options that I have yet to explore.

My company is planning a Facebook ad campaign to launch later this month.  The campaign will be linked to google analytics as well and we will track the effectiveness of the ad.

What Color is Your Parachute

Do you have a job? How was the interview process? Did you feel uncomfortable at any point?  These are interesting questions to consider after reading chapter 5 in the "What Color is Your Parachute" book.  Furthermore, I have a job, have been interviewed before and the interview was uncomfortable. My job interview went well, however, it became uncomfortable when the question of compensation arose.  As a young professional who is trying to get a job it is difficult for me to demand a certain amount of money.  I do not have vast, proved and professional success.  The discomfort in the interview comes when I am asked how much I want to make.  If it happens early in the process, I do not know what to say.  I want to keep them interested and I do not want the relationship to be just about money.  Furthermore, when I am asked at the end I do not want to ruin a great interview by asking for too much money.

The text explains this dilemma quiet simply by stating that salary is important.  You do a service and need to get compensated for that service. Therefore, "always ask about salary." The text also states some helpful ways to differ the question.  Trying to ask more questions about the position before you answer is good.  Asking for time to think about the opportunity more. Even being open and stating that you do not want to discuss that topic until both parties are interested in an agreement.  These are all ways to differ the question.  If you are forced to answer try giving a range.  If the interviewer keeps pressing then maybe think about whether its a place you want to work at all or ask what they are willing to pay.  

Have a conversation about salary.  Most importantly make sure it is not skipped and that before you accept a job you know what you will be paid. 

Facebook Ads

I recently posted that I was going to activate a Facebook Ad for my website Connecticut Cuff, however, I have decided against it.  It is important to note that if you want to promote your site with an advertisement from Facebook you need to first have a google analytics account. You will want to track the analytics for a website with the google analytics account because it is free and is the easiest way to track if the Facebook ad is effective.

The book, "Intro to Google Analytics," describes how to track return on investment.  This is an important topic when thinking about the investment of a person or a company into a Facebook ad.  You want to be able to calculate if the money you have spent is working.  More importantly should you spend less or invest more? These are important questions.

Ultimately having an emphasis on return on investment is beneficial to you, your employer and clients.

Analytics

Blog posts allow for an inside look into a person, company or firm. By promoting these posts you allow individuals more access to your personality. One way to promote these accounts is to create a social media advertisement. You can use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. The platforms allow for good exposure and control. However, as stated in my previous blog post, Facebook is the front runner in the social media ad space race. The book, "Intro to Google Analytics" recommends using Facebook.  More over, the book encourages marketers to not only purchase ads that are linked to your site or blog but to also include a photograph in the ad as well. Users need visual in order to inspire clicks and visits.

The included image is a photograph from the book that illustrates a blog advertisement through Facebook.

Facebook Ads

Social Media Marketing 

Facebook is currently leading the pack of social media outlets when it comes to advertising. The Wall Street Journal reports, "78% of marketers are satisfied with their experience with Facebook Ads. This means that the majority of the marketers that are participating in using the Facebook Ad capability are satisfied.

This information has lead our Google Analytics class to utilize Facebook in order to write and publish ads for our blogs. However, I want to kill two birds with one stone so I am going to publish an ad for my clothing company called Connecticut Cuff. I am looking forward to tracking the increase in web traffic that a Facebook Ad might have to offer to my site.

Google

Hello all,

Chapter 2 of the book, What Color is Your Parachute?, speaks to our presence online. Google can, in a lot of ways, be considered the truest form of a resume. Social media has increased our presence online.  In many cases an individual might have 3 social medias. This means that there are three web links that can lead to a page that tells the world about that individual. On the other hand, a person might have been mentioned in an article or a post.

The book instructs the readers to google themselves and assess what their e-image looks like.  I did this and found that my real name "Evan Berg" comes up with no results regarding me. Then I googled "Rudy Berg", I found my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and my athlete profile for lacrosse. I do not think that these are bad things for people to see. However, it is disappointing that my LinkedIn does not appear when I google "Evan Beer".  I think I need to fill in more information and add connections in order to improve the visits to this page.

The attached photograph is the screen shot of what happens when you google "Rudy Berg"

LinkedIn

The above clipping is a screen shot of my skills on LinkedIn.  I have had a LinkedIn profile for about 3 years with close to 350 connections.  I have posted  a number of skills and have gained several endorsements for these skills.  I invite anyone to link with me and messages me to get in touch.

Analytics

"Intro to Google Analytics"

Google analytics is a free and easy way to track different effectiveness of web browsers. It is important to understand who is viewing a web page, how often and what they are looking at.  Each web page can be analyzed and broken down by the views and the average duration spent viewing the page.  Any online marketer needs to understand this information and be able to track the trends.  tracking the trends allows online marketers to improve their footprint and better their exposure.

Google analytics is not the only source to track a web browser's footprint.  There are paid programs that will allow users to do more options.  For example, web trends is an option that only paid versions of analytic trackers allow. Open source web searching is a more protected way to display information and allows the user to have more control over who sees their information and does not allow google the ability to cookie their information and sell it to marketing companies.

"What Color is Your Parachute"

A great lesson to be learned is the fact that the employees have changed and the job searchers have not.  Lets look back to 2008.  Jobs were eliminated and companies adapted to fill new needs with new people.  Unfortunately, the people looking for jobs did not get this memo.  There are jobs out there, but the employers search to fill those jobs differently. The employers now screen hundreds for one job and use detailed perimeters to weed out the undesirable workers.  It is important to read the full job description and qualifications.  Have updated resumes and information to ensure that the employer looks at you. 

Job hunting is creative and adaptive.  Stay ahead of the game and stay tuned into what employers are searching for.  Tailor yourself to a job that you view as one you can succeed with. 

Screen Shot

Testing inserting the screen shot to blogger. It is important to include images in any source of information.  Images allow for more engagement from readers and can act as a draw to persuade new readers to subscribe.  We tested the snipping tool in windows, which allows a blogger to take a photo of the screen they are looking at and share that information with their subscribers.