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.