While advertising is never a bad idea, it can easily be wasted if the proper tracking measures are not taken. Through the use of online advertising, a wide range of different techniques can be used in order to track the effectiveness of ads.

By far the most effective method is by tracking what are called Conversions.

A potential customer would click on an advertisement (found on Google.com or on another website through the content network) and end up on www.YourSite.com. The visitor would then browse through the website and find a contact form (which if you don't have, get one!). They fill out the contact form and click 'Submit'. The act of clicking 'Submit' on the contact form acts as a Conversion. The visitor has now taken the next step in becoming a paying customer.

Many businesses have a preconception that websites are notorious for being poor in providing sufficient tracking data. The tools are available, but they need to be integrated effectively and monitored on a frequent basis.

If you have links from other websites, or are running multiple ads, you can add a tracking code to the end of the incoming link. For instance :

• If you have an incoming link directed to : http://www.YourSite.com/ProductPage?ID=456, it may direct the visitor to the correct page, but this will not benefit tracking at all.
• Use the following URL instead : http://www.YourSite.com/ProductPage?utm_source=SiteA&utm_medium=BannerAd&utm_campaign=ProductShowcase
  

Some services such as Google Analytics and Google AdWords provide tracking services which when setup, can track a range of different conversions, from when a visitor lands on a specific page, to when a visitor downloads a file, and more.

Another tracking service available for both online and traditional advertisers is Call Tracking. What this service does, is generate a unique 1-800 phone number for each targeted ad, which are used by the potential customer in order to call the advertiser. Each time a number is called, it acts as a conversion. This is very effective at determining which method of advertising is more effective and which ad is the most appealing to visitors.

Beginning in December, Glacier-Digital will begin offering this service to all of its SEO & SEM clients. Please contact us for more information.

If you plan on rolling out an online advertising campaign, be it large or small, be certain that the proper tools are in place to track your return on investment. While the ads might do the job otherwise, you'll never truly know.

In an ongoing effort to continue providing you with our series of SEO Rules, we bring you Rule #2. Focusing on the goals of a website.

You must ask yourself... WHAT is the point of your website? It isn't a question that people are asked very often. In the past, the only reason most businesses have a website is a) because they need to let people know how to contact them, or b) because their competition does, therefore they need one as well.

A question not asked very often : WHAT is the point of your website?

These are no longer valid reasons in today's rapidly expanding and changing online environment. The purpose of ANY company website, and it really doesn't matter which type of business, is to generate sales. Whether these sales are generated directly on the website, through email, a contact form or over the phone, they provide a market that is unmatched with any other.

The ability to reach hundreds of thousands, even millions of people at any time, is incredibly powerful. If you manage to capture even a fraction of those viewers, don't you want to capture their attention as quickly and as effectively as possible?

Provide a Call-To-Action, CLEARLY available on EVERY page that consists of a text phrase or even an image, focusing on the main goal/purpose of your website. That goal could be a phone call, a form submission, or even a product purchase. You need to expect every visitor to be lost and confused when they stumble upon your website, so by making everything as easy as possible for them, it will result in more conversions.

This doesn't just apply to natural search rankings, but to any advertising campaign as well. A well placed, direct and concise Call-To-Action will create a point of interest for any visitor and is essential for every website.

If you have been to Google.com today,then you have no doubt noticed their new logo.

No? Well, here it is : Before you ask... yes. If you scan it with a barcode scanner, it will indeed, say 'Google'. Logo changes are nothing new at all for Google, as during holiday's and other mysterious events, they always have great twists on their trademark logo. Check out some of Google's past logos here.

This is the first time that Google's logo has been entirely replaced by a graphic, which is due to the 57th anniversary of the patent issuance for the barcode system.

The barcode, a joint effort by Bernard Silver, Norman Woodland and Jordin Johanson, was created to satisfy a need for automatically reading product information.

I actually can't imagine a life without barcodes, as things would be a LOT more manual!

Fun fact : In June of 1974, the first U.P.C. scanner was installed at a Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio. The first product to have a bar code included was a packet of Wrigley's Gum.

As we've mentioned many times before on this blog, before any search engine optimization is performed on a website and before any changes are made, a website's content must be scoured with a fine toothed comb.

There are thousands upon thousands of websites that require SEO services, however, they focus on techniques to capture the attention of search engines, instead of their visitors. They will never realize the success that is possible with well written, relevant content.

First and foremost, the "human" factor is the driving force behind any website's success. Building a website purely for search engines will never maintain any high search rankings and certainly won't appeal to real visitors.

Determining what a website provides for its visitors is crucial, as it lays the base upon which to build.

Is it a resource or knowledge base? Is it a means of generating sales leads? Is it a way to interact with others in the similar industry?

These are just some of the possible scenarios which would require a very different approach to writing a website's content.

Whether a copy writer is required or not, content must be informative and detailed, yet captivating enough to engage the visitor and keep them coming back for more.