 |
|
^ click above ^ |
09.11.03
 By
Robin Nobles and Dave Barry
If you're just beginning to try your hand with the pay-per-click engines,
one thing you need to know is the importance of setting up tracking
URL’s so you're better able to track click-throughs and sales.
Why go to the trouble? Because if you don't set up some sort
of tracking system, you'll never know if your keyword purchases are
really working for you. And if you don't know if they're working for
you, you won't be able to make an educated decision on whether or
not to discard a keyword campaign, expand it, choose different keywords,
etc.
There are some excellent software programs and services on the market
that will track individual keyword purchases and determine your ROI
(return on investment), and we'll name some of them at the end of
this article. For those who purchase large numbers of keywords, such
programs are crucial. |
But this article is for those who are just getting started and who
don't want to invest in a software program yet – they just want to
purchase a few keywords and get their feet wet with the pay-per-click
engines.
Using a Tracking URL to Track Traffic
Overture claims that 95 percent of all Overture traffic comes from
their partner sites, such as Yahoo and MSN. So, it’s important to
track your Overture traffic so you can be sure how much traffic you're
getting for each of your keyword purchases.
Let’s say that your URL is http://www.english-bulldogs.com. To add
tracking capability to such a URL, you'd tack on:
?source=Overture
...so your URL would look this:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture
If the keyword phrase you're tracking is english bulldog puppies,
here’s the tracking URL you would use:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies
Change the URL you have listed with Overture for that keyword phrase
to the tracking URL by going to Overture’s Managed Listing Section
of the DirecTraffic Center.
If the URL already has a question mark in it, you will have to add
&source=Overture to the end. For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs
To: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/search.cgi?q=dogs&source=
Overture&kw=english+bulldog+puppies
If the URL has a # character, the ?source=Overture will need to be
inserted prior to the # sign. For example:
From: http://www.english-bulldogs.com/#oscar
To:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/?source=Overture&kw=
english+bulldog+puppies#oscar
Be sure to test the new tracking URL to verify that the modified URL
works as well as the original, and don't use the tracking URL for
anything other than tracking your pay engine traffic.
After setting up the tracking URL’s, you should be able to look for
source=Overture in your server log files to see how much traffic you're
getting from Overture for each of your keyword phrases. Your log analysis
software, depending on which one you use, will be able to compile
that information for you.
But How Do You Know Which Traffic Converts to Sales?
Determining your conversion rate is easier if your site supports some
type of user session tracking, such as cookies, server-side scripting,
etc. If you create a user session (or set a cookie) when someone visits
your site, then you can count how many user sessions contained a successful
page view that will let you know that a desired action has been completed,
such as a receipt of goods sold or signing up for your newsletter.
You can then analyze the referral source for each of your user sessions
to count how many conversions came from Overture based on each keyword
phrase.
How Can You Set up User Session Tracking?
Editors note: These instructions will apply to those of you
already running your web sites on Microsoft's IIS.
Dave Barry of SmartCertify explains:
Session Tracking is made possible by using .asp (active server pages)
on your Web site. There are several ways in which to accomplish this.
One is by assigning a query string value to your link or using the
referrer information to assign a proper code to track. In the asp
environment, there is a large collection of information that you have
access to, including the exact page the visitor came from, and if
a search engine, the keywords used to find your site.
Let us look at these two options.
Assigning a query string value to your link.
This method can work in pay-per-click engines, but when working
with other engines and links, it can become cumbersome and not
always work. By assigning a query string, you are adding a value
to your URL that will appear in your server log files allowing
you to search for it to see how effective it is working.
Example line from log file:
2002-12-23 19:25:10 192.168.20.14 443 /Default.asp TrackingQueryString=TrackingCode
32 Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.0;
+Hotbar+4.1.5.0;+.NET+CLR+1.0.3705)
Please note that right after the page name, Default.asp is the
query string that was attached to the URL. Also note the browser
type, time, and date are included as well. You can set your logfiles
to log the information you want. This is done at the server level.
If your ISP is in charge of your server, consult with them to
make the changes.
Using the referrer information to code your visitors.
When a user clicks a link that leads to your site – whether coming
from a search engine or not – they arrive carrying luggage with
them that you may not know about. This “luggage” is called the
“Server Variables Collection.” With this information, you can
track exactly where each visitor came from and what search words
they used to get there.
To find the Server Variables Collection enabling you to track
where each visitor comes from along with the search words they
used, add the following code to an asp page and view it in your
browser:
<% For Each Item in
Request.ServerVariables Response.Write(Item.Name & " --
" &
Request.ServerVariables(Item) & "<br>") Next %>
Dave has set up a video file that will help explain tracking in
more detail. To view it, go to: http://www.smartcertify.com/seo/jan/tracking.asp
Remember: The number of sales from Overture for a particular
keyword phrase divided by the number of visits from Overture (or
its partners) for that keyword phrase is what constitutes (equals)
your conversion rate.
And, the profit generated from your Overture campaigns per keyword
phrase divided by the amount spent at Overture per keyword phrase
is your return-on-investment (ROI).
Frames and Search Engine spiders
Is it true that using frames in a website hurts
it's search engine rankings? I just recently read
somewhere that nearly half of all major search
engine spiders can't crawl framesets...
|
|
|
Using Your Affiliate Program to Track Sales
If you have an affiliate program, you can also track sales by using
your affiliate software. After all, most affiliate programs, such
as MyAffiliateProgram.com, will track your traffic as well
as sales, which will give you your conversion rate.
How does it work? Simply set up a new "affiliate" for each keyword
you purchase through the pay engines.
For example, you would create a short URL that you would list with
Overture. That URL would be nothing more than a redirect page that
redirects to the affiliate link you've assigned for the keyword.
For example:
http://www.english-bulldogs.com/puppies.html
...would only be a redirect page that takes your visitors to
http://www.myaffiliateprogram.com/u/dogs/t.asp?id=1925,
...which is the real page of content. Affiliate ID #1925 would be
set up specifically to track traffic for the keyword phrase, english
bulldog puppies, that you've purchased through Overture. You wouldn't
send any other traffic through that page, and you would list the
puppies.html page at Overture’s Managed Listing Section of
the DirecTraffic Center.
Other Benefits of Tracking Click Data
Though each of the pay engines do everything they can to prevent
click fraud, it does happen. By setting up a tracking system to
track click data and monitoring the click patterns carefully, you'll
be able to spot any possible click fraud and can report it immediately
to the pay engine.
Helpful Software Programs and Services
Keyword Tool: KeywordTool's tracking service tracks the conversion
or sales performance of keywords on search and pay-per-click engines,
showing which keyword phrases are actually converting into customers
and from which search engines. It is not a visitor tracker; instead,
it determines keyword performance. http://www.keywordtool.net/
GO TOAST: One of GO TOAST’s components, ProfitBuilder, is
a ROI service for any advertising campaign. GO TOAST is an Overture
approved bid management service. http://www.gotoast.com/
WebTrends Reporting Center’s Enterprise Edition: Besides
basic log analysis, the Enterprise Edition will track users through
your web site in order to pinpoint visitor behavior through critical
processes, such as checkout and registration. It will also analyze
marketing campaigns by determining how much revenue each campaign
is generating. http://www.netiq.com/products/wrc/enterprise.asp
Overture has an ROI Calculator and a CPM Calculator that
will help measure your return on investment: http://www.overture.com/d/USm/adcenter/tools/index.jhtml
Final thoughts...
You'd be amazed at the number of people who set up keyword campaigns
but have no idea whether or not the campaigns are making them money
because they don't have tracking systems in place. So, regardless
of whether you are just beginning or even if you've been purchasing
keywords for a while, be sure to set up tracking for keywords and
user sessions. Doing so will enable you to know for certain which
keywords are working. And, that's the best way to maximize the return
on your keyword investments.
About the Author:
Robin Nobles, along with partner John Alexander, teaches 2-, 3-, and
5-day search engine marketing workshops through Search
Engine Workshops.com. These workshops are divided according to
experience level, and they come packaged with a 6-month mentoring
program and a Start-Up Resource Package that's valued at over $3,000.
Robin also teaches online
search engine marketing courses through Online Web Training. Her
latest books, Web Site Analysis and Reporting and Streetwise Maximize
Web Site Traffic, can be ordered through Amazon.
Dave Barry is a professional Webmaster, Web designer, programmer,
security expert, and search engine optimizer, all rolled up into one
amazingly talented man who works for SmartCertify Direct. (http://www.smartcertify.com)
He has also begun working with Search Engine Workshops to put on “hands
on” search engine
marketing workshops at locations across the globe. Dave recently
set up Computer Concierge
International, which is a full-service networking and Internet
solutions company.
|
|
|
View
Post
Click
To Comment