Archive for March 3rd, 2009

As we check in with colleagues and valued partners, we hear your concerns about the economy and the future of the world as we know it. Our take on the economic crisis? It’s an unparalleled opportunity for savvy business owners.

When you invest in developing and marketing your business, you don’t just flip the bird at plunging stock indices and growing panic…you continue to build the foundation for real growth and continued success. Would you stop construction on your half-built house right before rainy season just because roofing is expensive? We didn’t think so. String up your tarp, get your umbrellas out, and get ready to ride out the storm. We’ll be right there with you!

Here are our five favorite tips for weathering the economic crisis:

• Remain calm. Panic inside your business inevitably translates to your clients. Take a deep breath and look at the long term.
• Act with intention. In a down economy, it’s more important than ever to make good marketing decisions…decisions that are underpinned by a solid understanding of your goals, your market, and your resources.
• Stay connected. It can be tempting to hide under a rock until the economy gets better, but getting out there and fostering new friends and connections will help you feel more rooted and connect you to existing opportunities.
• Develop an investment mindset. Cost-minded businesses get hung up on individual actions and cower their way out of opportunity through a lack-based mindset. Investment-minded businesses know that every cent of money and every second of their precious time will yield results sooner or later.
• Remain calm. Hey, it’s worth repeating! If you’re in trouble, turn to your friends and trusted advisors…and remember, we’re just a quick e-mail or phone call away.

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This entry is part of VOCO Creative’s occasional series on using Google Analytics for marketing and branding.

So…you’ve set up Google Analytics and started learning more about the terms and concepts that make GA go.  Now it’s time to make actual use of the site with my five favorite Google Analytics tools.

• So-Cool Site Overlay:  This tool offers you an incredible amount of information on actual user behavior.  Located under the Content section, the Site Overlay tool shows you where clicks land on a page.  What a great way to find out that nobody cares about your “free widget discount” button or that your users are surprisingly curious about your portfolio.  Use the site overlay tool often and with a sense of strategy:  In order to take full advantage, you should be willing to change in response to the information it yields.
• Real Keyword Insight:  This is an SEO-oriented marketer’s best friend.  Located under the Traffic section, the Keywords tool shows you the searches people use to get to your site.  You may discover some strange surprises here…but you also may get extremely valuable information that allows you to tailor content to popular searches.  By optimizing to popular keywords, you ensure higher rankings across a variety of searches that reflect real user behavior, not wishful thinking.
• Fabulous Filters:  Sick of Ukranian spambots hitting your blog?  Want to see real results that don’t reflect your checking for comments 23523523235325 times a day?  Filters are your friend.  To install a filter, you’ll need to know the IP address of anyone you want to exclude from Google Analytics stats.  Create a filter by going to Analytics Settings>Filter Manager>Add New Filter, then follow the steps.  Here’s a Google guide to creating a filter if you need more help.
• Mindboggling Link Ninja Action: Ever wonder just how many people download your PDFs or podcasts?  Wonder no more with file tracking via Google Analytics.  By adding a tiny slice of code to your tags for links, you’ll be able to see download results among the slew of information Google Analytics serves up by default.
• Robotic Automated Traffic Emails:  Harness the power of Google Analytics and take advantage of their option to send scheduled e-mail reports.  Just go to the report you want to receive, click Email beneath its title, and edit the schedule settings.  Google will email to you when you want it in the format you like (currently, PDF, CSV, Excel, and XML are all represented).  This is a great way to make sure that traffic stays at the top of your radar.

Photo via kalandrakas