Over on Women’s Web, I share my tips on business blogging. Here are some tips from the article that we tweeted.
How to Use Blogging for Marketing
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Tag Archives: content
Tracking Website Metrics on Google Analytics, Part 2: Sources, Referrals, Search Terms, and Campaigns
Last week, we looked at basic site traffic and engagement metrics on Google Analytics, such as visits, page views, time on site, bounce rate, etc. We also looked at how to look at the performance of individual pages on your site.
This week, let’s take a look at a few other metrics that you should be looking at regularly. (Haven’t set up Google Analytics yet? Here’s how.)
Sources
From where are people coming to your site? The Sources report answers this question. Click on Traffic Sources on the sidebar to see your options.
Weekly Reading: Trackbacks and Data Hub Activity on Google Analytics
We have been talking a lot about Google Analytics lately. Do you know of the new Google Analytics reports that show trackbacks and links from social media more explicitly? You should, so read this week’s links for details.
But first, how do you get to these reports? On your Google Analytics sidebar on the left, go to Traffic Sources, and then Social. You’ll see the links for Data Hub Activity and Trackbacks.
Here’s a screenshot of our Trackbacks report. It shows us who linked to our site recently.
Weekend Reads for Better Marketing: All About Websites
Today, we’re going to talk about your website and SEO and all that fun stuff (that makes you want to pull your hair out if you — like me — aren’t much of a techie). This is going to be rough, so fasten your seatbelts!
First: improve your website. This article has 16 tips you can start with. Is 16 too many? Here are the five things you absolutely should have in your website.
Second: are you using meta tags correctly? Do you have good descriptive tags for your content, that will help users understand what your site is about (and hopefully, push you higher up search results as well)?
- SEOmoz explains all about title tags — what they are, what html code to use, and best practices you should follow.
- Ditto for meta descriptions.
- The above two won’t help you with search rankings, though. What will? The images on your site, that’s what. Neil Patel tells you how to optimize images for search.
If you blog, claim your authorship on Google. I don’t hang out much on Google Plus, but this is one reason why you should absolutely be using it if you’re a blogger.
If you need to move your domain, here’s how to go about it. As you know, we moved a month ago from BetterMarketing.in to Markitty.com. In this post on Search Engine People, I explain every step of how we did it with minimal impact to our site or search results.
And lastly, if you’re also using WordPress, avoid these five mistakes.
Why Interviews Are a Great Form of Content
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know we regularly interview successful marketers and entrepreneurs. Over on the Spin Sucks blog, I write about why I like interview-style blog posts.
I’m a big fan of everyone I’ve interviewed, and I wouldn’t have dared to approach Rand Fishkin or Anita Campbell to say “Hey, you’re so cool! Can I talk to you?” But – while it’s more or less the same thing – it seems more acceptable to ask if I can interview them for my blog and then ask them what makes them so cool. I’m amazed at the wonderful people I’ve been able to “meet” because of this.
Do read the post and tell me what you think.
Tips for Your Email Marketing Campaigns
We have put together this presentation with the most important email marketing tips we could think of.
If you like it, share with your friends and colleagues. And if you think we missed anything, tell us in the comments!
Weekend Reads for Better Marketing: Let’s Say Goodbye to Google Reader
A sprained ankle, and then food poisoning. The last three weeks have not been good to me. And then I resurface this morning, only to be hit by the news that Google Reader is dying.
Yeah, yeah, it’s been on life support for a while, but still. It’s much too soon, Google. I’m not ready to say goodbye.
5 Reasons I Like Buffer (the Company)
Buffer is one of my favorite tools, but it’s not just the application itself I like, it’s the company. So well, let me count the ways.
Simple App That Focuses on One Benefit
I love how simple and easy Buffer is to use (in fact, I liked the earlier interface even better, because it was more simple). I’ve tried a few social media scheduling tools, but this is the only one I stuck with.
One click on the text box, type in or paste your tweet, and you’re done.
Interview with Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs
Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of Marketing Profs, one of the most popular sites for marketing advice (and responsible for some of my marketing education!). She has been cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in Social Media and recognized by ForbesWoman as one of the top 20 women bloggers. She is also the co-author of the best-selling book on content marketing, Content Rules.
Ann talks to us about marketing and content. My questions and comments are in bold.
Tell us about how you got involved with Marketing Profs.
Quick Readability Check of Your Web Pages
We talk about content a lot here on this blog. And content’s important, believe me. But no amount of great content is going to do it for you unless that content is displayed well — that is, you have good design.
I’m not talking about awesome, impressive design. Just a clean and modern setting for your awesome, impressive content. Enough to make it easy for users to read and navigate.
In my latest blog post at Search Engine People, I’ve outlined a checklist of 7 items you should look for to make sure your web content is readable. (The post says “blog posts,” but this applies to any web page with a lot of text.)
All of these tips are pretty elementary, but many websites and blogs still make these mistakes. Make sure you’re not one of them!