There are many small businesses that believe that web analytics is linked entirely to PPC and keyword campaigns. It can be. But analytics solutions can do so much more by inferring your customers wants and desires from a number of marketing channels. Small businesses are bombarded with new means to market themselves, so as a business adds a new marketing tool — both online and offline — the new tools increases the attention needed. Remember your business can market itself through:
- Powerpoint presentations uploaded online
- Video uploaded and advertised through YouTube, Vimeo, AdMogul, etc.
- Magazine and Billboard ads with URLs to a landing page
- e-Mail (like MailChimps site analytics)
- Facebook (which requires a different approach to a keyword search….more later!)
- Profiles on sites such as Linked In, OPEN Forum, Biznik
- Local or specialty associations like the Web Analytics Association and the New York Entrepreneurship
- Customer responses via Yelp and Mr Tweet.
- Blogs
Plus, there are additional analytics for some of these, sources such as MailChimp’s Site Analytics (see a previous post on the subject here).
So the point is to use your analytics solutions as an anchor for understanding your marketing and managing your costs.