Before we dive into tracking advertising, we must evaluate your purpose so that we can define the goals. Businesses advertise for several reasons with most common reasons including:
IMPORTANT: If you cannot define your goals, then rest of this article will not be beneficial. I recommend solidifying your goals before doing any advertising. Otherwise, it is impossible to determine success or failure.
Ad Tracking Methods
So, now we evaluate the basic seven effective advertising tracking methods. The list below ranks in tracking methods in order of complexity (from easy to complex).
Tracking advertising is not always an exact science, but it can help you make better decisions to optimize your spend. There are many factors that come into play with data analysis that impact outcomes. Seasonality, uncontrollable external factors and data sampling size all contribute to the quality of the results. So, use this post as a guide to determine general effectiveness of your advertising. If you get to a point that you need more accurate results, you can always hire a professional.
]]>In my first business, I realized the benefit of having a domain name that was easy to remember (and spell). The domain was ghotibait.com. It is fun play-on-phonics, fictitious word that could be pronounced “fishbait”. It was too complicated and no one ever remembered the name. It was an SEO company, so it was still easily found in Google (two points for Beau).
Selection of a good domain name can be a quick decision or turn into weeks of torment. Trust me, I’ve experienced both. As I have launched additional sites and businesses, I’ve learned much more about domain name selection. Learn from my mistakes and you can follow my simple steps for securing a proper domain name.
The Basics
Below are a few simple tips for selecting the proper domain name. Many of these are common sense, but can serve as a good reminder to keep things simple.
Domain Research Tools
When I research domain names, it takes about a week of extremely intense searching using various domain name generators. Below are a few that I have used successfully.
Purchase the Domain Name
There are various options for acquiring domain names, but below are the two most common.
Conclusion
While you do not want to settle for a domain like www.i-like-to-fish-in-florida-on-sunday.com or www.lajdsflksjdjfesl.com, you typically cannot afford to spend 6 months searching for the perfect domain name. The process usually takes me a few days to about a week of good research. The good news is that a domain name can always be changed. A good example is Dropbox.com. When Dropbox started, it used the domain name, getdropbox.com. Then in 2009, Dropbox was able to secure the official domain name, Dropbox.com.
Most importantly, don’t over think it. Just make the best decision that you can using the resources you can find.
Happy Domain Name Hunting!
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