Last Blog Posting!

The material within the Global Marketing Class has been eye opening regarding the world of on-line marketing. I do not think I will ever look at a text or display ad the same way again. My eye is drawn to ads with each search I conduct on the internet. Now I think- why is that ad in this position on the page- what factors are the most important in its success? Is that an expensive keyword? Is it generating a lot of clicks or just impressions? I find myself counting the characters in ads since developing ads that fit within the character limit was a challenge.... The course has inspired me to create future blogs for Chatham's PA Program, where I work. It has also given me vast food for thought about what makes for success in any business with an on-line presence. It is not enough to bring the public to your site. They must be individuals who want your product (target audience) be drawn through your web site pages, completing the actions you want them to complete that will lead them towards conversion. I was previously aware that Google provided educational material on the web, but I really had no idea how much they have invested in courses for making Google Analytics (for example) highly accessible for all levels of learning. The videos we watched over the 14 weeks varied in quality; I found the Google Analytics Platform Principals to be highly digestible and very practical in scope. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone looking to increase their working knowledge of Google Analytics. I am looking forward to seeing how the Literary Arts Boom GOMC campaign turns out. We have already learned a great deal from the information generated already. Thank you Dr. Chung for this opportunity to learn about this exciting advertising tool in the real world sandbox!

WEEK 2: Testing for success

This week through the reading for Chatham University's Graduate class, Global Marketing, I was most impressed with the myriad of ways that user experience may be tested and tracked. Four methods were discussed in Stokes chapter 15.4:

• A/B split testing: a business may test one variable at a time to gauge success and traffic is randomly routed to one page or another-will it affect the ultimate conversion rate if I move the “Donate Now!” button from center to the right hand side? It is interesting to imagine the small changes that you might encounter when visiting a site from different IP addresses or browsers.
• Multivariate testing: Lots of changes may be tested at the same time. Tracking for significance of these alterations may necessitate the assistance of an outside vendor.
• Listening Labs: Watch, listen & learn how users interact with your site. It may not be the experience you envision it to be…
• Single page heat maps: This fascinating tool allows a business to have a true mapping of a consumer’s journey through their web site, page by page. Each touch is mapped. 

The two most fascinating to me are the Listening Labs and the Heat Maps. My initial thought regarding an in house listening lab is that the experience may not yield real world results. Will consumers or employees act as they would in their own homes? Are the results unbiased? In his book, “Don’t Make Me Think” Steve Krug (Steve Krug, New Riders, 2014) reveals that we (users) do not act logically, we scan, we do not make the best (logical) choices and we do not always work to figure out how things work. Krug’s observations have revealed lessons to be incorporated into success for site design. Heat Maps are visual, this has great appeal to those of us who’s eyes glaze over when there is a bit too much technical talk floating around….This would be a great tool for those who have GOMC clients who’s web site home pages are one long scrolling page. Where do visitors stop scrolling?  

Most helpful this session was the Google videos (202:Tools to Build Ads and Advanced Ad types) that focused on troubleshooting- what if I cannot see my ad? What if it isn’t running-why is that happening? As I have not begun to actually play with Google Adwords, it seems incredibly complicated to the uninitiated. Having this tool to attempt diagnosis is helpful as are the tools referenced in 302: Bidding Tools and Adwords Campaign Experiments. This section gives some great tips for those times when you are simply overwhelmed with the possibilities of optimization. Google provides suggestions related to topics such as keywords, budget, and competition comparison.

My goals from the last writing focused on client goals. The expert presentation that began the week, Sara Peduzzi from Lunametrics, had some targeted questions to keep this in the forefront as I go forward. What are the client’s goals? This would determine what would define a conversion. Who are their customers? What patterns of behavior do their customers exhibit? This will determine the ad’s optimal time of day in running and geo-location targeting. My additional goal is to play with AdWords until it no longer scares me!

Web Sources:

Stokes, R and the Minds of Quirk, EMarketing: The essential Guide to Online Marketing, v 1.0 

Web site, Advanced Common Sense, Don't Make Me Think, Krug, S, Chapter 2 http://www.sensible.com/chapter.html  

UX Booth by Redd Horrocks, 10 Usability Lessons from Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/10-usability-lessons-from-steve-krug%E2%80%99s-dont-make-me-think/ 

UTube video, Crazy Egg Explainer video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3f-2WG7ONc

Lunametrics web site, http://www.lunametrics.com/#sr=g&m=o&cp=or&ct=-tmc&st=(opu%20qspwjefe)&ts=1391294624

GOMC Digital Marketing Courses, https://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/dmc/dmc-seo.html