With the quantity and quantity of inbound links pointing at a website accounting for an estimated 50-80% of its overall search engine results page rankings, there’s no arguing with the fact that link building represents a major pursuit for most website owners.

Unfortunately, following the wrong link building advice can mean disaster for your site.  For this reason, we’ve outlined the 11 unwritten rules of link building we follow here at Single Grain.  Pay attention, as following and implementing these rules can help improve your SERPs rankings and keep your site out of the Google sand box!

1 – Thou Shalt Publish Content that Attracts Links Naturally

In an ideal world, we’d all publish great content and be rewarded naturally with inbound links that recognize the true genius of our work.

Obviously, this doesn’t happen in real life, as you generally need existing backlinks to earn the high SERPs rankings necessary to get people onto your site before they can – in turn – create these natural links.  However, to avoid over-optimization penalties, you can still emulate natural-looking backlink profiles by pursuing links from a variety of different sources.

2 – Thou Shalt Not Acquire Links Too Quickly

The rate at which you acquire links – also known as your “link velocity” – matters to the search engine ranking algorithms.  If you attempt to generate too many links too quickly (before your site has been established as trustworthy by the search engines) you risk triggering penalties that could land your website in the Google sand box.

3 – Thou Shalt Not Buy Links

Or, more specifically, if you’re going to buy links, be wary of using paid links for the specific purpose of passing PageRank in order to beat your competition in the SERPs (just ask JC Penney’s why that’s a problem…).  Instead, stick to paid link building efforts that have been proven safe and confer an advantage beyond a simple rankings boost – for example, paid directory listings that send traffic as well as link authority.

4 – Thou Shalt Not Build Links in Bad Neighborhoods

Google has come out quite strongly to admonish links in “bad neighborhoods,” but unfortunately, they’re significantly more tight-lipped as to what constitutes a bad neighborhood.

However, most SEO experts have taken this advice to mean avoiding pursuing links from adult websites, thin content sites, sites that use black hat SEO techniques or foreign language sites with no relation to your own.  When you consider Google’s position that a link constitutes an “editorial vote” in favor of your site, it’s easy to see why “votes” from higher quality sites would be worth more in the eyes of the search engines.

5 – Thou Shalt Build Links Consistently

In the same way that developing links too quickly is perceived as unnatural, building a burst of links and then letting your promotional efforts lie dormant for months at a time doesn’t accurately mimic the way links are deployed in the real world.  Instead, build your links slowly over time, using consistent effort to ensure your site’s overall link authority grows steadily.

6 – Thou Shalt Build Deep Links

Remember how, earlier in this article, I mentioned how important it is that your links appear natural?  Well, how natural do you think it looks to the search engines if every single link you build points directly to your home page?

In a real world situation, most neutral parties linking into your site would point their links at the sub-pages on your site that containing the specific information they want to reference.  Mimic this natural occurrence by directing your links at a variety of different pages on your site.

7 – Thou Shalt Seek Out a Variety of Link Types

With how frequently the search engines change their ranking algorithms, pursuing a single type of backlinks at the exclusion of all others is simply bad policy.  Case in point – consider that Google recently deindexed the major private blog networks that constituted some webmasters’ entire link building strategy.  Instead of leaving your site in this risky position, develop a variety of different link types from a wide range of sources.

8 – Thou Shalt Vary Thy Anchor Text

Yes, it’s true that using your target SEO or branding keywords in your backlink anchor text confers a ranking benefit when it comes to where your website falls in the SERPs.  However, using the same anchor text for every single inbound link you create contributes to building a similarly unnatural backlink profile as creating a single type of link to a single page on your site.

Instead, vary your anchor text from link to link throughout your off-page SEO efforts.  You don’t need to use a completely different variation for every backlink you create, but do try to rotate at least 5-10 separate keywords through your campaign as you go.

9 – Thou Shalt Ignore Toolbar PageRank

Most advanced SEOs know that the toolbar PageRank pushed out by Google is notoriously inaccurate – to the point where it’s of very little use to webmasters seeking to build backlinks from high quality sources.

Rather than guide your promotional efforts by this meaningless metric, look for active, aged sites within your industry that have a reputation for quality.  These sites represent the best bang for your link building buck, making them ultimately more valuable than sites bearing an arbitrarily high toolbar PageRank.

10 – Thou Shalt Conduct Competitive Analysis to Find Link Sources

Nearly all webmasters worth their SEO salt can repeat standard link building methods from heart.  There’s article marketing, guest posting, blog commenting, forum commenting and so on, and so forth.

But really, the method that’s overlooked most often when it comes to finding new backlink sources is a simple competitive analysis of your competitor’s backlink profile.  This is unfortunate, as the data this type of analysis can yield can show you exactly how to beat these competing sites in the search engine results pages.

To conduct a competitive analysis, use tools like Majestic SEO or the Open Site Explorer to see which sites are linking in to your competitors’ websites.  Make a note of any link sources you haven’t already pursued for your own site, as well as your competitors’ weak points.  For example, if you see a competitor who’s beating you in the SERPs but lacks a significant social media presence, consider beefing up your efforts in this area to see if doing so pushes you higher in the rankings.

11 – Thou Shalt Measure the Impact of Link Building Efforts

While building good quality backlinks should be a consistent part of any webmaster’s marketing strategy, it shouldn’t be entered into blindly.  By taking the time to determine the impact of the backlinks you’ve created on your site’s SERPs rankings and overall traffic levels, you’ll be able to allocate future link building efforts in a way that’s most effective for your industry and its competitive landscape.

What do you think?  Are there any important “unwritten” rules of link building that you feel are missing from this list?  If so, share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments section below!

Image: cogdogblog

A good landing page serves one purpose and one purpose only – getting your visitors to take the specific action you’ve defined for them.  Whether that action is purchasing a product, signing up for an email list or submitting a lead to an offline business doesn’t matter.  The only consideration you should have when it comes to designing and optimizing this valuable real estate is whether each design decision you make leads visitors towards the completion of this singular action.

And really, the only way to know if the specific elements you’ve included on your landing page are serving this single purpose is with split testing.  By comparing different versions of your landing page against each other in order to determine which option is truly more effective,

1 – Test your headline

The headline you use on your landing page represents the absolute first thing you should split test.  Given that the average website visitor only spends a few seconds analyzing your web content before deciding whether to engage further or click the “Back” button, these few short words of text are absolutely critical in encouraging conversions.

To start split testing this element, brainstorm a few potential headline variations, using established headline formulas if you have trouble coming up with new ideas.  Then, enter your different variants into Google’s Website Optimizer in order to determine which combination results in the most sales or conversions.

2 – Test your image selection

Images capture attention and can prove especially effective in controlling the path your readers’ eyes travel across your landing page.  However, the specific images you choose plays a role in determining how effective your landing page will be, as pictures can convey powerful subconscious associations to your website visitors.

If you aren’t seeing the level of conversions you’d like when it comes to your landing pages, try testing different images in order to eliminate any unintended cognitive dissonance within your readers’ minds.

3 – Test your image placement

In addition to the specific images you use, test where you place them on your website.  Because pictures can be used to draw attention, position them strategically in order to move your visitors through your landing page and focus their interest on key elements of your conversion process (for example, your “Buy Now” or “Download Now” buttons).

4 – Test your website colors

Although the impact of color psychology is often disparaged by analytic types, know that it’s a very real phenomenon.  The specific colors you use on your website convey powerful feelings and associations to your readers, and if the colors you’ve chosen for your landing page aren’t in line with what your visitors are thinking, you could be killing your conversion rates.

Take the time to study up on the different concepts associated with various colors and then test the combinations that best promote the emotions you’d like your readers to experience on your landing page.

5 – Test your content structure

There are hundreds of different ways to structure your landing page – from all text to multiple columns to video sales pitches.  Unfortunately, there’s no way to know which particular style will work on your particular landing page until you test these different options!

To start, try adding a persuasive video clip to your landing page, as these interactive elements have often been shown to be more engaging to readers than plain box of text.

6 – Test your bullet points

Few web content readers take note of every single word found on a given page.  Instead, we jump around, skimming through the elements that jump out on us and extrapolating from the main points we pick up in this way.

This is what makes the specific bullet points you use in your landing page so important.  Test different variations – each of which call out a separate set of features and benefits – until you find the combination that’s most engaging for your website visitors.

7 – Test your call to action

At some point on your landing page, you’re going to ask your readers to take action – and the specific way you do this can play a major role in how successful your sales and conversion efforts are.

As soon as you’ve exhausted some of the more impactful elements in this list (specifically, your headline text and the images you use on your landing page), try launching a few split tests designed to uncover the most effective call to action for your readers.

8 – Test your “Click here” button

Whether you’re selling products or simply gathering information for offline follow up or email list inclusion, the particular details of your “Click here” button can play a big role in your conversion rate.

As an example, consider the following case study carried out by popular blogger Glen Allsop upon the release of his Cloudblogging product.  By split testing the two following versions of his checkout button, he was able to achieve a small improvement in his conversion rate – which translated to a big impact on his overall income!

A few of the different elements you should consider testing when it comes to your “Click here” button include:

• The wording you use immediately preceding your button
• The color of your button header text, button outline, button background and button text
• The specific wording used on your button
• Any authority indicators you use (in this case, the credit card images displayed below the button)
• Any benefit descriptions included around your “Click here” button

9 – Test your testimonials

Not all landing pages will include testimonials, but if you do decide to make these powerful indicators of social proof a part of your website, you’ll want to be sure they’re working as effectively as possible!

For starters, test whether their inclusion has a measurable impact on your conversion rate.  If you find that using testimonials on your landing page contributes to a higher number of sales or conversions, move on to testing the specific testimonials you use, including their content, length and personal identifying information (ie – reviewer’s name, image, city, URL and more).

10 – Test your authority indicators

Authority indicators are graphic symbols included to encourage trust between you and your landing page visitor.  For example, if your business is a member of the Better Business Bureau, you may include their logo on your landing page in order to build trust with readers who may not otherwise be familiar with your brand.

If you do decide to include these elements, you’ll want to carry out split tests to determine where they’re most effective on your page, as well as which images and specific indicators contribute the most to your conversion rates.

Bonus tip – Test your overall marketing strategy

So far, all of the potential tests we’ve looked at revolve around specific design elements within your website.  However, while you can test these elements over and over again until you’re blue in the face, be aware that external factors may be causing lagging sales or conversions as well.  For example, it doesn’t matter how good your landing page is – if you’re sending the wrong traffic source to your landing page, it’s never going to convert for you!

For this reason, if making changes to your landing page design elements isn’t having the impact you’d hoped for, consider taking a more holistic look at your marketing strategy.  Consider testing different traffic segments, as well as the features and benefits of the products or services you’re selling, in order to increase your odds of experiencing landing page success.

Image: 401K

If the phrase “penguin attack” conjures up images of tiny, butler-clothed birds showing up on your doorstep – don’t worry!  All the buzz about the recent Penguin attack has nothing to do with a pending penguin-apocalypse, and everything to do with Google’s most recent algorithm update – which has the potential to substantially impact your website’s performance.

Here’s what you need to know about this most recent update, as well as how to regain traffic and natural search visibility if your site was impacted…

On April 24^th, 2012, Google rolled out one of its most significant efforts at curbing webspam in the SERPs, which has since come to be known as the “Penguin” update.

The update rolled out following months of speculation that Google would be releasing some sort of over-optimization penalty – a concern that was sparked by the comments Google representative Matt Cutts made in a presentation at the SXSW festival:

“And the idea is basically to try and level the playing ground a little bit. So all those people who have sort of been doing, for lack of a better word, “over optimization” or “overly” doing their SEO, compared to the people who are just making great content and trying to make a fantastic site, we want to sort of make that playing field a little bit more level.”

Though Cutts has since clarified that Penguin is less of an “over-optimization penalty” and more of an effort to eliminate webspam based on the criteria defined in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, the impact is still fairly similar.

In total, the Penguin update is estimated to have affected approximately 3.1% of all English language queries, 3% of German, Chinese and Arabic queries, and 5% of Polish language queries.  According to web statistics analyzer Searchmetrics, some of the biggest winners in the Penguin update include unique content rich sites like Snopes.com, Spotify.net and Slideshare.net; while the biggest losers include database-driven TicketCity.com, Song-lyrics.net and Great-Quotes.com.

If you believe that your website’s traffic has been negatively impacted from decreased exposure in the affected queries, check out the following plan of action for regaining your initial performance:

Step #1 – Determine whether your site was hit

Before you begin putting together a Penguin plan of attack, it’s important to take a second to determine whether or not your site was actually affected by this specific update.

To do this, navigate to whatever traffic stats tracking program you use (whether that’s Google Analytics, StatCounter, Piwik or another alternative) and look specifically at your website traffic data for April 24^th.  If you see a significant decrease in traffic after this date, it’s possible that you were affected negatively by the Penguin algorithm update.

However, use caution when analyzing this data.  In addition to the April 24^th Penguin release, Google also pushed out the Google Panda 3.5 update on April 19^th and suffered an error with parked domain handling from April 17-18^th.  If you experienced a decline in traffic that corresponds to any of these other dates, it’s possible your diminished results weren’t due to the new Penguin changes at all.

You can also check your Google Webmaster Tools account for any evidence of a notification message outlining the specific errors that have caused your traffic decline (although the absence of such an alert isn’t conclusive proof that you weren’t affected by the Penguin update).

While Google has been much more proactive about notifying webmasters of content that violates Google’s TOS and leads to penalties in the search results, it’s worth noting that the Penguin update is an algorithm change – not a penalty assessment.  For this reason, any change you witness in your site’s performance has occurred because your site no longer ranks as highly as it used to according to Google’s new set of criteria.

Because these effects occur on a rolling, weighted basis (and not as the result of manual penalization), Google likely doesn’t know that your specific site has been affected, making webmaster notifications impossible in this instance.

Step #2 – Manually begin removing spam

Now, if the results of your traffic analysis indicate that you may have been negatively affected by the Penguin update, you’ll need to take manual action to correct any instances of spam that could have led to your diminished results.

Obviously, it’s difficult to determine what constitutes “webspam” in Google’s eyes, as the search giant hasn’t released the specific factors that it targeted with the Penguin update.  However, based on the Google’s quality guidelines, statements the company has made and the specific results seen by various webmasters, it’s safe to conclude that the following four factors played a role in this most recent algorithm change:

• Keyword stuffing
• Link schemes
• Cloaking, “sneaky” redirects or “doorway” pages
• Purposeful duplicate content

Keyword stuffing refers to the practice of incorporating extra instances of keywords in an unnatural way throughout your website (whether in your site’s articles, meta tags, CSS files or other areas).  If you have content that was developed in this way, fix it now to provide valuable information in a well-constructed manner.

Link schemes include practices designed to artificially inflate the amount of link juice flowing to a site, as well as the total number of links in its backlink profile.  Google’s recent action against popular blog networks should be a red flag that the company is paying more attention than ever to link quality, so be sure your link building efforts are consistent with current best practices.

The use of cloaked pages isn’t a new SEO risk factor – these content tricks have been on Google’s “do not do” for years.  If you’ve got them on your site, get rid of them now.  Even if you weren’t impacted by the Penguin update, rest assured that Google will continue to target these issues in the future – meaning that you won’t be safe forever with them on your site.

Finally, there’s purposefully duplicated content.  If you’ve copied other authors’ content onto your site – with or without proper attribution – consider removing it to make way for your own unique text.  With the search giant’s continued focus on content quality, there’s really no reason to put your site’s performance in jeopardy by scraping articles from other websites.

Step #3 – Submit a spam report

Because the Penguin update represents an algorithm change and not a penalty, making changes to any perceived webspam on or off your site should help your business to regain its former rankings as the index is updated.

But besides sitting around and waiting for this to occur, use Google’s special “Penguin feedback” report to let the company’s engineers know about results you feel occurred in error.  You can also use Google’s standard webpam reporting form to highlight search results that you believe should have been filtered out after the Penguin algorithm – just be sure to include the word “Penguin” in your report.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that submitting either of these forms will have any impact on your individual site’s performance, though the data generated by them may eventually go on to make future updates better targeted.  Submit either of these two forms if you feel it appropriate, but don’t wait around for a manual fix.

Instead, to improve your chances of regaining your site’s pre-Penguin performance levels, focus on improving your site based on Google’s Webmaster Guidelines by eliminating anything that could possibly be construed as webspam.

Image: only alice

Google’s “freshness update” debuted in November 2011, but it’s taken some time for things to finally shake out regarding this latest enhancement to the SERPs.  However, after a few months of tracking the impact this algorithm change had on the SERPs, we’re confident that the following recommendations represent the best way to leverage Google’s freshness update for SEO in today’s natural search environment.

But first, a little background on this important change to the search results pages…

The Impact of the Freshness Update

The Google freshness update was launched at the end of 2011, with the stated goal of providing more current results for queries that demand real-time answers – not evergreen content.  This distinction is best explained with an example, so imagine that – on a given day – you enter both of the queries, “House M.D. episode recap” and “how to cook carrots” into Google.

In the first example, it’s clear that you want “fresh” results.  You probably aren’t looking for a recap of an episode that aired months ago, so Google would be wise to find the most recent results mentioning this keyword phrase – even if these newer pages wouldn’t otherwise be ranked highly based on the traditional SERPs ranking factors.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a recipe that will show you how to cook carrots, you don’t need the results of your search query to be recent.  Instead, you want the best possible carrot recipe found on the web, which will likely be pulled by the traditional ranking factors the search engines use to parse results found over the history of their indices.

With this in mind, Google launched its freshness update in order to a) identify search queries in which recent results should be prioritized over more historically authoritative pieces of content, and b) determine how to serve up the most timely, yet accurate results.  The specific search queries impacted by the freshness update are, for these reasons, termed “QDF” – or “query deserves freshness.”

According to Google, this update impacted about 35% of search queries.  And while that sounds like a pretty big number – especially considering that the initial Panda rollout impacted only 11-12% of results pages – the relative impact was actually quite a bit smaller.

The key distinction lies in “queries versus pages”.  Although there are millions and millions of possible keyword combinations (each of which has its own page in the natural search results), each of these combinations isn’t being entered into the Google search bar every day.

For example, consider a major event like the Super Bowl.  In the days leading up to sporting’s biggest event, the number of search queries related to this topic will likely increase proportionately compared to other industries or niches.  If Super Bowl related keyword phrases account for 10% of all search queries during this time, the percentage of search queries affected by the freshness update could be quite high, even if the number of results pages affected is much lower.

This is why, typically, most QDF search queries relate to celebrities, upcoming events and news items within specific industries.  Understanding the specific queries in your industry that are affected by the freshness update is a vital part to determining how to leverage these changes for SEO.

How Does Google Select QDF Results?

As a webmaster, these changes should uncover some obvious opportunities for your brand.  If you can successfully identify the QDF keyword phrases within your industry and position your content to be chosen for inclusion in a freshness-affected results page, you stand to see a substantial SEO benefit if your result displaces a site that would have otherwise achieved high rankings from traditional SEO.

As usual, Google has offered no clear explanation as to how the content displayed for QDF results is chosen, although there’s plenty of speculation amongst the SEO crowd about the sources that might be tapped.  The Google+ network is an obvious option, which is why it’s as important as ever to be sure you’re sharing content on this site and prompting users to “+1” your articles from within your own site.

However, another alternative theory suggests that content shared via RSS – specifically through Feedburner, which Google owns – could be a natural way to capture data on which pieces of content are being read most in relation to a QDF query.

Strategies for Promoting Your Own “Fresh” Content

So, with all these different elements of the freshness update in mind, what specific actions should you take in order to maximize your potential exposure through QDF queries?

The following are a few of the strategies we’ve developed in response to this algorithm change:

1. Stay on top of industry news.  This should go without saying, but if you want to capture the potential of the freshness update and leverage it for SEO, you need to be aware of the events and news items that are making the rounds in your industry.  To do so, make watching Google News, Google Insights, Google Trends, Google Hot Trends and any relevant, industry-specific news sites a part of your daily routine.
2. Watch for QDF results.  As you browse through SERPs in your industry, take note of the specific search queries that are showing QDF results (as demonstrated by a cluster of date-stamped posts at the top of the natural results).  In some of these cases, “freshness” may be evaluated on an ongoing basis, meaning that it might make sense to continue to target these keyword phrases in the future.
3. Write short, yet informative blog posts.  Not every piece you publish on your blog needs to be Pulitzer Prize worthy.  In fact, when it comes to freshness, faster is often better – even if you’ve only published a quick reaction to a breaking news event.  Certainly, keep up your set schedule of publishing good evergreen content for your readers to reference, but balance these efforts with shorter, newsworthy articles as well to leverage the freshness update for SEO.
4. Publicize your posts through a variety of sources.  Since it isn’t entirely clear how Google is processing results for QDF queries, it’s best to publicize your posts through a variety of sources.  Obviously, both Google+ and the Feedburner RSS service should play a role in your promotional efforts, but don’t neglect the potential impact of other popular social media and social bookmarking sites as well.
5. Piggyback on current events.  Suppose you run a website in an industry that doesn’t have as many opportunities for QDF results.  Instead of getting upset about it, trying piggybacking onto other current events outside your niche.  For example, if you run a sales strategy blog, running an article titled, “Sales and Marketing Lessons from This Year’s Best Super Bowl Commercials,” could help you to pick up interest and traffic from the fresh results generated from this popular sports contest.

Overall, try to pay attention to the types of content in your industry that are receiving exposure through QDF searches.  For which specific search queries do you see “fresh” results appearing?  How long, on average, are the articles that get listed in the fresh results?  Do the types of websites that get picked up for the fresh results have any common features?

By paying attention to how QDF queries are being applied to your industry’s keywords and following the strategies above, you should be able to quickly and easily uncover ways to leverage Google’s freshness update for SEO.

Image: BrittneyBush

By now, most people are at least familiar with QR codes – those goofy looking black and white graphical barcode displays that allow marketers to pass on additional information (including text, images, HTML pages and more) to anyone with a QR code reader.  But as their adoption in the US has only recently begun to grow, there are plenty of marketers out there who still aren’t sure how to use QR codes effectively.

The following are a few fun ideas for distributing your QR codes in order to get your creative juices flowing:

1.       As your Twitter profile picture

Using your QR code as your Twitter profile picture is a great way to build exposure for your code quickly.  For best results, pair this action with a concerted Twitter marketing plan to increase the number of times your code is seen.

2.       On your Facebook Timeline cover photo

The recent launch of Facebook Timeline gives you a bunch of open space to play with, making this a great time to try integrating a QR code into your cover photo.  Be sure to include details on what visitors will receive by scanning your code on your image as well to increase engagement rates.

3.       In your Flickr photo albums

Flickr is an extremely active, growing site, so sharing your campaign-specific QR codes here can help you to pick up a few extra views.

4.       On the background of your Youtube channel

Another great place to deploy your QR codes is on the background of your Youtube channel.  As you can often pick up traffic on this site by having your video listed as a “Related Video” while others are playing, you can increase your code exposure relatively quickly here.

5.       On your printed business cards

Including your QR code on your printed business cards is a pretty standard integration, but you’ll want to put some thought into what specific information you send to people who scan your code from this location.  Your business card QR code can be a great way to include links to all the various social networks you’re active with, but can’t fit on a single, tiny business card.

6.       On your company’s printed marketing materials

If your company prints any type of marketing materials (including flyers, catalogs, banners and more), consider adding a QR code linked to your specific promotions.  Be careful, though.  While adoption of QR codes is still in its infancy, you’ll need to add descriptive text that tells readers how to scan the codes and what they’ll gain by doing so.

7.       Printed on your product labels

If you print labels for physical products, adding a QR code can be a great way to convey more information than you’re able to do within the space of your label.  For example, if you sell artisan cheeses, consider including a link to a product-specific recipe page within your code.

8.       Integrated into your tradeshow displays

Adding QR codes to your tradeshow displays can be a great way to give people important information about your company, without making them feel as if they need to engage your booth representatives personally.

9.       In your retail storefront

Having a sign with a QR code at the entrance to your retail store gives the impression that your business is tech-savvy and current.  Plus, it’s a great way to offer special discount codes that only a part of your clientele will act on.

10.   As part of a business-oriented scavenger hunt

Want to get customers truly engaged in your brand?  Consider organizing a business-oriented scavenger hunt that uses QR codes to give users the clues to each next step.

11.   As a coupon delivery vehicle

One of the best reasons to use QR codes to share coupon codes is that you can easily track which specific promotions result in the most sales.  Use this data to determine how to best allocate your advertising funds and efforts.

12.   On your shirt (or jacket, or pants or other item of clothing)

If you really want to generate interest in your QR code, plaster it on your clothing and walk around town.  The people around you will notice and ask you what it’s all about!

13.   On a sticker on your laptop

Printing a copy of your QR code and affixing it to the cover of your laptop is a great way to get views when you’re working around town or while attending conferences like SXSW.

14.   Printed on a counter display sign in your retail business

Share detailed information about daily specials or coupon deals with a QR code sign located on the counter of your retail business.  This can also be a great way to upsell existing visitors on additional products.

15.   To build your email newsletter list

If you run an email newsletter, consider using QR codes to direct people to your opt-in page.  Just be sure that the page makes the benefits of enrolling immediately obvious, otherwise you’ll simply be wasting peoples’ time.

16.   To pre-fill ecommerce shopping carts

Depending on your specific ecommerce platform, you may be able to create QR codes that pre-fill your visitors’ shopping carts with particular items.  This can be incredibly useful for encouraging buyers to re-order automatically.

17.   To encourage Facebook “likes” and Twitter “follows”

Since social signals are playing a larger role in SEO than ever, using QR codes that redirect visitors to your Facebook fan page or Twitter profile can be a great way to build your following on these popular social networking sites.  Be sure to offer an incentive for liking or following your profile to make this technique as effective as possible.

18.   To promote viral content

If you’ve built linkbait style with the intention of encouraging a viral campaign, using a QR code to encourage readers to share your materials can be a great way to spread the reach of your content.

19.   On your LinkedIn profile

Where applicable, use QR codes on your LinkedIn profile to give viewers access to a more detailed resume or portfolio of your work.

20.   Embedded in your vCard

Similarly, embedding a QR code in your vCard can help you to quickly and easily share additional information about you and your business with the contacts you meet.

21.   As a temporary tattoo

Want to really generate interest in your QR code?  Have it printed out as a temporary tattoo and wear it out on nice days.  Or, take this method a little further and offer your customers an incentive for wearing the tattoos themselves!

22.   To enhance print advertisements

Creating visually appealing, easily understood print advertisements generally means limiting text.  So if you have other information you’d like to share that won’t fit in your printed materials, use a QR code to share the other information your customers need.

23.   To eliminate updating costs for real-time information

If your business advertises real-time information (for example, daily specials within the restaurant industry), distributing this information via QR code can reduce the need for extra posters or signage to say the same thing.

24.   To share 21^st century “mixtapes”

Want to give your customers a feel for your personality?  Use Spotify to create a custom playlist that can be shared via QR code.

25.   As a payment streamlining system

Companies like Starbucks are beginning to use QR codes that integrate a customer’s preferred order and payment system to make the checkout process as fast as possible.  Depending on how tech-savvy your customers are, setting up a system like this can dramatically increase overall satisfaction.

26.   To share edgy or risqué content

If you find yourself in the position of needing to share content that’s better suited to the 18+ crowd, QR codes can be a way to control how that information is presented.

27.   In your print advertising campaigns

Integrating QR codes into your advertising campaigns can make them more unique and eye catching, resulting in more attention and more overall conversions.

28.   On a billboard

Want to really make a splash with your QR code advertising?  In this down economy, billboard rental rates are lower than ever, making it potentially cost effective to rent an entire billboard to display your code.

29.   To build your mobile marketing SMS lists

QR codes can be generated that will automatically send an SMS message to users phones, allowing them to opt-in to your mobile marketing list quickly and easily.  As long as you make the benefits of subscribing obvious, encouraging users to opt-in via QR code can reduce mental barriers that prevent people from sharing their phone numbers.

30.   To connect users directly to salespeople

On a related note, QR codes can be used that will instantly initiate a phone call from the user’s device.  This application can be used to connect readers directly with telephone salespeople, eliminating the barrier of requesting readers to take this action on their own.

31.   On your physical mailing packaging

Whenever you send out physical products by mail, you’ve got a golden opportunity to share a QR code that keeps customers engaged with your brand.  To cut costs, try having stickers printed with your code that can be affixed to your packaging so that the specific codes you use can be changed out easily.

Are you using any of these techniques to distribute QR codes for your company?  Or, are there other techniques you’ve found to be successful?  If so, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image: haroc

Add this infographic embed code to your blog!
<a href="http://www.singlegrain.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Googleopoly-SingleGrain-030812cs4_Alexa.png"><img src="http://www.singlegrain.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Googleopoly-SingleGrain-small.png" alt="GoogleOPOLY" /></a><br /> [Via: <a href="http://www.singlegrain.com/">Single Grain - A Digital Marketing Agency</a>]

The number of free programs Google offers to help you improve your website and generate valuable data is truly astounding, but one of the most underutilized programs in this suite is the Google Website Optimizer.  If you aren’t currently using this great free resource to improve your website, read on for more details on how to incorporate this tool into your web development arsenal.

What is Google Website Optimizer?

Basically, Google Website Optimizer is a free tool you can use to carry out split tests on your website.  We’ve talked about split testing a lot here on the Single Grain blog, but to refresh your memory, split testing is an incredibly valuable process that allows you to compare specific elements on your site’s pages in order to make your overall website more effective.

For example, suppose you run a long form sales letter website that sells a $7 report with a more expensive product as an upsell on the backend.  You’ve built a beautiful site and you’ve got a great product, but you aren’t sure if your prospects will be more motivated to buy if you advertise using “Headline A” over “Headline B.”

Sure, you can make your best guess and hope that your readers respond the way you think they will – or, you can actually determine which pitch is more persuasive by testing one against the other!

Using a split testing script like Google Website Optimizer, you create two versions of your sales letter – each featuring a different headline that you want to test.  After uploading your new pages and validating your script, Google Website Optimizer will launch both versions of page in random order as people visit your site, allowing you to determine conclusively which headline variation is more persuasive to your readers.

Should You Use A/B Split Testing or Multivariate Testing?

The scenario described above – in which two headlines are tested against each other – is what’s known as an “A/B Split Test”.  That is, variable A and variable B are being compared, while all other elements on the site remain constant.

A/B split testing is a great place for most webmasters to get started, as it’s easier to observe conclusive results when only a single variable is being changed on your site.  Unfortunately, though, generating results with A/B split testing can be extremely slow.  Because there are an unlimited number of variables on your site that you could test, only performing one split test at a time means that it could take a while for you to hit on the variables that lead to the biggest improvements in your website’s efficiency.

Multivariate testing is the more advanced version of this process, which allows you to test multiple variables at the same time.  It certainly allows you to uncover results faster than A/B split testing, but the complexity of these tests means that they aren’t well suited for beginners.  When testing multiple variables against each other, it can be difficult to determine which specific variables led to the improvements you see, which is why it takes a more experienced tester to make the right conclusions based on the data that’s generated.

The bottom line is this…  A/B split testing is slower to achieve results, but easier for beginners to implement than multivariate testing.  If you haven’t done much split testing before, start with Google Website Optimizer’s A/B split testing feature until you’re confident enough in your skills to move on to more complex testing.

Setting up a Google Website Optimizer Test

To get started with Google Website Optimizer split testing, navigate to http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer and log in with the same Google account you use to access Google Analytics data for your website.  Upon logging in, you’ll see the details of any current tests you’re running, as well as a link labeled, “Create another experiment.”

Clicking on this link brings you to the first page in the process, where you’ll select between running an A/B split test or a multivariate test:

As you can see, Google lays out many of the same recommendations for choosing either type of testing as described above.  For the purposes of this article, let’s assume you’re a beginning webmaster who wants to start with an A/B test.

The next screen that appears asks you to take a few preparation steps before proceeding with the test.  They include:

• Identifying the specific page you want to test (for example, your home page, your checkout page, your upsell page, etc)
• Creating each variation page you’ll use in the test and uploading them to your site (following the example above, you’d create two versions of your home page, each displaying a different headline version you want to test)
• Determining your conversion page (aka – the page a visitor lands on that confirms that a conversion has taken place)

Once you have this information ready, check the box labeled, “I’ve completed the steps above and I’m ready to start setting up my experiment” and click “Create.”

On the next screen, you’ll enter in data related to your test, as determined by the preparatory steps you took earlier in the process, including a name for your test, the specific URLs of your variation pages and the URL of your conversion page:

Finally, on the last page, you’ll receive snippets of code to add to each of your variation pages and your conversion page, along with specific instructions on where to place this code within your page’s HTML.  After uploading all of this information, press the “Validate” button in Step #4 and Google Website Optimizer will confirm that your test has been set up correctly.

If everything checks out, your test will begin running right away.  Check back periodically to view your progress, but remember that it’s a good idea to collect data on at least 100 completed conversions before drawing any conclusions about your data.

How to Get the Most Out of Google Website Optimizer

Now that you know how to set up a successful split test within Google Website Optimizer, how should you get proceed in order to get the most out of this useful program?

According to Cameron Chapman, writing for web analytics giant KISSMetrics, the best place to start is with your sales funnel:

“The best way to figure out what to start testing first is to look at your current conversion funnel.  If 70% of people aren’t making it past your homepage, start there. If you’re losing half your visitors at the shopping cart, then test and optimize that first.”

Once you’ve made your sales funnel as effective as possible, consider experimenting with site-wide changes or specific elements in the sales process (for example, your headline, sub-headline, “Buy Now” button and more).  It’s also a good idea to take a look at what your competitors are doing.  If they’re testing new site designs and structures, there’s a chance they’ll work for you as well.

However, the most important advice is to simply start testing and keep testing continuously.  There’s no limit to the number of elements on your website that can be tested, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t have a test running at all times.  As your split testing skills improve, try to transition to multivariate testing as well in order to make your website more effective, as quickly as possible.

Image: Tamar Weinberg

Add this infographic embed code to your blog!
<a href="http://www.singlegrain.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GoingViral-SingleGrain-030112final.jpg"><img src="http://www.singlegrain.com/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/GoingViral-SingleGrain-030112finalsmall.jpg" alt="The Anatomy of Going Viral"/></a><br /> [Via: <a href="http://www.singlegrain.com/">Single Grain - A Digital Marketing Agency</a>]

There was a post by Noah Kagan on Tim Ferriss’s blog about starting a million dollar business in a weekend. It was based around Chihuahuas, and reminded me of the tactics that I use when exploring the difficulty of entering a new market from an SEO standpoint when I launch new business projects.

If you’re involved in startups or business websites of your own, you’ll like this, we’re going to talk about SEO strategy from day 1 to month 9.

What I’ll outline in this post is the method I use to research and formulate an SEO strategy for entering a new niche online.  For this case study, I’ll use the example of “puppy dogs”, but really, these techniques can be used with any type of web business.

For a while, I was actually considering starting an online directory that would enable people to buy and sell puppies.  The idea came about after I helped a non-technical friend list and sell dogs on the www.puppiesndogs.com site – a process that showed me there may be room for another competitor in this market.

Ultimately, after talking the idea over with my friend, I decided against pursuing this niche, as it would have required a significant amount of effort in vetting eligible owners and recipient homes to ensure that my dogs didn’t wind up in the wrong hands (aka – people who fight dogs).  So – although I’m not pursuing this idea, I thought the research and strategy I planned to use to enter this market might be interesting to others who build and promote websites.

Just don’t use this information to start a similar site and sell fighting dogs…  Deal?  Ok – let’s get started…

Discovering Traffic Potential

Whenever I’m thinking about launching a new site, I start by examining the site I want to beat to learn a little more about the business (in this case, the puppies website listed earlier).  I plug their URL into Quantcast and discover that they’re getting roughly 10,000 visitors per month.  That’s a good amount of traffic and it shows me that this niche has potential.  Next, I plug their URL into Open Site Explorer and take a quick look at how many links and root domains they have (and, consequently, how many I might need to beat them).

I see that they have (at the time of this post) 334 root domains and 1,264 total links, which gives them a ratio of 3.78 links per root domain.  I usually try to keep my own sites between 2 and 3 links per root domain, but that’s not bad.

Looking at this data, I also see a hole in their strategy that jumps out at me: they only have 43 Facebook shares and 144 +1 votes.  If I can design my site to get more people to like and share it, then I can easily leverage those social signals to impact my rankings in the SERPs and ultimately outrank this competitor.

Next, I take a look at the anchor text my competitor is using in its backlinks and search for those exact terms to see how they’re fairing in the search engines (being sure I’m signed out of my Google account to avoid influencing the results).  This turns up the following terms that they’re building the most links for:

• Puppies – 61RD*/166L** with this anchor text.  Not ranking page 1.  9,140,000 searches per month***.
• Puppies for sale – 38RD/83L with this anchor text.  Ranking page 1.  3,350,000 searches per month.
• Dogs for sale – 61 with this anchor text.  Ranking page 1.  550,000 searches per month.
• Puppies for sale dogs for sale – 24RD/41L with this anchor text.  Not ranking page 1.  58 searches per month.
• Dogs for sale puppies for sale – 17RD/20L with this anchor text.  Not ranking page 1.  73 searches per month.
• Pets for sale – 12RD/41L with this anchor text.  Not ranking page 1.  90,500 searches per month.
• Sell my puppies– 12RD/41L with this anchor text.  Ranking page 1.  590 searches per month.
  *RD = Root Domains
  **L = Links
  ***keyword volume is phrase-match, global

As I look at each of the SERPS for these terms, I start to see other competitors in this niche.  I’ll need to investigate them using these same techniques, but at this point, I know enough about this site to do some keyword research of my own and determine which specific terms I want to try and target.  After doing that, I’ll determine which competitors I need to beat for those terms, as well as how to do it.

Creating a Plan of Attack

With this research under my belt, it’s time to start planning the content strategy for my own site.

I started off by determining which puppy breeds are the most popular in the U.S. using the American Kennel Association (AKA) website.  Based on their dog breed registration statistics, I determined which dog breeds might have the highest search volume, based on how many people have bought and registered each breed of dog.  Based off of this information, I see that the Top 2 dog breeds in the U.S. are Labrador Retrievers and German Shepherds.

From there I’m off to Google’s external keyword tool to do some keyword research!  Using the information I found on the AKA website, I’m looking for keywords that have a high search volume, good commercial intent and a low level of competition.  The result?  I found roughly 120 keywords with high commercial intent and good search volume, which you can see in this Google doc.

Now, I have a good idea for which keywords I’d want to target with my new site.  Later in this process, I’ll whittle these keywords down from 120 to a more focused list of 10 or fewer keywords.  I’ll then use this list to start a link building campaign around those keywords, design a content strategy around those keywords and use a few of my own tricks to get the social signals I need to take advantage of the hole in www.puppiesndogs.com’s strategy.

Focusing the Strategy

After all that keyword research, I’ve got a hunch.  I know that people who are interested in buying dogs and, more importantly, people who are interested in listing their dogs on my directory site are probably going to be more interested in listing their dogs for sale on a site that’s specific to their breed of dog.  With that in mind, I decide that I’m going to build a directory for people to buy and sell just Labrador Retrievers.

(Yes. I made business decision without a mountain of data. For shame, I know.  But, I just decided I would roll on my gut feeling on this. Cool? Ok, cool.)

Now that I’ve decided to narrow down the scope of my site, I create a new Keyword Focus which I’ll use to shape a link building campaign targeting those keywords.

Assessing Difficulty

Next up, I take my newly-shortened keyword list and run a keyword difficulty report to see just how competitive this niche will be:

Now I’m excited.  I see that the keywords with the highest search volume are only moderately competitive, which means that if I come in and make a concerted effort to promote my site, I should be able to do pretty well in this niche.

For now, though, it’s time to determine which other competitors I’ll be going up against in this space, based on my new keyword focus.

I like to do this in two ways.  First, I let the friendly robot at SEOmoz do it for me, and then I’ll confirm its results myself by hand.

To conduct a competitive analysis by hand, I start by opening up an anonymous browser in Google Chrome and then launching eight separate tabs.  I search for one of my keywords in each tab and then take a look at all the competition in the SERPs.

First, I check to see how many of my competitors rank for each of the terms in my keyword focus.  I’ll also make a note of which keywords they rank for, and how many linking root domains and total links they’ve acquired, which gives me an idea of who my true competitors are.  The result of this research can be found here in this competitive analysis doc.

In addition to this manual analysis, I’ll run a keyword report using SEOmoz’s keyword difficulty tool for each keyword I’ll be building links for:

Although it’s a little repetitive, I suggest doing your analysis using both methods, as seeing the page and domain authority scores will give you an idea of how much link building and content you’ll need to do in order to beat out your competitors.

Deciphering Your Competitors Tactics

The next step in my process is to go through my top competitors’ back links in order to discover how many of each of the following link types they have:

• In-content links
• Footer links
• Blog sidebar and blogroll links
• .edu links
• .gov links

For the purposes of this case study, I’ll demonstrate this process using the site www.ashlandkenl.com:

First, I look at their back links to find the anchor text examples with the highest commercial intent and I come across the term “black labrador for sale,” which they’re targeting with an in-content link for this term.  Now, I’ll go through the rest of their back links and determine what percentage of their back links are in-content vs. another type of link.

Now that you understand this process, let’s fast forward to the results…

After evaluating www.ashlandkennel.com’s back link profile, I see that they have a high percentage of directory type links.  These links are lower in value than in-content links, so I see that I can take them down if I focus on getting higher quality link types than they have currently.

This analysis tells me that if I spend more of my efforts pursuing only high quality links from real blogs that have real audiences, I should be able to outrank them with fewer links and in a reasonable amount of time (likely 6-9 months).

I would then repeat this process for the other 6 competitors in the space looking for holes like the one demonstrated here.  It’s often the case in niches like these that people use lots of low value links in massive quantities as a method to achieve high rankings, although this method can often be beaten by someone who’s willing to take the high quality path.

Now, let’s circle back around to the obvious holes in my competitors’ social strategies.

Remember what I said about www.puppiesndogs.com not having enough social media activity?  Well, www.ashlandkennel.com has almost none!

Here’s how I can exploit that…

Some people might not like this, but a really quick, easy and, in this niche at least, effective way of beating this company out using social media would be to buy likes, tweets, and +1’s on fiverr.com to get the “social-juice” needed to rank better than www.puppiesndogs.com.

Of course, this is considered to be dark-grey hat (aka – not entirely kosher), and Google may have something to say if they find out you’re doing this, so think twice before implementing these techniques on a site that’s important to you.

For the time being, though, it’s not detectable that you bought your social media signals, and according to an article from SEOmoz, this kind of thing can and does affect how well you rank in the search engines (at least temporarily).  To sustain these rankings, I’d buy $5.00 of “social-juice” a week so that it looks like I consistently have visitors engaging and sharing my website.  This should flip the right signals at Google in order to get them to give me some ranking-love.  But enough with the grey-hat techniques…

With all this insight, I can finally formulate my strategy for out-ranking my competitors.

If I were really planning to launch my Labrador Retriever directory, I’d start by avoiding building directory links, except for the essentials (including the Better Business Bureau, Best of the Web and a few social media sites such as Merchant Circle and LinkedIn).

Instead, I’d focus on building 10-20 in-content links per month.  I’d also consider focusing on obtaining .edu links, as it appears my competitors aren’t doing that and these types of links are typically considered to be very high quality.

Finally, since I see that many of my competitors are being very aggressive with their use of anchor text, I’d know that I could use about 80% keyword related anchor text and 20% branded anchor text in order to be on par with the way the rest of this market is performing.

I hope this description of the methods I use helps you to find new niches to enter and identify holes in your competitors’ promotional strategies that will allow you to quickly claim high rankings in the search results pages!

Daniel Gonzalez is the Conversion Rate Optimization Specialist at Single Grain. He gets a kick out of writing about himself in the 3rd person, and he recommends you follow him on twitter to get tips on SEO, customer development, & conversion rate optimization.

His twitter handle is @hidanielg

Image: Arne Otoko

Goals matter – just ask any Brazilian soccer fan, overachieving New Year’s resolution-maker or data driven website marketer.  Without good goals, you have no good way to track your progress or ensure that you’re achieving the things you’ve set out to accomplish (instead of just spinning your wheels on inefficient projects).

And when it comes to measuring specific goals related to your website or internet business, Google Analytics is king.  This incredibly feature-rich program is free to use, and can provide you with a wealth of information on how people are interacting with your website.  It’s a “must have” for website owners who are interested in making decisions based on measurable data – not just ill-informed hunches.

The latest version of Google Analytics – V5 – was initially launched in March 2011, but was not made standard until much later.  And while much of the functionality found in the program is the same as in earlier versions, the graphic interface is quite a bit different.  To clear up any confusion and to help you incorporate this powerful analytics suite into your website, we’ve put together the following guide on how to set up goals and funnels in Google Analytics V5.

Here’s what you need to know…

One of the biggest changes rolled out in this latest edition of Google Analytics is an expanded “event” goal set, which enables you to collect even more types of data about your visitors’ interactions with your website.  This feature is incredibly powerful, as it allows you to go beyond the simple metrics that Google Analytics tracked before (including time on site, number of page views and URL destination visits) to really get a feel for how your visitors are engaging with your site.

According to Kayden of Blast Advanced Media:

“If you have been waiting for better ways to measure overall and individual types of site interactions that help you to better understand user engagement on your site…then your wait is over.  The inherent custom nature of event tracking coupled with the flexibility of using the event category, action and label with regular expressions as the match type, allows limitless potential to create unique, creative goal tracking solutions.”

With the addition of event goals, this brings the total number of goal types within Google Analytics to four:

• URL Destinations – These conversions are triggered whenever a visitor reaches a designated destination URL; for example, the “Thank You” page following a purchase, download or opt-in list signup.
• Time on Site – These simple goals measure the overall amount of time each visitor spends on your website, enabling you to make changes designed to keep visitors engaged for longer periods of time.
• Pages per Visit – Similarly, these goals let you set a target number of pages per visit for each reader that lands on your site.  Improving this metric increases engagement and lowers your bounce rate, which may have a positive impact on your search engine rankings.
• Events – As mentioned previously, these goals allow you to monitor more complex elements of visitor interaction on your site, including the time spent watching videos, the number of files downloaded and the number of times your content is shared on social networking sites.

We’ll look at how to set up each of these different types of goals in a little bit, but before you can get started with Google Analytics goals, you’ll need to first choose which type to add.  The goal type that’s right for you will depend on the needs of your particular business model.  A blogger, for example, is more likely to be interested in average time on site or pages per visit than an ecommerce seller, for whom a primary metric will be URL destination visitor goals that track completed sales when customers reach a designated “Thank You” page.

To set up a goal for your website within Google Analytics V5, login to your dashboard, then click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner.  This will launch the administration section of your website’s profile, allowing you to create goals from within the “Goals” tab:

From this screen, you’ll see that you’re able to create four separate set of goals, each of which can contain five specific goals.  Choose your goals carefully, as you will not be able to delete these later on (although you can set existing goals to “Inactive” if you need to turn them off for any reason).

To create any of the above-listed types of goals, click on the “+ Goal” link within the set where you’d like your new goal to be stored.  This will launch the goal type selection window where you’ll be able to pick the specific type of goal to be created:

Give your goal a name and choose the type of goal you’d like to create from the radio button list of options – doing so will cause a second screen to appear with further fields based on the type of goal you’ve selected.  Let’s take a closer look at each option…

1 – URL Destination

If you decide to set up a goal that tracks visits to a specific URL, you’ll see the following options appear:

Enter the URL of your designated goal conversion page, set the match type based on how your site’s URLs are structured and indicate whether or not your URLs are case sensitive.  If you know how much a goal conversion of this type is worth to you, enter it into the Goal Value section (for example, if you know a “thank you” page visit occurs only after a $17 report has been purchased, enter “17” as the value).

If your final destination URL is part of a larger sales funnel – as in the case of one-time offers, upgrades and other multi-step sales processes – select the “use funnel” check box and enter the URLs of each step in the sales path.

2 – Time on Site

If your goal is simply to increase the length of time visitors remain on your site, select the “Time on Site” radio button and the following options will appear:

Enter the specific amount of time on site you’ve set as your goal, then click “Save”.

3 – Pages/Visit

Using internal links and other calls to action to encourage visitors to move amongst the pages on your site is a good way to get people to engage with your brand and learn more about your company.  To set this as a defined goal, click the “Pages/Visit” radio button and complete the following fields:

For a good starting place, take a look at your existing stats and set a goal that’s 1-2 pages higher than your existing average pages/visit.  As you make changes designed to encourage longer site visits and start meeting your goals, come back and increase this goal amount as needed.

4 – Events

Setting up an event goal in Google Analytics is a little more complicated, as there are several different variables that can be used depending on the specific type of event you want to track.  Counting the number of times a PDF file is downloaded, for example, will require different tracking parameters than will be needed to count the number of times your pages are shared on Facebook.

When you click the “Events” radio button, you’ll see the following screen appear:

To understand what each of these fields means – as well as how to use them to set up event goals on your site – check out Google’s complete Event Tracking Guide.  Be aware that some of the information shared there gets a little technical, and that you’ll likely need to append links or other elements of your site with pieces of code for the tracking to work properly.

If this all sounds too complicated, consider hiring a web developer to set up events goals on your website for you.  You’ll incur a small cost to have this feature added, but overall, the incredible amount of valuable information these goals can generate for your will likely be well worth your expenses.

Image: Auntie P