Titus Hoskins just sent me an email with very useful suggestions on how to turn Google into a very efficient ally. I believe they will be helpful to most of my my readers as well, so here they are:
“Google must be your number ONE ally if you truly want to succeed online. Love it or hate it – Google is fast becoming the dominant marketing force on the web and you must use and exploit it to your advantage.
When most people mention Google, all they think of is the Search Engine. But if you’re marketing or promoting your site on the web – Google is so much more. It has countless programs you can use to further your goal.
Here are some of ones I use:
o Using Google Adsense For Profit & Monitoring
I use Google Adsense on almost all my site, it’s a simple way to monitize your site or sites. Google gives you a simple piece of code which you place on your webpages and it serves up text or image ads marked “Ads by Google” on
your pages.
If someone clicks on your ads you get a few pennies or a few dollars… Google Adsense is great if you have a large content filled site and want to earn revenue from your traffic. I use it in conjunction with my other affiliate
links on many of my pages.
Now, I can get 10, even a 100 times more with an affiliate link/click so I mostly use Adsense where I am not targeting a particular affiliate product with my marketing. However, I have received Adsense checks each month for the last three or four years – always puts a smile on my face to get that check from Google!
But also use Adsense to track and monitor my site’s traffic in ‘real time’ and it gives me a good picture of how my pages are doing. I still use my log stats to monitor my traffic but Adsense is just another way to do it.
If you’re not using Adsense on your sites, I suggest you give it a try.
https://www.google.com/adsense/
o Using Google Benchmarks To Improve Your Site
If you have a website, it’s only natural that you would like to know how your site compares with other similar sites on the web. Now, we are not talking about comparing apples to oranges here – we are talking about comparing your site to others that are the same in size and traffic.
Google Benchmarks which is a part of Google Analytics, lets you compare your site to other sites on the
web that are similar to yours. It will tell you how your site is performing compared to your
competition. This is enormously valuable information because it gives you a clearer picture of how your
site is performing.
I find it extremely helpful in telling me what parts of my sites are not working and where I
have to make improvements. It also tells me what parts of my sites are working or performing above
my competition.
Things like bounce rates, pageviews per visit, time on site… I can see how my sites are doing
compared with others in my area of interest. This is vital if I want to keep my sites competitive
and “in the game”.
If you’re not using Google Analytics and Google Benchmarks, I would strongly suggest you use this free service from Google. It is a great way to track your sites and visitors. It is invaluable for improving your site’s content.
You can also use the Website Optimizer to test which content, headlines, graphics, page design… are best
for converting your visitors into customers or clients. Simply find out what works best and use it.
If you’re not already using Google Analytics I
strongly suggest you start using it. You can
sign-up here:
http://www.google.com/analytics/
o Simple Market Research With Google Trends
Another Google program that I use a lot is Google Trends, especially when I am first
developing a site or looking for small niche markets I can make profitable. Google Trends
tells you what things or topics are “hot” or “popular” – ones being searched for by web users.
Google Trends can give you a good overview of of things that may be worth your time and effort,
in regards to marketing. It also lets you compare different items and it gives you a graph read-out
of how popular each one is or is becoming.
For example, if you’re selling electronics on your site, and you want to find out if you should spend more telling selling PCs or Laptops…. you can do a Trend search for each one and compare your results.
What’s even just as great, Google Trends will tell you how popular they are in different countries
or regions of the world. Again, if you’re marketing on the web, this will give you some simple
market research into your area of interest.
You can check Google Trends here:
o Information Gathering With Google Alerts
Perhaps, one of my most favorite of all Google programs is Google Alerts. This is
simply the most valuable tool for searching for information on your site or topic.
You use Google Alerts to “tag” or “mark” any subject or phrase you want Google to
email alert you – when any new content appears on the web related to your topic or phrase.
These Alerts will give you the links to the new pages so that you can check out
the information. It is a great way to “keep up to date” on all your niche markets
and keywords you’re targeting with your sites.
This is also great for link building since many of these Alerts will be blog links
and you can easily go and add your comments with a link back to your site. Google will
send you email alerts when a new link or page is created on your targeted keyword.
I also use this free service from Google to keep track of my name so that whenever someone
is saying something about me anywhere on the web – I know about it!
I do the same thing for my sites. You can also use it to track your articles, keywords or just
about anything for that matter. Invaluable service for gathering information on the web…
Get it here:
What Google Thinks Of Your Site?
Furthermore, if you want to find out how Google
views you site. You can check out this handy
article I wrote a little while back:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/google_webmaster_tools.htm
o Free Online Graphics Editor
And now for something completely different…
I heard about this free online graphics editor from Design Guru Ryan (The guy who does my
web graphics) and it looks very good. It’s called Pixlr and if you need to quickly
design or fix your graphics, this could be a very good option if you don’t have your
own image editor on your desktop.
You can find it here:
Kind Regards,
Titus
P.S. I have placed links to some of my sites,
blogs and social networks altogether here:
Includes Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, LiveJournal,
SiteProNews Blog… and others. In case you
really want to get to know me!
You can also go to this online blog:
http://www.bizwaremagic.blogspot.com
or on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/bizwaremagic “
Filed under: Google Marketing | Tagged: Google Adsense, Google Alerts, Google Analytics, Google Benchmarks, rio guzman, Titus Hoskins | Comments Off on Google is your ally | Titus Hoskins | Tips
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