Why Use Google Analytics

If your company does search engine optimization then you should be using Google Analytics. Now, this post is not a push or plug for Google but rather helpful advice for how you can understand if your SEO is working, how well, and what you can do to make it better.

When you use the analytics, you can see how many people visited your site for a specific period of time , how long they visited for, how many pages they viewed, how many got to your site through organic means or through directly putting your URL into their web browser. These are great tools to see how how well your SEO is working.

However, another great reason to actually analyze your efforts is to see how people are getting to your website. Are they getting to your site through the keywords that you have been using? If so, which ones? These are questions that get answered if you use Analytics.

Are people getting to your site via computer or are they looking at it through a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet? If they are using mobile devices more, then your site will have to be mobile-responsive so mobile users are able to view your site effectively; otherwise, they may scoot away from your site quickly, raising your bounce rate.

Are people in the area your targeting with your SEO looking at your site? You can find that out with a look at your analytics.

The bottom line is that if you are going to do search engine optimization, then it would be foolish to not monitor that and see how things are working out. Blindly hoping the efforts are paying off could be a waste of time and money.

Chicago Internet Marketing: Link Building & SEO

Chicago Internet Marketing: Link building strategies aren’t just for SEO. The true purpose of building links is to market your content to your target market.

Your website content may revolve around sales, product reviews, articles, blogs or a tutorial with a strong 'call to action, but regardless of the type of content, inbound links are essential to market the content you're pushing. These links, often called backlinks, are the method that you communicate with your audience: it's an open door to view your website or product.

It's much to easy to get caught up in the non-social aspect of web content development, search engine optimization, or Chicago Internet Marketing. We forget the purpose of what we're doing: talking to our target market. 

When we're researching keywords and checking volume vs. profit potential, we forget that behind those Google stats are real people that are searching for things they actually need, typing the same phrases into their favorite SE. Your mom, your brother, someone halfway around the world. They're all people.

Making a connection with that concept will help you frame your content much better, and position your links in the best possible way. What is the best way? Answer your viewer's questions, and offer a solution to what they're searching for the most. It will help them to see what you're truly offering and allow you to communicate with them better as you learn.

Creating content is a business, just the same that SEO is marketing. But we must remember that these are simply tools in the large toolbox that is Internet Marketing. They are the means to your objective: to reach out on a large scale and interact with your target market online.

Meet your marketing where they are: Facebook, Twitter, Forums, Blogs, etc. Engage them by addressing the thoughts and questions they've got, and answer their questions. Become an authority. Even if you make a sale, don't stop communicating and be sure to follow up and address any needs they have after the fact.

Remember this: Your backlinks (inbound links) aren't just for search engines. Search engines are reading your content, but human eyes are being sold by it. Put the social human element back into your Internet Marketing strategy and it will work for both you AND your customers.