Google Analytics Courses

Between the google analytics platform principles course and the google analytics fundamentals course I was able to obtain some new knowledge and freshen up on some of the things we had gone over previously. Taking these two courses made me understand and appreciate how you can get the most of google analytics. I found it particularly interesting to study the way google analytics collects and transforms data while processing it. From raw collection, to database tables and organizing hits it provides a tremendous amount of feedback and furthermore shows the importance of using this tool. I also liked that you can configure your specific settings for how that data appears when you are viewing it. Through channel groupings, filters, and goals the google analytics user is able to adapt the tool to their tailored needs and get the most use out of it. There were a ton of new concepts and valuable points made in the two courses and I believe they have helped me further understand our course concepts. 

Google Analytics

The first concept from this week that I would like to cover is “cookies”. Cookies are small files that are stored and tailor web pages for users to be used from one page to the next. With cookies enabled they are constantly monitoring our needs and updating our resources for us. For instance an example of cookies is the storage of your username on your Gmail account. There are two main types of cookies including first party cookies and third party cookies. Google analytics uses first party cookies to track users and develop further analysis from there users activity. Cookies can be a very complicated concept for someone to understand because of their many varieties and uses. I believe this is an important concept to understand because we have all heard of cookies before but many of us, including myself, have no idea of how they actually work. Cookies surround and build the internet harmlessly every day, even when we don’t realize it. While cookies seem to create a lot of data I wonder if in some cases they are creating too much data for tracking? From our reading this week it seems as if cookies can become almost an overload of information in some circumstances.

The second concept I would like to discuss from our reading this week is the tracking ability of Google analytics. As I mentioned above tracking user information can be very complicated and overwhelming. Google analytics allows its users to use advanced tracking through its customization techniques. This customization includes being able to track items such as page category, Ecommerce, interactive objects, user-provided data, and dynamic page content. Because there are so many trackable items in Google analytics there are multiple types of categories most commonly known as direct, referral, or organic as the default set of categories. There are also two ways to track campaigns, you can use the auto method of linking your adwords accounts or by manually tagging you can also tag adwords links. The concepts included in tracking with Google analytics are pertinent because of how they can affect your campaigns. results. Proper techniques in the above areas and dedication to your tracking is what can make or break the results of your campaign and should not be taken lightly.

The most important skill set I learned from this week’s reading includes the above two topics, that being how and why it is important to use Google analytics. The above two concepts are just two pieces of the puzzle that Google analytics can offer to users looking to track and have a better understanding of their user activity. The skill of using Google analytics has offered many companies the safekeeping over the campaigns that they have been looking for. In addition I find the skill of knowing how to operate and control Google analytics to be most important from this week because our campaigns will be starting shortly. I would caution that with Google analytics comes many features that the reader may not be used to and should thus do as much research as possible before implementing these techniques. Does anyone else plan to use Google analytics to help get the most success from their campaign?

This week’s material has been the hardest for me to comprehend so far in the course. We had many subjects and a variety of articles presented to us this week which have introduced a whole new meaning to the analytics offered to users. I found the material especially associated with the quiz to be very heavy this week and full of challenging concepts. After learning more about Google analytics I believe I need to do even more research and possibly watch some YouTube videos on the features in order to grasp its techniques for our campaign use. If as a group we are able to understand Google analytics properly I believe it will have a positive outlook for our campaign and allow us to get the most out of our advertising for our client. It was a great two weeks for global marketing, many challenges were presented to me and I believe once we are able to start out campaigns because of those challenges this week we will be better prepared.  

Keywords and Important concepts associated with them

After completing this week's reading material I found the concept of keywords to be very interesting and a concept I feel should be reviewed thoroughly. Keywords are the important words that develop key phrases and thus produce the results when a person runs a search on the internet. The type of keywords or phrases that the searcher inputs determines what results are provided to them and if they are successful in finding the items they are looking for. The search technique combined with the proper keyword usage by the webpage is the essential technique that completes all search queries. As it is simply put in our text this week "keywords are the foundation of search". This puts in perspective how important keywords are for not only the customer, but also the company who is providing the products. The four main categories you should be aware of when picking a key word as a website owner includes: search volume, competition, propensity to convert, and value per conversation. Choosing keywords is similar to many other aspects of business; research is the key to success. After you have done the proper research and develop the words or phrases you would like use to get users to your site, you want to then review those words again for any errors. Finding any errors in a keyword or phrase is critical for your website and page views because this could end up costing you lots of money with no results. Keywords are a concept from this week that I know will be on my mind throughout the course and should be a top priority in everyone else’s project as well.

One of the other important concepts I would like to talk about from this week, which goes along with the first concept, is optimization of the content listed on your website to ensure it goes well with your key phrases. The whole point to your keywords or phrases is to use proper words to pull in the audience you believe will want to purchase your products. Your entire webpage needs to include good content in order for it to be optimized accordingly. As our reading from this week shows us, it’s important that your key phrases are included in the majority the following areas of your webpage including: title tag, header tag, body content, bold, URL, Meta tags and description, as well as anchored text and domain name. Because content is the most important part of your website you also want to optimize your graphics or pictures that are being viewed. The most important part of this concept that hit home with me was that "search engines cannot see images". I thought this was such an important thing to mention because including the correct keywords within the images allows them to have a much greater chance of being viewed compared to not having keywords. As you can see there are many aspects to consider in terms of keywords or phrases when developing your page. It’s important that the website designer uses proper techniques to get the most out of both their keywords and website.

The skill set I found to be of utmost importance this week was understanding emerging trends and having a greater idea of where and how search engine optimization will be used in the future. Having the ability to be particularly skilled in optimizing your data to match the future of search engine optimization will be the difference between success and failure for many companies webpage’s. I believe with the appropriate use of this skill companies will be able to be better prepared for future trends such as localization, personalized search, usage data, and real time search. These four current trends are just the beginning of the curve ball that will be thrown at companies looking to have successful webpage’s in the future. In order to further develop your skills in search engine optimization there are some important tools that can be used to attempt to master this trade, an example of one of those tools is Google Webmasters which makes sure your webpage is indexed properly. I wanted to talk about this type of skill set this week because of how important it will be both now and in the future. I believe this will be a skill set that many employers will expect employees to both understand and master before entering a position for their company.

Reflecting on my personal learning journey this week I was once again blown away by the amount of new terms and techniques presented in the material. Although there was a lot of new information this week, I have found I am slowly putting together some missing pieces of the puzzle that I once before didn't understand. This week I found a lot of the material to be a challenge because it was new to me; similar to the prior week, this took time for me to understand. Although it was challenging at first, it is rewarding to see the terms start to interlink which develops a greater understanding of them for me. As I previously mentioned, my big take away from this week was how even pictures can be affected by the use of keywords. Was anyone else impressed and shocked by the amount of influence keywords and their uses can have for a company? Also has anyone had experience with keywords and their effects on an organization they have worked for? I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on search engine optimization and the use of keywords.

Web Analytics 101

The first concept I would like to discuss from this week are key performance indicators or KPI for short. Key performance indicators are what organizations use to develop goals and track their success at obtaining these goals. An example of key performance indicators would be an increase of people viewing your website or blog. If you are attempting to attract a new audience and after monitoring those who view your webpage you notice you have this is a great indication that your key performance indicators are on the right track. This concept is very important to success as you need to be able to evaluate your progress towards your goals. After all how can you tell you are heading in the right direction without key performance indicators? This concept is very important to digital marketing in the global marketing place because of the way global marketing is continually changing and therefore needs to be continually monitored. I believe this concept has strong validity within global marketing and should be well concentrated on no matter the type of marketing you are looking to complete.

The next concept I would mention is the collecting of web analytics data. Collecting this data is an important aspect of evaluating your key performance indicators. There are two main types of collecting web data: log-file analysis and page tagging. The main difference between these two types is that log-file will collect clicks or data directly from the site while page tagging sends JavaScript code to a third party website where the data is gathered and collected which will then create page tags. Why this concept is so important is because it provides companies with the ability to monitor more efficiently. Using key performance indicators is pointless if you are unable to collect valid data, which is why web analytics is so important in the collection. When looking at the differences between these two collection models I would caution the reader to understand they both serve their purposes. Log-file analysis seems to be the more accurate efficient system of the two, which provides it the ability to collect data accurately and quick. Page tagging as noted in our book makes it easier to capture lots of information especially for those companies that are not running their own web server. There are some differences between the two types that readers should be aware of and understand before using depending on an organization’s needs.

The most important skill I have learned from this week is the introduction to how you develop adgroup and adwords that go along with our GOMC  project. Adgroups are essentially a collection of adwords or keywords that are grouped together based on certain topics and search criteria. I found this skill to be most important from this week because it was something completely new to me and was a challenge for both me and my group to develop. When going into your Google account to set up your keywords you quickly run into a maze of terms both positive and negative. Understanding the difference in negative and positive keywords when setting up your ads is crucial in determining the success of your ads and the amount of money spent on them. I thought this skill was most important to me this week because of its crucial nature. It can literally make or break your Google ads that your develop. No matter how good your ad is if you are not bidding correctly and efficiently on proper keywords your success and money will disappear quickly. Did anyone else find the keywords and adgroups challenging to develop this week?

This week was a challenge for me in many different aspects. I ran into terms that I have never heard of along with online processes that I had never seen before. Taking the material provided in both our reading and videos this week and using it to understand the importance of web content was a major factor in the choosing of our adgroups and adwords. Before starting this class I did not understand how the ads presented on Google were developed, let alone that people were getting charged each time someone clicked on them. Reflecting on the course so far I have to say it’s, to this point, still challenging me more than I anticipated. I believe so far both the skills and concepts we have discussed in this course will be able to provide me and my classmates with a much better understanding of global marketing and how it can influence each of our organizations. 

BUS572-1 Important concepts associated with Blogging

The first most important concept I learned so far in our course that I would like to talk about today is what a search engine does and how it works. Search engines are involved with four main functions which are the crawling spider, index, process queries, and return results. The crawling spider or bot is used to search through page after page in order to create an index. The library or index is used to process user queries based on keyword databases in order to return the proper results that are being requested. Because there are literally billions of pages, keywords are needed to help narrow results. The results are referred to as SERP or the search engine results page which provide the requesting user with the pages they were searching for. An example of this is anytime you go on Google and do a search this will be the process that is conducted based on your keywords which will return results within seconds of the request being made. Understanding how a search engine works is a very important concept in my opinion as it is a tool that one must understand to use properly. Being able to identify how a search engine works will drastically allow users to return proper results in both digital and global marketing. With this concept I would caution the reader as before our reading this week I never realized how much of a difference your wording can make when using search engines such as Google. Has anyone else seen a drastic change in the results they received based on the different terms or keywords they have entered? 

The second concept I would like to mention from our book that I learned about within the past two weeks is McCarthy's four P's of marketing. The four p's of marketing include product, price, placement and promotion. A product or service is always what the company is attempting to sell to its consumers. The internet has drastically changed the variety of products and services people are able to obtain around the world. The second p in McCarthy's four P's is price which has drastically been changed on many products due to search engines and options offered through many sources. Placement or distribution is dramatically enhanced with a strong global marketplace that provides a nearly unlimited amount of sellers. However there are limitations on what markets one should be entering and this should be approached with caution. The final P that McCarthy mentions is promotion. Promotion and the internet go hand and hand today as it has become the largest promotion feature for any business to reach out to its potential customers. This is an important skill to acknowledge and understand due to the subject matter involved. All four P's are greatly affected by the global marketplace and should be understood by all who are attempting the use of global marketing. I do not see any potential negative consequences with the four P's however I would caution people to thoroughly understand the use of this concept before entering a global marketplace. While I have dealt with the four P's in the past I was not familiar with McCarthy putting them together in a single concept until this course. Has anyone has had experience with the four P's in a global marketplace?

The skill-set I would like to mention from the last two weeks is something I am completely new to which is blogging. I have always heard people talk about their blogs and have always wondered exactly what they were doing. Now that we are required to blog for this course I finally got to learn exactly what blogging is and what it does. Essentially blogging can be one or multiple people writing experiences and information with a particular subject or set of subjects. An example of blogging with multiple subjects and a variety of bloggers is the NFL blog. As I write this I am completing my first blog for our first concepts involved with our Global Marketing course. With today's highly efficient and technology based working environments blogging is an extremely important asset to understand. By understanding how to blog and read blogs you are able to learn about people, subjects, and places that could impact your future. Because I am not familiar with blogging I do still have a few questions regarding its uses and if it does have limitations. For instance at what point does a blog become useful in the business world? Because this type of tool is something that millions of potential users can see I would caution those who are blogging to be careful what you are blogging about. We have all seen how the internet can blow things out of proportion and impact people’s lives in both a negative and positive manner. 

Reflecting on the past two weeks I would like to mention how many new terms and concepts I have been introduced to so far in the course. Global marketing is a learning experience for me that I lack any type of expertise in. While I do not know a lot about global marketing, what I have been introduced to so far has changed the way I view marketing in general. I found blogging and some of the other new techniques such as anchor text to be a bit difficult at first because I have never done them. Although so far the course has been a bit of a challenge to get familiar with I believe the next few weeks will provide me with a vast learning experience that I can carry with me in my future business adventures. I look forward to the upcoming weeks and challenges ahead associated with global marketing!