Tracking the Results of Internet Marketing
As with any marketing campaign you may run to assist your business, it is
important to track the results of your Internet marketing campaign. This should be done on a continual basis so you
can ensure the strategies you are utilizing are working. It can also help you to determine when a strategy is not
working so you do not continue to invest time and money on a strategy which is not beneficial to your business.
This article will discuss some of the options for tracking the results of your Internet marketing campaign.
Business owners who use banner ads have a simple way to track whether or not their banner ads
are effective. This is possible because they can place code in the banner ad which will supply them with feedback
each time a user clicks on the banner ad. This information is transmitted to the business owner so he can evaluate
which of his banner ads are generating the most interest. If the business owner is currently using two different
styles of banner ads on comparable websites he can use this information to determine which design is most
effective. This is important because if one style is significantly more effective than the other it might be
worthwhile to convert all of the banner ads to this style or to make changes which will make the two different
styles more similar.
If the business owner is using the same banner ad on a number of different websites, the
feedback can help him determine which websites are generating the most traffic for him. If he determines some
websites are not generating a great deal of traffic it makes sense to discontinue the banner ads on these websites
as they are not cost effective.
Business owners who utilize affiliate marketing during their Internet marketing campaign may
also be interested in tracking the results of their affiliates. This is necessary because affiliates are often paid
according to the results they generate but it is also useful for determining which affiliates are most successful.
This information can be useful if different ads are running on different affiliate websites because it can be an
indication of which websites are most effective. Tracking the results of affiliate marketing is similar to tracking
the results of banner ads. You can place code in the ads which appear on the affiliate’s website to provide you
with feedback each time a user clicks on the ad.
Another way to evaluate the results of an Internet marketing campaign is to simply closely
monitor your own website traffic and sales. This is especially important when it is done in consideration with the
type of marketing you are currently running. For example if you launch a new banner ad campaign with ads appearing
on numerous high profile websites concurrently, you may notice an almost immediate increase in website traffic and
sales. This information most likely indicates the banner ads are successful.
However, the problem with using this type of evaluation is it does not pinpoint successes or
failures. If you launch your banner ad on five different websites at once you may notice an immediate increase in
traffic and sales but will not be aware which websites are the most effective. For example, your advertisement may
be running on five different websites but only one of these websites may be attracting attention for your business.
Similarly if you are running several different styles of ads, some styles may attract more attention than others
but you will not be able to differentiate simply by evaluating your website traffic and sales. The other four may
only be generating minimal interest in your products or services. If you wish to use this method for evaluating the
feedback on your Internet marketing efforts, it is worthwhile to only make one change at a time so you can more
accurately determine what is working and what is not. Alternatively you can ask customers to fill out a survey
stating where they saw your advertisement so you can solicit feedback on your marketing efforts.
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