AVL Marketing

Tracking Traffic from a Redirected Domain, Is Your Marketing Working?

Posted on 26. Mar, 2010 by Tracy Sigler in Advertising, Small Business Tools

There are a zillion ways to do this. Here are two that are easy to implement and will be good enough for most of us.

Let’s say you just bought a billboard, or an ad in local newspaper or magazine, and you want to know if this type of advertising will drive traffic to your site where people can learn more about your company, services or products. You could use something like “mycompany.com/newspaper” and track the traffic to that URL. But most people won’t bother typing in the extra stuff, unless there is some special content there or other incentive. Plus it’s hard to remember. Domain forwarding to the rescue!

Probably a better option is to use a special, dedicated domain name for that particular ad. Something like “MyCompanyNC.com” or “GetMyCompany.com.” You get the picture. Just add a simple modifier or possibly use an altogether different but descriptive term (e.g. “SpringfieldPlumbers.com” instead of “JohnsonPlumbing.com”).

Now what? Well, you use domain forwarding or redirecting, call it whatever, and point that thing to a special page, or tracking URL, on your real site. I’m going to outline two different ways to do this that are fairly easy for non-techie types to implement. In fact, you can even combine the two if you want, but that might get tricky.

Option 1

Tracking a Domain Redirect with a Landing Page with Google Analytics

1. Register the new domain that will be in your ad.
2. If you don’t already have it, install Google Analytics on your main site.
3. Create a landing page on your real site: “mycompany.com/landingpage.html” (Name it whatever you want, but make sure the Google Analytics tracking code is added to this page.)
4. Go back to registrar you used to register the new domain. Edit the “host record” settings to redirect it to the landing page you just created on the real site.
5. Use the new domain in your print, billboard, etc. ad.
6. Check Google Analytics for results: Content > Landing Pages

Option 2 (This assumes your site is running WordPress. High five if it is.)

Tracking a Domain Redirect with WordPress and the Redirection Plugin

1. Register the new domain that will be in your ad.
2. Install the Redirection plugin for WordPress.
3. Create a fake tracking URL for your real site and add the redirect using the plugin: “mycompany.com/billboard” (Name it whatever you want, but make sure you the exact same URL in the next step.)
4. Go back to registrar you used to register the new domain. Edit the “host record” settings to redirect it to  a fake tracking URL for your real site: “mycompany.com/billboard”
5. Use the new domain in your print, billboard, etc. ad.
6. Check WordPress admin panel for results: Log in > Tools > Redirection

How easy is that? Questions? We’re here to help.

Sites in Google Apps for Business Team Collaboration

Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Tracy Sigler in Small Business Tools

If I sound mellow in this one it’s because A) I had a huge, and awesome, dinner at Sunny Point Cafe in west Asheville, and B) it’s a little past my bed time. This video is almost 10 minutes but if you’re interested in using Google Apps in your small business I think you’ll find it worth your time. If you don’t, check your warranty.

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Google Apps Set Up for Your Small Business

Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Tracy Sigler in Small Business Tools

Google Apps is a fantastic suite of tools you can use in your small business… fo’ free. I have used Apps for my own businesses, my personal life, and I’ve even set it up for my kids’ small private school.

And just to be clear kids, I’m talking about setting up Google Apps for very own domain. So your employees can have accounts like “EmployeeName@YourCompany.com.” Of course, you can use Apps without also using the email. But…

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Add Your Small Business to the Google Local Business Center

Posted on 06. Nov, 2009 by Tracy Sigler in SEO, Small Business Tools

Follow these steps to add your company to the Google Local Business Center. Make sure potential customers are able to find you business. I will take you through the entire process in this short video and I also point out a couple things that have caused problems for us in the past. For small businesses operating in a local area, as opposed to only online, it’s critical that your company show up in the Local results, which are usually at the top on search engine results pages.

There are some additional steps to take that will help make sure your company appears in the first set of Local listings, but we’ll cover those in a later video.

If you have any questions or trouble with this process just email or call and we’ll help you get it sorted out. No cost for that, we just want to help.

Crowdsourcing Affordable Logo Designs for a Small Business or Start-up

Posted on 04. Nov, 2009 by Tracy Sigler in Small Business Tools

The “wisdom of the crowds” or at least the “logo designs of the crowds.” This describes LogoMyWay.com. In my opinion this is a fantastic way for a small business or other organization to get a great looking logo designed at a very reasonable cost.

Sure, a full-tilt pro logo designer may do a better job but who has that budget? If you want to go that route, how about this: Submit your concept for a logo design and see what you get from the crowd. If one of the designs is even close to what you want, select it as the winner, and you’ll have a great starting point to take to your big money designer.

On the other hand you might get a logo you love for very little money. So what’s the downside?