Are You Testing and Tracking Your On-Line Marketing Strategies?

Developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential part of your success. However, unless you're testing and tracking your strategies, you may be losing a great deal of time and money.

Dramatically increase your sales simply by taking the time to test and track your results. Not only will it help you to determine what's working and what's not, but it will also enable you to focus your efforts on the strategies that produce results.

When testing your marketing strategies, keep in mind a strategy that produces results for one person may not produce results for you. There is no 'set in stone' strategy that works for everyone. You must develop your own style and technique and test your results to determine what works for you.

There are several on-line tracking resources to assist you in your testing and tracking endeavors. You can also opt to use some alternative methods. Here are two of several tracking methods you can use to track your on-line response rates:

URL
You can track your ads simply by adding some special coding to your URL. To code your URL, add a question mark followed by a special tracking code to the end of your web address. Your coded link will still open your web page. Your code should look something like this:

http://www.yourdomain.com/?ad1

The text after the question mark should identify a specific ad or banner. You can code it however you'd like.

To view your results, you'll need to look at your log files. Your code will be displayed within your log files beside your URL.

Email
You can track your email responses to specific ads by using the email subject. Select a specific word to be placed within the email subject for each ad. Although you can request that a certain word be placed within the email subject, many times it won't be supplied. To avoid this problem, you can create a special email link that will automatically fill in the subject when clicked on. Your link should look something like this:

mailto:you@yourdomain.com?subject=ad1

Testing and tracking your strategies is an essential part of doing business. By concentrating your efforts on strategies that produce results, you will not only increase your sales, but you'll also save yourself a great deal of time and money.

About The Author
Suzanne Fyhrie owns and operates OneWay Advertising and Design. She specializes in marketing and graphic design.

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