by Eric Dobson on April 15, 2010
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Once you’ve accepted the importance of analytics, the question becomes how best to begin gathering data.
Fundamentally this comes down to installing tracking code on every page of your site. Yes, every single page.
The Trouble With Static Sites
This quickly reveals a major flaw with static websites. On a typical static site, every page is maintained manually, so any structural changes to a page have to be done individually.
This means if you haven’t installed tracking code yet, or you want to change what you’ve got, you’ll probably need to go into every page, one by one, change the code, and hope you don’t miss anything.
For all but the simplest of sites, this is a real pain.
With A Blog, Analytics Are Easy
With a blog, you copy and paste the analytics tracking code in one location, and it is immediately placed in every page of your site, and in all future pages, automatically.
This allows you to move quickly beyond the technical aspects of setting up your site, and focus on creating content and using the data you collect to improve your business.
Action Item:
Take a few minutes to check out Google Analytics, and read a little about the information it will provide you… for free.
by Eric Dobson on April 14, 2010
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Most new Twitter users quit before the end of the first month.
This is pretty understandable once you try it for yourself. Here are some thoughts you may have after using Twitter for a couple of weeks:
- Not knowing who to follow;
- Following uninteresting people;
- Not having many (any) followers;
- Feeling like your tweets aren’t doing any good;
- Feeling Like You’re Wasting Time!
For many, many people, this leads to leaving Twitter forever, never discovering the benefits it can bring to you and your business.
Let’s not allow that to happen to you!
What To Tweet
In the next few posts about getting started with Twitter, I’m going to give you a few ideas for things you can tweet about that will build a foundation of interaction and value. I’m going to start by covering:
- Tweeting your thoughts/actions;
- Asking open questions;
- Sending comments/questions to specific people;
- Sharing resources;
I’ll also be covering just how long your tweets should be. There’s a little more to it than just keeping it under 140 characters.
If You’re Reading This, You’re Not Tweeting!
The only way to start making sense of Twitter is to start using it.
Take just a few minutes each day and engage people using the techniques I’ll show you. Before long you’ll start coming up with techniques of your own. (I hope you’ll leave a comment and share them!)
Stick With It
At some point, you’ll probably to think this isn’t going anywhere or making any sense.
Stay with it.
Building a following takes time, but it’s time well spent.
