It is crucial for every
marketer to accurately track his advertising results. In the
direct marketing industry, marketers
track the responses to their direct mail pieces so that they
know which ads work, which headlines are winners and which products
sell.
For the online marketing world, it is just as important to
track your ad results. Knowing the exact response rate to
your advertisement enables you to know how well it performed
and this knowledge can help maximize your profits.
If an ad is not performing satisfactorily, improve upon it.
Change the headlines, ad copies, graphics or layout and re-test
the ad. If the problem lies with the medium which you are
using, dump it from your campaign.
Always test your ads on a smaller scale before launching
the full campaign. That's how successful marketers do theirs.
Tracking your ad results also allow you to verify that the
publisher has delivered his part of the deal fully, especially
if you are paying on a per-click basis.
The most basic way to track online ad results is to measure
clickthrough - how many people clicked on your advertisement.
There are other vital measurements such as conversion ratio.
But measuring clickthrough is good for a start. I have outlined
two methods of tracking clickthroughs below:
1. CGI Scripts
If you have access to your own CGI directory, I recommend
LnkinLite, a small yet powerful CGI script that tracks clicks
to your site in the background. Get it at http://www.dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/lnkinlte.shtml
LinkinLite is the best free click-tracking software I have
used. Another CGI script you can try consider is Prolinkz
( http://www.prolinkz.com ) but it will set you back by $45.
2. Online Tracking Services
Online tracking services count clickthroughs through their
own servers. The service is usually free. Some require monthly
fees or you have to upgrade to paid versions for advanced
features.
Here is a list of free online click tracking services:
Hypertracker
http://www.hypertracker.com
Linkcounter
http://www.linkcounter.com
Here are the paid ones:
Statcruncher
http://www.Statcruncher.com
Adminder
http://www.adminder.com
Roibot
http://www.roibot.com
The clickthrough rate for banner ads usually range from 0.5%
to 3.0%, 3.0% to 5.0% for ezine ads and between 1.5% to 10.0%
for text links if strategically placed.
Regardless of which tracking methods you ultimately choose
to use, you need to track your advertising results. It is
one of the crucial steps to marketing success!
Source: "Chee Wee is a professional internet marketing
consultant. Join his FREE affiliate program and EARN a generous
commission of US$50 per sale! Commissions are paid in 7 global
currencies with realtime online stats. Accurate tracking with
5-year cookies. Check it out at http://www.internetmarketingfocus.com/affiliate"
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