How to Measure the Effectiveness of Web Advertising
Establish the goal of your advertising campaign(s)., Decide what metrics will be used to judge the effectiveness of your ad., Establish baselines for traffic, clicks, sales and current campaigns., Invest in website tracking software that will work...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Establish the goal of your advertising campaign(s).
For many sites, this is an increase in sales; however, for websites that sell advertising or contacts, your goal could simply be an increase in traffic or database numbers.
Once you decide your goal, you can choose the metrics by which to judge when it is met. -
Step 2: Decide what metrics will be used to judge the effectiveness of your ad.
Choose 1 of the following metrics that proves an ad has met your ad campaign's goals and devise your tracking method accordingly:
Increase in web traffic.
This can be judged simply as the number of people who go to your website daily.
If this is how you market to advertisers on your site, then a simple increase in traffic as proved by tracking software, may mean your campaign is a success.
A more sophisticated web traffic campaign would judge the number of visitors who sign up with their name, email, age or address.
If your goal is to establish a database, then judge your traffic based on new visitors who sign up on landing pages.
Length of visit.
If your page's effectiveness is judged by how long a person visits your site, then judge the effectiveness by the number of people who spend 30 minutes or longer on your website.
Pay for web tracking software that gathers the amount of time new users spend on a page.
Page views.
If you are providing high-quality content, such as downloads or videos to users, you will want to establish how many people download or stream your content.
Invest in software that gathers the information on how many people play the entire video and how many close it early.
Clicks.
Many online ads are Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and you should gather both the number of clicks and the conversion rate.
Choose a PPC ad provider that tracks both clicks and conversion rates.
Google AdWords provides this tracking along with your bid on clicks.
Ad views.
The number of ad views tells you how many times during a day, week or month that your ad was shown to web page viewers.
This number is usually much higher than the number of people that click on your ad.
Use this as a metric if you are trying to measure the effectiveness of 1 ad against another.
For example, if you have an ad that appears on a search engine with the keyword "surf gear" and another for "surfing gear," the number of ad views and the number of clicks will determine which ad is more valuable. , Gather 2 months to 1 year's worth of data on the visitors that arrive at your site, where they come from and what the conversion rate is.
You will use this data to compare against your online campaigns. , Although most websites have basic traffic tracking, it is important to invest in this if you do not already have it.
Look for a program or plugin that can collect and archive data, as well as run reports on campaigns.
Possible software programs include Webalizer, Urchin and WebTrends.
Google Analytics provides free campaign tracking with limited functionality.
Some advertising programs, such as Google AdWords, include traffic and conversion tracking. , Landing pages are specially designed pages that are used to collect data from users and they often allow you to sign up users for an account.
They are popular with online advertising because they allow you to design a page that will cater to a demographic and keep track of precise increases in web traffic.
Link your web ads to a landing page instead of your general website.
They increase your ad's chances of working.
They can also help you develop your own database, if you offer high quality content when users create an account.
Communicating with your database with email specials and promotions will increase the ROI. , Some ads, like Rich Media Ads, stream video or animate, so they can get your information to a potential customer, and they don't have to click.
In this case, make sure that the website you are buying the ad from can give you the number of people who have seen the video, how many times it was viewed and the average amount of time a user stayed on the ad. -
Step 3: Establish baselines for traffic
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Step 4: clicks
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Step 5: sales and current campaigns.
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Step 6: Invest in website tracking software that will work with your chosen metrics.
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Step 7: Invest in creating landing pages
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Step 8: if you do not already do so.
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Step 9: Choose to advertise on sites that will give keep track of analytics.
Detailed Guide
For many sites, this is an increase in sales; however, for websites that sell advertising or contacts, your goal could simply be an increase in traffic or database numbers.
Once you decide your goal, you can choose the metrics by which to judge when it is met.
Choose 1 of the following metrics that proves an ad has met your ad campaign's goals and devise your tracking method accordingly:
Increase in web traffic.
This can be judged simply as the number of people who go to your website daily.
If this is how you market to advertisers on your site, then a simple increase in traffic as proved by tracking software, may mean your campaign is a success.
A more sophisticated web traffic campaign would judge the number of visitors who sign up with their name, email, age or address.
If your goal is to establish a database, then judge your traffic based on new visitors who sign up on landing pages.
Length of visit.
If your page's effectiveness is judged by how long a person visits your site, then judge the effectiveness by the number of people who spend 30 minutes or longer on your website.
Pay for web tracking software that gathers the amount of time new users spend on a page.
Page views.
If you are providing high-quality content, such as downloads or videos to users, you will want to establish how many people download or stream your content.
Invest in software that gathers the information on how many people play the entire video and how many close it early.
Clicks.
Many online ads are Pay-Per-Click (PPC), and you should gather both the number of clicks and the conversion rate.
Choose a PPC ad provider that tracks both clicks and conversion rates.
Google AdWords provides this tracking along with your bid on clicks.
Ad views.
The number of ad views tells you how many times during a day, week or month that your ad was shown to web page viewers.
This number is usually much higher than the number of people that click on your ad.
Use this as a metric if you are trying to measure the effectiveness of 1 ad against another.
For example, if you have an ad that appears on a search engine with the keyword "surf gear" and another for "surfing gear," the number of ad views and the number of clicks will determine which ad is more valuable. , Gather 2 months to 1 year's worth of data on the visitors that arrive at your site, where they come from and what the conversion rate is.
You will use this data to compare against your online campaigns. , Although most websites have basic traffic tracking, it is important to invest in this if you do not already have it.
Look for a program or plugin that can collect and archive data, as well as run reports on campaigns.
Possible software programs include Webalizer, Urchin and WebTrends.
Google Analytics provides free campaign tracking with limited functionality.
Some advertising programs, such as Google AdWords, include traffic and conversion tracking. , Landing pages are specially designed pages that are used to collect data from users and they often allow you to sign up users for an account.
They are popular with online advertising because they allow you to design a page that will cater to a demographic and keep track of precise increases in web traffic.
Link your web ads to a landing page instead of your general website.
They increase your ad's chances of working.
They can also help you develop your own database, if you offer high quality content when users create an account.
Communicating with your database with email specials and promotions will increase the ROI. , Some ads, like Rich Media Ads, stream video or animate, so they can get your information to a potential customer, and they don't have to click.
In this case, make sure that the website you are buying the ad from can give you the number of people who have seen the video, how many times it was viewed and the average amount of time a user stayed on the ad.
About the Author
Charles Hughes
Specializes in breaking down complex practical skills topics into simple steps.
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