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Google Conversion University: Analytics Instruction
The Web site I'm about to share this with you is probably one of the most important sites I’ve ever used. Google Conversion University teaches you how to use Google Analytics. This is a monstrously powerful marketing tool for those of you who want to market your Web site. This course is completely free and will teach you everything you need to know about using Google Analytics.
The extensive training covers everything from fundamentals to in-depth analysis.
If you want, you can take the Google Analytics individual qualification test, which will certify you to teach others how to use Google Analytics. Or you can just become a more knowledgeable Google Analytics user.
All of these videos are designed to help you make informed decisions, make conversions on your Web site, get the customers to buy, and to measure your ad and keyword performance.
These videos are very professional and 100 percent free. This is a great place to learn how to manage your Web site or if you want to become a professional in the area of SEO. I recommend it heartily.
Pond5: Stock Video Footage
Pond5 bills itself as the world’s stock footage marketplace, and it’s really true. This site offers content that you might add to a video you’re making. For example, let's say I’m making a commercial and I need footage of someone doing paperwork in their home. I can search for what I need -- in this case: “Woman does paperwork.”
The search results offer a number of footage options: a couple working on their bills, a person looking for a particular document and – bingo -- a lady in her kitchen going through her bills. Clicking on the result link brings up all the details about this piece of footage. For example, it’s 12 seconds long and costs $24 if we use it in our video.
The site offers lots of categories and divides them up starting with aerial, animals and so forth. Type in “scuba” and look at some of the beautiful footage that these folks have for you -- what a great resource. The prices are absolutely right. If you’re looking to purchase video footage, Pond5 is a great place to go.
What’s the Buzz: Keyword Marketing Tool
What’s the Buzz is a keyword research tool that you can use to find out who’s talking about a certain keyword or phrase. You simply enter a keyword or phrase that you’re interested in, and What’s the Buzz will display the following information after it completes its research.
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Technorati blog popularity chart showing how popular that keyword has been in blog posts for the last 90 day
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Google Trends chart for that keyword,
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Several example blog posts tagged with that keyword
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Several example blog posts that contain the keyword in a regular, straightforward search
What's the Buzz closes out the report with a series of social bookmarks tagged with the particular keyword that you’re searching for.
For example, if you enter the word “business” into the search field and click the What’s the Buzz button, it does a few calculations and contacts Technorati and Delicious, a social media, social blog bookmarking Web site.
The results: the keyword “business” has been talked about, used within all the blogs that Technorati tracks for about an average of about 20,000 to 30,000 times every day for the last three months.
Clearly it’s a very common keyword. Following that, there is a Google Trends charts for this keyword of “business” that shows it’s actually trending slightly down over the last couple of years in blog posts. However the news references indicate that it’s actually trending slightly up over the same period.
The bottom of the report lists a handful of recent blog posts that have been tagged with “business.” And then at the very end lists social bookmarks on Delicious that have been tagged using the keyword or the key phrase “business.”
If you're looking for help with finding good keywords for your Web site, What’s the Buzz is a very quick and easy way to do keyword research.
You'll find lots more marketing tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business Essential series, Lock in Your Marketing Resources.
Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses "get more done and have more fun."
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