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Technology

How To Measure The Performance Of Your Marketing Efforts

Written by Adnan Manzoor
Data Analyst & Life Coach
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No matter if you are a freelancer or a small business, the investment you put into marketing efforts should be properly utilized. You need to make sure that all the money you invest provides you with the desired results in terms of new clients, leads, revenue, and profits. So if you are doing business online and investing in your Facebook, Twitter, and SEO, here are some really important parameters for you to look at.

1. Set up Key Performance Indicators

To begin with any of your marketing efforts, you need to set up key performance indicators and evaluate them accordingly when your marketing campaigns end.

KPIs for SEO campaigns and their evaluation is critically important because an SEO campaign can be an expensive element in an overall marketing campaign as it is an ongoing process. SEO KPIs, which are important to consider, include a net increase in traffic, increase in organic conversion, and click rates. KPIs can be different but you need to decide on the important ones before you start marketing an SEO campaign.

2. What Your Customer Thinks

Online marketing for small business should not be limited to evaluating the impact on profits alone. Its overall scope must be bigger. Measuring the performance of the marketing and SEO efforts must be based upon evaluating it from the perspective of the customer of the business. A small business owner with a great sense of customer service will always look for ways to measure performance from the perspective of its impact on the customer.

3. Measure Return on Investment

The ultimate parameter to measure the performance of any online marketing effort is the return on investment. Though it can be one of the KPIs, a small business owner should evaluate it separately. The return on investment can be measured by comparing the cost incurred and the resulting sales or profits generated through it.

It is also always better to measure this by breaking down different marketing activities in order to get a better measure of overall performance in the marketing campaign.

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4. How Much Influence is Generated

Another important aspect of performance is the influence generated as a result of the marketing or SEO efforts. That means, what effect has your advertising had on the local buzz, newsfeeds, or social media sites? One of the key advantages to weigh when deciding if the campaign was worthwhile is free publicity a business may have earned through appearing in the local media or by way of online attention.

If you are a new tech start-up, aim for coverage from sites like TechCrunch and mashable as they are considered some of the ultimate authorities in the game. The more attention from local and online media, the better, when evaluating the results of your marketing efforts.

5. Look for Inbound Links

Another sign of a successful and worthwhile SEO campaign or marketing effort is if a large number of external sites are linking to your website. You can easily check this using either Alexa.com or MozExplorer Tools to keep track of how many external websites are linking to you.

The value of inbound links is important as it can greatly increase the authority of your website and the value of your business in terms of new leads and conversion.

Before you spend any money on SEO and marketing efforts or even if you’ve already started your campaigns, make sure you set up and check above mentioned parameters. Spending without setting up data collection is just like moving in a dark room without knowing what to expect. So, always make sure you prepare well and clearly write down your intended goals before you agree to pay for any online marketing.

Featured photo credit: Bench Accounting via unsplash.com

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