LESSON #71: Tracking Your Results

By | July 16, 2010

We’ve just finished covering list building, and we’re about to jump into a new module covering web traffic starting with the next lesson.

But first we need to talk about a very important topic that involves both of those things…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • Tracking = Measuring the performance of your website.

  • Numbers that are watched tend to improve.*

  • *It’s about taking action!

  • The more information you collect, the better equipped you are, BUT the information is pointless unless you use it.

  • What to track… (Visitors, Leads, and Sales)

    1) VISITORS

    You NEED to know…

    -How many visitors you received

    You SHOULD to know…

    -Where they came from

    It could be helpful to know…

    -How long they stayed on your website
    -What they did on your website
    -Where they went after your site
    -Demographics
    -A bunch of other stuff (Google Analytics tracks almost everything)

    2) LEADS

    You NEED to know…

    -How many leads/subscribers you received
    -Your opt-in conversion rate

    You SHOULD to know…

    -Where they came from
    -How many subscribers unsubscribed

    It could be helpful to know…

    -All sorts of email stats like open rate, click rate, etc. (AWeber provides this)

    3) SALES

    You NEED to know…

    -How many sales you made
    -Your sales conversion rate

    You SHOULD to know…

    -Where they came from

    It could be helpful to know…

    -How each sale is related to your traffic and subscriber stats.

  • Tracking Tools…

    Web Server Logs

    You can get most of the stats you need from the stats tracking within your hosting control panel.

    Cpanel web hosts usually have Analog, AWstats, Webalizer, and maybe Urchin.

    (See video for demo of AWstats and Webalizer)

    Visits vs. Pageviews vs. Hits (Hits is not a very meaningful statistic)

    Self-hosted Tracking Applications

    I often prefer using self-hosted tracking tools because…

    -I need INSTANT stats during launches.
    -I try to avoid overdependence on 3rd-party apps.
    -Avoid feeding the Google machine.

    I use and recommend:
    Affiliate Prophet
    Covert Conversion Pro

    Self-hosted PPC tracking tools:
    Ad Spy Pro
    Prosper202

    3rd-Party Tracking

    Some popular ones: AdTrackz, AdWatcher, HyperTracker, Tracking202, and of course… Google Analytics!

    Google Analytics can provide all the tracking you need.

    (See video for demo of Google Analytics)

    Use Google Analytics “Goals”

    -You can set up goals for opt-in and sales conversions
    -Enables you to track everything in once place

  • Remember, it’s all about TAKING ACTION.

    Some ways to take action with your data…

    -Better focus your landing pages, blog articles, sales pages, etc.
    -Add more pages to get more traffic from longtail keywords.
    -See which affiliates are sending you the most traffic, and build relationships.
    -Spy on affiliates and copy what they’re doing.
    -Eliminate negative keywords from PPC campaigns & SEO efforts.
    -Add new income streams, based on what people are looking for on your site.
    -Focus your efforts on successful traffic sources.
    -Ensure browser compatibility.
    -Bounce rate improvement.

  • Be a tester.

    Especially important if you’re not creatively gifted as a marketer. If the creative side of your brain is the weaker side, then you CAN compensate by being a good tester and a good action taker.

    Action steps:

    1) Choose a tracking method to track your visitors, leads and sales.

    2) Watch your numbers and TAKE ACTION based on them.

    Once we’ve got our tracking in place, we’ll be ready to do what it takes to get web traffic to our website… starting in the next lesson!

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

  • 63 thoughts on “LESSON #71: Tracking Your Results

    1. John

      Thanks Eric for this free Information for us all,your professional advice in your lessons are solving some of the mysteries for me.
      Brilliant stuff.

      Reply
    2. rhaja

      wow Eric my man, you are awesome this tutorial is easy to digest and very simple to understand thanks a lot bro.

      Reply
    3. Jerry

      E Eric,

      Hats off for sharing so much valuable information and never seeming to have an alterior motive.

      Let me ask you something. Would it be possible to track where a sale came from under the following scenario:

      Say you owned/authored a product and it was active on clickbank. We know we can track a sell generated by the cb tracking link but… this is the kicker…

      What if you wanted to install an option by which you’d let a buyer purchase at a discount for a one payment ‘in full’. Now assume youused paypal exclusively for the one payment option.

      Question is, how could you track where that paypal sale came from?

      In other words, lets say for sake of the conversation that I ran an ad on your site. If I generated a hoplink through cb, I might tag the link as http://www.blahblah.com/tidadonericssight and obviously, if a sale passed through on the cb payment option, I’d know it was, generated from the ad on your sight. Easy stuff.

      However, if the buyer takes the disounted option and buys off the same page using the paypal link, there seems to be no way of knowing the sale was generated from that same page.

      Is there a tip on how I could do that?

      Thanks,I

      Jerry

      Reply
    4. Eric Post author

      A good option would be to use Affiliate Prophet which I recommend in this lesson. It will allow you to track where all sales come from.

      If you want to track it for the purposes of paying an affiliate, then you would most likely need to use an affiliate software/script which allows both Clickbank and Paypal. There are several available.

      Another option would be to use some PHP coding, which would pass the clickbank tracking ID (tid) into the Paypal payment link, which can then be automatically collected in a form field (Paypal allows you to collect additional information). Again this would require some coding.

      Also I would not recommend putting CB and paypal on the same sales page, as it may alienate your affiliates. If it’s a matter of too high a price for Clickbank, get in touch with them and explain the situation. They can approve much higher price points on a case by case basis.

      Reply
    5. Jerry

      Eric… Thanks so much! I have AP and have never installed it. You have any tutorials or insight on it?

      Thanks and congrats on your newest family addition. Hold them often. Mine have grown beyond being held and the are without doubt the greatest treasures in life.

      Again thanks!

      Jerry

      Reply
    6. Eric Post author

      Just what I talked about in this lesson and lesson #57. There are tutorials that come with it. I use AP on all my product launches. Thanks

      Reply
    7. Richard Rodriquez

      Hi Eric

      I just wanted to say that this is one of the most comprehensive reviews I have ever heard regarding testing and website tracking.
      Thanks
      I am also looking forward to your next lessons on traffic generation. Are you updating the previous videos?

      Reply
    8. Paul Warner

      Outstanding lesson, probably the best so far in my opinion. Had my attention all the way and really very informative.
      I think the data part of things is critical, even more so now that I watched this video because I see that the data helps you improve your website, and what is amazing is that you don’t need someone to tell you where or what to improve as the data charts to whatever program(s) you are using to get the data, will clue you in as to what you have to improve or fix to make the website work better. Excellent. Paul

      Reply
    9. rahab

      hi Eric,
      i wanted to know if i can market stuff in my country am in Uganda but every thing you are talking about seems to be only where i can not reach just wanted to know if i can start an online business from Uganda with the rest of the world.
      p.s your material is so informative keep up the good work.

      Reply
      1. Micah

        Hello Rahab,

        We’ve heard success stories from nearly every country, but I don’t know any marketers from your country personally.

        We recommend that you view the following inspiring article and user comments:

        Ladan Lashkari: If this girl can succeed – so can you!

        This can help you when there are business restrictions that must be overcome in your country.

        Reply

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