Dabbling in Digital

  Online visibility is very important in the digital marketing and business worlds. Online visibility is defined as the “overall presence of a business or brand on the Internet” (Big Commerce, n.d.). If a business isn’t present online, then it will be difficult for potential customers to find its website and complete the desired actions, such as purchasing a product or service. Online visibility also helps with brand reputation and standing out from the competition (Big Commerce, n.d.). Ultimately, a lack of online visibility can hurt a business’ ability to gain new customers and make money (Big Commerce, n.d.; SEMrush, 2021-i).   A business can gain online visibility through strategies such as digital marketing campaigns, search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), public relations (PR), social media marketing (SMM), blogging, and outreach (SEMrush, 2021-i). SEMrush is one of many powerful tools that allows users to gain marketing insights that will help impro...

Social media has become a powerful tool for companies, brands, and organizations to promote their products, services, and messages. It allows for direct and easy connections with customers and the ability to develop relationships. There are currently more than 3.6 billion social media users around the world (Chen, 2021). In January, the top two most popular social media networks around the world in terms of usage were Facebook and YouTube, with over 2 million active users (Chen, 2021). Social media is a critical tactic for businesses to stay relevant. If used effectively, it will allow them to reach their target audience and create brand awareness (Freberg, 2019). From Facebook to Twitter to Instagram and TikTok, there are so many different platforms that are constantly evolving and changing. It can seem very overwhelming with so many options, making it confusing to choose where your company or organization fits in.  So, how should you decide which social media platforms will work ...

You’re probably going to hear this from me a million times, but web metrics should be a critical component of every business. To recap, web analytics is defined as “the measurement and analysis of data to inform an understanding of user behavior across web pages” (Optimizely, n.d.). The data can help drive strategies to help businesses reach their objectives (Reed College of Media, 2021). There are so many tools to help with collecting and analyzing data that it can be very overwhelming to choose one. Since these tools often involve a substantial investment, there are a lot of different things to consider. Different tools will be right for different businesses depending on their goals and the volume of data they’ll be collecting (Keating, 2020).  Choosing a tool is a pretty serious process because it can determine whether a business will gain valuable insights to help improve or if they’ll miss out on critical data (Keating, 2020). Kaushik (2010) wrote, “We tend to pick tools like ...

  ( Moyers, n.d.) No matter the size, every business should be tracking website metrics. But what in the world are website metrics, anyway? Website metrics are defined as “a variety of measurements made on a given website in order to better track its performance and statistics” (Airfocus, n.d.). These metrics fall into different categories such as foundational, visit characterization, engagement, and conversion (Reed College of Media, 20201).  Website metrics can help a company learn more about their customers, what’s working well, and what’s not working well (Reed College of Media, 2021). This information can be used to make decision about the direction of the company in the future. While it’s great to have a lot of information, numbers and measurements can be very confusing and overwhelming. Let’s break things down and explore a very important metric known as the bounce rate.  A bounce is “a single-page session on your site,” according to Google Analytics. Bounce rate, ...

(Sayed, n.d.) Before we dive into the importance of tracking, understanding, and optimizing websites to increase conversion rates, it’s important to first define a conversion. A conversion is “the number of times a desired outcome was accomplished” (Reed College of Media, 2021). Some examples of conversions include filling out a form, signing up for emails or other information, clicking on a specific button, or making a purchase (Storm, 2020). A Conversion Rate is a percentage that “equals outcomes divided by unique visitors during a particular time period.” There are different outcomes that can be used in this equation like the total numbers of orders submitted, the total number of email or newsletter sign-ups, and the total number of leads (Kaushik, 2006).  The average conversion rate across industries is anywhere from 2.35% to 5.31%. This can differ depending on the industry. For example, a mobile app store page may reach a conversion rate of 26.4% (Geckoboard, n.d.).  ...