If you’re using Google Analytics and you’re not taking advantage of its built-in campaign tracking, you’re missing out on important insights. Campaign tracking uses URL query strings to determine where your traffic is coming from specifically. URL query strings are the funny “?something=this&somethingelse=that” text that you see on the end of URLs (try a Google search and look in your address bar). By using this tracking method, you can understand your traffic better and learn what’s working and what isn’t. It’s particularly beneficial for people who are promoting their site across several different channels like email, Twitter, and Google Adwords. Here is a little more in-depth description from Google.
The most annoying part about using tracking codes, however, is creating the URL. You need to append at least two (and up to five) query strings to your URL to use this function in Analytics and making this happen while tracking what codes you’re actually using is frustrating enough to make you rethink this whole thing in the first place. Google provides a cute little tool to help you but it’s still a pain in the ass.
Google Docs to the rescue! Using similar code as my simple Google Docs CMS, I created a script that parses a spreadsheet full of tracking codes and turn them into usable URLs that you can then copy and paste. It makes it easy to keep track of the campaigns you have while quickly creating error-free URLs. See the Google Docs UTM appender in action.
Download the UTM URL builder (updated 8/31/2010)
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I love email, I really love it. Email is a simple communication medium that creates a historical record and is dead-simple to manage (if you’re a Gmail user). I use email as much as possible and prefer it over pretty much any communication method besides meeting face-to-face.
Having said that, it’s terribly easy to use email poorly. Email is a disconnected way of communicating which makes it tough to get just right. It’s also subject to abuse in so many ways.
Because email has been my primary method of communication over the last several years, I want to share with you a few things I’ve learned about communicating via email. I’ve learned these tips by making mistakes, hearing from other people, and just practicing over time. Hopefully I can help you like others have helped me before!
Note: though several of these apply to personal emails, I’m speaking generally about business email. I write long, pointless, unfocused emails to my mom and have no shame in admitting that.
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I think I’ve found my calling: exchanging ideas and talking them through. What’s that pay nowadays?
I always like sharing my interactions with people here on my blog. Partly because it adds a really human side to my business and shows prospective clients that I’m more than just an email address. The main reason, though, is it creates a much deeper understanding for me when I write it all out and re-experience the conversation. Like many, I need to iterate to understand and it’s easy for me to forget an important insight I came across while interacting with someone else if I don’t work it through after the fact.
"network cables" by pascal.charest on Flickr
So, this is a “conversation” I had with someone about networking. By conversation I mean it was a transcript of a monologue on his side and an email reply on mine. Quotes are, for the most part, complete and without editing.
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In attempt to solve one problem, I figured out a way to easily publish and manage data on the web by using a simple Google Documents spreadsheet. What I was trying to do was come up with the simplest way possible to manage my Josh Can Help network page. What I realized is that, with a little extra work, you could manage a whole website.
The Google Docs CMS
Update 5/19/2011: There was a bug in this script that only allowed for 9 menu options. Apologies for the trouble and this has been corrected. Just download the new package below and replace your index.php with the new one (make sure to update your feed URL).
See the GDocs CMS in action!
Download the GDocs CMS
For those not in the know, a CMS is a Content Management System, a web application that lets you add and edit live web content. WordPress, the system I use over-and-over (for good reason), is a CMS and a great one at that. But, in some cases, it is a bit over the top. What if you just needed to publish information without a lot of regard to the intricacies of presentation? That’s where this system comes in.
The Google Docs CMS lets you publish and manage information on the web using just a Google Docs spreadsheet published as RSS (easy to do, I’ll show you how). The script takes each row and turns it into its own page then creates a list of pages on the left. A site example (which serves as documentation) can be seen here: Google Docs CMS.
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Many people tell me that their website costs more than it brings in. For many, this is just a fact of life and their site becomes a bill to pay like a cell phone. If your site is commercial in nature, however, this is no way to go about your technological life. I want to talk about how to fundamentally change how your business works and how the website assists that.
Your website should be doing two very important things:
- Provide an easy way for people to find more information out about you. This supports email marketing, in person networking, and any kind of word of mouth that you provoke. At the very least, your website should do a great job at doing this. It should be easy to find the right information, the site should showcase your strengths, and there needs to be a path forward for people wanting to take action. Just getting this right is hard enough without help.
- The other thing a successful site should be doing is concentrating on the actions that bring in revenue. Helping people find out about what you have to offer is great and, at this point, basically due diligence for all businesses. Identifying what it is that you want to do and where your revenue needs to come from is a critical step to having a site that pays for itself and more.
OK, here’s the straight dope, ready? I think the fundamental issue with many, many websites out there is that few people have identified what activities contribute the most to their bottom line. Who buys what you have to sell? Who emails you about your product? Who perks up when you talk about what you do? Who do you really want to work with?
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I used to work for a big, huge wireless company. I was the nameless, faceless guy who received email requests all day and made minor change to wireless accounts. Each email was formatted exactly the same way and I used the same system for each change. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week I was a machine.
While I haven’t eliminated repetition from my professional life entirely, I’m aware of something very different at work. Creating websites from scratch can be tedious but it has taught me something critical about…
Iteration
This word has two pertinent dictionary.com definitions:
the act of repeating
Iteration can mean doing the same thing over and over again. When I use this word, however, I’m thinking more about the second definition:
a problem-solving or computational method in which a succession of approximations, each building on the one preceding, is used to achieve a desired degree of accuracy
In layman’s terms, when you iterate or use an iterative process, you’re doing the best you can with the information you have, checking how successful you were, and using that information to take another, more educated stab at it. Since I’m a self-taught designer and developer, iteration has been a critical part of my professional growth. I’ve developed a very iterative mindset.
An iterative mindset is based on three things: observation, analysis, and persistence. In other words, iteration comes more from desire and hard work than any kind of innate ability.
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