Tools to Measure Performance

Now that I have an Adwords campaign set up, the next step is to measure its performance. Measuring performance is vital. Through improving the ad and website, one can optimize the ROI or return investment (or the effectiveness of the campaign). Here are two tools that make performance measuring a whole lot easier:

Conversion Tracking: This is a free tracking tool from AdWords. Conversions are basically actions (goals) that occur once the ad is clicked. For example, a conversion for a website promoting an app would be the amount of app downloads that occur. So, instead of simply counting how many clicks the ad brought, conversion tracking counts how beneficial the ad was (in meeting goals). AdWords starts conversion tracking after a bit of java code is pasted on the page that displays once a conversion or goal is complete. Conversion tracking is a meaningful way to decipher how effective ads are. It also allows one to put more money into ads that are effective.

Google Analytics: Google analytics is a widely used website traffic and activity tracking tool. It is possible to link Adwords and Google Analytics together thoroughly understand customer behavior. Here are the benefits according to the AdWords Fundamentals Module 3.2:

Targeting Your Audience

This week I will be discussing information from Module 2 of AdWords Fundamentals Study Guide entitled: Setting up an AdWords Campaign.

A first step to a successful campaign is ensuring your ads are being viewed by the correct audience. It is extremely important to know who your audience is and what their behaviors and tendencies are in order to create effective ads. By uing different functions within AdWords you can easily reach out to your target market!

Location and language targeting is a helpful option that allows you to choose specific geographic areas to display your ad, for instance in America and English only. In addition, device targeting allows you to choose if people may see your ads of devices or only desktops (time of day or device type). This may be helpful if reaching out to a specific audience such as the elderly that are more comfortable searching the web using a desktop than a phone. 

One type of targeting that we are all very familiar with is managed placement targeting. This allows you to choose where your ads will appear on websites your audience is accustomed to visiting. For example, if you have a natural makeup line and you notice your audience often visits a vegan recipes website, you may want your ad to appear on that site. 

Keyword Targeting is using different match types to trigger your ad for different phrases your audience may search. Exact match, for instance, will narrow the possibility of the ad appearing, appearing only to a specific target audience. There are also negative keywords that can be added. Negative matches will exclude your ad from appearing when certain keywords are used in a search. Below is a helpful chart from this Adwords support page:

Match type	Special symbol	Example keyword	Ads may show on searches that:	Example searches
Broad match	none	women's hats	include misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations	buy ladies hats
Broad match modifier	+keyword	+women's +hats	contain the modified term (or close variation, but not synonyms), in any order	hats for women
Phrase match	"keyword"	"women's hats"	are a phrase (or close variation)	buy women's hats
Exact match	[keyword]	[women's hats]	are an exact term (or close variation)	women's hats
Negative match	-keyword	-women	are searches without the term	baseball hats

Introduction to Adwords: Effective Keywords

Hello everyone! This week I will be introducing Adwords and providing some tips to building effective keywords. To begin, Adwords is the tool Google uses to monetize its search engine capabilities. It essentially allows its search result pages to host paid ads. Through Adwords, companies can create custom ads that appear by specific search inputs. The ad's cost is dependent on how many people click on it; this is called CPC or Cost Per Click.

Keywords, according to chapter one of Introduction to Social Media Marketing and Adwords, are "guesses of what people might search for when they are looking for information on Google". Keywords are simply words or phrases. Companies can write a list of potential search inputs or keywords people may make. For example, a local French Bakery may choose keywords like "Bakery in Naperville" or "Macaroons near Lisle". Previously, all keywords had fixed prices but now bidding can take place. Competitors may often vie for the same keywords,  Dollar Tree and Dollar General may both vie for the "Dollar Store" keyword, for instance. However, only the highest bidding company can claim the keyword. It is also very important to carefully choose keywords. This will allow for higher quality keyword scores. A high score means that the content on the web page matches the keyword given. It is also important to have good keywords with these high scores so that the ad can appear higher and closer to the first page of search results. Naturally, this will lead to more clicks and thus more site traffic. This process is apart of Search Engine Optimization or SEO.

Some Tips for an Effective Keywords List:

According to this Adwords Help article, it is very important to approach this task through the lens of the customer. What would your typical customer search for? Using what terms?

• Break down the company into different aspects and start building from there. Creating ad groups that are based on products or services allows customers to see different ads based on their specific searches.
• Use natural language instead of word bites. i.e "custom made cakes" instead of "fresh butter cream fondant cake"
• General keywords: In order to reach as many people as possible choose broader words. This requires alot of testing because general terms are more competitive and often require higher bids.
• Use word clusters: These are sites that review an article and find reoccurring words (ie Wordle or Tag Crowd). Using these reoccurring words is a good start to finding high scoring keywords.
• Look at competitor keywords by viewing their source code and searching "keywords". This will allow you to get effective keyword ideas.

Sources: 

-Introduction to Search Engine Marketing and AdWords: A Guide for Absolute Beginners 1st ed. Edition by Todd Kelsey

-https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453981?hl=en

-https://hub.wiley.com/community/exchanges/discover/blog/2017/06/07/how-to-choose-effective-keywords-for-your-article

-https://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_marketing_blog/bid/112478/seo-5-simple-steps-for-choosing-effective-keywords

Final Project and Spacing

Today, I wanted to share my final infographic project. This infographic is one I really enjoyed making. Using Piktochart, I was able to effectively customize and create an infographic I am proud of. However, I definitely still do believe there is room for improvement. I did encounter several problems through out the process. One problem I encountered was finding a balance between images and information. I think I walked a fine line. I do hope that I was able to make sure that neither aspect overpowers the other. Also, it was difficult to find colors that complemented each other, were appealing, yet not overwhelming. I played with the opacity tool quite a bit, in order to make some aspects more visible the the others.

Spacing was difficult for me because I am very weary of overcrowding. I tried to limit wordiness as much as I could. I replaced words with images that translated the same content. However, I may have played into an overwhelming feeling with the various aspects to look at in the infographic. This was a challenge, because in order to transmit a certain level of information you are forced to think differently, limiting words, images, and even information. Unlike Vengage, Piktochart does not have rulers to help align images and text boxes. It was not easy having to constantly eyeball alignment. Rethinking spacing this week, if I were to submit this project again, I would allow a few centimeters space for the "How We Give" pink section. I think this should help space the infographic adequately. 

Boosting Linkedin

Hello Everyone!  I was first required to create a LinkedIn account for a Marketing class I took last semester. My account was made with little to no information. However, this week I focused on updating my LinkedIn profile. While exploring the site, I discovered the variety of information LinkedIn allows you to project to viewers. It really allows you to create an interactive, professional profile that physical resumes cannot provide. After the experience, I realized just how vital a platform LinkedIn is to both employers and candidates. Through this, I went from a beginner profile to advanced!

I began the update by adding in the school I attend and the degree I am en route towards. After, I inserted skills that I possessed, including the skills I attained from this Infographics class such as Canva and Piktochart. I continued to add the Nonprofit Organizations I currently volunteer with in addition to relevant courses I have taken. Adding a project file was very interesting because it is a great showcase of skills. It is one thing to claim you have a certain skill and to actually have it. This feature is an outlet that allows you to prove the claim as well. The project I added was a compilation of the infographics I have created recently. I wanted to add a picture but I do not have a professional picture yet. Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to take one soon! I am excited to add a picture because with it I will be able to attain the All Star status. 

Artificial Intelligence

The article "Don't Delay, No one Can Say" really opened up my eyes to reality. I have always said that automated jobs were in our near future, but I did not realize how near they really were. There is no use in ignoring artificial intelligence, because it is the future whether or not I am ready for it. Personally, I find it incredibly uncomfortable knowing that robots will take on anywhere from manufacturer to manager to surgeon roles. It is also scary to think, that it is beyond my control, and that I have no choice but to become highly skilled or artificial intelligence will replace me. It is frightening to consider how fast and how drastically the job market and economy will shift. Globalization has already made individual economies complex. The more the world globalizes and the more advanced AI becomes, the changes will be immense. And I wholly agree, that the only way to deal with it is to prepare. We must become open to the change, accept it, and exploit it.

I took a Python class in high school for a semester and found it difficult, not to mention very boring. After it, I hoped that I would not have to delve in the language of computers anymore. However, after reading the article, I am motivated to give it another go. No doubt because I do, now, believe that I will end up learning it at some point in my life. So, I might as well learn programming skills now, knowing it will aid me in the long-run, and hopefully it will help me get a job now.

I have heard that the future will be less about majoring in a single field and more about earning certifications entailing current sought after skills. Then, as skills become obsolete new certifications will have to be met. In this, the job market will force people to continuously learn in order to be both relevant and in demand.  I guess its just another reality to get used to. Overall, this article and the subsequent articles referenced were enlightening. It is a future of uncertainty, but I believe it will be okay if we have the tools to navigate it. 

Tableau Public

This week, I worked with Tableau Public. The program is very different from the tools we have used thus far. Not only was it a completely new interface, but it also the most advanced. It took me a while to navigate the program. Tableau uses data to create visual graphs almost like Excel does. However, it is so much simpler and considerably faster. Tableau Public lacks the in-depth customization levels that Excel provides but it makes it up through the straightforward setup. In addition, it can draw data from various datasheets like Access, Excel, and GoogleSheets. Tableau is a data heavy program that is used primarily for dashboards as well as inforgraphics. It has a variety of cool graphs to choose from like bullet graphs, packed bubbles, and tree maps. It is definitely a program I want to become skilled in, so making visualizations can become effortless.


In order to make my infographic, I recycled an excel sheet I used in a previous dashboarding project. It contained the amount of CO2 gas emissions the top ten emitters produced in 2014. I used the same data to create two charts, a map and bar chart. The two charts are both interactive and connected. For instance, if you click Brazil on the world map, the bar chart will highlight Brazil and vice versa. This is pretty amazing, considering making the visual interactive requires no additional effort or programming or intermediate Excel skills. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and am excited to keep exploring Tableau. The dashboard I made is uploaded on Tableau Public so I provided a link below. I also snipped it into a png so I could quickly display it here:
https://public.tableau.com/profile/atiya#!/vizhome/Book1_19334/TopTenCO2Emitters