Digital Analytics

How to Import Cost Data

October 14, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

What Is Cost Data And How Can Importing Cost Data Help Your Business?

Importing cost data into Google Analytics means having efficient and accurate data which brings you up to speed with your costs and ad spend. Cost data is the data from different non-Google social media platforms that provides information on impressions, clicks, costs, keywords, ad group, campaign and much more. Importing cost data means saving your time and money. This is all important because it allows you to perform Return On Investment (ROI) analysis and compare campaign performance for all online advertising and marketing platforms in Google Analytics. There are also many other ways you can import cost data from multiple sources into Google Analytics. Manually importing the cost data into Google Analytics is a low-cost method with simple steps.

Google Analytics Data Set Setup

You first begin by going into Google Analytics and creating a data set type, name, and schema. The data set type is the type of data you want to import, in this case it will be cost data. The schema is the outline of the plan that joins the data you upload with the existing data. The schema helps translate the dimension and metric to something Google Analytics would be able to understand. In order to do this, you must have access to the account, property, and view (company name, division, and where you want your data to go) in Google Analytics. Once you have selected the account, property, and view (company name, division, and where you want your data to go) in which you wish to import your cost data to, then click on Admin. Once you click on Admin, under property, click on the label called Data Import. A new screen should pop up, allowing you to add a new data set.

There should be a red button that says “+New Data Set,” click on it. Below is an example of where you should start to set up the data set. Now you will have to fill out the data set type, name, and schema. Once again, the schema helps translate the dimension and metric to something Google Analytics would be able to understand. Starting with the data set type, choose the type of data you would like to import. In this case, you are importing cost data, so you would choose cost data under Summary Data Import. Next, is putting in the data set details such as the name and views you want the data to be seen in. The final step would be setting the data set schema. To do this choose the columns that you want to import data for, such as Click, Cost, Source, etc. Now that you setup the data set within Google Analytics, you can move on to getting your cost data.

Obtain Cost Data From Source

The second step is to get the cost data from the source (Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.). Keep in mind it should be a CSV file. You can do this by logging in to Bing Ads or another source. The CSV file will most likely have columns that need to be excluded, which will be described in the upcoming steps. Now that you have the cost data from the source, you need to fix the format of the CSV file.

Match CSV file with data set schema

The third step is setting up the CSV file to match the data set schema you created in Google Analytics. A schema is the structure of the plan that joins the data you upload with the existing data. Impressions, Medium, Source, Clicks, and Cost are some example of what a schema consists of. However, if one was to simply import these figures into Google Analytics there would be an error. In order to make the schema match, you must translate it.Google Analytics needs to understand what metrics are included in your data, so in order to do this we need to translate the metrics. Below is an example of a correctly formatted header, it is an example of a schema. Anything extra added from this schema won’t work. To import data, Google Analytics looks for a match with the file you are importing. When a match is found, the dimension and metric values associated with that data set are added to the existing data. Then, the data is available to be seen and analyzed within Google Analytics. While formatting the CSV file, there are two important factors to remember. The first factor is: don’t forget to include the date of the cost data, it would be translated to “ga:date.” The date needs to be formatted so it is YYYYMMDD. Any other format of the date will cause an error. The second factor is: make sure that each column that is labeled is filled, there should be no empty rows and columns. Now that you have matched or translated the schema over to the CSV file, you can upload it to Google Analytics.

Upload file into Google Analytics

The fourth step is to upload the cost data (CSV file) into Google Analytics. In order to do this, go to Google Analytics and choose the account, property, and view you want to import the cost data into. Then under admin, click data import, click manage uploads on the data set you created to upload the cost data. Next, click upload file and then choose the file you wish to be uploaded into Google Analytics.

Status of Cost Data file

The fifth step is to check the status of the cost data. It will take about thirty seconds for the file to upload. It will first say pending. If it has successfully uploaded you should be able to see the completed status under the data set you have created. If there is a failed status, you should be able to see the errors you made. You can fix them in the CSV file and upload the cost data once again.

How to view imported Cost Data into Google Analytics

The sixth step is if and only when you have successfully uploaded the cost data into Google Analytics, and can now view it. In order to view it, in Google Analytics pick the account/property/view in which you uploaded the cost data and then go to reporting. To see the cost data in Google Analytics, on the left side of the screen there should be a sidebar with many options. Click on acquisition and then campaigns, and then finally cost analysis. Cost analysis should appear and hopefully you should be able to see the upload cost data under the source/medium you imported. If you don’t see your cost data listed, I would recommend setting the date in Google Analytics to the date that your cost data has been uploaded to. Otherwise, after the CSV file is uploaded you should be able to see the accurate cost data.

Conclusion

Importing cost data helps business professionals save time and efficiently analyze the data. Importing cost data can change the whole prospect of a business’s ROI and campaign performance while comparing it to other advertising and marketing platforms.

Start importing your cost data, save your time and money. Contact us today or leave us a comment below for more advice or information!

Data Import Tools Review

September 9, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

What is Data Importing?

Data Importing is a process that is extremely beneficial for your business. In this case, data importing is based on the concept of getting cost data from social media websites such as Twitter and/or Facebook into Google Analytics. These data import tools provide you an easier way to import your cost data. These tools can save you time and help your business grow!

How will these tools impact your business?

Do you know where your advertising spend is going? You should know the tools you can use to import data into Google Analytics, so you know where your advertising spend is going and know what ads and campaigns have positive returns. This will help you make quick and efficient decisions. Knowing what your options are, can help you decide what you need and what is important or best for your business. Although you can manually import data, there are other ways that can be less time-consuming, but costly. Each of these platforms are different and have special features, but which tool is right for your business?

Supermetrics

Supermetric is a tool that lets you import advertising cost data from any external advertising sources into Google Analytics. You can schedule automatic daily uploads from Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, Twitter Ads, and Linkedin Ads or upload CSV files from any data source. You can also connect Supermetrics to Bing Ads or Facebook Ads and set an outgoing daily upload.This way the information from Bing Ads and Facebook Ads will automatically connect to Google Analytics through Supermetrics.

This means less work is required and no formatting needs to be done, which saves time. The benefits of this tool include importing your cost data, seeing your advertising cost, and measuring advertising Return On Investment (ROI) in Google Analytics. Supermetrics combines your advertising cost data with Google Analytics ecommerce and goal conversion metrics to see if your campaigns are paying off. The only con for this tool would be the cost associated to purchase it. To schedule automatic uploads for each social media platform, the cost is separate, so the cost for Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, and file uploads are all different. Supermetrics has many things to offer, but is it the right fit for your businesses needs?

NEXT Analytics

NEXT Analytics is a tool that imports advertising cost data from external advertising sources such as Bing Ads and Facebook Ads into Google Analytics. This allows you access to the reports of all your advertising costs and their effectiveness. NEXT Analytics processes or formats the CSV file of the cost data for you, but it doesn’t do it for you completely. In order to format the data completely, you would need to filter or fix the data yourself. The good news is that you would only have to do this once because all of your actions are recorded, which can then be automatically reinforced each time you want to import cost data into Google Analytics.

With this tool, you can upload any number of accounts to a single license. In this case, a single license would mean that NEXT Analytics would be entitled to that one computer, but if needed you can always transfer the license to another computer. The one factor that needs to be considered is that there is a limited number of times you can transfer the license. One opposing factor would be that you can only upload seven dimensions and ten metrics, and another is the cost associated to purchase it. The cost depends on how much data you import. This can be purchased monthly or annually. The good news is that with NEXT Analytics, you can replace previous uploads. This allows us to add up to 19 more uploads to the original data set, this is useful if you have a lot of data to upload. NEXT Analytics is one tool out of many to import your data into Google Analytics.

Analysis Engine

Analysis Engine is a tool that helps you to import advertising cost data from external advertising sources such as Bing Ads and Facebook Ads into Google Analytics. It automatically syncs Bing Ads cost data into Google Analytics, and then automatically imports the cost data. In order to automatically import the cost data into Google Analytics, you have to connect Bing Ads to Analysis Engine and then connect Google Analytics to Analysis Engine. This tool can help you determine your ROI and Return on Assets (ROA), provide reporting on your cost benefit marketing efforts, and much more. The cost of the tool isn’t provided right away, but you can request a demo for more information. Analysis Engine has many features for you to use, could this be the tool you are looking for?

Analytics Canvas

Analytics Canvas is a tool that imports cost data from external advertising sources such as Bing Ads into Google Analytics. It allows you to check your marketing spend across multiple sources and campaigns. It can automatically link and import your cost data to Google Analytics if you have connected it to Bing Ads or another source. Analytics Canvas lets reports be automated, so it can be refreshed every day. This provides you with the information you will need, and it is easily accessible. One con of this platform or tool may be the cost. Depending on what features you may need, the cost will vary. Analysis Canvas has additional features that may interest you, but may hinder you because they are not needed or necessary for your business.

Analytics-Toolkit

Analytics-Toolkit is a platform that lets you import cost data from external advertising sources into Google Analytics. However, Analytics-Toolkit may limit your prospects. You have to manually get the cost data (CSV file) from the source (Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.) and then use Analytics-Toolkit to upload and format the data. One issue that can come up is that the data is limited to a 90-day time period. Additionally, the cost can vary, but is relatively lower than most tools that help assist with importing cost data. Analytics-Toolkit is one of many options to choose from, but is it your cup of tea?

The great benefit of having a tool to import your cost data is that it allows you to adjust where your spend is going. Knowing what tools you can use to import data into Google Analytics can help you decide what fits your business best needs and how it will help your business grow, gain sales, and customers.

Start using these tools to import your data, check and see which tools best fits your needs. Contact us today or leave us a comment below for more advice or information!

Leveraging Attribution Modeling to Measure ROI & ROAS

August 11, 2015 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

According to 2015 CMO.com Stats about Marketing ROI, 93% of CMOs say that they are under more pressure to deliver measurable return-on-investment (ROI). Google Analytic defines “attribution modeling” as “the rule or set of rules that determines how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to touch-points or any point of contact between a buyer and a seller in conversion paths” (i.e. lead generation or sales process). Are you using attribution modeling to measure ROI or return on advertising spend (ROAS)?

Measure Marketing ROI and ROAS with Attribution Modeling

In general, most web analytics tools (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, comScore, WebTrends, etc.) associate the last point of contact, whether it be search, email marketing, social media, or ad that referred the customer with all the credit for the lead or sale. If paid advertising was the initial marketing channel in the lead generation process, but the potential customer didn’t fill out the online form until later via non-paid search (SEO), shouldn’t this count for something?

Understand Metrics, Act on Insights and Make Recommendations with Attribution

Can marketing executives really make better decisions without understanding the metrics that are associated with reporting? Attribution modeling provides marketing executives with a tool to compare different attribution models, understand their impact on lead/sales and the cost per lead/sale, and identify marketing channels that lead to higher ROI/ROAS. For example, take a look at the ROAS for last interaction vs. position based attribution modeling with Google Analytics:

Why Should Marketing Executives care about Attribution Modeling?

As marketers, we know that a lead or sale is based upon multiple points of contact with a brand. So, why should we continue to only allocate credit to the last interaction? Let’s take the Google Analytics scenario above for example. Take a look at the image above, the ROAS for paid search was 232% for the last point of contact (last interaction). If you use the position based model, this would have been an ROAS of 314.77% which is 82.47% than the last point of contact. This could be the difference between continuously running paid search and reallocating your budget elsewhere. By doing this more than once, it can create the perception of paid search marketing as an expense versus revenue generator.

Take Action with Multi-channel Attribution Modeling

The pressure is on marketers to measure ROI and to tell the story through data so here are our recommendations to get you started. First, identify the value of a lead or a sale and get confirmation from the executive team. Without a value, it’s going to be impossible to calculate ROI or ROAS. Then, identify an attribution model that best fits your business, test it and compare the metrics to put it into context. Finally, align your chosen attribution modeling with your insights, recommendations, and actions. Remember, attribution model isn’t perfect and technology continues to evolve, so continuously evaluate your chosen attribution model with the actual leads and sales your business is getting.

Leave us a comment below to share your thoughts or your experience with attribution modeling.

SEO: Looking Beyond the Rankings

July 1, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

With several algorithm changes in the past years, the definition and primary focus of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has changed immensely. These changes have caused confusion amongst many business owners. Although many businesses understand the importance of SEO and have benefited from it, few are aware of the process that goes into it. Most believe that SEO is all about rankings. Yes, SEO will increase your rankings in the search engines, but that’s a byproduct of the process, not the end goal.

What is SEO?

Wikipedia defines SEO as, “the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page.” While this is true, it is far less descriptive than it should be. SEO refers to the consistent development of a business’s online presence to increase reach and visibility to a target audience. The development process is based on search engine algorithms that are regularly updated and modified. That being said, there has always been one factor in these algorithms that has stayed true and consistent: Good content. The algorithm updates ultimately work towards determining how well a site meets the needs of the user. With fresh industry related content, users will likely visit more pages, stay on your site longer, interact (comment, like, download, etc), and convert on sales. All of these metrics are reflected positively by search engines and are reflected in the rankings.

Several business owners tend to get tied up in the thought of keywords and rankings. While keywords are important, they don’t mean anything without the right content containing those keywords. Sure, you could rank well for certain areas of interest, but if your web page does not follow SEO best practices and does not have updated relevant content, it will actually have a negative impact on your online presence. Websites with poor or no SEO will have a high bounce rate, when visitors leave after viewing only one page, which will drastically decrease a Business’s positioning in search engines. More importantly, that means a loss of visitors and sales. This means businesses should put less focus in stuffing your website full of keywords and more focus on maximizing the user experience.

The purpose of SEO is to increase visitors to your site and their retention level, increase brand awareness, and most of all increase sales and leads. With effective SEO, all of these will be accomplished which in turn will lead to an increase in rankings.

What can SEO do for my Business?

It’s 2015, business is no longer just walk-in sales. Businesses are seeing a huge percentage if not their majority of visitors and sales via online. Evermerchant reports that e-commerce sales generate more than $1.2 Million every 30 seconds! Without an effective SEO campaign, your business will miss out on a great financial opportunity.

With that being said, more visitors to your site does not directly correlate to an increase in sales or leads. An effective SEO campaign enables your business to target relevant consumers with relevant content or products/services. Good SEO speeds up the process of generating traffic to your webpage and makes it much easier for consumers to find just what they are looking for. Search engines distinguish the most relevant content to match a user’s search query, so the way you create, maintain, and position your website’s content is vital to your business’s success.

A properly optimized site should answer 9/10 questions a visitor has regarding the topic they searched for. This means that the page they land on should have up to date useful content as well as easy to follow navigation that points visitors in the right direction. Let’s say for example you’re searching for a new cell phone. After adding your specifications to your search, you click on a cellphone distributor. If this site has been modified effectively, you would hope to see a list of relative cell phones, content about them, and even comparisons amongst them. The page should also have links to other internal or external pages that provide more information. That is what a site with good SEO looks like. The goal is to help the customer as much as possible and provide them with enough information so they are comfortable enough make a purchase or to interest them enough to generate a lead.

Rankings aren't Everything

“If you ain’t first, you’re last” is the common misconception regarding SEO and search engine rankings. While it is true that ranking higher in search engines leads to more visitors, it does not mean these visitors are the ones you’re targeting. Having an effective SEO campaign is all about quality over quantity.

Years ago the rankings within search engines were a decent method of evaluating a sites performance and relevancy but those days are no more due to several algorithm changes. Now search results are much more personalized with the user’s experience as the top priority. Google, for instance, takes search history, geographic location, social media, as well as the device being used to search all into consideration when a search is conducted. All of these factors take less control out of the website owner’s hands with regards to rankings.

Let’s say for example you own a small plumbing company and you are interested in improving your business’s SEO. You, as many businesses owners do, search Google for “plumbing” or “plumbing services” to evaluate your site’s performance. The problem with this method is that what you see is not what everyone else sees. Google’s search results will adjust its ranking order based upon what sites you have visited already with regards to plumbing. This will more than likely boost your site assuming that you visit it more than other sites. It will also show you local listings of plumbing companies in your area near the top of your results. These local listings are not only tied to your business’ website but also to your business’ profile on Google My Business and other local directories, which do indeed increase relative traffic. Google will also include sites that your Google+ friends or associates have either followed or interacted with.

Google and other search engines are businesses and search results are their product. They want their product to be of the highest quality it can possibly be, so search engines have shifted the focus towards improving the user experience. So what does that mean for your business? It means to worry less about rankings, and more about developing and updating all platforms in use, as well as evaluating your current data to identify your strengths and weaknesses. If your website is seeing an increase in activity but is not necessarily ranking high, do not sound the alarms. You can’t always control your ranking, but you are in control of improving your visitor’s experience. Put your efforts towards providing up to date industry related content and watch the numbers speak for themselves.

Conclusion:

As a business owner, understanding and utilizing SEO is vital for both financial growth and brand awareness. Years ago, evaluating rankings were a clear depiction of how well your SEO campaign has been but not any longer. Now business owners should look past the misleading rankings and focus more of their attention on the analytics. The process of SEO is not a sprint, it’s an ongoing marathon. If you’re seeing a steady increase in traffic, mentions, leads and sales, keep doing what you’re doing and let the rankings take care of themselves.

By: David McDowell

5 Step Google Analytics Audit

March 4, 2015 by Daniel Laws 1 Comment

Okay, so you’ve had Google Analytics for years and you’re collecting data – but when was the last time that you performed a Google Analytics Audit for your website? Actually updated your Google Analytics account to streamline data collection, align to your current (and possibly future) goals/objectives, and verified that only approve employees have access to your data. If you haven’t updated anything within the last 6 months, then chances are that you’re missing out on opportunities to evaluate your marketing performance, improve data collection, obtain insights, or allocate your marketing budget towards the meaningful drivers of success for your website.

Have no fear – I’ve got you covered: here’s a 5 step Google Analytics Audit to get you started…

1. Prioritize Your Google Analytics Audit

So the first question you should be asking yourself is: “what are you examining your Google Analytics account against?” Any actionable audit starts with a measurement plan, and your Google Analytics Audit is no exception. The goal of the measurement plan is to provide a framework to track online performance, and define your goals, objectives, targets, and segments. Without the measurement plan, it will be a challenge to put your audit into perspective or to prioritize your next steps.

2. Get Your Google Analytics Code on All Pages

If you have a Content Management System (CMS), tagging all of your pages with Google Analytics code shouldn’t be too time consuming. Most CMS platforms have an area specifically for the Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager tracking code – but you can validate the implementation with Tag Assistant, ScreamingFrog, or WASP. If you’re not using a CMS, I would recommend using ScreamingFrog. Make sure that the code is only listed 1 time on each page, and don’t forget your ecommerce platforms or application process!

3. Protect Your Google Analytics Data and Ensure Accurate Data Collection

You may have granted Google Analytics access to your advertising agency, employees, partners, or vendors – but when was the last time that you updated your User Management settings? Are you collecting data based on the updated tracking code and information within the Google Analytics administration? I would recommend that you review both your Property and View settings to ensure that your data collection aligns with your measurement plan. This should include:

Goals
Content Groupings
Filters
Channel Settings
Ecommerce Settings

4. Link Your Google Analytics with other Products & Social Media

You can streamline the data collection across Google products, social media accounts, remarketing and data imports from third parties such as Bing Ads. By doing this, you will gain an idea of the ROI your marketing tactics are providing, and guide you to making adjustments to your approach.

5. Create Efficiencies with Segments, Modeling, and Alerts

Take the time to revisit your segments, alerts, and attribution modeling to ensure that they align with your measurement plan. You might find that these items could be updated based on your previous online performance, new insights or more enhancements that could have been available because of Google Analytics upgrades. An example was the 2014 update to segmentation.

Why audit Your Google Analytics Account?

Google Analytics will continue to roll-out enhancements. In general, the goal is usually to save practitioners time and to improve analysis efficiencies. This should have an effect on your ability to better assess your online performance and obtain insights. For example, Google Analytics has roll-out Cohort Analysis (beta) to better measure performance over time and simplify their data sharing settings.

Recommendations for a Google Analytics Audit

Perform your Google Analytics Audit quarterly to align with your measurement plan
After the audit, prioritize your tasks based on your ability to obtain insights or provide recommendations to achieve your goals and objectives
Automate or standardize segments, modeling, and alerts to simplify the audit and to implement future product enhancement quickly.
Subscribe to the Analytics Newsletters or Google Analytics RSS to stay up-to-date on product changes
Leverage auditing tools (ie: WASP, Tag Assistant, etc.), applications, and Google Analytics Solutions galleries to streamline segmentations and customizations.

Thinking of giving your own Google Analytics audit a try? Let us know in the comments below.

DMG Guest Blog Featured By Web Analytics World

February 4, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

This week, DMG’s Principal Owner Daniel Laws was featured as a Web Analytics World guest contributor with his “Mobile Analytics Guide for Mobile Websites.”

Daniel walks you through the necessary steps to capturing the meaningful data you need to

make informed decisions surrounding your mobile website. Check out the featured blog in full at:

http://www.webanalyticsworld.net/2015/02/mobile-analytics-guide-for-mobile-websites.html

This is Daniel’s second featured blog for Web Analytics World. We’d love to hear your feedback, so connect with us (or Daniel) on Twitter!