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How To Find The Best Long Island Title Search Company

When I started my search for a long island title search company, the first place I contacted was MacGregor Abstract a leading title company, which has everything to do with property titles. It’s one of the few companies that have an experienced team that have worked in the industry for many years.

A title search company can help you find out if a property is encumbered by a mortgage or other security interest. A title search also examines any restrictions on the use of the property, such as zoning laws, covenants and easements. In this way, a title search company ensures that you have a clear title to the property you buy.

There are many title search companies in the world nowadays. Some of them are not really what they seem like they are. They promise to do good work for you only to end up disappointing you in the end. Below are some tips that can help you find a title search company that is reliable and trustworthy:

Tips to Consider

1. How long has the title search company been in operation? The longer a title search company has been in operation, the more credible they are. This is because most firms will go bankrupt within a few years if they cannot perform what they promise to their customers. A title search company that has been in operation for more than 15 years is considered as a good company.

2. What is the experience of the title search company? If you want to hire a reputable and experienced company, then look at its website and see what information they have provided regarding their services and staffs. A website can tell so much about a business and it helps you know whether or not the company is worth your money and time. An established business will be proud of its achievements and will include them in their website or other marketing materials.

3. Does the title search company provide references? Before hiring any title search company, ask them if they can provide you with

If you’re in the market for a new home, you may be interested in what’s called a title search. This is an examination of the records for the property that reveals any liens or other encumbrances that exist on the property. There are many reasons why it’s important to do this before purchasing a home.

How It Works

The title search is done by either a lawyer who specializes in real estate matters or by a title company. The search will reveal any liens or judgments on the property, as well as whether there are any prior mortgages or easements on the property. If there are, this search will tell you who they’re held by and how much is owed.

The results of this search are then recorded at the office of the county clerk in the county where the property is located. This allows anyone checking the records to see that your lender has properly released its lien prior to your purchase of the property.

Costs and Timing

A home title insurance policy protects you against ownership claims from third parties who weren’t properly notified of your purchase. Even if this doesn’t happen, a lender generally won’t give you a loan for a purchased home without a title search showing no encumbrances. In some cases, lenders.

The title search process is typically started when a company is applying for a loan to purchase the property. A search will be conducted which will uncover any liens that are currently on the property. These liens could include unpaid taxes, water bill, homeowner association dues, child support, etc. The title search can also uncover any deeds which are in the name of the seller. When there are two parties in a transaction, each party has an interest in the property. For instance, if you are buying a house from your brother, he will still have an interest in the property even though he no longer owns it. One way to think about this is through equitable distribution and marital dissolutions and divorces. When separation and divorce occur between marital parties, each spouse retains an interest or equitable distribution in real property even if they no longer own the property. If you need help 

Timeshare Foreclosure in Florida and How to Get a Refund

Timeshare foreclosure is a fairly new industry in Florida. Timeshare foreclosures are typically handled by specialists like The Peoples Advocate, which means that they are not the same people who handle your home mortgage. The foreclosure specialists usually work for companies like Sands Capital or Financial Freedom (previously known as Foreclosure-U).

Timeshare foreclosure is typically done when the timeshare owner can no longer afford to pay his monthly maintenance fees. The timeshare owner will then turn to the timeshare company for help with financial issues, but gets turned away. The timeshare company will then work with the timeshare foreclosure specialist to get the deed back on the property. Timeshare foreclosure is not an option for everyone, however. If you own a timeshare and are having problems paying your maintenance fees, you should try to work things out with your developer before you consider getting in contact with a timeshare foreclosure service. However, if you still cannot afford to keep up with your payments, it may be time to consider using a timeshare foreclosure service.

How to Get a Refund?

Timeshare refunds can be tricky to get and we will try and help. TimeshareRefunds.co has helped thousands of timeshare owners get their full refund — or at least a substantial portion of their money back. timeshare rescission is different from other consumer litigation.

How to Start a Business Blog?

Over 51% of B2B buyers get influenced by content for their buying decisions. And approximately 47% of buyers view 3-4 pieces of content before inquiring over a product, says the Content Preferences Report 2016 by Demand Generation.

Of all content marketing strategies, modern day businesses mainly rely on social media activities which are relatively interactive and swift but used more in terms of direct promotions, product launches and sales.

On the other side, Blogging is a long terms means to generate traffic and in turn, sales and revenues. Though it takes a little more time but steadily builds up your B2B portfolio.

If your business caters to end users too, then they too can take a leaf, especially taking a look at your client list.

Blogging not just diversifies your business but has the capacity to attract visitors who may not be your customers in the first place but fans of your blog.

They still act as prospects, offering you a chance of cross-selling. Besides, they can always refer your product if they are truly inspired by your blog.

With platforms like WordPress today, blogging has become easier than it ever was in the past. Starting a blog requires little technical expertise and time.

Let’s take a look at this beautiful infographic below (download), to understand step by step process to blog creation.

how-to-start-a-business-blog How to Start a Business Blog?

Five Tools to Help Your Web Sales

Using a booming upsurge in the number of eCommerce sites there is certainly fierce opposition to attract more customers. It has made the customers more empowered and it has increased their anticipation. It is becoming more challenging to please a customer as a smallest mistake can prove to be lethal. As per the study it was discovered that, 70% of the buying activities are based on how the clients feel these are being treated. Hence, it is very important to give a good user experience to the clients.

However, to supply good customer support, it is very important to remain updated with the technology and possess all the fundamental tools. The various tools can be used to attract more customers through various ways and enhance the user experience. The article describes 5 tools that are must for the eCommerce site to increase the customer base:
just one. Customer Support

To be able to attract more customers, it is becoming required for provide a good customer experience. Live chat software plays an important role in resolving the customer queries and increasing customer engagement. Since per the survey it was found that over 60% millennials use live chat to solve the query, which makes it essential for the eCommerce website.

Tagove: It really is an essential tool that offers multiple features like live video chat, voice talk and text speak to features like co-browsing and screen sharing which aids in providing good customer support.

Key features:

The particular two-way co-browsing feature allows the agents to provide real time resolution to the customers.
In addition, it allows sharing the files with customers and other brokers via the chat window.
The statistics and analytics play an important role to improve the customer service.

2. To advertise loyalty programs

Loyalty programs have started to gain popularity and have become an important part of the internet commerce stores. They not only help attract more customers but also play an essential role in keeping the customers. As per the survey done by Ernst & Young it was found that 25% of shoppers consider brand loyalty as important factor to impact the buying behavior. Within order to get the competitive advantage, it is becoming imperative for the eCommerce store to follow the loyalty program that suits well with the needs of the targeted audience.

Sweet tooth: Fairly sweet tooth can be an important tool that can be used to develop basic as well as custom-made devotion programs for the clients.

Key features:

It designs the programs that goal at targeting the sales by increasing the customer spending through loyalty factors.
It helps to acquire more customers as it rewards points to customers who refer the merchandise or services.

Example: Muscle & Strength is the organization of USA that is definitely the rewards catalog program by Sweet tooth. They allow shoppers to earn much more points for birthdays, purchases and referrals. It has proved to be extremely effective tool and has helped to improve the customer base.
3. Hook up to social media

No business can support without its existence on various social media systems and eCommerce stores are no longer an exception. As per the study it was found that 58% of the marketers have suggested that their social media efforts have helped to improve the range of leads. Therefore, it is just about the necessity for the eCommerce stores to connect to audience by making use of social media.

Hootsuite: Hootsuite helps to manage multiple interpersonal media accounts from the only platform looked after monitors the conversations pertaining to the business.

Key features:

It provides ideas for individualized content and allows scheduling multiple aimed messages.
It can also auto schedule the messages to be posted at the optimum time of your day which really helps to attract more customers.
In addition, it generates reports giving a fair understanding about the impact of the campaigns on the interpersonal media.

4. Shopping cart recovery

It has been found that majority of the customers will not complete the sales through the first visit which results in e-commerce software abandonment. As for each the survey done by Baymard it was found that the common shopping trolley abandonment rate is 68. 07%. Hence, it is very crucial to have a tool to deal with the shopping cart recovery.

Abondon aid: Abandon aid is a superb tool that allows sending the notice to the consumer reminding those to complete the order. This can be an automated process and will not require any human intervention.

Key features:

It allows mailing customized emails to the possible customers compelling these to complete the purchase.
It also shares the recovery statistics to analyze the performance and the results.
It helps to save time and money and also increases customer wedding.

5. Analytics

In order to improve the performance of the eCommerce website it’s important to comprehend the analytics of the web site and monitor their behavior. By using analytics companies can make informed choices to attract more customers.

Google analytics: It is one of the very most well-known tools adored by website owners across the world. It allows tracking, organizing and reporting the information in a fairly easy manner.

Key features:

It provides information about the visitors and allows monitoring their behavior.
It identifies the pages that are producing more as well as less traffic which creates the base for increasing the under-performing ones.
It helps to comprehend the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns and track the social media switches.

Summary:

You will find a rapid increase in the amount of eCommerce websites and hence it is vital to stay updated with the latest tools and technology. Companies that are not updated with the latest tools cannot sustain the competition and would slowly conclusion up losing the customers.

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Marketing Tips and Shortcuts for Startups

You can think of your brand as a business version of someone’s reputation or “good name.” It is a nutshell version of how people think of the business, how much they trust the company and the values that it stands. Here are a few core concepts for building your brand

Branding Marketing Tips and Shortcuts for Startups

Be Different

The famous designer and businesswoman Coco Chanel said, “In order to be irreplaceable, you must vary.” So, ask yourself, “What do we do differently from our competitors? Why is us stick out from the crowd?” Then ensure you communicate this to customers yet others. This is an essential part of your brand.

Build Great Relationships

A customer is someone familiar with getting the quality of service you deliver. Good branding is not a facade. It really is a summation of who you are. It is shorthand for all that the business enterprise does. Focus on building great relationships to your customer base and they’ll build your reputation for you. It doesn’t matter what industry your startup falls under-building relationships with fellow specialists and customers alike can do wonders for your brand perception. If you’re starting out in the catering industry, for instance, get a custom made apron displaying your logo to carefully turn your customer interactions into branding opportunities. Relationships and brand establishment go hand-in-hand, so be on the lookout for opportunities to both build bridges and promote your business.

Select a Good Name

Many small businesses think a good name is descriptive. This isn’t necessarily true. Instead, good names are typically pithy, easy to remember and easy to spell. Many industry giants are remembered by a single word, even if that is not really their full name, like Aflac. Aflac is really an acronym for “American Family Life Assurance Company.” It is type of like whenever we call a guy “Bill” rather than “William”. They wished to rebrand themselves without going right through the hassle of legally changing their name, so they went with the acronym. This helped them achieve high name recognition and be an industry giant.

Consistency Counts

You cannot be everything to all or any people. To be able to have a brand name, you need a reputation or image. You cannot achieve this if you put on a fresh face for different media or in different settings. Think about your brand as the face of the company. You need to paint the same portrait again and again in order to develop that image in the mind’s eye of the public. So, whether your message has been delivered via billboard, letterhead or tweet, make sure it gives people a constant impression.

Have a Stand
Be ethical, keep the promises and have a stand. What exactly are the values your enterprise espouses? Make a short list of core values, then stick to them in both word and deed. Remember: Your brand is not just a superficial impression. It really is a graphic that captures something real about the company. It really is a symbolic representation of a great many things, all rolled up neatly into a tiny package that individuals can certainly wrap their minds around.

In short, first know who you are. Your brand is merely the business’s public image or good name. If you really know what you are trying to accomplish and what value the business brings to the table, branding is merely trying to effectively communicate those core values, both in the facts of how you work and via promotional initiatives.

Top General Blogging Tips

Our-Top-General-Blogging-Tips-the-Most-Popular-ProBlogger-Posts-of-2015 Top General Blogging Tips

So far we’ve spilled the beans on everything concerning creating content, earning an income on your blog, and tips for a smashing social media strategy, and now it’s time to turn our attention to those random-but-general things that have helped thousands of you push your blogs forward this year.

Be sure to return tomorrow for a secret bonus round we’ll be sharing!

Our Top General Blogging Tips: The Most Popular ProBlogger Posts of 2015

Where to Find Free Images Online

It seems my bugbear was yours too, this year! There have been quite a few places to get quality, modern, free and no-attribution images online springing up since I wrote this post, but these are still my go-to sites. They never let me down.

A Powerful Exercise Inside Google Analytics to Set You Up for a Successful Year of Blogging

google-analytics-logo Top General Blogging Tips

The one where Darren takes us on a tutorial trip through Google Analytics to drill down into your audience, how they arrive at your blog, and what they do when they are there. He uses the data gleaned from this exercise at the end of every year to figure out what to re-share on social, what gets shared most, what headlines worked, what content fell flat, and what posts could be optimised or upgraded in the new year. It’s a long one – take a drink!

10 Simple Hacks that Will Increase Your Blog Traffic

10-Simple-Hacks-that-will-Increase-Your-Blog-Traffic-all-the-secrets-revealed-on-ProBlogger.net_ Top General Blogging Tips

We love simple, we love hacks, and we love traffic. No wonder this post resonated with many of you in 2015!

How to Write Brilliant Blog Posts: 5 Tips from Psychology

How-to-Write-Brilliant-Blog-Posts-5-Tips-from-Psychology-on-ProBlogger.net_ Top General Blogging Tips

It seemed you all were “ready to rock a brilliant blog post? Do you want to write faster, think more creatively, just do it all better?”, as this post really hit it out of the park with readers. Five really simple but effective tips to create an environment where success is inevitable.

Top 15 Free Internet Marketing Tools to Boost Your Online Business

Screen-Shot-2015-02-13-at-10.13.35-am Top General Blogging Tips

Free! Tools! 15 of them! From content generation to social scheduling tools to testing the speed your site loads, there’ll be something here that will help you find a shortcut in blogging. Which brings me to my next point:

5 Ways to Make Your Blogging Life Easier

5-Ways-to-Make-Your-Blogging-Life-Easier Top General Blogging Tips

When you feel a little bit overwhelmed, and like the to-do list of your blog is longer than the years you’ll ever be alive, here are five ways to slash the stress and breathe a bit more. Put some of them into place before the end of the year and start 2016 off on the right path.

Special Mentions:

  • 30 High-Impact Ways to Level Up Your Writing
  • 3 Secret Weapons I Used to Launch My Fulltime Blogging Career
  • 3 Growth Hacking Strategies for Bloggers to Quadruple Their Blog Traffic without SEO
  • 7 Effective Tips To Grow Your Social Media Presence The Right Way
  • 9 Habits of Bloggers Who Have Huge Audiences
  • 5 Basics to Having Your Post go Viral
  • 5 Psychological Blocks that Stop Bloggers Going from Good to Great
  • Setting Goals: Why You Need Them, and How to Write Them

What was your favourite?

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama or be entertained on Facebook.

The post Our Top General Blogging Tips: The Most Popular ProBlogger Posts of 2015 appeared first on ProBlogger.

Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

Our-Top-Tips-on-Social-Media-the-Most-Popular-ProBlogger-Posts-of-2015 Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

With the ever-changing Facebook algorithm, nothing but crickets on Twitter, and Instagram being a slow-moving feast, we’ve seen a huge response to our posts on the topic of social media this year. It’s like a beast we’re all desperate to tame. In this roundup there are a couple of videos and a few step-by-step tutorials showing how the experts do it – I hope you find them useful.

Check back tomorrow for the most popular general blogging tips we’ve published (think productivity, traffic, engagement), and catch up on our most popular posts on creating content and monetization.

Our Top Tips on Social Media 2015

7 Effective tips to Grow Your Social Media the Right Way

This thorough post covers everything from measuring audience demographics to tools to help you get an advantage. Bring a pen and notepad and take notes!

How to Build an Effective Social Media Workflow to Increase Your Traffic

Screen-Shot-2015-12-16-at-2.54.59-pm Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

In this video, Darren shared his own personal social media strategy for Digital Photography School, and in only 20 minutes a day! No wonder it was popular.

3 Steps to Saving Time by Writing Social Media Updates in Batches

fashion-man-person-hand Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

I love this: “Scheduling updates in advance solves a number of social media’s most frustrating problems. It gives your routine newfound flexibility, and it can even make you a better blogger. But there’s one hurdle that scheduling alone doesn’t take care of for you: those updates still have to come from somewhere, and that means you have to write them.” – it’s so true! So Tom takes us through a bunch of ways we can cut down on the work for maximum social media results.

How I Use Edgar to Increase the Effectiveness of my Social Media Strategy

edgar-schedule Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

An update of sorts to the above article on Darren’s social media schedule – including ProBlogger’s social media (mostly Twitter) and a video tutorial to help you through creating a similar winning strategy.

The Step-by-Step Method of Making Your Content Shareable on Social Media

unnamed Our Top Tips on Social Media Tips

Another fantastic tutorial on helping you get your content social-share ready. Includes ways to get around common mistakes bloggers make – don’t miss it.

Special Mentions:

  • Study Shows: Blog Posts Published on Weekends Get More Social Shares
  • How to Choose What Social Media Space to Focus On
  • Stay a Step Ahead on Social Media: Tips from SMX Social in Las Vegas

What did you find most useful? Do you have a solid social media schedule? What are your favourite tips?

Stacey Roberts is the Managing Editor of ProBlogger.net: a writer, blogger, and full-time word nerd balancing it all with being a stay-at-home mum. She writes about all this and more at Veggie Mama. Chat with her on Twitter @veggie_mama or be entertained on Facebook.

How Writing Sponsored Posts Changed the Way I Blog (and Why it Might Change You Too)

boss-fight-free-high-quality-stock-images-photos-photography-groceries-man-shopping-960x640 How Writing Sponsored Posts Changed the Way I Blog (and Why it Might Change You Too)

This is a guest contribution from Katie Moseman.

In my first few months of writing my food blog, I ran across a lot of impassioned opinions about how publishing a sponsored post on your blog constituted “selling out.” I didn’t immediately agree with that idea, but I hadn’t ever written a sponsored post, so how would I know?

A few months later, I had the chance to find out when I was tapped to write a sponsored post for a wine company.

It certainly didn’t feel like selling out. It felt like being paid to write, which for me was a very good feeling.

After that, I was accepted into several groups that help match bloggers with brands looking to pay for sponsored posts. I went from making absolutely nothing from my food blog, to making a decent part-time income almost immediately. And that was entirely due to writing sponsored posts.

Since I blog about food, almost all of the sponsored posts were for foods. Although the occasional post was sponsored by one of those marketing organizations like “Got Milk” or “California Raisins” that promote a whole food, most foods that got featured in a sponsored post had been processed in some way. That didn’t always mean they were always unhealthy, but there was certainly an abundance of ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat convenience food.

I tried very hard to stick to products I’d actually serve my own family. That standard eliminated quite a few of the assignments that would have been available to me. That meant less money overall, but it also meant that I didn’t feel bad about helping to convince people to buy products that I wouldn’t use myself.

However, the more I wrote about the convenience foods that I was buying, the more I realized that I’d had a habit of buying them since long before I had started blogging. The more convenience food that I was required to buy for work, the more it made me think about the food I bought for my own reasons.

Constantly blogging about what I was eating and drinking made me much more aware of my long-entrenched shopping habits. I started making more conscious shopping decisions. And I started experimenting with whole foods for meals (like breakfast) where I had previously reached automatically for something ready to eat. Perhaps that’s not a flattering admission for a food blogger to make, but it’s a truthful one.

Being hired for all those assignments showed me that I was being taken seriously an influencer. And if you’re being taken seriously by commerical interests, you should take your own influence seriously, too. You have to start thinking about questions like, “What am I saying to my audience?” and “Do I feel positive about my effect on their choices?”

With those questions in mind, I started playing a little game with my sponsored posts. If I wrote a sponsored post for a frozen main course, I’d include a recipe for a side dish made from completely fresh and unprocessed ingredients. If I wrote a sponsored post about a sweetened beverage, I’d create a recipe with it that reduced the total amount of sugar.

Writing sponsored posts can feel like selling out, if you’re picking the wrong ones for you (or your audience) and writing them in a formulaic way. But writing a sponsored post can be empowering if you weave in your own messages in a way that you know will speak to your audience.

Sometimes, I can’t find a good way to fit an extra message within a sponsored post. In that case, I just follow it up with another post. In a sponsored post, I might write about a children’s snack food; in the next, I’ll spread the word about a children’s charity.

This method can work for almost any blogging niche. If you write about photography, find a spot in your editorial calendar to bring attention to a photo scholarship in need of funding. If you write about children’s clothing, pick your favorite children’s charity and give them a spotlight. The possibilities are endless; let your influence be wielded not just to sell, but to help those in need.

Individually, bloggers may not have the power of the New York Times, but collectively we influence millions of people every day. We can’t ever take that for granted. Being mindful about your influence is the key to finding the balance between getting paid for your work and staying true to yourself.

Katie Moseman writes about food and restaurants at her blog Recipe for Perfection.

The post How Writing Sponsored Posts Changed the Way I Blog (and Why it Might Change You Too) appeared first on @ProBlogger.

Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

loves-data-Benjamin-Mangold-Pro-blogger-post-v2 Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

This is a guest contribution from Benjamin Mangold of Loves Data.

Do you ever think Google Analytics is a bit overwhelming?

Do you ever get stuck on where to start?

If you’ve already logged into Google Analytics then you’ll know it provides an incredible amount of information which you can use to gain powerful insights into your blog’s audience. However, to really get the most out of your reports it’s important to understand what you’re looking at – so let’s jump in and walk though the most powerful reports and find out what things mean inside Google Analytics.

Keep It Simple

Today we’ll be jumping right into your reports, so if you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your blog I’d recommend you keep reading (so you get pumped about what you can do with the tool) and then at the end of the post you will find some resources to help you set up Google Analytics (these are useful if you already have Google Analytics but want to improve things further).

We’re also going to try and keep things simple, or in other words, I’m going to try to keep the technical jargon to a minimum. We’re going to focus on the core concepts and how to begin interpreting what you find in your reports. I’m happy to get technical in the comments, so head to the comments and say hello!

Bounce What? Bounce Rate!

Bounce Rate is a great way to understand how engaged people are on your blog (and even individual posts). It tells you the percentage of people who just view a single post (or page) when they come to your blog. For example, if only two people came to your blog and you had a bounce rate of 50%, then this would mean that one person only viewed a single post before leaving your blog, while the other person when on to view at least one more page.

It’s important to know that blogs will typically have a higher bounce rate than other types of websites (like a popular brand or a corporate website). This is because lots of people will come to read an individual post, absolutely love your content, but they get what they want and they leave your blog. So your blog might have an overall bounce rate of 60, 70, 80 or maybe even 90%. So you might be thinking – why would I want to use bounce rate then? Well, great question!

Even though your blog is likely to have a higher overall bounce rate you can still use bounce rate to identify pieces of content that are leading to higher levels of engagement. Plus you can check the bounce rate for particular posts based on if you are actually trying to get people to view another page.

Let’s say you have a post that includes a competition you are running and you are asking people to complete a form on that page which then sends people to a thank you page. In this case you will want to see a lower bounce rate within your reports for that particular page.

You will see Bounce Rate on the ‘Overview’ report within the ‘Audience’ section:

And you will also see Bounce Rate for your individual posts (and pages) in the ‘Site Content’ reports within the ‘Behavior’ section:

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.21.20-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

Sessions and Users

Now I said we wouldn’t get technical but understanding the difference between a session and a user is kind of critical. So let’s make this as painless as possible…

A session is reported when someone interacts with your blog. If someone reads an article on your blog, a pageview will be reported for the particular post someone reads (you will find this within the Site Content reports) and since they are interacting with your blog, a session will also be reported.

If they navigate to your homepage, then you will have another pageview, but it will continue to be included within the same session.

If that person leaves your blog and comes back tomorrow you will now have two sessions reported, and if they come back the day after you will have three sessions.

There are some other things that will increase session numbers – the most common is coming back to your blog using a different channel. For example if someone found your blog on Google, one session will be reported. If they then immediately click on a link from a Tweet to come to your blog then a second session will be reported because they’ve used another channel to find you.

Now what is a user? Well, thinking back to that person that came to your blog on three different days – you would have three sessions, however these three sessions would come from one user within your reports. So users is a more accurate way to understand the number of people reading your blog.

You might have noticed I said “more accurate” and not just “accurate”. This is because people can access your blog on their mobile, their laptop and their tablet. Google Analytics is pretty awesome, but it’s not a superhero, so each one of these devices (the mobile, laptop and tablet) will each show up as a separate user within your reports – so by default you would have three users for this scenario.

Are you with me? (#OMG I hope so! If you’ve got a question or need any of this clarified let me know in the comments!)

Here we can see Users, Sessions and Pageviews:

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.22.47-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

When you look back at your historical data inside Google Analytics you will generally want to see your pageview, session and user numbers increasing. If they start to slide downward, then this can indicate that your blog is losing reach and it might be time to start looking at how you are attracting your audience and the types of content you’re posting.

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.23.20-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

The example above shows that our traffic is increasing, so things are going well! For details on how to do this check out Darren’s post on the compare option within Google Analytics.

What’s The Value Of Your Content?

Within the Site Content reports you will find a column called Page Value. This is a really awesome thing to use because it shows you the dollar value of your different posts.

Now you might jump into your report and find a super boring zero – that’s okay, but let’s look at how you can start to use Page Value for great insights into your content.

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.23.54-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

Page Value is only shown in your report if you’ve taken the time to set up at least one goal inside Google Analytics. For example, if you’re collecting email addresses on your blog then you will want to measure that as a goal within Google Analytics. By setting up the goal you will be able to easily report on the number of people signing up to receive your email updates and you will also be able to make use of Page Value.

So what is Page Value?

Let’s say you’ve set up your goal and assigned the goal a dollar value of $5 for every person that completes the goal. Now someone views your blog’s homepage, then reads an individual post and converts for that goal. The value of the goal ($5) will be taken and divided between the posts (and pages) that they viewed leading to the conversion. This means each page will be assigned a dollar value and when we head to our reports we can see the average value for each of our pages.

This means that you will be able to quickly identify your most important content based on the value that it’s creating. You can then generate more content based on the type of content that is already delivering value. Pretty cool huh!

The idea of defining a value to your goals might be a little bit confusing at first. There are few ways you can do this, the simplest way is just to assign a symbolic dollar value – just make one up! For example, if you were using goals to measure email signups and people commenting, then you might assign $5 to email signups and $2 to people commenting. You would want to assign a higher value to email signups since they are more valuable because you can send updates and other promotional messages.

Goals For Your Blog

There are lots of options for setting up goals to measure the success of your blog. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Email subscribers
  • Competitions
  • Contact forms
  • Clicks on email links
  • People commenting
  • Downloads (PDFs, eBooks, etc.)
  • Engaged audience members
  • Members login area
  • Embedded videos

Take some time and list out as many goals as possible. Once you have them, it’s time to assign each goal a value and configure your goals within Google Analytics. In most cases you should be able to configure the goal yourself, but if you have a highly customized blog, you might need help getting things up and running. (If you’re on WordPress, then take some time to explore the plugin you are using. The better plugins allow you to automatically track things like downloads and videos which will make setting up much easier!)

If you’re selling online, then you will want to use Google Analytics to track your ecommerce transactions. Ecommerce data will also be used to calculate your Page Value.

Setting Up Goals

There are three different types of goals you can configure inside Google Analytics. The most common is a destination goal – this is basically where you want to get people to a particular page on your blog. In most cases you should only use this for thank you pages – like after people sign up for your email updates, or after they complete your contact form.

In order to setup a destination goal you will need to travel through the steps on your blog and note down the URLs. You can then configure the goal within the ‘Admin’ section of Google Analytics. Here is an example of a goal configured to measure people signing up for email updates:

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.24.53-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

You can also configure goals based on Events that you are already measuring. Events are more advanced – they allow you to measure custom interactions like people watching videos.

The final option is to configure goals based on engagement. You can create a goal for people viewing a certain number of pages or spending a certain amount of time on your blog.

We’re not going to get into detail about Event tracking or configuring all the different types of goals today, but if you are interested there’s a quick post on setting them up.

What Do People Want?

Knowing what to write for your next post can cause a mental block (or maybe that’s just me), but next time you are stuck and need inspiration for your next post you should jump into your Google Analytics reports. You can of course make use of the Site Content reports, but if you offer a search function on your blog you can use Google Analytics to understand what people are actively looking for on your blog.

Unfortunately the Site Search reports are not automatic – you do need to configure Google Analytics to use them, but in most cases this is pretty straightforward. The best option is to perform a search on your blog and look at the URL in your browser. If you’re on WordPress then you will probably see something like myblog.com/?s=this+blog+rocks (if you searched for ‘this blog rocks’). If you’re not on WordPress or have a custom setup, then you might see something a little different to this. That’s okay, there are other ways to setup the Site Search reports.

Let’s say we saw the URL of myblog.com/?s=this+blog+rocks – in this case we can head to the ‘Admin’ area of Google Analytics, then select ‘View Settings’ under the ‘View’ column on the right and enable Site Search, so it should look like:

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.25.29-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

Now Google Analytics works its magic and you will begin to see the search terms people are looking for on your blog within the Site Search reports (within ‘Behavior’):

Screen-Shot-2015-11-12-at-5.26.04-pm Using Google Analytics to Unlock the Secrets of your Blog’s Audience

This is a brilliant report – think about it: people are actually taking the time to type in exactly what they are looking for on your blog! It’s amazing!

You can use the Site Search report to identify topics for your next post and also identify potential issues in your navigation. For example, if lots of people are searching for “advertise”, then maybe they are looking for details about how they can advertise on your blog. You could then think about adding a page or highlighting your contact details in your blog’s layout.

I’d love to hear how you’re using Google Analytics to improve your blog – let me know in the comments!

Benjamin Mangold co-founded Loves Data, a digital agency helping people understand how to get the most out of digital analytics and online marketing. Get his free Google Analytics course and his new book ‘Learning Google AdWords and Google Analytics‘ and take your skills to the next level.

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