Fun with eCommerce Analytics Part II: Adwords

Hello Everybody,

This post is going to be covering the chapter 6 of Intro to Google Analytics, the second part of Fun with eCommerce Analytics. Click here if you haven't read part one.

This post is going to complete the "full life cycle" of analytics and have a close look at ROI. Shopify provides the foundation for eCommerce and Adwords provides a way to advertise a site and track conversion. And when you're in an eCommerce situation you can use Google Analytics to track behavior on your shopping sites. All these different components work together in order to help you create a better marketing strategy and better your business.

So welcome to part 2, Adwords

When starting Adwords you might want to consider exploring Google's learning material and getting Adwords Qualified. For more information on that, click here. First you need to start an account and get a tracking code. This is the code that you'll bring into your Shopify. It'll let you know when someone makes it to your confirmation page. You'll need to connect your Adwords to Shopify. You can do this by going to settings > checkout > additional content and scripts > save. It will show as only 1 conversion unless you change it, for example you can have it show how much money you're making instead.

Make an Adwords campaign. Adwords does cost money so be ready to roll up your sleeves and put in the effort it takes to make this work. How it works is Google charges you when people click on your ad. It also works like a bidding situation. The less people there are bidding on the same words, the cheaper they'll be and the higher you'll end up ranking, if there's more people it goes in reverse happens due to the extra competition. Try experimenting with different headlines, try to focus on something you think you'd click on. Keep in mind that if you don't put things in quotes Google will make variants of the different words, as opposed to the specific group of words you might be aiming for. Make use of the Keyword Planner that's available. Also be sure to keep track of when your Adwords campaign is going to end. You do this by going into your campaign settings, otherwise it will automatically be set to never ending and you'll keep being charged.

Just remember, that clicks do not equal conversions. So never lose site of your actual goals and what results you are actually getting.

Until next time,

Caitlin Campbell