Episode 26 / December 22, 2017
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In this episode of The Redirect Podcast: So much time and attention is spent on Q4 sales and driving traffic to your website; don’t let off the gas as you head into Q1. We dive into quick tips on reviewing site analytics, developing digital strategies for post-holiday sales, and ways to keep your brand top-of-mind all year.
Search Console and Analytics Research
Is your site traffic slow? RESEARCH! Don’t complain; learn. Patrick’s suggestion for following up after the busy season and transitioning into the slow season is to digest the organic data from multiple data sources.
He suggests to start with search analytics within Search Console, a treasure trove of keyword data and suggestions. Review the 90-day period that is Q4. Be sure to include impressions, clicks, and CTR, and filter out branded keywords.
First, sort the data for most impressions. What are these keyword phrases telling you? See any surprises, in either direction? Lots of impressions and no clicks?
Now sort by clicks. What’s getting clicks? What isn’t getting clicks? What SHOULD be getting clicks? It’s worth noting here that every one of those clicks then can be analyzed ever further over in Google Analytics.
In Google Analytics, jump into organic search data. These are those clicks shown in Search Console. What are these visitors doing? What aren’t they doing? Check out the organic traffic in the “All Pages” section. Are these clicks getting where they should be?
After you’ve reviewed and analyzed all the data, develop a plan to try and capture that audience that you may or may not have gotten during Q4. Inevitably, you’ll have slowdowns during Q1, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to bolster that up a bit through sound keyword usage mixed with a killer content and social plan, all based off the good traffic (and lost leads) that were very active during Q4.
Q4 traffic can teach you trends, you can adapt those trends to bolster your Q1.
…and More Analytics Research
Since the end of the year/beginning of a new year is synonymous with reflection, it’s as good a time as any to look at your site’s analytics for trends you can use. Check Google Analytics for the past quarter, or even the past year, and see what pages did especially well as far as sessions, time on page, conversions, and low bounce rate (meaning the visitors went to other pages on your site).
If the pages are blog posts, perhaps they point to a solid topic you can write about again, helping you flesh out your content calendar for the next quarter. On the flip side, if any of your service or product pages did not get much traction, or not as much as others, take a look at how you could improve those pages through keyword research, seeing how people are finding your site, etc.
Strategies for Post-Holiday Sales
- Don’t fall asleep at the wheel; stock up on good content in the “break.” Get those marcom activities done that you have been putting off because you were “too busy.”
- Use appreciation as a tactic.
- Refresh your inventory.
- Launch new ads, new contests or campaigns, new social initiatives.
- Use a larger budget in Q1 when everyone else is bleeding from Q4 – people received money as gifts, and they are ready to SPEND!
- Don’t fall asleep at the social media wheel – get moving!
Additionally, on the social media front…
Facebook is fighting “engagement bait” (Click Here for the Grossest Pimple You’ve Ever Seen!! Or Click Here if You Are a Gemini and Need to Find Your Love Match, etc.). According to Facebook, “in an effort to foster ‘more authentic engagement,’ they have created a machine learning model that can detect different types of engagement bait,” and posts that are classified as ‘bad’ will not be shown in the newsfeed; furthermore, strict demotions will occur for repeat offenders. Posts that will not be penalized: Those asking for help, missing kid/pet, travel advice, fundraising, and things of this nature issued from humans, not brands.
For more ideas for bolstering Q1, check out a previous blog post on improving online traffic after the holidays.
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