In the home stretch

The thought that came to me as I reflected upon this past week (as well as the entire course) was "drinking from a fire hose." So. Much. Information!

The focus this week on Google Analytics was eye-opening and I was impressed with the extent of information available for deciphering the who, what, where, when, and how of visitors to a website. I can certainly see how this type of information would be valuable to a company looking to ensure they market to the right demographic and provide the right product. 

For me, with my little niche product, I'm not sure all this information would be as valuable...at least not in the beginning. I was excited that anyone would visit my site just from my ads. I wasn't as concerned with who they are or where they live. Going forward, this type of analysis will pay off as my husband and I fine-tune what exactly we want to offer and who we are trying to target. 

I was also grateful for the continued outreach of Google Analytics to provide multiple lessons sent directly to my email. I haven't had time to review them yet, but I'll be glad for the resource once I do have the time. Knowing how many articles and videos and other resources are out there to help understand the functionality and benefit of analyzing this data will prove useful in the weeks and months to come.

I'm certainly grateful for the opportunity to see this type of information in action. Although it's a little intimidating to see how much of my online shopping is visible to the companies I patronize.

Homestead Woodworks meets Social Media Marketing

Gone are the days when we could only reach people within our physical circle of life. With the onslaught of social media, we can talk to millions of people virtually. As scary as that sometimes seems, it is a perfect way for businesses, especially online businesses, to find customers. The ripple effect is alive and well in the world of social networking. 

Finding the right social media platform can be tricky. It is important to understand the demographics of the various platforms. Twitter is indeed a popular platform, but for my business, it doesn't make as much sense as Facebook, which is used by more older individuals. Based on the visitor demographics of my website, Facebook is the way to go for Homestead Woodworks. My plan is to create the account and then a Page that can be followed by multiple users without my "approval." As a marketing tool, that works well so anyone who "likes" my page can see when I post updates.

I like the idea that Facebook does a couple of things: providing access to a bigger market for a nominal cost and the ability to post images, videos, and text. That will allow me to attract people who relate in various ways to their own social media patterns. I can create flyers and coupons in Word and post them on Facebook. I can use images from my website to create brand recognition as I reach out to more people. 

In addition to Facebook, because my products can be considered art, I plan to work Pinterest into my marketing strategy down the road. As with most things, I feel better starting small and working my way up to adding more on my plate. Becoming more expert at one thing will give me the capability to expand my marketing plans and learn more. 

Working to make it better

Complacency is the destroyer of success. Well, it may not be quite as black and white as that, but this week I was reminded over and over again that every time I sent my manuscripts to my editor, I did it because I wanted my book to be the best it could be. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, advertising is a similar situation. Only in advertising, you try something, see if it works, and if it doesn't you try something else. Thankfully, Google is there to help me see what is working and what isn't. The tricky part now is where to go from here and how much effort I want to put into it. 

Time is not on my side. My old life of having so much time on my hands has gone by the wayside and with time now vying between work, school, and my own projects, putting together a new business that is essentially for my husband means something doesn't get done. And, yes, I'm that kind of person who will put my own things on hold until everything else is done. How did I manage to write six books and start several others? I had everything else done. 

But every time my husband gets up in agony and hobbles to bed at night, I am more convinced than ever that he needs to do a job that is easier on his body. The hard part is the complacency. I didn't realize that I couldn't go back to other things once this was set up. It certainly isn't a "one and done" type of thing. I'll need to make time to review the ads that are working and those that aren't and why. I'll need to make decisions about how to optimize my ads and my website so my husband actually has customers and this business can grow. Perhaps eventually, the ads won't matter as much as he develops a clientele and we can see what limited ads work. 

In the meantime, I'm back at it and trying to find enough mental capacity to make it happen.