St. Louis Web Designer | Website Development Saint Louis | Bobby Duebelbeis

I’m going to assume a couple things about your knowledge of Google Analytics like how to track source traffic from digital advertising campaigns using URL builder. I’m also going to assume you’re already building URLs for your digital advertising campaigns, such as banner ads, video, text links, etc. If not, I’m sorry. This tutorial is not for you. Now along the way, you’ve probably realized that these horribly long URLs you get from Google URL builder (which identify at least your source, medium and campaign variables) is not something you can fit into a print ad or a billboard. As an art director, I maintain that copywriters (and their long-winded approach to advertising) are the enemy. It’s only slightly facetious to cite the struggle of getting 1,200 words to fit into a 4″x3″ ad, making sure the type is legible, and leaving appropriate space for imagery. Add to that a URL that’s a mile and a half long. In print advertising, where you’re relying on users to manually type the URL to your site, it would be appropriate to keep the URL short and sweet. You could use the URL plainly without worrying about measuring traffic from these ads, but most of us would add a short extension in our print ads like, “/city” or “/pubname,” and create individual landing pages for these ads in order to measure the traffic these ads drive to our website. Unfortunately, you’re left with an ugly mess in your Google Analytics account if you have a ton of these, and you’re having to create landing pages for every ad. It can be a real waste of time if your intent is just to send traffic to a static page on your site… or even the homepage. Neither will your print ads provide the traffic metrics that you’ll see from digital placements and Google URL builder. Until ... more →