Google Analytics How To: CTAs & CTRs

A Google Analytics Walk-Through: Easily Tracking User Behavior [CTAs & CTRs]

Richard Cummings

tracking CTR & CTAs in Analytics

A Google Analytics Walk Through

Google Analytics often seems too difficult, but it doesn’t have to be if you know exactly where to click.

In this post, I am going to take you on a Google Analytics walk-through to show you how to easily track user behavior [Call-To-Actions and Click-Through-Rates] to determine how to improve your website.

Most small businesses never do this.

They simply install Google Analytics and then do little else.  They will then occasionally visit their Google Analytics page and look at the total amount of traffic their website is getting.

Why do people not dig deeper with Google Analytics?  Because it’s seem so dispiritingly complicated.

Well, not so today.

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the-seo-system-mobile-friendly

How Can I Tell If My Website Is Mobile Friendly?

Richard Cummings

the-seo-system-mobile-friendlyQuestion:  I have been reading so much about how my website should be mobile-friendly.  But, as a small business owner, I have little time to attend to my website.  How can I quickly tell if my homepage and my entire site show up well on everyone’s mobile phone?  It looks good on mine 🙂  Thanks, Barbara, Dallas, Texas

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google-rankbrain-publish-content

Google & RankBrain: A Simple Example of How to “Time Manage” The SERPs in 2018

Richard Cummings

google-rankbrain-publish-contentDid you know that if you don’t update your web content, you may be penalized by Google’s new algorithm, RankBrain?

Let’s examine how this can happen and what you can do to prevent it!

Have you ever modified your Google search to only show web content created in the past year, past month, or past week?

Of course you have, and I have, and many others do as well.

I do it because I research many technical issues.  And often, an article written in 2015 does not serve my purposes in 2018.

But this is not just about technology searches.  It’s about nearly every search.  Searchers want the latest information!  We want now!

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titles not showing on yahoo and bing

Web Page Title Not Showing on Bing/Yahoo or Says “Official Site”

Richard Cummings

titles not showing on yahoo and bingSeveral clients have asked me about their web page titles not showing up properly on Bing and Yahoo.

Frequently, instead of the web page title, Bing and Yahoo will say “Company Name – Official Site“ as you see depicted in the image to the right.

These images are taken from a Yahoo and Bing search for the company Intel.  However, instead of saying  “Intel | Data Center Solutions, IOT, and PC Innovation” which is what their HTML title element (technically, the title is an element and not a meta tag) says, the title of the web page simply says “Intel – Official Site”.

You may take solace in the fact that, if it’s happening to Intel, you probably cannot do anything about it.

But you’d be wrong.

So, let’s take a look at why this is important, why it’s happening, and what you can do about it.

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how-to-track-facebook-call-now

How To Track the Facebook “Call Now” Button

Richard Cummings

how-to-track-facebook-call-nowThe Facebook “Call Now” button introduced a great way for customers to immediately contact your business when they are using Facebook on their cell phone.

But, after implementing the “Call Now” feature in your Facebook local awareness ads, you will have one obvious question that Facebook is less willing to answer:  Are people clicking your Facebook “Call Now button?

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jon-loomer-facebook-webinar-review

A Review: Facebook Keys to Success Webinar by Jon Loomer

Richard Cummings

jon-loomer-facebook-webinar-reviewI just “completed” Jon Loomer’s Facebook Keys to Success Webinar and will provide you with a quick review of it here.

Why do I use the word “completed” in quotes?  Well, as you’ll see below, it’s long and I did not quite make it through the entire video.  That is not to say that the content is not engaging, though I do offer some suggestions below; the content is engaging but I was specifically interested in particular sections and so I focused on those.

One of the particular sections that I was interested in was Facebook Ad targeting.  And coincidentally, as quick proof that his methods do work, I signed up for the webinar via a Facebook targeted ad.

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Google Non Secure Warnings

Google Branding Websites as “Not Secure” – Live Examples – August 2018 Update

Richard Cummings

Google Non Secure WarningsSince my article long ago exposing the 10 Facts & Myths of Secure (HTTPS) websites and my more recent Definitive HTTPS/SSL WordPress Upgrade Guide, Google has now provided increased incentive for those of you who have not yet upgraded your website to HTTPS — they will brand you as “Not Secure”!

The Google official announcement states that:  “Beginning in January 2017 (Chrome 56), we’ll mark HTTP pages that collect passwords or credit cards as non-secure, as part of a long-term plan to mark all HTTP sites as non-secure.”

Important Post Update – August 2018: Google Chrome now labels all http sites as ‘not secure’…not just pages with forms on them.

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Upgrade WordPress to HTTPS/SSL

The 10-Step HTTPS/SSL WordPress Upgrade [2020 Edition]

Richard Cummings

Upgrade WordPress to HTTPS/SSLI am going to give you the exact instructions on how to upgrade your WordPress website to SSL in under 3 hours AND in just 10 easy steps.

It’s 2020 and you are falling behind the competition if your WordPress website is not HTTPS/SSL! If you’re still not convinced, here are 5 great reasons your site should be HTTPS.

“But wait,” you ask.  “I’ve heard that a WordPress SSL conversion takes tons of research and planning.”

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When there's a variety of users with an Instagram hashtag on their posts, it becomes useless.

The Quick Guide to Instagram Hashtag Research

Guest Author

The good news about researching hashtags on Instagram is that it’s a very easy, straight forward experience. The bad news is that it can be quite time-consuming, especially when you’re posting a variety of content. For this article, I’ll be using the microgenre of music, vaporwave. More specifically, I’ll be looking at Instagram hashtag mistakes within the culture.
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SEO Mistake

The One Giant SEO Mistake That You Are Making

Richard Cummings

SEO MistakeIf you were to name the one giant SEO mistake that you are making, what would it be?

“Who me?  I’m not making any mistakes”.

You and I know that we all make mistakes and you are probably making this one giant SEO mistake.

My inspiration for this post comes from my SEO article of the week by Stephan Spencer:  5 super-common SEO mistakes content marketers make.

In his article, Stephan lists these 5 SEO mistakes that everyone is making:

  1. Hustling for likes instead of links
  2. Misplacing the content
  3. Targeting the wrong audience
  4. Being activity-focused
  5. No help from a power user

I highly recommend Stephan’s article as he articulates each position thoroughly.Read More

local seo tool 2016

7 Tools to Improve Local SEO in 2016

Guest Author

local seo tool 2016When it comes to generating more business from the web, small business owners often forget to ask themselves why local SEO is important to their company’s success. DIY SEOers are so concerned with keeping marketing budgets to a minimum, so they slap some keywords in the appropriate meta keyword section of their SEO plugin and call it a day.

Off-site local SEO optimizations are left out in the cold and business owners sit in their office wondering why the phone isn’t ringing.

Here are seven tools designed for small business owners to improve local SEO (off-site and on-site) and to start generating more leads and sales from your website.

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Google Unnatural Links Penalty Strikes Again!

Richard Cummings

On Saturday, many webmasters received a stinging letter from Google that begins:  “Google has detected a pattern of links from your site to other sites that is either unnatural or irrelevant.”

It’s as if it’s 2010 again when many webmasters were receiving Google Webspam penalties and having their websites completed decimated.

6 years later…should this still be happening?  I just asked this question rhetorically on Twitter:


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