We’ve been talking a lot lately about how important tracking is if you want to make money with Google Adwords. But how do you track? Are there any tools that would make it easier? Any step-by-step guides? Let’s go back to Matt Levenhagen and see what he has to say about it.

Any tools you recommend to make it easier to track?

There are a variety of tools out there to help you track.  I’ll tell you what I use the most, but it’s not limited to that.  I have members that use solutions I don’t, but they build their sites a little differently or have a different overall approach – different solutions make more sense depending on the scripts, website solutions you’re using, and the affiliate program/network tools available to you.

For me “Xtreme Conversions” is absolutely one of my most important tools to help me understand exactly what’s being searched and what’s converting in the markets I’m in.  You can see a review I did for it on my own blog when it first came out.

I still use it today: it’s not perfect, but it does a good enough job… in fact, it’s more integrated into my business today than when I first wrote that review!

It not only helps me understand what people searched to find my landing pages, but it’s also my “go to” tool now for Direct to Merchant campaigns.  I run all the keywords I need to track in detail through XC.

XC will tell you exactly what keyword was plugged in to find your site (how broad, phrase match was modified), it will tell you what the bid keyword was alongside that and the domain it originated from.  Powerful stuff!

I also use Google Analytics extensively… it’s extremely helpful to find out much more detail about your traffic.  It’s great to build something called goals/funnels where you can track the actions your visitors make.  Really good if you are list building like I am because you may have a series of things you have your traffic do and you need to know what’s working!

I recommend finding a good Split Testing script for your website.  We didn’t really get into it here, but not only do you track and test things in your account, but you must be testing your landing pages to improve conversions and action percentages.  So tracking isn’t limited to just inside your account and links.

And then a good spreadsheets program like Excel helps you study your results over time. That sounds really boring and basic, but it’s essential for me.  I spend a lot of time manipulating data, analyzing data, tracking my progress with my account (and projects) and do a lot of planning using spreadsheets.

There are a few other solutions like Link Management tools that help me manage everything.  I won’t get into everything I use here, but the bottom line is to keep it as simple as possible.  There are a lot of solutions out there and it all depends on your focus.  Someone that does mostly list building isn’t going to need the same solutions those building only affiliate product stores use.

Even in my Blast Membership, there are people doing a variety of things.  So when you find your way to our private forum, you’ll find discussions about a wide range of tools.  But that doesn’t mean you’ll use all of them or need them all.

I keep my approach as simple as possible.  I think that’s the real secret to success in this business.  I’ll test new fangled solutions that come out, but that doesn’t mean I force myself to use it long term if it doesn’t help my bottom line.

There are many solutions that come out that just replicate what I’m already doing or I know up front will only derail what I’ve already got in place for my particular model.

My advice is to pick a way of doing things, find the right combination of solutions that work for you and stick with it…. Master that approach.  Over the long haul, you’ll make more money because you are more focused.

It took me a few years to settle on the solutions I’m using.  Start with one, master it, reinvest your profits and grow your tools over time as you can.  But don’t get overwhelmed thinking you need it all in place today to succeed!

It’s the same thing with tracking in general.  Learn how to track one thing, get good at it and learn another.  Your skills grow over time with use. 🙂