3 Online Marketing Measurements Builders Should Ignore

Online marketing is often measured by metrics, right? Even as busy contractors, you want to see exactly how your website is performing.  Your goal is to attract new prospects.   No matter how you choose to keep track, there are 3 online marketing measurements builders should ignore.

Google Page Rankings was developed by the co-founder of Google, Larry Page.  Using logarithmic formulas, websites were ranked based on their performance and authority.

As an online marketing metric, Google page rankings are obsolete.   Updated infrequently and irregularly, the rankings don’t accurately reflect the performance of a general contractor’s website.  In fact, the rankings have nothing to do with how much business a builder may be attracting with their online marketing.  Would you rather be on the first page or have 20 customers calling daily for quotes on remodels?

Email open rates should be ignored in online marketing metrics.  A white pixel is placed on a white background at the bottom of an email.  The pixel is read as an image and reported back as an open.  Does your general contracting business target consumers or businesses?

Many email programs, such as Outlook and Google do not read images.   That means your email pixels are not being recorded.  It doesn’t mean your email wasn’t read, though.  It just means the data is fairly irrelevant, even though email marketers continue to rely heavily on email open rate data.

Keyword rank data should also be ignored as an online marketing measurement.  As a builder, you may choose relevant key words in your industry.   Historically, those keywords allowed a discrete, relevant tracking of website performance.  

In current trends, keyword ranking should be based on IP addresses and geo-targeting.  The questions for choosing key words should be along the lines of ‘what building terms or services are attracting clients to my site’ or ‘which general contracting needs are driving clients to my website.’  

Ultimately, builders need to ignore online marketing measurements which don’t accurately capture their website performance metrics.  Stay away from Google page rankingsas they don’t reflect the amount of clients or conversions you may gain.  Email open rates are only as relevant as the number of email recipients which allow images.  Finally, if you’re going to build a site based on keyword rank, be sure you ask yourself the right questions to target your needs.   The other metrics?  Just ignore them.