If you are using the Urchin Profit Suite or the Urchin Campaign Tracking Module, you'll want to make sure that you've got a comprehensive strategy for tagging your online ads. This is an important prerequisite to allowing Urchin to show you which marketing activities are really paying off. Fortunately, the tagging process goes smoothly - once you understand how to differentiate your campaigns. Here is a three-step process to help you get started.
1. Tag only what you need to.
Generally speaking, you need to tag all of your paid keyword links (such as those on Google Adwords and Overture), your banners and other ads, and the links inside your promotional e-mail messages.
There are certain links that you don't need to, and many times will not be able to tag. You should not attempt to tag organic (unpaid) keyword links from search engines and it isn't necessary to tag links that come from referral sites, such as portals and affiliate sites. Urchin automatically detects the search engine and keyword from organic (unpaid) keyword referrals, and you'll see metrics for these referrals in your Urchin reports, typically under "Organic" listings. Urchin also detects referrals from other websites and displays them in your reports, whether or not you have tagged them.
2. Create your links using the URL Builder.
Campaign links consist of a URL address followed by a question mark and your campaign variables. But, you won't need to worry about link syntax if you fill out the URL Builder form and press the Generate URL button. A tagged link will be generated for you and you'll be able to copy and paste it to your ad. If you are asking "which fields should I fill in?", you're ready for Step 3.
3. Use only the campaign variables you need.
Urchin's link tagging capabilities allow you to uniquely identify virtually any campaign you can think of. But, don't think that you must use all six fields in the URL Builder form in each of your links. On the contrary, you should usually only need to use three: Source, Medium, and Campaign. Let's look at the best ways to tag the three most common kinds of online campaigns - banner ads, email campaigns, and paid keywords.
| Banner Ad | E-mail Campaign | Pay Per Click Keywords | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campaign Source | citysearch | newsletter1 | |
| Campaign Medium | banner | ppc | |
| Campaign Term | |||
| Campaign Content | |||
| Campaign Name | productxyz | productxyz | productxyz |
You'll notice that Campaign Term isn't used for any of these links, even the Pay Per Click Keyword campaign. That's because Term is no longer necessary as long as you are using Urchin 5.6/UTM-4 and later. (Campaign Term IS necessary if you are still using Urchin 5.5 and UTM-3.)
What about Campaign Content? We're only covering the most common scenarios in this article, but if you are interested in Campaign Content, read the article How To Perform A/B Testing.
What about the Campaign ID/Master Tracking Code? If you want to hide the tagging information that you put in your links, Urchin gives you a way of creating a table that keeps all the information private. To read more about this, see the article How To Use Master Tracking Codes.
So get started tagging your links and tracking your way to online success!