Megan Becker

When first analyzing the information provided on Google Analytics regarding the performance of my personalized website, it’s evident that there’s not a very steady flow of visitors and internet traffic.  This is due to the fact that throughout the semester, I would make small changes here and there and this would cause the internet traffic to go up or down.  I optimized my website through Google Adwords, which drove a lot of internet traffic to my site with the paid listings.  I went over my allotted $15.00 budget, but I still drove a lot of new users to my website and had a decent click through rate.  The tools provided on Analytics allows me to view how many new users visited, and how many pages they clicked through, which was about 3.4, and how long they stayed on my page, which was a little under 2 minutes.  This means people found my website interesting enough to click through it a little bit and explore it more in depth.  If I added more pages and posts, I’d image that number to increase because of the fact that it gives users more options. I am very pleased with the internet traffic my website has gotten.  It is brand new, not done by a professional by any means, and the posts are merely homework assignments with a little creativity mixed in for writing purposes.  It’s so strange to think that now this information is online for anyone to read.

I think the main purpose of MKTG 470 , taught by Professor Theresa B. Clarke, has been to give us an overview of all the techniques  and all of the opportunity there is for marketing on the internet.  Along with great conversation topics in my most recent interviews, this class as given me a lot of base knowledge that I will be able to apply in the real world and that will help me along my marketing career.  So much of today’s marketing is done online, not knowing about these tools would put me at a disadvantage against other students looking for entry level employment. Optimizing internet traffic is beneficial for any company, whether they are based online or not.  Internet traffic is important in creating brand awareness and accessibility for your company.

Through using Google Webmaster, it was easy to track a lot of the data that is necessary for optimizing SEO and driving traffic to your site.  Though you can’t change the budget for these, since they are not PPC, it makes it a little more challenging.  This requires a lot more outside work than just working from this one tool.  In order to best optimize your site, it’s important to have the link to your website show up on as many places as you can.  This includes search engines, other websites, or email newsletters.  These get send out to broad range of people, so it’s easy to target.  This is particularly useful after you have gotten the customers information.  Then you can send them personalized emails and link your web page, which ultimately increases traffic.

Webmaster tools is very user friendly.  It has a complete breakdown of your personal website, piece by piece so you can see which things are best for driving traffic.  The best one I have so far is my JMU keywords, which makes sense because that has been the focus point of my optimization.  I will continue on this process through link building and optimizing my keywords.

As May 5th approaches faster and faster, I’ve been on a job application frenzy, trying to keep up with school work, and  going to group meetings, all while trying to enjoy the last 6 weeks of college, EVER.  It’s actually a pretty sad thought, but what’s even more sad is unfortunate realization that as college seniors, we will never have another summer vacation again! At least Education majors get their summers off, but not Marketing.  The world doesn’t stop  doing business in those perfect beach months of June-August, unfortunately.  So on top of scheduling these never ending group meetings, studying for what seems to be the hardest tests in the world, and applying for my dream job of the day, I have been doing some thinking about how I can optimize that one lonely month of May that I will call my “summer vacation” until I have to commit myself to working 9-5 (job offer permitting) for probably the next 35-40 years.  Saying it out loud makes it seem worse than it is, but in actuality it is going to be a really awesome experience and I can’t wait to start working.  But back to my one single month of summer.

I’ve been thinking of things I can do, mainly near the beach, to soak up all the sun I can possibly get in that short amount of time when you never know what the weather will do.  At this rate, it will probably reach 90 degrees by then, but I’ll save the Global Warming spiel for another time.  Every summer after we get out of school, all my friends from high school get a house down in Outer Banks, North Carolina. It’s a great way for us all to reconnect after not seeing each other for a while and we get to catch up on what were going to be doing that summer, etc.  Those plans are certainly still in the works, and I would be very disappointed if it didn’t happen on my last summer ever!

I also can’t help but think about the many things that I will be missing due to my 1 month of summer coming so early in the season.  I’m going to miss one of the best parts about summer, in my opinion, which are the country concerts held throughout the summer at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Virginia Beach.

Some of my best memories have been singing along to “Ticks” by Brad Paisley or “Keg in the Closet” by Kenny Chesney under the hot summer sun with all of my close friends.  I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it.  These concerts really brought out a big crowd that was fun and loud and just looking for a good time.  We would set up corn hole boards, grills, food, and loud country music a few hours before the concert started to get ourselves ready for the night’s event.  My friends and I have been going to these concerts for years and most of us have purchased the Country Megaticket way in advance to get the best deals on the concerts and insure attendance at all of the shows.  It seems expensive, but when you break it down by concert, it comes out to be a really good thing.

So I haven’t yet looked at this summer’s schedule, but when I do there will definitely be a weekend trip planned for at least one of the shows.  It will never be the same as it was years ago when all we had to do was drive 30 minutes. Now there will be friends coming from all over the state, and some that still take that 30 minute ride.  I guess it’s just a part of growing up and growing apart.  The key is to stick together with the people that are close to you and find a way to make things like these concerts work.  So in the long run (assuming I will be living in the DC area), a 4 hour drive home to do what I love with the people I love is nothing.