Sara's Pathway Education

We live in a day where social media can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful business.   Facebook has 2.38 billion active users and Instagram has 1 billion active users, with close to half using the platform every day!   It’s vital to be able to use these platforms if you would like to have worldwide access to markets. So most people who want to start a business online have a hope of what they want to accomplish, but how many have solid numbers they have researched and found to be a feasible goal for their business?   I admit, I didn’t.   And I still haven’t made a plan like that.   It is important, but it somehow has slipped through my business plan startup.   However, one part of having a social media strategy is to be able to have solid goals you can find a way to achieve.   Many people have a certain percentage of growth once they do get to a fully up-and-running web business.   These could be increased revenue, conversi...

Last week one of my group members mentioned in a discussion board how she changed her ads to go directly to her product page.   I thought that was good advice, but did I do anything about it?   Of course not!   Well, this week I learned exactly why I should change what I’m doing – again. First off, when a customer searches for a product, they don’t want to have to search your site to see what they want.   They want it to come up first click.   They should not have to navigate your site to find it.   Although it’s pretty straight forward, I guess I had a thought of why.   In days where so many people are using their smartphones for searching the internet, the thought of another click and more data is pretty important.   You need to have the product right there for the customer to click and buy.   Allow them to get it done super quick and be on their way.   Another reason I need to change is for search engine optimization.   I h...

I did something really scary this week!   I hit the green go button on my Google Ads campaign.   My husband did one forever ago and I remember him spending over $300 and we hadn’t received one sale to go with that money.   I am really worried that I will also have the same luck this time.   I feel that I have a good product, but unless I’m hitting the right target market, does it really matter what product I have? One thing on my first day of ads is that it put up my ad on searches that had NOTHING to do with my product or keywords.   I was under the understanding that if you have 2 keywords, both have to be in the search to be put my ad up.   Apparently they have a setting that pulls up the ads if it’s even related at all, which is broad search.   Still, my ad wasn’t anything close to what the search term was.   Luckily, I have options in my searches.   I was able to put all those words in my negative keyword search, so it won’t pull up ...

I thought it would be a lot harder to add this to a website than it is.   The help files for Google Analytics walks you through the whole process, start to finish.   When getting into modifying code on a website, it’s a little scary, especially with the warning from WordPress that I might have to start my website all over if I mess it up!   Luckily, after saving the new code, my website still worked.   Plus when I visited it on my phone, I was able to see that a visitor really was there. Being able to link this with the Google Ads campaign will allow me to be able to direct traffic there and understand my customers.   It will allow me to know whether the ad campaign is working or if I am just wasting money on Google Ads.   One thing that I’m excited to learn about is the effect of sending out email subscription newsletters.   If what I’m sending out doesn’t create any effect in my website visits and/or purchases, then I know I’m missing key infor...

This week we ended up writing our ads and trying to make them more appealing to our potential customers.   One thing suggested by Google Ads’ help center is to make sure you call your customers to action, as well as add in keywords that help them know that what you are offering is what they want.   It’s important to add in prices and other important information, like free shipping.   One thing that I’ve noticed is when I’ve gone to a website where I’m looking for a keyword, then I get there and that word is not there!   So it’s really important that if you are linking your website to a keyword, that somewhere on your page, that is on there.   Otherwise you are wasting your money on a click that doesn’t end up with a customer sale. Another big hint we learned was to be active with our sentences and not passive.   How many times have we gone to edit a paper we’ve wrote just to find lots of extra words like “that,” “very,” “just,” or “maybe.”   I’m ...

Last week I tried my hand at designing a website.   I just have to say that is a lot harder than I thought it would be.   Those who have these beautiful websites, I now understand a small portion of how you made it look good.   I think I tried 3 different templates and it was a lot harder to just replace content and make it look right.   I did find a few videos online on how to make a website in an hour.   Even watching the first one, it took a lot longer than an hour as I had to pause and rewind so many times.   It’s a million miles away from what I’d like it to be, so if my business makes it past this semester, I have a feeling I’m going to be making lots of changes.   There’s so many things that go into it. This week we are getting ready for a Google Ad campaign.   There are so many tips and tricks on how to pick the “right” keyword for your customers.   Without picking the right phrase or term, you are just wasting money getting your ...