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Author: Stacey Ivol

A Comprehensive Guide to Migrating Your Google Analytics Property by July 1, 2023

Did you know that Google Analytics is switching over to all GA-4 properties on July 1, 2023?

This means that if you do not have a GA-4 property set up by that date, you could possibly miss out on important data.  Google will auto-create one for you, but it might not migrate over all the settings that you want.

In today’s digital landscape, data-driven decision making is beyond crucial for the success of any business. Google Analytics has been a go-to measurement platform for understanding user behavior on websites, ads and more. 

In this blog post, we will explore the migration process, its significance, and the steps you need to take to ensure a seamless transition for your business.

Understanding Google Analytics and Properties

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that enables you to gain insights into user activity on your company’s website. Every Google Analytics account can have one or more properties. A property represents your website, and within each property, you can organize data and set up reports. In the past, there were two types of properties: the old version and the new version (GA4).

The Importance of Google Analytics Migration

Starting July 1, 2023, Google will stop processing information sent to the old type of property. This means that to continue measuring user activity on your website, it is very important to migrate to the new version of Google Analytics (GA4). 

Although GA360 customers have an extra year to migrate, it is highly recommended to initiate the migration process as soon as possible to retain historical data.

Automatic vs. Manual Migration

If you don’t migrate your property manually, Google will automatically create a new GA4 property for you and migrate as many settings and configurations as they possibly can. 

However, it’s important to note that not everything can be automatically migrated, resulting in a better experience if you take charge of the migration process yourself. 

By migrating manually, you ensure that you have all of the data and settings that you want in your new property before the cutoff date in July.

The Migration Process

Step 1: Identify your Universal Analytics (UA) Property

Log into your Google Analytics account.  Look for any property whose identifier begins with “UA.” This is an indicator that the property is a Universal Analytics property and will need to be converted to GA4 ASAP.

Step 2: Open the GA4 Setup Assistant[h4]

Depending on whether you see the migration banner at the top of your account, click on “Manage GA4 migration” or navigate to the Admin section and select “GA4 Setup Assistant.”

Step 3: Choose Migration Options

In the GA4 Setup Assistant, you’ll be presented with options based on your existing GA4 property association. If you already have a GA4 property associated with your Universal Analytics property, select it. 

Alternatively, create a new GA4 property by clicking “Get started.” Confirm your selection.

Step 4: Install the Google Tag

The Google tag is a snippet of code that measures user activity and sends it to Google Analytics for processing. If you already have an existing tag, select the option to use it. Otherwise, you’ll need to install the new tag on your website. Consult your developer or utilize a content management system (CMS) plugin to accomplish this step.

Step 5: Completion and Verification

Once you’ve installed the tag, you’ll be brought back to the assistant. Clicking the button will take you to your brand new GA4 property. Both your Universal Analytics and GA4 properties will be open in separate tabs. The Setup Assistant acts as a checklist for migrating each item. Go through the list, marking items as complete and inching closer to a fully migrated property.

Now That You’re Done With The Migration…

Migrating your Google Analytics property from the old version to GA4 is essential for maintaining accurate website analytics and leveraging the power of data-driven decision making. By following the outlined steps, you can ensure a smooth transition and retain crucial historical data.

A Few More Tips For Google Analytics

Tip 1 – Make sure that you connect Google Analytics to Google Ads.  Also, make sure that you connect Google Ads to Google Analytics.  The connection goes 2 ways.

This way, you have access to conversion data and audiences from both platforms.

Tip 2 – The Google Analytics Setup Assistant shows you all of the steps that you need to have a useful profile

The setup assistant will walk you through all of the settings that you need to change in order to collect the best data in GA.

Tip 3 – Set up your audiences so you can retarget them.

Show your ads to people that have been on your website again and again by creating a retargeting campaign.  The best way to do this is by creating an audience that has been on your website, but has not performed a conversion action.

Need help with the migration or anything in Google Analytics?

Contact IFTS today at 412-715-6266 or send an email to si@iftsdesign.com 

The Importance of Positive AND Negative Reviews for Your House Painting Company

Are you scared of bad reviews, so you never ask clients for them?

In today’s digital world, online reviews have a big impact on businesses, especially service-based ones. As a house painting company owner, it’s important to have both positive and negative reviews in your profiles. 

In this blog post, we will talk about why it’s essential to get a mix of reviews and how responding to all of them matters. Understanding the importance of reviews and knowing how to respond properly can help your company gain credibility, earn customer trust, and be more successful at converting leads.

The Power of Online Reviews

Online reviews are really influential. People read them to decide if they want to hire you. Positive reviews are like endorsements that show your company is good. They make customers trust you and bring in new business. According to a Podium survey 93% of those interviewed said online reviews do make a difference when it comes to their purchasing habits.

Negative reviews can actually be helpful because they show where your company needs to improve. Fixing these issues can make customers happier and improve your services. Negative reviews also show that you care about honest feedback and want to make things better.

Why Balance Matters

Having a balance between positive and negative reviews is important for your house painting company. If you only have positive reviews, people might think they’re fake. Having a mix of reviews makes your company look real and trustworthy. It shows that you care about your customers’ opinions and always try to do better. 

Negative reviews give you a chance to learn and grow. When you handle them well, you can turn unhappy customers into happy ones. Responding to negative reviews shows potential customers that you’re attentive and committed to solving problems. This sets you apart from other companies and builds trust.  

Look at your competitors’ reviews – how many of them respond to the negative ones?

Responding to All Reviews

It’s important to respond to every review, good or bad. This shows that you care about what customers think and that you value their feedback. When you respond to positive reviews, say thank you and show that you appreciate their kind words. Personalized responses help build a connection and make customers feel important.  Be sure to use the person’s name and if possible, mention the type of work that you did for them.

When you get a negative review, it’s important to respond quickly and with understanding. Start by saying you’re sorry for the bad experience and that you want to make it right. Try to find out what went wrong and offer a solution. Responding to negative reviews shows that you care about your customers’ satisfaction and want to fix any issues. It also shows potential customers that you take feedback seriously and are dedicated to providing good service.

Go Get Those Reviews!

In today’s digital world, online reviews have a big impact on businesses, including house painting companies. It’s important to have a mix of positive and negative reviews to show authenticity and gain trust. 

Responding to all reviews, whether good or bad, is important for managing your company’s reputation. By understanding the power of reviews and how to respond, you can build credibility, attract new customers, and create long-term loyalty for your house painting business.

Be sure to also read this article on how to encourage more positive reviews from your customers!

Want Some Help?

IFTS has multiple affordable solutions to help you get more online reviews by putting the process on autopilot! 

Contact si@iftsdesign.com for more details.

Helping Your Painting Business Rank in the Google 3-Pack

When you search for a local business on Google, the first three results that appear are known as the Google 3-Pack. The 3-Pack (also known as the local pack or snack pack) is displayed with a map that provides the location of each business as well as basic information about each business. The 3-Pack is above normal search results, which makes it a valuable piece of real estate for any local business that wants to reach people who are looking for something in their area.

Let’s talk about helping your painting business rank in the Google 3-pack.

In our experience, a lot of phone calls come from just showing up below the map in Google when someone is searching for a painter.

The best part about this? These calls are coming to you free of charge. So, how do you get more of these free calls?

To rank in the 3-pack, Google looks at 3 things:

1 – How close your business address is to the searcher, or proximity

2 – How prominent your business and brand are online, or prominence

3 – How related your company is what the person is looking for, or relevance

Now, you can’t do much about the first one, so you need to concentrate on the other 2.

Let’s start with prominence.

For this, Google is going to look at how many other websites link to you online.

This isn’t about the quantity of links, but the quality of the links. So, you want to be sure to have links from all of the organizations that you belong to and if possible, from all of the charities that you participate in. These are the types of high-quality backlinks that Google is looking for.

Google is also going to look at a bunch of different online directories/citations and make sure that your name, address and phone number all match what is in your Google Business Profile and on your website.

If you’ve moved locations a few times, you may want to look into a tool like Yext to help you get that all straightened out. We also offer this service at our company.

Now, let’s move onto relevancy.

It used to be that the closer your company name was as seen in your Google Business Profile to the search terms that someone put in, the more likely it was that you would show in the 3-pack. However, companies started to game this system by naming themselves things like “Pittsburgh House Painters” in their Google Profiles. Once Google became aware of this issue, they replaced looking at the business name with looking at your reviews!

So, Google now wants to see detailed reviews about your company, and they will look at the keywords used within the reviews to determine the relevancy to a person’s search term.

For example, if someone in Oklahoma City was looking for someone to paint their living room, Google would probably expect words like “interior painting”, “painters”, and “OKC” to be in the review text.

So, what does this tell you?

You need to get reviews on a regular basis to establish the relevancy that Google wants to see.

Unfortunately, these can’t just be any reviews.

They need to be high-quality reviews that mention words that Google wants to see…which will help you get more free phone calls.

So, how do you accomplish this seemingly impossible task of putting words into people’s heads? 

You’re not a magician.

Well, when you ask for a review via text or email, we have found that it’s good to provide a nice basis for them, which helps avoid writer’s block and allows you to put ideas in their heads…kinda like Inception, but without Leonardo DiCaprio.

As an example, you could send the following email:

“Mrs. Smith – 

We hope that you found our service to be extraordinary.  If that is the case, we would love for you to leave us a review.

To help you get started (and avoid writer’s block), we have found that the most impactful reviews answer these questions:

  • What work did we do for you and where are you located?
  • Was it done well?
  • Why did you pick our company?
  • What was the best thing about working with our company?
  • Would you recommend us to family and friends?

Please click here and it will take you directly to our Google Review Page: [Link]

Thank you for choosing us and we really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.” 

By asking these questions, you help guide them to use the words and phrases that will make your reviews relevant to most searchers looking for companies like yours. In addition, they will leave reviews that look non-spammy and well thought out.

The other thing about reviews is that you need to get them regularly…and this is for a few reasons.

Reason 1 – Google wants to see recent reviews to help with relevance

Reason 2 – Prospects want to see recent reviews to help them make a decision

In fact, almost 50% of people won’t even consider a review relevant if it was written over one month ago.

So, you’ll need to create a system that helps you get reviews on a regular basis.  We have a whole video about this, which I’ll link to in the description.

As a bonus, you should respond to reviews to help increase your relevancy. In your response, it gives you a chance to mention the place you worked and what the job was. It also allows you to express your gratitude to the person that took the time to leave you a review.

So, in summation, ranking in the 3-pack requires 3 things:

  • Proximity
  • Prominence
  • Relevance

Because you can’t change the first one, be sure to concentrate on the second two to have the best profile possible and get more phone calls than your competition.

If you have any questions about the topic discussed in this article, or if you need help with ranking in the Google 3-pack, contact IFTS at 412-715-6266 or email Stacey Ivol at si@iftsdesign.com.