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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 

Top 5 Tips for Turning Your YouTube Podcast Video into Two Weeks of Social Media Posts

It can be a struggle to come up with fresh ideas for your social media campaigns, but if you have a great podcast that you’re passionate about, why not use your discussions and turn them into social media content?

With a little bit of work, you can easily turn your podcast into two weeks of social media posts that will help you grow your audience and build your brand.

In this blog, we’ll give you tips on how to turn your audio into text and graphic posts, and even short video clips for sites like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ll also tell you how to promote your videos so that more people watch them.

So if you’re ready to learn how to turn your podcast into social media gold, read on!

#1-Make a daily plan for the next two weeks for your social media.

Having an outline of the types of posts you want to share each day and the format you want to use, such as text, image, video, or a combination of the three, is helpful.

For example,

Monday: Upload your podcast video to YouTube (we talked about how to do this in our last blog) and share the link on your other social media sites.

Tuesday: Take a fun fact or quote and turn it into text with a picture that goes with it.

Wednesday: Post a short clip from the whole video.

Thursday: Find an inspirational quote and make a graphic related to your topic.

Friday: Create a blog link post.

Saturday: Post a fun fact or a funny clip.

Sunday: Reminder to check out the Youtube video.

Week 2

Monday: Combine text and a visual image using another useful fact or statistic from your podcast.

Tuesday: Make another inspirational quote post.

Wednesday: Create a list post or promote free consultations, subscriptions, newsletters, or other lead magnets.

Thursday: Provide another guest quote or topic quote, either in the form of a short video clip or an image and text post.

Friday: Post a reminder to check out your podcast with a link included.

Saturday: Share interesting facts or comparisons as an infographic.

Sunday: Show a screenshot of the podcast video or image with a teaser that says “keep tuned for our upcoming episode.” 

#2-Pull out the most interesting parts of your podcast to create your social media posts.

You can do this the old fashioned way by listening to your audio and writing down at least 8 to 10 points you’d like to highlight, or you can easily transcribe your entire podcast with apps like otter.ai, which saves the entire text from your audio, making it easy to read over and copy all of the quotes and information you’ll use when making your daily posts.

#3-Create your text and graphic posts.

Let’s dive in!

Feel free to be as creative as you’d like, but we like to follow these simple rules.

  • Get the reader’s attention with a topic line that stands out.
  • Explain why this content is important to them.
  • Tell them what they will learn.
  • Tell them how to listen to the episode.

Remember to add colors, your logo, and a font style consistent with your brand’s personality and the topic you’re covering.

Using photos, art, and other graphics can give your social posts a unique touch and help you get the attention of your audience.

It may take a little longer in the beginning to create posts from scratch, but once you have a theme, it will take less time in the future.

There are many design apps out there with free-to-use features, and one of the easiest and most intuitive to work with is Canva. With pre-made graphic templates you can change for your specific needs and a way to save all of your creations, you don’t have to worry about starting with a completely blank slate the next time.

#4-Create your video posts.

Creating video clips and posts of your podcast episodes is a great way to repurpose your content and get more bang for your buck.

You can share two types of video: an actual video clip, if your podcast story or interview is videotaped, or an audio clip transformed into video format (mp3 to mp4), which is a lot easier than it sounds.

Read on to learn how to convert audio files to YouTube-friendly videos:

  • Go to Headliner.app or Canva.com and register for free.
  • Click “create audiograms” or choose one of the many video templates on Canva.
  • Upload your podcast audio, or you can upload a video file of your episode if using Canva.
  • Choose the length of video you will create, or for more advanced options, Canva allows you to cut your video and save it as a new project where you can add custom graphics and elements, including page animations, transitions, and background music!
  • Headliner allows you to Include transcription, but only up to 10 minutes in length. In Canva, you can add text to each frame of your video, which is time consuming for an hour long podcast, so save that for shorter clips. As we covered in our last blog, Youtube allows you to add subtitles automatically and is by far the easiest way to add captions to an entire podcast video.
  • Follow these steps to design, and your video clips will be ready to share on social media.

If you’re posting just audio, try to keep it under one minute, and remember, sites like Instagram only allow video posts that are one minute or less.

And make sure you include a great opening line, so that listeners will want to hear more!

#5-Plan and schedule your posts.

The last step is to publish your content. You can do this manually, but if you use lots of different social media platforms, use an automatic scheduling program like socialpilot.co, which will allow you to plan multiple posts in advance.

These sites often provide analytics which tell you how your posts are performing on each platform. Be sure to try it out and don’t worry about being perfect!

Finally, be sure to include links to subscribe to your podcast on iTunes or other sites and add relevant hashtags so that people can easily find and follow you. And remember to promote your videos by sharing with your friends and followers and encouraging everyone to share them, too.

You can also use paid advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to boost your videos. When creating your ads, be sure to target people who are likely to be interested in your content. For example, if your podcast is about business, target people who work in businesses or are interested in entrepreneurship.

By following these steps, you can easily turn your podcast into two weeks of social media content. 

So what are you waiting for? 

Start creating and promoting your videos today!

Need some help in this area? Call our social media experts at IFTS and learn more about our services at 412-715-6266.

Local SEO For Painting Companies – Let’s Make You A Local Celebrity

SEO in general tries to make a business more visible to a particular demographic, but local SEO takes this a step further. Local SEO can bring people to websites and stores by focusing on customers and prospects in a small area, specifically your area. By improving your local SEO, you can get an edge over your competitors.

Because painting businesses have a set area that they serve, local SEO should be an important piece of your marketing plan.

To create an effective local campaign, you’ll need to implement the following strategies:

  • Business listings in directories that are common to other businesses your area
  • Geo-targeted optimization of online properties like your website, social media pages etc.
  • Content marketing with assorted location mentions
  • Backlinks from local businesses or organizations
  • User reviews

It’s quite a few pieces to put together, so let’s break each strategy down.

Part 1 – Get Your Painting Company Included In The Most Important Business Listings

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is by far the most popular business listing to claim.  However, there are many more that you should consider.  We always encourage our clients to claim and verify listings from:

  • Google Business Profile [add logo]
  • Bing [add logo]
  • Yelp [add logo]
  • Yahoo Local [add logo]
  • YP [add logo]

We recommend claiming and verifying your Google Business Profile first.  This is because you can use it to claim and verify your Bing profile within minutes.

If this sounds like too much to manage yourself, there are listings services that will help you claim, verify and manage up to 100 listings for a monthly fee.

Part 2 – Geo-targeted Optimization Of Your House Painting Website For Local Audiences

Local SEO uses the same parts as traditional SEO, but it also needs a few aspects that are more specific:

Business Hours and Contact Information

Visitors to local company websites generally start with information found in these places: search engines, listings or directories, and customers themselves. Every page of a company’s website should include its operation hours and contact information, such as its physical location and phone number.

Hyper Local Keywords

Title tags, meta descriptions, image alt tags and general website content should all include keywords and phrases that refer to the business’s location. To generate local leads, you may not be able to simply target a city or state. Increasing the number of clients that come through your door may be as simple as becoming hyper-local by focusing on even more narrowly defined subgroups within your community.

Our search engine optimization (SEO) experts use this information to select better geo-targeted keywords.

Implementation Hint – Create a list of your best clients and divide them by neighborhood.  Use the most popular neighborhoods to run hyper specific ads to.  

As an example, if your business is in the Houston area, but your best clients are located in Katy, TX, run an ad that starts “Hi Katy, TX, are you looking for a professional painting company?” or something similar.

You could also create an ad that has you in it by a well-known landmark in the area, such as a statue, restaurant or park.  People will immediately recognize the fact that you are in their area.

Part 3 – How To Target Your Local Audience Using Content Marketing

Marketing for local campaigns involves the same level of inventiveness and quality as other SEO campaigns, but there must be a greater emphasis on calls to action as well as issues relevant to your company’s area.

Some easy ways to do this are:

Feature Local Topics

When creating content for your blog or social media, we recommend writing information related to your business and where you are.

A good example of this for a house painting company located in Colorado would be “Why July is the best month to protect the exterior of your Denver house with a new paint job”.

Writing about local trends or even laws in your area that are related to your business is a good way to show that you are a reliable source of information.

Create Advocates For Your Brand

When you create content online, don’t just promote your products and services.  In fact, for every article you have about a product or service, you should have FOUR other articles with helpful information for your target market.

This will help build consumer loyalty and create advocates for your house painting business.  Great, helpful articles and posts make it easy for your customers to spread the news about your company by sharing your content on social media sites.

Authenticate Your Business Identity

Make sure your website’s local content is properly indexed by search engines using schema markup.

These include: a map schema; product information schemas; logos and images; and local business information (such as phone number, address, and name).

Part 4 – The Importance Of Building Quality Citations For Your Painting Business

There are several factors that go into a successful SEO campaign, including backlinks and citations. A citation is a mention of a brand on a third-party website by a customer or a business. These references of a company’s name play an important role in local search results.

Some of the most important and effective citations are listed here:

Social or Blog Content

A smart strategy to get citations is to encourage local celebrities, brand advocates and local influencers to write about you on their blogs and social media accounts.

Business Listings

Citations are listings in directories, local networks, and review sites. You may increase the number of citations you have by managing these listings and encouraging clients to post links to your painting business’ content.

Guest Posts or Magazine Articles

One of the best ways to get your name out there is to have other people write about your business for an online magazine.  Alternatively, you could post your own articles or press releases in local news publications.

 

IFTS’ local SEO packages include citation building and link development services.  These aid in getting your painting company’s name mentioned in social media, online publications, and more.

Part 5 – Customer Reviews Are Key For ANY Business

There should be more unique content than just your business name, address, and phone number on all of your social media profiles. Customer reviews are the best place to find this text.

Publishing press announcements about new listings, linking to your social media sites and company listings on your website, and engaging your consumers through online content can all encourage people to express their opinions.

Just remember, customers are more likely to provide favorable evaluations if they receive excellent service and high-quality products!

Need help getting reviews?

Implementation Hint – Create an automated system for asking for reviews or invest in software that does this, like ReviewLead.  Once you get the reviews, be sure to reply to them using keywords and locations to help your local SEO even more.

Want someone to take care of this for you?  IFTS offers packages specifically for painting companies that takes care of all of your marketing (and then some).  Give us a call to get started with your free “Online Presence Audit” – 412.715.6266