A Breakthrough

 

This week I had a breakthrough! I had been struggling to get impressions and clicks from my Google Ad. I thought that I had set up my ad completely wrong. I felt super silly when I realized that my problem was that I had the dates set wrong. I was super grateful that it was such a simple fix!

Now that I have figured that part out, it is time to increase my clicks and make some conversions. To do that I have a few adjustments to make to my website. I plan to adjust the header on my site so that the header is not the only thing seen when you go to my page.

I also will be adjusting the way you can sign up for a class. I need to have an easy-to-use calendar. It is hard to see when classes are offered. These little tweaks to the site will make it more user friendly which in turn creates more conversions.

Creating and Running a Website

           This adventure of creating and running a website has really morphed over the course of just a few weeks. I began with a website that I built using a website builder. Thank you, website builders! I am still very confused about HTML coding. Now that this site has been live for a week or so, I am getting wonderful feedback from friends on how to adjust and improve what I am trying to accomplish. The site is built but still has a long way to go before it is effectively functional how I want it. The learning curve has been challenging. I know what I want the website to do, but I don’t know how to make it do that.

The requirements for my site and this class have been challenging for me as well. At first, I wanted to get the word out about my sewing classes and get enrollment. Then I realized that my schedule is already packed and I need to keep my enrollment down for the time being. So, I shifted my focus to my missionary pillowcases and my friend’s missionary quilts. They are already set up on Etsy and Big Cartel, so I figured getting traffic to them through my website would work for the assignment.

Not having clear focus on what my goals are, have made this very difficult. How the website is built changes with the goals. I will probably not make any money during the course of this class, but I have learned SO much!

Quality Score and Relevance

           Quality score is a tool that is provided to give you an idea of how your advertisements might perform. The thing that is important to remember when looking over the quality score of your advertisements is that it isn’t based on actual performance. I appreciate that there is guidance on this so that I know where improvements can be made.

Part of the quality score is relevance. Relevance can make or break your ad. Your keywords and phases need to be relevant to the product that you are promoting. Consumers will be using the internet to search for what they are interested in. My product happens to be what they are looking for, so my keywords and phrases need to be what they are entering into their search engine. My best way to do this is to think like the consumer. Pretend I am the one needing and searching for my product.

It was great to hear the perspectives of my classmates on this topic and learn from them.

Refocusing

 

This week was focused on fine tuning my Google ad. Last week I was feeling very confused about the headlines, descriptions, and extensions. I am still not sure how to designate the headlines.

               I think some of my confusion and struggles came from a lack of focus. Building a website to gain awareness about my classes is super exciting, but I have some fears. I am worried about keeping up with the interest that it could present. I haven’t even run an ad and I don’t seem to have time to keep up with the interest. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about building my business. But I still have four semesters of school left and a family to keep up with.

               I have settled a little bit and tried to focus my efforts, which results in focus toward my website and my ads. Ready or not, here we go! I ready for the adventure!

Ad Campaigns

           This week’s topics were based around running an ad campaign through Google Ads. I began to develop my ad campaign and it was very daunting. I didn’t know what many of the things they wanted meant. I will just say, I am very grateful that we didn’t have to run the campaign yet. It will allow me to tweak a few things to make it more effective. As it stands, I look like I don’t know what I am doing (and I really don’t).

The discussion around key words was very interesting. It is important to get your keywords correct. They are what bring people to your site and bring awareness of your brand. As I build my business, I am seeing how these keywords are like word-of-mouth advertising. I have appreciated learning how to use Google’s Keyword planner. It comes up with things that I would never have thought to use as well as information regarding how often people search for specific keywords. This information is invaluable as I am fine tuning my Google Ads Campaign.

And Back to Overwhelmed

    Legal structures, licenses, taxes and websites. It is all swirling in my head and I haven't had time to sort it all out. I do feel like I am a step ahead as I have already procured a business license for my local city. In my research, to establish credibility for banking purposes, I need to file for a "doing business as" name. I was unable to secure a "business" checking account because I don't have a DBA. So, my checking account for my business is a personal account and I must make sure that I keep my personal finances and my business finances separate. Filing for a DBA is now on the to-do list.

    Building my website has been fun and challenging. I have never done something like this before so when I come across something that I am unsure of I get stuck and frustrated. For instance, I was feeling good about how the site was coming together…then I tested the preview. When I book a class, I haven’t been able to figure out how to modify the page it takes you to. The colors are all wrong and you can’t read the text. I am sure I will figure it out, but in the meantime I need to do some more research.

Overwhelmed Turns to Excitement

     This week was very beneficial for me. I was able to visualize how to I am going to build a website for my teaching business. Seeing some examples of websites that meet the requirements for the class was the best help for me. Jumping in and exploring some of the templates that are available made it that much clearer. Where I was feeling so overwhelmed by the whole process (the hosting and site builder is still confusing to me), I am beginning to feel excitement.

    I started teaching a new set of beginning students this morning. It was so much fun! That, combined with the new confidence I am feeling, is a wonderful push for this website to be successful and provide communication to my students and their parents (most of my sewing students are kids).

    I still have a lot to learn and work on to make this a successful venture, but I am excited to see where this journey takes me.