conversion tracking confusion

[pagetta]

I want to start tracking our conversions in adwords, but am confused as to where to place the tracking script. For us a conversion would be a lead, and a lead consists of the user clicking on a download link, filling in a short form, pressing submit and then a separate php page parses the code to open the relevant document they have chosen. We have about 300 possible downloads, and anyone of these could be classed as a conversion - plus they're PDFs so how would the tracking go on them?!

And advice appreciated thank you

[steve0]

Without asking a bunch of questions about the site...
Some simple ideas might include:
placing a snippet in the top of the landing page(s) that sets a cookie based on the referer (e.g. includes the google adword/keyword, query value.)

Then depending on your goal..
retrieve the cookie and append the value to the end of the url that take the visitor to the download page so it will be visible in the access logs
(parse the download pages from the log and run tools on the data)

or
capture the cookie value on the download page and insert it into a database..

Just an idea.. :)

[Janet]

Instead of having the PHP code automatically display the selected PDF, have it display a "thank you for your interest" page that includes the Adwords tracking code and a hyperlink to the selected PDF file. That way, one page covers all your tracking needs.

If you want to get extra clever, you could get the PHP program to write to a log file recording the PDF files that are being selected. It's nothing to do with Adwords tracking but it will allow you to see what topics attract the most interest and target your marketing acordingly. You may already be doing that but it's just an added suggestion.

[texxs]

Instead of having the PHP code automatically display the selected PDF, have it display a "thank you for your interest" page that includes the Adwords tracking code and a hyperlink to the selected PDF file. That way, one page covers all your tracking needs.

That's a way clever idea!

[kgun]

Write a

Class GoogleAdWordsTracking {

Variables:
Collect the AdWords id (URL) and put it in a (protected) variable.

Collect other (protected) variables of interest, eg URL to the PDF.

Variables that may return values from some of the class methods.

Methods:
Write the methods you need, like identifying the visitors bahaviour on your site, identifying when a valid conversion is fulfilled etc. Every conversion have to go via (use) an GoogleAdWordsTracking object (e.g. related to the PHP form). Collect properties in variables returned from the methods.

Database connection.
Connect to a database and (write methods to) put the variables (properties) in relevant fields (columns) of relevant tables. As an alternative, collect the properties in (a) multidimensional array(s).

Analysis / statistics.
Write methods to automize (statistical) analysis (SQL queries etc) on the properties you have collected. Write the necessary (statistical) functions, that is not already implemented in the language you use (C++, Java or PHP). If you use a database, you can automatize the presentation, that is, reporting methods from the GoogleAdWordsTracking class (objects).

Input from the previous posters.
The previous and subsequent posters ideas may give you additional information on relevant class properties and methods.

Hire a IT student.
If OOP is new to you, hire an IT student to do the job / project.

Conclusion.
If you do this thorougly, you may tap into your visitors behaviour and go beyond tracking AdWords conversion. That may be important for your company's digital branding / Advertising in the future. In a nutshell it is about collecting relevant information, properites (variables) and writing the necessary methods (functions / procedures). A class is nothing more than a template, container or pattern if you want for properties and methods. You may need more than one class (that may interact with each other).

This related post on OOP may give you additional input and relevant references.

[Conficio]

Ho about using Google to track Google

Go to Google Analytics and add the tracking script to all your pages. After that you can define your tracking goals in the application.

Not much special needs of analyzing your own logs.

Hope that was what you were looking for

K<o>

[kgun]

the possibility. I do not use Google analytics myself.

It should be reliable and it is definitely the simple solution.