Web Analytics to give you an “Insightful” Advantage 

Corporate companies spend millions on research to gain the slightest advantage over their competitors.  Considering this fact, is it possible for a startup or business with a modest marketing budget to gain a competitive advantage in a similar way? 

Yes, it is.  With Google Insights for Search it is now possible to make decisions based on consumer interest.  Insights for Search is an extremely helpful tool for anybody that offers a consumer product or service. 

Insights for Search can help you gauge interest in search terms, determine seasonality and geographical interest. The introduction from Google, below, uses a car manufacturer as example:

By using Insights for Search, the manufacturer can easily make a decision on prioritizing features for different geographical markets. 

Insights can also be used to determine seasonality.  Have a look at the image below. A car rental business owner can determine when interest in car rentals peaks and then plan marketing budgets accordingly. 

In this case there has been a consistent decline in May and an increase in December over the past three years. 

Insights for Search also provides regional data that will allow the car rental business owner to determine which areas show the most interest in car rentals.  This information opens up opportunities for expanding his business or to focus on areas that would provide the best ROI for him.

Together with Google Analytics, Insights has become an integral tool for me to conduct research when launching a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.  I have covered the basic capabilities of the application and would recommend that you try it for yourself to see how it could benefit your business, without breaking the bank.