Today we will go over the different metrics you can use to track the success of your Internet marketing programs.

If you're new to web marketing, there is one key thing you need to know: tracking is everything. Internet marketing offers you an inexpensive way to effectively promote your business

if you know what metrics to use, which will highly depend on your campaign's goal. Read along to discover more about CPM, CPC, CPL, CPA, CTR and conversion rates.

Cost Per Mille (CPM)

Cost per thousand impressions. Mostly used when discussing display advertising, CPM relates to the number of times your ad will be displayed (or "impressed") in the website where you purchased the advertising space.

It isn't easy to calculate an average CPM, as it widely depends on the format of your ad (banner vs text-based) and the industry you're in. According to Tig Tillinghast from ClickZ, the average CPM, as negotiated and presented to the client, is approximately $11.

An interesting industry development is that recent studies show text-based CPM ads often receive more attention that traditional banner ads. An article on AllBusiness.com goes on to say "the average view time for a text-based ad averaged 7 seconds, while a graphical ad only averaged 1.6 seconds."

If you're using CPM as your metric of choice, keep in mind that the number of times your ad shows up in the website is not necessarily the frequency which your ad will be viewed by your audience.

Negotiate your ad space in the website to ensure you won't get stuck with a banner at the end of the page. You can ask your advertising provider to show you a click or site overlay map of the webpage you're considering for your ad, which will show you where users click the most.

Cost per click (CPC)

Cost per each click on your ad. This metric is typically used for display advertising. The advertising provider should be able to supply you this number.

See the full article at http://www.kiwano.ca/how-to-measure-online-marketing-success/

Sofia Ribeiro
Member of ADVBOUCLE's Marketing Consultants Network