10 Recommendations For Your #SummerLearningList to Help You Track and Monetize Your Data Science Web Page or Blog

If you are like me, you’ve been stuck indoors working on data analytics projects for the long winter that never really turned into spring, and now, summer is threatening not to come on time. Even with climate change, the weather analytics people tell me to hold on just a few more weeks, so I write this optimistic post!

After being chained to either SAS, SQL, or R for the last how many months, it’s refreshing to say that I have hit “submit” recently and several completed deliverables, and now need to heal my carpal arms by turning my attention to something different (and hopefully more lucrative): promoting my online stuff.

So if you continue to see your story in mine, you will like my #SummerLearningList from LinkedIn Learning below. Now that statistically pornographic R plots are plastered throughout my web page alongside scandalously interesting study results from public health research (complete with graphic videos), it’s a shame if no sees them. Hence, time for analytics – this time on my own web page and blog.

If I get through this list (and you can follow along with me), I’ll be able to do that following:

• Get Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager up and running on my WordPress site and blog
• Effectively learn how to use WordPress analytics through a plugin on my site
• Learn how to leverage what I learn from the analytics to promote items sold on my site through placing advertisements through Google AdWords and YouTube
• Earn money from advertising on Google AdSense
• Monetize the tutorial videos I post on YouTube, and
• Watch them on the wall of my apartment!

Yes, I really mean that about watching YouTube on my apartment wall when I’m done with this list. Follow the list and you’ll be able to do it, too! Here it is:

Recommendations 1, 2 and 3: Get good at Google Analytics!

My company’s web presence is a WordPress site (that I do not update as often as you should) which is hooked up to a blog that reveals to the world that I apparently am aware of the “worst practices” when it comes to timing of blog posts (i.e., a spurt of posts at random intervals with months and even years in-between). I decided I might be more inspired to update my blog if I thought someone was actually reading it, so this summer, it’s time to study Google Analytics (GA).

1. Google Analytics Essential Training

GA has a lot of tools in it, so starting with Corey Koberg’s “essential training” course is a good idea, even if you have already set up GA on your site (although if you haven’t, you’ll learn how in this course). It explains a lot of the details behind what you are seeing in the GA dashboard, how to filter and segment data, and how to work with the different reports in GA.

2. Advanced Google Analytics

Once you have the essentials down, join Adriaan Brits for advanced training in GA. Now that you know your way around the dashboard, and all the GA terminology, Adriaan can show you how to customize your reports and really leverage your dashboard for giving you actionable information about your web site. With the guidance of this course, you can interpret what users are doing as they navigate your site, and ways you might make it easier for users to engage in desirable behaviors on your site.

3. Learning Google Tag Manager (GTM)

This one is also by Corey Koberg. Although I have managed to set up GA on my WordPress site, I recently realized part of why I really wasn’t getting much out of my GA dashboard is that the types of activities happening on my site (such as clicking on certain things, or buying things) were not being visualized on the GA dashboard. That’s how I realized you need to configure GTM to “tag” those things you want to track, or they won’t show up in your GA dashboard. Hopefully, by the end of the summery, I’ll get through all of Corey’s lessons so that my web site is tagged perfectly!

Recommendation 4: Leverage WordPress with your Google Analytics!

I have a WordPress web site, so I’m particularly interested in this.

4. WordPress Plugins: Analytics

GA has ways to interface with different web page apps, and WordPress (WP) is one of them. In the course, Patrick Rauland walks you through using different WP plugins to help you visualize analytics about your WP page and blog. Since my web site and blog is in WP, I definitely will be able to benefit from seeing analytics information about my site in the WP dashboard as is demonstrated in this course.

Recommendations 5 and 6: …Now Advertise with Google AdWords…

If I can get through all of that analytics setup on my web page and blog, then I’ll have some basic ideas of how I want to market my web page. As we all know, you need a baseline before you decide what sort of actions you need to do, and once my analytics are up and running, I can better choose who to target and how to target them. But if I want to use ads on Google as part of my targeting strategy, I’ll have to learn Google AdWords.

5. Google Ads (AdWords) Essential Training

and

6. Advanced Google Ads (AdWords)

First, I’ll go through the essential training by Brad Batesole. In AdWords, you have to create ads, then target them using keywords. Brad will show you how to do all of that, then also show you how to look at how well your campaigns are working, and how you can troubleshoot and optimize your campaigns. I really need this training, because I want to get the best value for the ads I place on AdWords.

Then I’ll tackle the advanced AdWords course by Adriaan Brits, the same author of the advanced GA course. This is where you really can get into “tuning” AdWords – improving your keywords, leveraging market segmentation, ensuring optimal functionality on mobile platforms, video advertising, and automation. My goal is to take the essential course immediately so I can get good at AdWords at the beginning of the summer, then as the summer passes, work on getting through the advanced course, and trying to optimize my implementation. 

Recommendations 7 and 8: …And Promote Yourself and Make Money on YouTube!

Then, I will turn to YouTube for advertising, marketing and monetizing.

7. Advertising on YouTube

First, I’m going to take the course “Advertising on YouTube” by Anson Alexander. I’ve never advertised anything on YouTube before – but I’ve watched plenty of ads on YouTube, so I am curious as to how they got there. Anson takes you behind-the-scenes, showing you how YouTube ads work, and coaching you to create great ads and an effective campaign.

8. Marketing and Monetizing on YouTube

After that, I’ll take another course by Anson titled “Marketing and Monetizing on YouTube”. This course takes it to the next level with showing you how to brand your YouTube channel and cultivate an audience. I really need to be doing that, because I already have an audience that is probably bored with what’s there and wants something new. The course also shows you how to optimize your channel for SEO and leverage YouTube Analytics.

Recommendation 9: Now Make Money on your Blog with AdSense!

My blog is up, and my faithful audience tells me it’s minimally interesting, but I don’t make any money on it because I don’t have any ads. What a waste! I should be using Google AdSense, but I tried to set it up on my own and couldn’t figure it out. 

9. Learning Google AdSense

That’s why I’m going cap off my Anson Alexander trilogy with his course on “Learning Google AdSense”. I got stuck on configuring and placing ads when I tried to figure AdSense out myself, and Anson goes over this in this course. He also helps you customize and optimize your ads guided by analytics – which is great, because then you can make the most money possible.

Recommendation 10: Now Make a DIY Smart Phone Projector and Watch Your New YouTube Ads on the Wall!

This projector is so sexy! This video is on YouTube – not LinkedIn Learning - but the demonstrator is so good, you’ll think it’s LinkedIn Learning!

Monika M. Wahi, MPH, CPH is an epidemiologist, data scientist, and an author on LinkedIn Learning. Is analyzing big data on your list for summer activities? If so, check out Monika’s courses on LinkedIn Learning on big data and healthcare analytics!