Getting the highest possible return on investment for your marketing campaigns is one of the keys to success for an SME. Many small businesses simply don't have the capital to throw money away on marginally profitable campaigns, and one big mistake could mean the end of your business dreams. Luckily, the internet is not just about email and websites - it also offers an unparalleled ability to track your ROI both online and offline. Here's how.

Tracking online orders from online advertisements

Internet advertising gives you the ability to track which visitors came from online advertising and what actions they performed on your website. From this information, you can determine your average profit per visitor and compare it to the ad spend from each type of ad to determine if you are making a profit. Three ways of tracking online visitors who come to your site from online ads are:

• Referrers: Your website server automatically tracks which website your visitors arrive from, giving you a broad idea of which advertising campaign sent them to you
• Link Parameters: You can add special identifying parameters to your web address which tells you exactly which link a visitor clicked to arrive at your site
• Tracking Cookies: You can store a small text file on your visitors' computers which tracks where they came from. These can stay active for weeks, giving you a better idea of how well your ads worked

Tracking online orders from offline advertisements

The next question is how to monitor profits if you are driving people to your site through television, radio, and other offline ads where there are no links to follow.

Some ideas to track ROI from offline ads include: