Did you ever wonder why some TV advertisers use website addresses like www.MyDomain.com/V27? The answer is simple: They're spending their money wisely.

Advertisers want to track how well their advertising dollars are working. The best way to do that is to know which visitors to their website came from which ad. The code you see could be a different ad, a different time of day or even a different geographic location. It all depends on what the advertiser is after.

"But Jim," you argue. "Won't people just type the domain name and skip the extra stuff?" Yeh, maybe, but aren't you curious to see if what's on that page is the same as what's on the home page? The reality is that most people will type the extended URL, especially if you give them an incentive like "to see more special deals visit..."

You don't need to be a big-name advertiser to do this. Every advertisement you put out - even fliers dropped on somebody's doorstep - should include an address to let you track visitors to your site. If you're using Google analytics properly, you can learn a lot about your advertising by tracking these people as they move through your site.

Of course, you'll need a special landing page for this special address, but that's a small price to pay considering the high price of print, radio and TV advertising. You'll learn very quickly what advertising works and what doesn't.