Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Google fun facts!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/google-search-facts_n_4697542.html?ir=Chicago
Monday, May 7, 2012
Grow Your Business Online
Building off of the successful book “The DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual“, Ric Dragon and Josepf Haslam have developed a comprehensive Grow Your Business Online Infographic to guide businesses on how to grow their business online. You will find a link to the PDF version here: http://www.dragonsearchmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Grow-your-Business-Online-by-DragonSearch.pdf
Friday, April 27, 2012
SEO 101: The Basics
SEO is the active practice of optimizing a web site by
improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the
site receives from search engines.
SEO results are sometimes referred to as “organic,” “natural”
or even “free.” These all describe a search that returns results based on
content and keyword relevancy. This is in contrast to paid listings which
typically appear at the top.
To appear on page 1 of Google or other search engine results
page for any specific search term, the search engine must see your site as
among the 10 pages most relevant to the topic, most authoritative and most
current as well. To establish relevance your site copy must be focused clearly
and specifically on the specific search terms used.
The content of a web page is very important from the SEO
perspective. The search engines use a lot of techniques to judge a web page,
its title, content, and keywords, and check them all to determine if they are
relevant to the page’s theme.
A search engine “spider” is a software program that is used
to find out what’s on the web. Each word of a site is processed and indexed. When a user enters
a query, machines search the index for matching pages and return the results they
believe are the most relevant to the user.
Relevancy is determined by over 200 factors, one of which is
the Page Rank or the importance of a page based on the incoming links. To
establish authority other relevant sites must link to yours.
A search marketing and SEO strategy must include:
- On Page optimization – Make it easier for search engines to find, understand, and index your site and once there, to find quality, relevant content. On-Page SEO includes: Keywords, Body content/copy, Title, Alt & Meta tags, Embedded video, URL age & structure.
- Off Page optimization – Build authority by increasing the number of quality and relevant sites that link back to yours. Off-Page SEO includes: Site popularity/authority, Inbound links, Press releases,/articles, Local listings & maps.
With Yellowbook’s Presence Elite packages your clients
campaign will address both on-page and off-page efforts to build relevancy and
authority. Over 93% of our Presence Elite customers appear on page 1 within the
first 90 days.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Google has continued to experiment with improving it's ad sitelinks, which give users more options and deliver advertisers more clicks. Sitelinks offers the ability to display up to six links to specific pages on a website within your sponsored ad. As Google explains, the sitelink appear on searches for unique brand terms and top-ranked ads with high quality scores.
Recently they announced it's newest improvements to ad sitelinks. It works by incorporating related text from ads into your sitelinks. Google says the click through rate (CTR) is 30 percent higher for ads with sitelinks than those without. The following shows an examples of a pizza restaurant campaign before and after the enhancements..
Your previous ad would display sitelinks like this:
If your account included text ads the display would appear like this:
The ad with improved sitelinks would display like this:
Contact me to find out more about using ads with enhanced sitelinks, making them more relevant and useful to searchers and how this could significantly improve your click through rates.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Search Engine Marketing Glossary
If you’re like many people, you have probably heard many terms used when talking about internet marketing strategy, but you’re never quite sure exactly what they mean. While it’s not necessarily important to understand every little thing about SEM, it could prove beneficial to at least have a basic understanding of the terminology so that you can make an informed decision about what your business needs and how to best go about hiring someone to handle the different aspects of your marketing strategy.
A/B Testing– A/B testing, at its simplest, is randomly showing a visitor one version of a page – (A) version or (B) version – and tracking the changes in behavior based on which version they saw. (A) version is normally your existing design ("control” in statistics lingo); and (B) version is the "challenger” with one copy or design element changed. In a "50/50 A/B split test,” you’re flipping a coin to decide which version of a page to show. A classic example would be comparing conversions resulting from serving either version (A) or (B), where the versions display different headlines. A/B tests are commonly applied to clicked-on ad copy and landing page copy or designs to determine which version drives the more desired result.
Ad Copy– The main text of a clickable search or context-served ad. It usually makes up the second and third lines of a displayed ad, between the Ad Title and the Display URL.
Ad Title– The first line of text displayed in a clickable search or context-served ad. Ad Titles serve as ad headlines.
Algorithm– A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank listings in response to a query. Search engines guard their algorithms closely, as they are the unique formulas used to determine relevancy. Algorithms are sometimes referred to as the ”secret sauce.”
Anchor Text- Words used to link to a page, known as anchor text are an important signal to search engines to determine a page’s relevance.
Bid– The maximum amount of money that an advertiser is willing to pay each time a searcher clicks on an ad. Bid prices can vary widely depending on competition from other advertisers and keyword popularity.
Brand Messaging– Creative messaging that presents and maintains a consistent corporate image across all media channels, including search.
Brand Reputation- The position a company brand occupies.
CPC– Acronym for Cost Per Click, or the amount search engines charge advertisers for every click that sends a searcher to the advertiser’s web site. For an advertiser, CPC is the total cost for each click-through received when its ad is clicked on.
Click Through -When a user clicks on a hypertext link and is taken to the destination of that link
Click Through Rate– The percentage of those clicking on a link out of the total number who see the link. For example, imagine 10 people do a web search. In response, they see links to a variety of web pages. Three of the 10 people all choose one particular link. That link then has a 30 percent click-through rate. Also called CTR
Competitive Analysis– As used in SEO, CA is the assessment and analysis of strengths and weaknesses of competing web sites, including identifying traffic patterns, major traffic sources, and keyword selection.
Conversion Action– The desired action you want a visitor to take on your site. Includes purchase, subscription to the company newsletter, request for follow-up or more information (lead generation), download of a company free offer (research results, a video or a tool), subscription to company updates and new
Crawler: Also known as abotandspider, a crawler is a program that search engines use to seek out information on the web. The act of "crawling” on a web site is referred to when the crawler begins to search through documents contained within the web site.
Description Tag -Refers to the information contained in the description META tag. This tag is meant to hold the brief description of the web page it is included on. The information contained in this tag is generally the description displayed immediately after the main link on many search engine result pages.
Dynamic Landing Pages– Dynamic landing pages are web pages to which click-through searchers are sent that generate changeable (not static) pages with content specifically relevant to the keyword search.
Ecommerce -Conducting commercial transactions on the internet where goods, information or services are bought and sold.
Entry Page –Refers to any page within a web site that a user employs to "enter” your web site. Also seeLanding Page.
Flash –"Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich internet applications.”
Frames- HTML technique that allows two or more pages to display in one browser window. Many search engines had trouble indexing web sites that used frames, generally only seeing the contents of a single frame.
Geo-Targeting– The geographic location of the searcher. Geo-targeting allows you to specify where your ads will or won’t be shown based on the searcher’s location, enabling more localized and personalized results.
Hidden text --(Also known asInvisible text.) Text that is visible to the search engines but hidden to a user. It is traditionally accomplished by coloring a block of HTML text the same color as the background color of the page. More creative methods have also been employed to create the same effect while making it more difficult for the search engines to detect or filter it. It is primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize or ignore URLs from web sites that use this practice.
Impression– One view or display of an ad. Ad reports list total impressions per ad, which tells you the number of times your ad was served by the search engine when searchers entered your keywords (or viewed a content page containing your keywords).
JavaScript– JavaScript is a scripting language based on prototype-based programming. It is used on a web site as client-side JavaScript, and also to enable scripting access to objects in other applications.
Keyword -A single word that relates to a specific subject or topic. For example, "glossary” would be a keyword for this document.
Keyword Stuffing– Generally refers to the act of adding an inordinate number of keyword terms into the HTML or tags of a web page.
Keyword Tag- Refers to the META keywords tag within a web page. This tag is meant to hold approximately 8 – 10 keywords or keyword phrases, separated by commas.
Landing Page / Destination Page– The web page at which a searcher arrives after clicking on an ad. When creating a PPC ad, the advertiser displays a URL (and specifies the exact page URL in the code) on which the searcher will land after clicking on an ad in the SERP. Landing pages are also known as "where the deal is closed,” as it is landing page actions that determine an advertiser’s conversion rate success.
Metrics- A system of measures that helps to quantify particular characteristics. In SEO the following are some important metrics to measure: overall traffic, search engine traffic, conversions, top traffic-driving keywords, top conversion-driving keywords, keyword rankings, etc.
Negative Keywords– Filtered-out keywords to prevent ad serves on them in order to avoid irrelevant click-through charges on, for example, products that you do not sell, or to refine and narrow the targeting of your Ad Group’s keywords. Microsoft adCenter calls them "excluded keywords." Formatting negative keywords varies by search engine; but they are usually designated with a minus sign.
Organic Results– Listings on SERPs that were not paid for; listings for which search engines do not sell space. Sites appear in organic (also called "natural”) results because a search engine has applied formulas (algorithms) to its search crawler index, combined with editorial decisions and content weighting, that it deems important enough inclusion without payment.
PageRank (PR)– PR is the Google technology developed at Stanford University for placing importance on pages and web sites. At one point, PageRank (PR) was a major factor in rankings. Today it is one of hundreds of factors in the algorithm that determines a page’s rankings.
Position– In PPC advertising, position is the placement on a search engine results page where your ad appears relative to other paid ads and to organic search results. Top ranking paid ads (high ranking 10 to 15 results, depending on the engine) usually appear at the top of the SERP and on the "right rail” (right-side column of the page). Ads appearing in the top three paid-ad or Sponsored Ad slots are known as Premium Positions. Paid search ad position is determined by confidential algorithms and Quality Score measures specific to each search engine. However, factors in the engines’ position placement under some advertiser control include bid price, the ad’s CTR, relevancy of your ad to searcher requests, relevance of your click-through landing page to the search request, and quality measures search engines calculate to ensure quality user experience.
PPCAdvertising– Acronym for Pay-Per-Click Advertising, a model of online advertising in which advertisers pay only for each click on their ads that directs searchers to a specified landing page on the advertiser’s web site. PPC ads may get thousands of impressions (views or serves of the ad); but, unlike more traditional ad models billed on a CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand-Impressions) basis, PPC advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked on. Charges per ad click-through are based on advertiser bids in hybrid ad space auctions and are influenced by competitor bids, competition for keywords and search engines’ proprietary quality measures of advertiser ad and landing page content.
PPC Management– The monitoring and maintenance of a Pay-Per-Click campaign or campaigns. This includes changing bid prices, expanding and refining keyword lists, editing ad copy, testing campaign components for cost effectiveness and successful conversions, and reviewing performance reports for reports to management and clients, as well as results to feed into future PPC campaign operations.
QualityScore– A number assigned by Google to paid ads in a hybrid auction that, together with maximum CPC, determines each ad’s rank and SERP position. Quality Scores reflect an ad’s historical CTR, keyword relevance, landing page relevance, and other factors proprietary to Google. Yahoo! refers to the Quality Score as a Quality Index. And both Google and Yahoo! display 3- or 5-step indicators of quality evaluations for individual advertisers.
Query– The keyword or keyword phrase a searcher enters into a search field, which initiates a search and results in a SERP with organic and paid listings.
ROI– Acronym for Return On Investment, the amount of money you make on your ads compared to the amount of money you spend on your ads. For example, if you spend $100 on PPC ads and make $150 from those ads, then your ROI would be 50%.
Rank– How well positioned a particular web page or web site appears in search engine results.
Relevance– In relation to PPC advertising, relevance is a measure of how closely your ad title, description, and keywords are related to the search query and the searcher’s expectations.
SEM– Acronym for "Search Engine Marketing.” A form of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). SEM methods include: search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, digital asset optimization, and paid inclusion. When this term is used to describe an individual, it stands for "Search Engine Marketer" or one who performs SEM.
SEO– Acronym for "Search Engine Optimization.” This is the process of editing a web site’s content and code in order to improve visibility within one or more search engines. When this term is used to describe an individual, it stands for "Search Engine Optimizer” or one who performs SEO.
Search Engines -A search engine is a database of many web pages. Most engines display the number of web pages they hold in their database at any given time. A search engine generally "ranks” or orders the results according to a set of parameters. These parameters (called algorithms) vary among search engines; they are always improving in order to identify spam as well as improve relevance
Search Query– The word or phrase a searcher types into a search field, which initiates search engine results page listings and PPC ad serves. In PPC advertising, the goal is to bid on keywords that closely match the search queries of the advertiser’s targets.
Targeting– Narrowly focusing ads and keywords to attract a specific, marketing-profiled searcher and potential customer. You can target to geographic locations (geo-targeting), by days of the week or time of day (dayparting), or by gender and age (demographic targeting). Targeting features vary by search engine.
Title Tag- An HTML tag appearing in the tag of a web page that contains the page title. The page title should be determined by the relevant contents of that specific web page. The contents of a title tag for a web page is generally displayed in a search engine result as a bold blue underlined hyperlink.
Traffic– Refers to the number of visitors a website receives. It can be determined by examination of web logs.
Unique Visitor– Identifies an actual web surfer (as opposed to a crawler) and is tracked by a unique identifiable quality (typically IP address). If a visitor comes to a web site and clicks on 100 links, it is still only counted as one unique visit.
Usability –This term refers to how "user friendly" a web site and its functions are. A site with good usability is a site that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for or to perform the action they desire. Bad usability is anything that causes confusion or problems for the user.
Verticals– A vertical is a specific business group or category, such as insurance, automotive or travel. Vertical search offers targeted search options and PPC opportunities to a specific business category.
Viral Marketing– Also calledviral advertising,viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness.
Algorithm– A set of rules that a search engine uses to rank listings in response to a query. Search engines guard their algorithms closely, as they are the unique formulas used to determine relevancy. Algorithms are sometimes referred to as the ”secret sauce.”
Anchor Text- Words used to link to a page, known as anchor text are an important signal to search engines to determine a page’s relevance.
Bid– The maximum amount of money that an advertiser is willing to pay each time a searcher clicks on an ad. Bid prices can vary widely depending on competition from other advertisers and keyword popularity.
Brand Messaging– Creative messaging that presents and maintains a consistent corporate image across all media channels, including search.
Brand Reputation- The position a company brand occupies.
CPC– Acronym for Cost Per Click, or the amount search engines charge advertisers for every click that sends a searcher to the advertiser’s web site. For an advertiser, CPC is the total cost for each click-through received when its ad is clicked on.
Click Through -When a user clicks on a hypertext link and is taken to the destination of that link
Click Through Rate– The percentage of those clicking on a link out of the total number who see the link. For example, imagine 10 people do a web search. In response, they see links to a variety of web pages. Three of the 10 people all choose one particular link. That link then has a 30 percent click-through rate. Also called CTR
Competitive Analysis– As used in SEO, CA is the assessment and analysis of strengths and weaknesses of competing web sites, including identifying traffic patterns, major traffic sources, and keyword selection.
Conversion Action– The desired action you want a visitor to take on your site. Includes purchase, subscription to the company newsletter, request for follow-up or more information (lead generation), download of a company free offer (research results, a video or a tool), subscription to company updates and new
Crawler: Also known as abotandspider, a crawler is a program that search engines use to seek out information on the web. The act of "crawling” on a web site is referred to when the crawler begins to search through documents contained within the web site.
Description Tag -Refers to the information contained in the description META tag. This tag is meant to hold the brief description of the web page it is included on. The information contained in this tag is generally the description displayed immediately after the main link on many search engine result pages.
Dynamic Landing Pages– Dynamic landing pages are web pages to which click-through searchers are sent that generate changeable (not static) pages with content specifically relevant to the keyword search.
Ecommerce -Conducting commercial transactions on the internet where goods, information or services are bought and sold.
Entry Page –Refers to any page within a web site that a user employs to "enter” your web site. Also seeLanding Page.
Flash –"Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich internet applications.”
Frames- HTML technique that allows two or more pages to display in one browser window. Many search engines had trouble indexing web sites that used frames, generally only seeing the contents of a single frame.
Geo-Targeting– The geographic location of the searcher. Geo-targeting allows you to specify where your ads will or won’t be shown based on the searcher’s location, enabling more localized and personalized results.
Hidden text --(Also known asInvisible text.) Text that is visible to the search engines but hidden to a user. It is traditionally accomplished by coloring a block of HTML text the same color as the background color of the page. More creative methods have also been employed to create the same effect while making it more difficult for the search engines to detect or filter it. It is primarily used for the purpose of including extra keywords in the page without distorting the aesthetics of the page. Most search engines penalize or ignore URLs from web sites that use this practice.
Impression– One view or display of an ad. Ad reports list total impressions per ad, which tells you the number of times your ad was served by the search engine when searchers entered your keywords (or viewed a content page containing your keywords).
JavaScript– JavaScript is a scripting language based on prototype-based programming. It is used on a web site as client-side JavaScript, and also to enable scripting access to objects in other applications.
Keyword -A single word that relates to a specific subject or topic. For example, "glossary” would be a keyword for this document.
Keyword Stuffing– Generally refers to the act of adding an inordinate number of keyword terms into the HTML or tags of a web page.
Keyword Tag- Refers to the META keywords tag within a web page. This tag is meant to hold approximately 8 – 10 keywords or keyword phrases, separated by commas.
Landing Page / Destination Page– The web page at which a searcher arrives after clicking on an ad. When creating a PPC ad, the advertiser displays a URL (and specifies the exact page URL in the code) on which the searcher will land after clicking on an ad in the SERP. Landing pages are also known as "where the deal is closed,” as it is landing page actions that determine an advertiser’s conversion rate success.
Metrics- A system of measures that helps to quantify particular characteristics. In SEO the following are some important metrics to measure: overall traffic, search engine traffic, conversions, top traffic-driving keywords, top conversion-driving keywords, keyword rankings, etc.
Negative Keywords– Filtered-out keywords to prevent ad serves on them in order to avoid irrelevant click-through charges on, for example, products that you do not sell, or to refine and narrow the targeting of your Ad Group’s keywords. Microsoft adCenter calls them "excluded keywords." Formatting negative keywords varies by search engine; but they are usually designated with a minus sign.
Organic Results– Listings on SERPs that were not paid for; listings for which search engines do not sell space. Sites appear in organic (also called "natural”) results because a search engine has applied formulas (algorithms) to its search crawler index, combined with editorial decisions and content weighting, that it deems important enough inclusion without payment.
PageRank (PR)– PR is the Google technology developed at Stanford University for placing importance on pages and web sites. At one point, PageRank (PR) was a major factor in rankings. Today it is one of hundreds of factors in the algorithm that determines a page’s rankings.
Position– In PPC advertising, position is the placement on a search engine results page where your ad appears relative to other paid ads and to organic search results. Top ranking paid ads (high ranking 10 to 15 results, depending on the engine) usually appear at the top of the SERP and on the "right rail” (right-side column of the page). Ads appearing in the top three paid-ad or Sponsored Ad slots are known as Premium Positions. Paid search ad position is determined by confidential algorithms and Quality Score measures specific to each search engine. However, factors in the engines’ position placement under some advertiser control include bid price, the ad’s CTR, relevancy of your ad to searcher requests, relevance of your click-through landing page to the search request, and quality measures search engines calculate to ensure quality user experience.
PPCAdvertising– Acronym for Pay-Per-Click Advertising, a model of online advertising in which advertisers pay only for each click on their ads that directs searchers to a specified landing page on the advertiser’s web site. PPC ads may get thousands of impressions (views or serves of the ad); but, unlike more traditional ad models billed on a CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand-Impressions) basis, PPC advertisers only pay when their ad is clicked on. Charges per ad click-through are based on advertiser bids in hybrid ad space auctions and are influenced by competitor bids, competition for keywords and search engines’ proprietary quality measures of advertiser ad and landing page content.
PPC Management– The monitoring and maintenance of a Pay-Per-Click campaign or campaigns. This includes changing bid prices, expanding and refining keyword lists, editing ad copy, testing campaign components for cost effectiveness and successful conversions, and reviewing performance reports for reports to management and clients, as well as results to feed into future PPC campaign operations.
QualityScore– A number assigned by Google to paid ads in a hybrid auction that, together with maximum CPC, determines each ad’s rank and SERP position. Quality Scores reflect an ad’s historical CTR, keyword relevance, landing page relevance, and other factors proprietary to Google. Yahoo! refers to the Quality Score as a Quality Index. And both Google and Yahoo! display 3- or 5-step indicators of quality evaluations for individual advertisers.
Query– The keyword or keyword phrase a searcher enters into a search field, which initiates a search and results in a SERP with organic and paid listings.
ROI– Acronym for Return On Investment, the amount of money you make on your ads compared to the amount of money you spend on your ads. For example, if you spend $100 on PPC ads and make $150 from those ads, then your ROI would be 50%.
Rank– How well positioned a particular web page or web site appears in search engine results.
Relevance– In relation to PPC advertising, relevance is a measure of how closely your ad title, description, and keywords are related to the search query and the searcher’s expectations.
SEM– Acronym for "Search Engine Marketing.” A form of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs). SEM methods include: search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, digital asset optimization, and paid inclusion. When this term is used to describe an individual, it stands for "Search Engine Marketer" or one who performs SEM.
SEO– Acronym for "Search Engine Optimization.” This is the process of editing a web site’s content and code in order to improve visibility within one or more search engines. When this term is used to describe an individual, it stands for "Search Engine Optimizer” or one who performs SEO.
Search Engines -A search engine is a database of many web pages. Most engines display the number of web pages they hold in their database at any given time. A search engine generally "ranks” or orders the results according to a set of parameters. These parameters (called algorithms) vary among search engines; they are always improving in order to identify spam as well as improve relevance
Search Query– The word or phrase a searcher types into a search field, which initiates search engine results page listings and PPC ad serves. In PPC advertising, the goal is to bid on keywords that closely match the search queries of the advertiser’s targets.
Targeting– Narrowly focusing ads and keywords to attract a specific, marketing-profiled searcher and potential customer. You can target to geographic locations (geo-targeting), by days of the week or time of day (dayparting), or by gender and age (demographic targeting). Targeting features vary by search engine.
Title Tag- An HTML tag appearing in the tag of a web page that contains the page title. The page title should be determined by the relevant contents of that specific web page. The contents of a title tag for a web page is generally displayed in a search engine result as a bold blue underlined hyperlink.
Traffic– Refers to the number of visitors a website receives. It can be determined by examination of web logs.
Unique Visitor– Identifies an actual web surfer (as opposed to a crawler) and is tracked by a unique identifiable quality (typically IP address). If a visitor comes to a web site and clicks on 100 links, it is still only counted as one unique visit.
Usability –This term refers to how "user friendly" a web site and its functions are. A site with good usability is a site that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for or to perform the action they desire. Bad usability is anything that causes confusion or problems for the user.
Verticals– A vertical is a specific business group or category, such as insurance, automotive or travel. Vertical search offers targeted search options and PPC opportunities to a specific business category.
Viral Marketing– Also calledviral advertising,viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Make 2012 your year for PPC
A new year always brings to mind thoughts of making changes. Its a time to reflect on what we want, or need, to do differently. I recently read an article with five tips for making 2012 your year for PPC (ClickZ: PPC Resolutions for the New Year You can Keep, by Lisa Raehsler, Dec 16, 2011). Use these as you think ahead about your businesses marketing plans for the upcoming year.
- Plan ahead. Does your year seem to be more reactive than proactive? Take this opportunity to turn over a new leaf and develop a comprehensive plan for your PPC for 2012. Minimally, develop a promotions calendar that captures seasonality for your business. This may not include a formal promotion, but perhaps a change in ad copy speaking to seasonal issues or other opportunities.
- Refresh creative. New year, new copy. Within most advertising platforms, refreshing your ad creative gives your account a little boost - if the creative is better. Recently I shared some tips on ClickZ on a PPC ads makeover that can help you get a fresh start.
- Go mobile. This season iPads are a top gift and everyone and their mother (literally) will be tapping away come December 26. Despite the popularity of the mobile advertising and adoption of tablet devices, many advertisers still haven't addressed mobile and integrated it into their PPC strategy. For some, it can feel daunting to take on this new untested marketing endeavor. An easy and quick way to test mobile is to specifically target mobile devices in your existing PPC campaigns and monitor the results. If the initial performance looks promising, you'll know it's worthwhile to continue into 2012. This may not be the case for all businesses, but you won't know until you try.
- Landing pages. Most companies can really improve in this area. Can you? Resolve to optimize your landing pages for 2012 and you'll be rewarded with more conversions while improving user experience. Your checklist is simple:
- Make the landing page content tightly connected to the ad copy
- Offer clear, concise text with a call-to-action
- Limit data required on forms to aid conversion
- Try another PPC channel. Addicted to AdWords? YouTube, Yahoo/Bing, LinkedIn, and Facebook have all made improvements this past year, so if you haven't tried them lately, 2012 may be your year to revisit. For example, did you know YouTube has a targeting tool that helps you find the right videos to reach your target audience? You can also set up a simple campaign in AdWords so you can keep the campaigns together.
What will you do to make positive changes that will help convert online searches for your product or service into new customers? Contact me to discuss a customized search engine marketing program that can make the most of this new year.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Should your business hire a SEM/SEO company or do the work in-house?
Does a small or medium-sized business hire an experienced marketer to work
in-house or should it outsource with a search engine optimization company
instead?
According to a study by the Search Engine Marketing
Professional Organization, "Healthy SEM Salaries Rule: SEMPO Survey"
(Direct Marketing News, January 10, 2008) the market
has determined that expert search engine optimization and marketing is worth at
least $60,000 per year for a full time position, and up to $200,000 per year based on experience.
Most reputable search agencies offer SEO services that cost considerably
less than $60,000 per year.
The study further notes that sixty-four percent of
respondents said they had five years or less of search engine marketing
experience. On the other hand, any reputable search agency will have more than five years of collective experience in the industry. In addition, an expert search engine optimization company will
have a broad range of sites from which to draw knowledge, while your in-house marketer may only have one, or a handful at best.
Yellowbook's expertise is in marketing businesses. We know
media - and all of the options, buzzwords, and fads. We've been tracking
results across a wide variety of marketing programs for years, for thousands of
businesses in hundreds of markets. We know what works - and what doesn't.
Our dedicated media consultants will develop a multi-media
marketing plan that is right for your business and help you reach millions of
potential customer’s at the most critical stage of the buying cycle—when
they're actively looking for your products and services.
To help get you started, I offer a free seminar which
provides an overview of smart online strategies for local business success.
Call me today and you'll see just how many opportunities exist to generate
leads and grow your business online.
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