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Posts Tagged ‘PPC’
Friday, December 14th, 2012
Twitter has recently added another cool feature to its sponsored tweets advertising service – the use of negative keywords.
If you’re wondering what a negative keyword is, it’s time to become intimately acquainted. These are words you don’t want to target but are usually associated with the word you do want to target. For instance, “Kevin” would be a negative keyword to “bacon,” unless you actually are talking about the actor. Doing research on tigers but not interested in the football team in Detroit? Make “Detroit” a negative keyword.
Negative keywords are powerful targeting tools because you can limit the exposure of your paid advertising, saving yourself money and better targeting your ads to the people most likely to respond to them.
Google has been using negative words for a long time in its PPC model, Google AdWords. Now, Twitter can compete more aggressively with its sponsored tweets equivalent. And, guess what? Twitter’s sponsored tweets are a lot less expensive than Google AdWords ads are simply because there is less demand. So if you don’t want to pay the higher click prices at Google but you still want effective ad targeting, join Twitter’s sponsored tweets program and be sure to make liberal use of negative keywords.
Tags: negative keywords, PPC, sponsored tweets, Twitter
Posted in PPC for Small Business | 5 Comments »
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
Internet marketing is not only about chasing SERPs for that coveted No. 1 spot. Nor is it all about driving traffic and conversions with pay per click advertising. Savvy Internet marketing is all about taking advantage of every opportunity and using multiple channels to promote your website and business.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t use one channel to learn about marketing through another. Pay per click advertising can teach online marketers how to be better search engine optimizers.
For starters, you can use PPC for keyword research. Create your ads and see which ones get the best click throughs and conversions. Use that information to strategize your organic search campaigns.
Mobile/Local Search Dominate Organically
Mobile search presents a great opportunity for search engine optimization specialists. If you market to mobile customers, and you should, you’ll find that the click throughs on mobile PPC ads are lower than the click throughs on organic search. That’s likely because mobile searchers are on the go and looking for information fast, especially when searching for local businesses.
Retargeting Leads To Greater Results
Retargeting means using PPC ads on network websites to reach the same market prospects you reach in the SERPs. It has been a well known marketing principle for many years that the more touch points you have with prospects the more effective your marketing is going to be. It is traditionally expected that you must put your message in front of your prospect seven times before they act on it. PPC display networks provide the perfect opportunity for that. Search engine results pages represent another opportunity.
Retargeting a great opportunity for marketers in both PPC and SEO channels. Don’t miss out on it.
Tags: mobile search, PPC, retargeting, SEO
Posted in SEO for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Monday, January 16th, 2012
To be successful at anything, you need discipline. When it comes to the online world, discipline is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. In its broadest terms, marketing is the single most important aspect of an online business. I say broadest since SEO, PPC and many other activities could come under the marketing umbrella. Why is discipline important?
Discipline affects your mindset. If you are sitting down to write PPC ads, then you need to have the discipline to follow your planned approach. A lack of discipline could see you easily swayed to change your mind – that’s never a good idea without research. The same can be said for a blog or a social media campaign. If you have planned your approach, then stick to that plan.
Humans are emotional creatures and we have a tendency to look at what others are doing and then trying to replicate their actions in our lives. For small businesses, that can have some limited success in the offline world, however, the online world can be very different. This is where discipline becomes an important attribute. Before trying to replicate what someone else is doing, you need to be able to examine and perhaps measure, or predict, how that action will affect your online business. We often see “fads” in the SEO and social media marketing world that work very well for one business but do absolutely nothing for another business. Sometimes they backfire and cause more damage than good.
Small business Internet marketing requires a well planned approach. Once you have that plan, you need to have the discipline to follow it through. That doesn’t mean your plan is stagnant – you still need to measure, review and make changes where necessary, however, that too is a disciplined approach that takes all the variables into account before making a move.
If you are disciplined in your approach, you are giving your business the best chance of success. Of course, discipline will do little if your marketing plans, products, or service are rubbish to begin with. If they too are spot on, then a disciplined approach should lead to high success rates – and that normally means more profit.
Tags: blog writing, marketing, PPC, SEO
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Have you ever wondered where all those ads on Facebook and Twitter come from? And, how do you get your business ad there? Although some people may think that the advertising are interrupting the games they play on Facebook, or are just annoying. However, it is a really good place to put your business. More people will see you just on social networks alone.
If you would like an ad on Facebook, you can log in to your account and go to the advertising link at the bottom of the page. From there you can insert your website into the ad. You will be directed to a series of questions to target your audience. You will be given options for paying for the ad. For instance, there are pay per clicks and pay per views. Pay per clicks are only paid if someone actually clicks on your ad or pay per view is paid every time your ad is placed on someone’s page.
Advertising can also be done on Twitter with Twittad. Follow the instructions for Twittad and you will be advertising on Twitter in no time.
Social advertising for small businesses is an effective way to generate more customers to your website and help you make more money. Think about ways to create catchy advertising so your ad will stand out on the page and get someone’s attention.
On line marketing techniques will help you in the long run with your small business. Adding business marketing to your current advertising campaigns can only boost your customers which in turn will boost sales.
Tags: business, facebook, internet marketing, online marketing, PPC, Twitter
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 27 Comments »
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
When you think of doing business online, do you first think about those big businesses with million dollar budgets? You don’t have to. Small businesses are alive and well on the internet.
So, where do you fit in? What’s up with all that talk of keywords, SEO, social media, and such? There are three basic elements that will drive your business online. They are:
- On-Page Content – If possible, have mixed content on your site. Take advantage of articles, videos, etc. and provide your site visitors with a wide range of content to match their interests. Optimize your content to help it rank better in the search engines for your most profitable keywords.
- Off-Page Content – Content you create for marketing off of your website is good for building links back to your site and delivering new visitors to the site.
- Behind The Scenes Content – This is the code that makes your website visible to search engines and web browsers. You can have too much and you can have the wrong kind. Make sure your code is optimized for better results in the search engines.
Since the internet is growing by leaps and bounds, it is very important to have these elements successfully optimized on your website. It sounds complicated, but it really is not.
With the right guide and a good web marketing strategy you can build a great website with excellent on-page content, a wide variety of off-page content that drives traffic to your site, and great code that gets you well deserved rankings in the search engines.
Tags: advertising, google, keywords, link building, PPC, search engine optimization, SEO, small business
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
Saturday, November 12th, 2011
If you thought Google+ was just another social network, think again. It’s more than that. In fact, Google has said all along that it intends to connect all of its services with Google+. And it looks like that is happening slowly but surely.
One way that Google+ users can benefit from the service on a sister property is by connecting their Google+ account with their Google AdWords account.
If people respect the recommendations of their friends and families as the latest polls show that they do, then it makes sense to show how many +1s your ads receive. People who conduct a search on Google and see your ads on the search results pages will see which ads their friends and families have +1ed. That will act as encouragement for those searchers to either +1 your ad or click the link.
But here’s the catch: You have to turn this feature on in Google AdWords account.
Google calls this “social annotations” and they could become a key metric for your PPC advertising. It’s also a way for your pay-per-click initiatives to take on a flavor of social media marketing. In the 21st century, social media marketing could become the standard by which all other marketing initiatives are judged. Including PPC.
Tags: adwords, google, PPC, social media marketing
Posted in PPC for Small Business | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
For years, large companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and ExxonMobil have spent millions of dollars simply to maintain a positive impression in the media. They weren’t so much concerned with the coveted ROI on advertising campaigns as they were with branding themselves and achieving top-of-mind awareness.
When you establish a new advertising campaign – whether it be through pay-per-click services, outdoor advertising, print media, or any other medium – you should outline your goals. Are you looking for ROI or would you be happy with branding effects?
If ROI is your main concern, then you have to think about your budget. Being the top spender in your market segment may mean that you lose money on your advertising. But it could mean that you achieve huge branding success. Which is more important to you?
PPC is like any other advertising medium. You can figure out which price point per click will yield the greatest ROI on your advertising efforts or you can try to own the advertising space with a PPC branding campaign. If you opt for the latter, be prepared to pay top dollar for clicks. Sometimes, your customers come from other places on the Web because they noticed your PPC ads when they conducted a search.
PPC for branding isn’t for the faint of heart. You must ensure you have the budget for it or you may as well go home.
Tags: advertising, Branding, Pay Per Click, PPC, roi
Posted in PPC for Small Business | 3 Comments »
Friday, July 29th, 2011
One thing that is inevitable is change. Especially online. And especially when it comes to online marketing. What’s important today may not be important tomorrow.
Case in point: Remember those old web rings? Who joins those any more? Certainly not anyone who is serious about online marketing.
At one time, you could read online debates about which method of advertising was going to win in the end – PPC or banner ads. I guess we know how that turned out.
When Flash first hit the scene everyone tried it. But the consensus was, “No, not now.” It slowed down connections and pages loaded so slow that you couldn’t enjoy them. Now, Flash is almost as commonplace as links, though people are using it differently. And online video looks to be a future force not to be reckoned with – in whatever format it takes.
What’s next?
Will Google+ take over Facebook? Will social replace search as the preferred method of marketing online? Will VOIP become as commonplace as e-mail? Will VOIP and e-mail integrate to make both more powerful tools? Will mobile marketing outpacing video marketing?
We are moving forward and there’s no stopping it. If you are just now starting to market your business online, then you have some catching up to do. It’s time to prepare for change, and that itself requires change on your part. What are you doing about that?
Tags: e-mail marketing, Flash, online marketing, PPC, SEO, Social Media, VOIP
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
One of the first cuts to a small business budget after the economy starts to drift south is in marketing. I’ve seen it time and time again. Struggling businesses trying to watch their bottom lines typically kill the marketing budget just when they need the business the most.
I won’t talk about the folly in this. Instead, I’ll offer a suggestion, an alternative if you will.
It’s understandable that a business will want to protect its profits and slash its expenses when the economy is wavering. However, instead of killing the marketing programs completely, how about shifting your budget to less expensive marketing channels.
It isn’t news any more that Internet marketing is less expensive than traditional marketing. Television ads are generally rough on a small business budget. Radio advertising has become a niche form of advertising. And newspaper ads just aren’t effective any more. However, you can still advertise your business through some judicious budget cuts and redirection of your marketing budget.
PPC ads are a type of online advertising where you get to choose how much you are willing to pay for a lead. You pay when someone clicks on your ad and not before.
Other online marketing channels are just as effective as PPC, and just as cost effective. The key to getting started is to consult with someone who understand the needs and challenges that small businesses face. An online marketing consultant can help you build a strategic plan that fits into your budget and delivers results.
Tags: internet marketing, online marketing, PPC, small business
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 6 Comments »
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Are you making the most use of your time as a marketer? I’d be willing to bet that most online marketers are spending too much time on social media or unproductive channels. I have no data to back it up, but I know people and I think I know that most people are going to do what is fun before they do what is profitable and unfun.
Social media is fun. You can chat for hours with your best friend from high school, get stuck playing Cityville, or laugh out loud at the funny jokes your fans are sending your way. But are you getting any work done?
It’s a well known fact that 80%-85% of traffic for almost every website online comes from the search engines. It should seem to reason then that website owners and managers should spend that much time on search engine marketing efforts rather than social media or other forms advertising. Don’t you think?
Let’s say you work 10 hours a day every day. Six hours of that is spent on customer service (fulfilling orders, taking complaints, billing, etc.). That leaves you four hours for other activity. How are you filling that four hours?
In my opinion, you should be spending three hours on search engine marketing activities (blogging, PPC, or content creation) and the remaining one hour on social media and non-SEM activities. If you are spending your time in just the reverse, then I’d say you’ve got it backwards.
Don’t get me wrong. Social media is good. It’s fun. And you can generate traffic and sales from it. But 85% of your traffic is going to come from Google and Bing. So you should probably put your efforts into activities that are going to bring you the most money. That’s SEM. That means writing that daily blog post and spending some time tweaking your landing pages and PPC ads. Are you doing that?
Tags: blogging, content, PPC, search engine marketing, search engines, Social Media
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 2 Comments »
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