Archive for June, 2010

Great ROI for PPC via Analytics

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Are you running, or thinking about running, a Pay Per click (PPC) ad campaign in Google and want to know how to improve your Return On Investment (ROI)?

Then this is your lucky day! 

View an archived one hour webinar about how to get “Great ROI for PPC via Analytics“

And the corresponding whitepaper is available for download.

PPC is a powerful lead generation tool, especially for local markets. So do your homework, apply the information, and reap the rewards of a strong PPC ad strategy within your overall Internet Marketing mix.

Contact Us if you need professional assistance with your PPC ad strategies and implementation tactics.

Spread the word

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, PPC | Comments Off

Internet Most Influential, but Underutilized Medium

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

According to a study released by Fleishman-Hillard International Communications in conjunction with Harris Interactive, the Internet is the most influential media channel when it comes to driving consumer decisions about products and services.  Details are availalbe here.

The report concludes that the Internet is the most influential marketing media, but it is underutilized by organizations.  Marketing and advertising decision makers still put a disproportionate amount of time, effort, and budget into traditional media channels out of proportion to its contemporary value & influence.

Why? I believe Internet Marketing underutilization is caused by inertia and resistance to change. People who are comfortable doing things a certain way need a lot of motivation to change their ways. And utilizing Internet Marketing takes a lot more effort and knowlege than using traditional marketing.

Why? Because traditional marketing channels are passive while most Internet Marketing channels are interactive.  And because Internet channels are interactive it takes knowledge, time, effort, and continuous engagement to use them properly.

With traditional marketing about all an advertiser does is hand over their ad to the publisher and sit back and hope for the best. You don’t need to know much including how things work at broadcast studios or at print publishers. But with the Internet there are systems to learn and methods to master for multiple things like websites, search, social, email, display ads, etc. It can get overwhelming.

Many oranizations see the value of the Internet and are willing to invest time, budget, and effort.  But the knowledge part of the equation is often lacking and you can’t fake that; you either know how things work or you don’t.  That is why there are so many training articles, whitepapers, websites, books, and blogs (like this one) about Internet Marketing.  People need to build up a lot of knowledge about Internet Marketing channels before they are comfortable using them effectively.

So why bother with all that effort? Because according to a study released by Fleishman-Hillard International Communications in conjunction with Harris Interactive, the internet is the most influential media channel when it comes to driving consumer decisions about products and services.  Details are availalbe here.

We can help. Contact Us.

Spread the word

Tags:
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing | Comments Off

Google Caffiene… publish (often and everywhere) or perish from Google

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

On June 8, 2010 Google announced that Caffeine, its new Web indexing system, is completely implemented. So what you say? What does this have to do with me you ask?

Google claims Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) will have 50% fresher results (i.e. faster indexing consequences from updated content) because of Caffeine. Plus, indexing will be based on the largest, most diverse collection of Web content Google has ever sorted through.

Caffeine allows Google to sort out Web content on a more granular, continuous basis and on an enormous scale.  This allows the SERPs’ index to be continually updated instead of every few days or weeks.  Google said Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of Web pages in parallel and if those digital pages were a pile of paper the pile would grow three miles taller every second.

This is good news for users because they will obtain the latest, most relevant information ever available from web searches. But this changes the search optimization game rules for high organic search ranking. Caffeine gives a lot weight to on-website and off-website frequent content updates and related relevant backlinks.  This makes it imperative for website owners to regularly refresh website content and to do frequent social media postings and marketing. 
 
Google introduced this hyper-active index system in its quest to improve search results for users. The Web has evolved into a far more complex environment than a couple of years ago. Web users now expect to not just find relevant web pages from their search results, but also things like videos, images, audio files, real-time updates, and user reviews.

Google’s Caffeine index provides users with SERPs that serve up the latest of all of the above. Thus Caffeine rewards page #1 Google listings to fresh Web content from diverse publication sources including websites, Social Media channels, blogs, and WIKIs.  Publish (often and everywhere) or perish from page #1 in Google seems to be the message of Caffeine.

The Web remains a fast evolving environment. The business rewards for keeping up with the changes are enormous, but daunting for business owners and managers. The Web is no longer a playing field for amateurs.  Find a trusted source  for Internet Marketing professionals to manage your Web presence so that you can focus on strategies and your core business activities.

Spread the word

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Website Content Marketing | Comments Off

Digital Marketing… because people have moved to the digital world

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The reason digital marketing via the Internet and Mobile is essential is because people have decided the digital world is where they like to hang out. The digital world is where eyes and ears have migrated. Consider the following digital world realities:

  • The number of text messages exchanged daily on mobile devices exceeds the population of the planet
  • There are about 88,000,000,000 (88 billion) searches performed globally via Google each month if you include website, image, and YouTube searches
  • There are 19 billion searches in Twitter (all sources), 9.5 billion searches in Yahoo, and 4 billion in bing (search volume per comScore)
  • Search inquires for information in the above sources were made somewhere else in the ‘real world’ before the arrival of the digital world
  • There are 750,000+ new members of Facebook per day
  • 50% of Facebook members login each day
  • Over 800 million photos are uploaded per day in Facebook
  • 84% of Social Network sites have more woman members than men
  • There are about 550,000 active Facebook applications
  • Around 950,000 iPhone apps are downloaded every day
  • About 900,000 blogs posts are entered daily
  • Internet users increased by 18% last year
  • Approximately 300,000 people became new Twitter users each day in May 2010
  • 57% of all Twitter users are located in the USA

Meanwhile, usage of ‘real world’ media and information sources are in decline, like newspapers, Yellow Pages, and radio.

The transition from real world to digital world media consumption started about 10 years ago and has accelerated in the last three years. Many businesses have not yet caught up with the crowd that has moved to the digital world.  If you find yourself behind the curve, I asuggest hiring a Digital Marketing Consultant to guide you. 

WSI Internet Marketing - Contact US

Spread the word

Tags: ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing | Comments Off

Internet Marketing sound bites for people with short attention spans…

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

This straight talk, blunt “reader’s digest” blog post is about Internet Marketing for people who prefer short, over-simplified sound bites as their main information source.

  1. Most websites don’t work because their text, pictures, presentation, and conversion strategy is pathetic.  A lot of website content is created on a DIY basis by people who slept through English composition and literature in school and have no marketing/sales training.
  2. Most websites don’t get significant targeted traffic because there is no effective SEO in place. Many website owners think all you have to do is use a highly competitive keyword as a meta-tag and mention it a couple of times in a web page and you end up on page #1 in Google – not!
  3. Are you still in the print Yellow Pages? If yes…why? Do you enjoy throwing your money away?  Get with the new program and use Google Places (Google Maps) and equivalent and invest your wasted YP budget into SEO or PPC.
  4. Many businesses miss major opportunities because they refuse to invest in search PPC ads.  Or they invest on a DIY basis and waste a lot of money with an ineffective approach.  Google wants you to succeed with PPC (Google AdWords), but will take your money either way.
  5. As a business tool, Social Media works best for B2C companies, but it also works for B2B businesses. But in either case SocNets only works well if you use them correctly – most companies do not.  Social is not where you use ad copy as your post content. It is where you go to participate, listen, network, contribute, and link from. And by-the-way, learn how to separate your personal SocNet page from your business page; prospects don’t care about your vacation or that your kid scored a goal at the soccer game.
  6. Geo and demographically targeted online display ads (AKA banner ads) are a direct (and better) measureable replacement for print ads.  But many businesses still devout a lot of money to placing ads in print media where they have no clue if it is doing any good or not – chances are it is not.
  7. Email campaigns are still the lowest cost, most effective way to reach a targeted audience. The key is your email address list.  Most businesses aren’t disciplined about creating an email address list; are bewildered about how to get a list; or undervalue their list if they have one. And don’t get me started about ineffective email message content – same problem as with item #1 above.

Internet Marketing has high business value if done right and you understand the new normal in advertising.  But if you cling to spending your ad budget in traditional media channels while viewing the Internet as a game for amateurs where DIY is good enough, then do yourself a favor and get a professional Internet Marketing consultant – he will pay for himself. Otherwise just donate your ad budget to a worthy cause where it will do some good.

Spread the word

Tags: ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, PPC, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Website Content Marketing, Website Conversion Architecture | Comments Off

I wish I understood Google AdWords better

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Ever wish you understood better how Google AdWords works? AdWords – AKA Sponsored Links or PPC ads.

PPC ads use a silent auction process for the right to have your ad listed in a Search Engine when a particular keyword phrase is searched by a user.  The advanatage is you do not need to go through the time and expense of doing SEO for the selected keyword to get listed in the search engine.

Your ad can show up fast on page one of the search engines. You can drive a lot of very targeted traffic of people who are searching specifically for what you are offering. You can turn the ad on and off any time.

The downside Vs SEO is you pay a fee each time your ad is clicked on per what you bid in the auction. Google’s AdWords is by far the largest PPC system.   So how does Google use the auction process to determine where your ad is listed and how much you pay per click?

Here is a much simplified explanation in a video presented by the Chief Economist  at Google that explains the sytem very nicely.  Unlike most auctions, the highest bidder does not automatically “win” the top spot.  Google takes other factors into account including what they call a ‘quality score’.

Google - How AdWord's Auction Works

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7l0a2PVhPQ&feature=channel 

If you want professional management of your PPC ads including strategies and administration, contact us.  WSI has a sophisticated PPC ad management system named ADWORKS that cost effectively delivers targeted traffic to your business.

WSI ADWORKS

 

Cheers

Spread the word

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, PPC | Comments Off

With newspapers in decline, what are the local ad placement options?

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

I am a member of  a LinkedIn group where someone posted a question that generated a lot of responses: “Is there hope for the newspaper industry?” The answer has consequences in many ways including local marketing and ad placement options.

In summary, the discussions were about:

  1. Is print news a viable distribution system in the digital age?  The dominate answer was print news is in an irreversible downward spiral. Print distribution is not timely, economical, or ecologically friendly. Digital delivery is real time, relatively economical, and ecologically friendlier. Some like to ‘hold a newspaper’ Vs read articles online, but this was clearly a minority view.
  2. Have declining newspaper journalism standards harmed print sales? The opinions about this varied widely, but many felt before the digital age that newspapers evolved into a local monopoly for news publication.  Even large cities are now one newspaper towns.  Monopoly control of news tended to create more and more biased, agenda driven editorial content showing up as news articles. Digital news sources are diverse and although bias is still a concern, the multitude of sources prevents a monopoly of opinions.  Finding balance in news reports can be achieved by surfing different sources. The digital world has many voices unlike traditonal,  mainstream media where a relatively few people decide what to report and how. 
  3. As digital replaces print news distribution what revenue model will be used? Newspapers rely on an advertising revenue model – local businesses place ads.  Digital news publications to date have relied mostly on an advertising model, but are experimenting with subscription models or hybrids. The problem is, users have become spoiled with ‘free’ online news and are resisting subscription fees.

What does this have to do with Marketing?  Simple. Newspaper readership is down for whatever reasons. If your business relied on newspaper ads to reach customers, then you need to look at online ad sources – Internet Marketing. 

Online ads are referred to as display or banner ads on websites.  But where do you place banner ads?  You have no idea which websites your local customers are going to instead of newspapers.  People split their viewing time online across multiple sources. How do you know which websites to place your banner ad in?

The answer is using  display ad networks for popular websites.  An ad network allows you to place your ad in websites that match the geographic and demographic nature of your marketplace.

An ad network will also provide something called ‘re-marketing’ that allows ads to follow your website’s visitors around the Internet to show your ad wherever your visitors go. And ad networks provide reports so that you know the effectiveness of your ad spend unlike in newspapers where you never know if the ad worked or not.

Newspaper ads won’t get the job done as well as in the past. If you need more info about advertising in online ad networks or want to give that a try, contact us for assistance.

Spread the word

Tags: , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing | Comments Off

Internet Marketing – trends, June 2010: SEARCH, SURF, SOCIAL

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Internet Marketing is still a relatively new game.  The rules of the game are still evolving and new players are entering the game all the time.

Every sane business by now has a website, but a website alone only enters your business into the game, it doesn’t make you a winner. To achieve web success, your website needs targeted traffic and it must provide a high level of conversions (traffic converted into customers).

You can’t win the game if you don’t know the rules. The three rules of the game for securing website traffic involve: Search, Surf, and Social. 

  1. People SEARCH for specific information or products via search engines – high organic ranking via SEO and/or sponsored ads (PPC) is needed to reach these people.
  2. and… People SURF their favorite websites for news and entertainment – display ads placed in popular websites that geographically and demographically match your marketplace are needed to reach these people.
  3. and… People SOCIALIZE in SocNets and content-sharing websites – participation in and advertising in social media websites is needed to reach these people.

If you have a website, but are not dealing with the realities of the SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIAL behavior of people, then you are not a real player and you will not win the game.

It does not matter if your business is B2C or B2B in nature. In the end, it’s a person who buys your stuff and all people SEARCH, SURF, and SOCIALIZE online all of which influences their buying decision. You need to be where the people are if you are going to influence them.

Internet Marketing is a mix of direct marketing, branding, reputation management, lead generation, and customer relations.  To accomplish all of the above you need to deal with search, surf, and social environments.  

The end game is more sales and prosperity for your business which can’t be accomplished without targeted traffic. If you want to win the game, you need  Internet Marketing strategies and tactics that funnels the Searchers, Surfers, and Socailizers to your website where you have a chance to convert them into customers.

You need an Internet Marketing roadmap to guide you along the way. We have provided a roadmap to web success for many, many companies… contact us for your copy.

Spread the word

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Digital Marketing, Internet Marketing, PPC, SEO, Social Media Marketing | Comments Off