Tag Archives: online marketing

6 PPC Marketing Tips You Can’t Ignore

Last Updated On August 13th, 2014PPC Advertising, , , , , ,

ppcadvertisingAre you using pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and beginning to get frustrated on the lack of ROI? Before you give up, try these six PPC advertising tips. They could be the key to your business’s PPC success.

1. Make an excellent offer then reel them in with a “call to action.” With so much competition out there, it’s a great idea to make your potential customers an offer they can’t refuse. This will rope them in and entice them to use your product/service rather than your competitors’. Include a “call to action” phrase at the end of the ad, such as “Learn more,” or “Free download,” to let them know what to expect when they click.

2. Use long tail keywords. Long tail keywords are three or four word phrases that are more specific to your product. Long tail keywords are less popular, meaning bidding on them is less expensive. Also people who are searching using long tail keywords are usually further along in the buying process, which means once they come across your ad, they’re more apt to click and buy.

3. Create a landing page. Your website homepage is not a landing page. Your landing page is there for the sole purpose of enticing your potential customer to buy. The landing page needs to pick up right where your PPC ad left off, not confuse them with unnecessary content that the homepage sometimes is guilty of providing. The more the landing page relates to the content of the ad, the more likely it will be for your ad to appear higher than other PPC ads. When the keywords for your ad are more relevant to your landing page, it also lowers the bid on that ad. This is a form of PPC optimization.

4. Test your ads. Run two different ad campaigns at the same time and see which one does better. Also pay attention to the times during which your ads are at their highest conversion rate and restrict your ads to run at only those times.

5. Focus on location. Make sure to focus your impressions by location by using the geo-location features of the PPC service you’re using. These features allow you to target your market based on IP addresses or geo-specific keywords. Don’t forget to set these restrictions, otherwise your ads may be showing up in a location where your potential customers can’t even get your products/services.

6. Change the content of your ad at least once a month. No one wants to keep seeing the same ad over and over; it’s boring. Changing your ad copy once a month is a great way to test different call to action phrases and copy to see which ads get the most attention. Fresh content is more appealing to users, so write several ads and alternate them, making changes according to your monthly PPC analytics reports.

Pay-per-click advertising can be a difficult task if you are inexperienced. However, it reaps great benefits for many businesses who have figured out how to use it correctly. Local Splash has many Google Ads certified individuals who can help you set up the best campaign for you business. To get started, call 877-635-6225 or learn more about PPC advertising here.

Social Media Marketing Tip: Protect Your Business’s Identity on Twitter Now

Last Updated On August 13th, 2014Local Search Techniques, Local SEO, SEM Best Practices, Social Media Marketing, , , , ,

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Although Twitter is used by many businesses, it’s not currently offering businesses a way to verify their accounts. This means that potentially, your competitors could create a Twitter screen name and pretend to be you, tweeting on behalf of your business. This is a scary thought. However, there are ways business owners can increase the visibility on their Twitter accounts as well as make it more clear which account is official. Follow these tips provided by Mashable to protect your company’s identity today.

1. Link all of your social media accounts. Since Twitter’s user name policy doesn’t allow people to reserve user names, companies with a more generic name might find that their desired user name is already taken. According to Mashable, this might be a better opportunity for those businesses to better distinguish their brand if their business name is very common.

Another way to verify that your account is the official business account is to add a link to your Twitter account on your official website, Facebook, Foursquare or Google Places pages. Writing “official Twitter account for _____” in your Twitter bio is also a great way to indicate that this is indeed your business’s Twitter identity.

2. Customize your Twitter profile to make it more obvious that this is the official Twitter account of your brand. An impostor wouldn’t spend the time (or money in some cases) to customize a false Twitter account with your brand’s logo, colors, etc.

3. If you have a trademark over your business name or logo and another Twitter account is causing identity confusion, Twitter can step in. You can submit a help ticket and Twitter will examine the situation. If it finds the other account(s) is trying to cause a problem, it will likely suspend the account and give you ownership. However, this only applies if your name or logo is trademarked, otherwise Twitter cannot do anything.

Following these steps will help your brand keep its identity safe while social media marketing. When used properly, Twitter can be an excellent platform for reaching new customers, keeping existing customers engaged and enhancing your company’s image.

Professional SEO vs. DIY

Local Maps SEO, Local SEO, Organic SEO, , , , , , , ,

seoSome business owners are squeamish when it comes to working with a local search engine optimization (SEO) company. This is mostly due to the unfortunate truth that many local SEO firms are scams or use unaccepted SEO techniques. However, not all SEO companies are out to get you and although many SEO tactics and tools are free to use, getting to the top of the search engine rankings takes extensive time and knowledge. Here are the pros and cons of both utilizing the services of a top local SEO provider or taking a DIY approach.

DIY SEO:

Pros:

  • Most tools used for SEO are free and there’s plenty of free information about improving SEO on the Web. So to do local SEO for your company, it would essentially cost for your website and time.
  • It’s a great learning experience. Teaching yourself this valuable skill is advantageous and will continue to be as your business grows.

Cons:

  • DIY SEO is extremely time consuming. Achieving top rankings on Google and other search engines can be tedious and a lot of hard work.
  • There’s a lot of misinformation available on the Web and if you aren’t sure which sources are reliable, you could end up hurting your rankings or wasting your time and effort on an SEO campaign that doesn’t work.
  • Carrying out an SEO strategry is a full-time job. SEO is a long-term growth strategy and a huge commitment. It requires a lot of research, repetition and as time passes it only gets more complex.
  • Building an effective website or landing page can be expensive. You must pay for web hosting, copy writing, optimization and design.

Professional Local SEO:

Pros:

  • Let the professionals do all the heavy lifting. The hard, time consuming work can be passed off to a professional or company that has the time, tools and knowledge to get the job done efficiently. You can throw some money at the situation and leave the worries and stress to someone else.
  • Results come faster. Since an SEO company’s sole purpose is to perform Internet marketing and search engine optimization for companies like yours, they already have systems and tools in place to get started right away. They don’t need to teach themselves SEO first like you would have to do. Since they’re experts, they know all the best techniques and have the necessary connections to get you ranking as quick as possible.
  • Internet marketing is constantly changing. It’s hard to keep up with the ever-changing world of SEO. Search engines are always changing their algorithms and as a business owner, it would be hard to keep up with your employees, business location, customers and the ever-changing Internet marketing industry. Chances are, you don’t have the time. A professional can put full attention on the search engine optimization of your business so you get maximum results.

Cons:

  • It can be hard to find a legitimate company to work with. There are many unreliable black hat SEO companies out there, you must be tough when deciding who to work with in order to avoid the Google black list or losing money on less than desirable results. Check out the company’s credentials before deciding to work with them.
  • It costs money. Help from a professional costs money. However if your SEO company is doing its job and getting your business found on the first page of the search engines, you will be getting more leads and it will be well worth the money.

When you weigh the pros and cons it’s easy to see that if you have the funds, leaving the local SEO to the professionals is your best option. Although SEO can be done on your own, if you’re inexperienced it can be easy to make a mistake and hurt your rankings or waste your efforts on techniques that don’t really work. When choosing a local SEO provider, be aware of possible black hat SEOs and be sure to gather as much information about the company as possible before agreeing to work with them.