Jul 10

It used to be whoever bid the highest for a pay per click campaign got the highest ranking, but it doesn’t work that way anymore. Google wants to display the most relevant ads for each keyword search so it introduced the Quality Score that ranks ads based on a number of factors and displays them accordingly.

Some of the Quality Score criteria includes historical click through rate – if your keyword copy has a higher historical clickthrough rate than other advertisers, it gets a higher score; if the quality of your landing page is high you’ll also get a higher Quality Score; if your ad performs well on a variety of sites the Quality Score goes up; and the relevance of your ad is also considered.

Google AdwordsYour Google Quality Score is extremely important because it determines the eligibility of your site to enter the Google ranking and the cost of your ad. You’ll pay a lower cost per click rate with a higher ranking and receive a better ad position.

Discuss your Web marketing strategy with your agency to determine how you can increase your Google Adwords Quality Score. Make sure your ads are written and designed to generate the highest ranking for the most important keywords.

Tagged with:
Jul 08

The power of Twitter is being demonstrated by Lebron James, the NBA superstar who started a page this week and has already accumulated over 220,000 followers. ESPN announced King James will appear live tonight at 9 to spill the beans on his choice of teams for the upcoming season, but there are reports that the news may be posted on Twitter first, which would be perhaps Twitter’s biggest post ever, because the whole world is waiting for Lebron’s news.

Lebron JamesYou can add Lebron to your Twitter account by going to twitter.com/kingjames or @kingjames. Currently, there are only two posts, the first to announce he’s “on board,” the second to report that “I just got up so I can head down to my B-ball Camp.”

C’mon Lebron, you can do better than that. The world would like to know where you’ll play this year and get details on how you made your decision. We also want to know how the decision will impact other free agents, many of whom are waiting until you make your announcement to set their own plans in motion.

What can marketers learn from Lebron’s Twitter experience? One thing is to use your Twitter page to report your company’s big news as it happens so everyone will know what you’re up to. Lebron actually apologized for not being on Twitter initially, which demonstrates its importance in the social marketing arena.

If you don’t have a Twitter page, check with your web marketing agency to get it started and once it’s up post regularly (and feel free to visit Lebron’s page for details on his plans).

Tagged with:
Jul 03

Utilizing photography on your website is a key to success because pictures illuminate the copy. Websites with pictures beat text only sites hands down because they enable you to get a better sense of the products quickly. Remember, first impressions are crucial online when you sometimes only have a few seconds to grab a visitor’s attention. So do it with alluring pictures that will draw the visitor into your site and then they’ll read the content.

You can use your own digital pictures, find free photos at a range of sites or purchase stock photos for as little as $1 each. The key is to make sure they’re relevant to your product and convey the image you want to project.Photography

Once you have great photos on your site, visitors will take notice. Also, you can submit the photo pages from your site to blogs that will increase your traffic.

There are a number of ways to add photography to your site. WordPress is most popular now. You can upload photos directly from within WordPress with the file uploading utility or use other software programs, such as FlickR. You can also use Dreamweaver to add photos to your site.

Check with your website design firm to determine the best way to add photos to your site and make sure you include them to illuminate the message you want to portray that will boost your business.

Tagged with:
Jul 02

When you break down the machine you know as your marketing campaign, there are a few things that you are attempting to accomplish: (1) communicate easier and faster, (2) enhance or add to the experience your audience gets with your company, (3) improve the relationship that you already have established or create a new working relationship, and (4) add a little excitement and uniqueness to your product or service.  With this in mind, it’s now time to take a look at some of the apps out there that will help you in your marketing venture.

Apps for Facebook
  1. Countdown Calendar – Promote a grand reopening, a sale, or anything else you please through this great app that will count down to any event you specify
  2. LinkedIn — Allows a LinkedIn badge in your profile as well as a direct link to your LinkedIn profile page.  This is a great way to market your networking abilities and demonstrate your online presence
  3. Causes — I would suggest being careful with this app as you want to make sure your causes directly relate to your product or services
Twitter Apps
  1. Tweet Late — This app allows you to setup an auto-responder message that gets sent to anyone and everyone that follows you.
  2. Twitbeep — As a blogger, you want to know when someone uses your keywords.  This app will send you an alert when a tweet uses specified keywords
  3. Tweetlevel — A rating system for Twitter followers which measures how many people listen to you, how many people follow you, how active you participate, and whether people “believe” you
Mobile Apps
  1. MobiOpons – An outstanding app for manufacturing companies or retail companies as you create mobile coupons  for your clients, and the only time you pay is when the coupon is redeemed.
  2. MobileStorm — Mobile e-mail marketing at its best.  This app truly allows full featured, fully trackable, and totally efficient e-mail marketing from your mobile device
  3. Trumpia — If you want to do it all in one shot, this is the true be-all-end-all of e-mail, text, and social marketing via mobile device.

If you are able to cover these three areas with efficient apps you are more than starting on the right foot, and if you need any help with these (or have any comments) feel free to leave them below or contact Impact.  Enjoy the marketing help!

Tagged with:
Jun 30

Over the past year (since May of 2009), Bing has evolved into the third largest search engine on the web.  However, you are about to see significant movement in search engine market share over the next few years as Bing starts to power Yahoo! Search.  This increase of search engine queries traveling through the Bing engine will undoubtedly impact search engine optimization.  So, with Bing competing directly with Google, let’s take a look at the SEO differences between the two sites.

Bing and Google have shown in recent SEO studies that they are relatively similar when comparing on-page optimization.  This means that title tags, description tags, and body copy are evaluated and weighted in similar fashion.  So, when you create a page or post you can optimize by:

  1. Selecting unique, non-duplicate, and grabbing title tags (and title for the page/post) that directly relate to the page/post you are creating
  2. Include at least 15% but not more than 20% of your body copy as keywords, and make sure that the text is readable/understandable from a human perspective…after all, they are buying your product and services
  3. Utilize detailed and informative snippets for your description tag; these do not directly relate to search engine rankings, but they will indirectly effect the number of visits as this is what the search engines pick up to preview your site on results pages

As we look further into the analysis of Bing and Google, there are significant differences in the weighting of off-page factors.  This means that there is a difference in the number of links, quality of links, diversity of links, domain history, and anchor text.  Here are some ways that your site may rank better in Bing:

  1. Studies have shown that older domains hold a higher weight than anchor text concentration for Bing.  You don’t have as much control over this, but this also means that you do not want to change your domain name or have it redirected frequently to maximize Bing SEO.
  2. Build in-bound links through pages that directly correlate with your page.  This is something that you would do with Google as well, but Google takes a little more weighted approach when it looks at the link popularity and diversity.
  3. Utilize anchor text for the in-bound links that have your specified keywords.  Again, this isn’t something that is weighted as heavily as Google, but it is still a pertinent aspect of SEO on Bing.

The final aspect that recent studies have shown as a major difference are the linking-pages (which are…the pages that link to your page).  This takes into account where the keywords are (title and/or body), and the average rankings of the pages that are linking to you.  Here is how you can help Bing recognize your site through the linking pages:

  1. Increase the number of sites that link to you and have your keywords in the title tags
  2. Launch a link-building campaign that has your long-tail keywords in the body
  3. Gain in-bound links from higher ranking, older domain sites

Overall, all of these tips can help with all of the search engines out there, but this is where the Bing world is taking us (more linking pages that have your keywords in their title tags, older sites ranking higher, and improving the percentage and use of keywords in your copy.  However, if you need help with your search engine optimization or have additions to this post please contact Impact or leave comments below.

Tagged with:
Jun 29

If you’re selling a product on your website, customer testimonials can be a key content element because they are unbiased comments that prompt visitors to buy. By using testimonials in text, audio or video formats on your site you introduce content that will promote your product in convincing fashion.

Testimonials work because they aren’t strong sales pitches, they come across in an unbiased voice and establish trust.

A key to using testimonials is to choose the ones that work best. Instead of direct recommendations of your product (“I think it’s great!”), find testiomonials that provide product details that explain how the product satisifies a consumer need. Testimonials that provide specific product benefits will induce sales.

Check with your web designer to determine the best way to add testimonials to your site. You might try a web application that allows you to set up a testimonial page or a plug in that will allow you to post different testimonials on each page of your site. There are a number of possibilities here so determine what works best and incorporate testimonials into your site to boost business.

Tagged with:
Jun 28

As a professional blogger, and an SEO expert I consistently provide efficient suggestions to other casual or semi-casual blog journalists as well as other industry professionals.  Because of my experiences and connections within the industry, I have picked up some tips and tricks that are priceless for individuals looking to improve the search engine optimization of their blog.  One of those key debates that I enter into with these individuals is the idea of fresh content vs. quality content, and in the past I have “given the go ahead” for quality content over fresh content, and here is why:

So, I’m curious; what are your thoughts on the subject now that you have watched this segment. Do you think that your target audience would be upset if you altered the two days of fresh content for one quality content blog post. Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and if you ever need help setting up your blog or maximizing search engine optimization please contact Impact!

Tagged with:
Jun 25

Advertisements can either be a tremendous burden financially, but if created correctly they can produce excellent numbers to positively effect your bottom line.  Companies have tried everything from pictures in their print ads, videos in their online ads, crazy voices in their radio ads, but they fail to recognize the basics of what an advertisement needs.  So, let’s break down an ad and talk about how we can emphasize those areas so you can take a step ahead of your competition:

Headlines

A good, strong, and catching headline is one of the most important aspects of your ad.  The headline should be what sticks in your clients’ minds, and is something that should be resounded throughout your entire company.  Yes, that means that when you launch a specific campaign that you answer your phones with that catchy headline, you sign off of your e-mails with it, and you put it on your voice message as well as including it on your letterhead.

When you create the headline of your ad, keep in mind that you want the statement to:

  1. Precisely outline the benefit that your product/service provides
  2. Specifically define or speak to your target audience
  3. Efficiently summarize what the ad is about
Text Content

This is one of the largest debates among people within the marketing industry; is a large amount of copy better than a smaller amount of copy (and vice versa).  However, studies have shown that longer copy tells the story and answers more questions which reassures target clientele more-so than short copy.  In other words, long copy is better (if done right) than short.

Now, let’s take a look at 3 quick tips to make your body copy more effective:

  1. Succinctly and effectively deliver your story through short paragraphs and descriptive action verbage
  2. Utilize an easily read typeface for the copy; the easier your text is to read the more understood your product/service will be (i.e. serif text)
  3. Emphasize pertinent words and/or statements through bolded, underlined, or italicized text
Content of the Copy

As you now know how to format the copy efficiently, it’s important to also know how to create effective and meaningful content.   The objective of your text needs to capture your story, but it also needs to sell.  Here are some great ways to utilize the copy to increase your productivity:

  1. Sell a self-interested benefit that will likely improve their quality of life
  2. Incorporate action and descriptive words that will entice the reader to move further with their business relationship
  3. Include at least one call to action which is subtle but to the point
Ask For The Sale

This is absolutely the most important thing that marketers forget to include; a method to close the sale and improve their cost efficiency with their advertisements. Within the copy, I suggested to include at least one subtle call to action. However, at the end of your ad you need to get a little more aggressive and close the sale with your audience.

As you come up with the ideal closing, keep in mind that the close should:

  1. Provide motivation to act immediately and not wait until a later date
  2. Emotionally drive the audience to move forward with your company
  3. Include a benefit for acting promptly

Overall, an advertisement is an outstanding way to increase productivity within your business, but there needs to be a certain high level of delivery within the ad itself.  In order to do that you need to increase the efficacy of your headline, format your copy accordingly, include interesting and informative copy, and close the sale with the clients.

If you have any other ideas on how you can truly make an ad more efficient please feel free to add a comment below, or contact Impact if you need assistance with branding and marketing!

Tagged with:
Jun 23

No matter how good of a blogger you may be, nobody is going to notice you unless they know that you are out there with that great content. So, how do you get everyone in the blogosphere to notice you?

Submit Your Blog To Directories or Feed Readers

Submitting your site is one of the easiest marketing techniques that you can employ, and is absolutely worth the few seconds it takes to enter the information.  So, to help you get your feet wet here is a list of the top 50 places to submit your blog.

  1. Technorati — Search engine for blog posts utilizing a great tag library
  2. Digg — Social bookmarking site that is truly one of the best
  3. StumbleUpon — Another social bookmarking site that is absolutely a huge hit for traffic
  4. Google Blog Search — Users can find blogs based on topic searches
  5. dmoz — Significantly large directory of sites and blogs
  6. Yahoo! — Enough said with this submission.  Get to Yahoo and submit your blog/site
  7. PubSub — Directory of RSS Feeds
  8. GlobeofBlogs — Submit categories and/or keywords with your blog submission
  9. BoingBoing — An interesting directory that reviews submitted sites based on “interesting content”
  10. Topix — One of the most complete news blog directories out there
  11. Blogarama — Categorized compilation of blogs and articles
  12. BlogCatalog — User-driven blog submission and search
  13. Blo.gs — Tracks recently updated blogs, and also allows you to add your favorite blo.gs list to your site
  14. Blogmatcher — Similar to StumbleUpon where you can search submitted blogs that are similar to your specified interests
  15. VIPBloggers — Search blogs by thumbnail (when you hover over a thumbnail you  get a pop-up image of the blog)
  16. BlogRunner — Blog entries grouped together by interest topic/news stories
  17. 9rules network — Directory that focuses on blogs with quality content
  18. Blogger.com Blog Search — Search blogs from all across the web based on keyword searches
  19. BlogUniverse — Collection of blogs based on category themes
  20. Blog-Search.com — Search for any blog which has been submitted to the site
  21. Blogged.com — Great directory of quality blogs
  22. BlogSearchEngine.com — Search blogs by subject
  23. Bloghub — Blog directory and search engine
  24. Bloggernity — Wide range of topics and search engine for blogs
  25. TopSites — Web directory that allows you to specify a niche
  26. Twingly — Submit and have your blog posts rated
  27. Feedzie — A tremendous directory of fee URL’s
  28. HotvsNot — Fun site that allows users to vote on your quality content
  29. Blog001 — Great RSS feed directory that utilizes a category, description, and sub-category for defining your blog niche
  30. ooBdoo — Promote your content through your RSS Feed
  31. RSS001 — Feeds are auto-tagged to make searching easier for users
  32. FeedMil — A topic focused search engine for blog feeds
  33. RSSSpider — Huge directory of user-submitted feeds that is a great resource for bloggers and users looking for quality content
  34. Blogville — Blogging community and search engine based on keywords
  35. Syndic8 — User-driven submissions and searching for quality content
  36. Bloogz — A huge directory of world-wide blogs
  37. RSSReader — Tough to get registered with them as they only take high-quality content, but it is well worth it
  38. BlogPulse — One of the better blog directory sites out there today!
  39. News Feeds Directory — Exactly what the name says so if you have a news site or anything news related…submit it
  40. YourBlogHere — A great directory that collects and organizes blogs based on categories and keywords
  41. LSBlogs — Provides a directory of blogs as well as a forum to discuss certain blogs and other topics
  42. BlogFuse — A compilation of blogs from all around the world separated and organized based on categories
  43. RateItAll — An awesome interactive blog directory that allows users to rank blogs/articles
  44. RSSLocator — One of the better RSS Feed collectors that organizes based on content categories
  45. FindRSS — A great place to get noticed as the compilation grows
  46. BloggerFind — An excellent place for you to submit any category of blog
  47. Blogs For Small Business — If you have a small business blog then submit it here
  48. FeedMap — Geo-code your blog posts and search based on topic and location
  49. BlogRankings — Get your blog ranked and stay interactive with this directory
  50. BlogPoint — User-driven and human reviewed blog director

If you have any other sites that you think could help with blog submissions please feel free to add them to the comment section below, and I hope you have fun browsing through these sites (and submitting your blog to them)!

Tagged with:
Jun 22

If you’re looking for ways to get more customers, there are a number of marketing techniques you can use, and here are five of the best.

1. Affiliate marketing: Promoting a web business in which affiliates are rewarded for every visitor, customer or sale provided through their efforts.
2. Article marketing: Short keyword articles promoting your business are posted, with links to your website so readers will be driven to visit your site.
3. Buzz marketing: Viral marketing techniques generate the release of personal information from consumers that can be used to create a database of prospective customers.
4. Direct marketing: Direct mail and other forms of direct marketing utilize call to action methodologies to generate sales and accurately track results.
5. Database marketing: A form of direct marketing that uses databases of customers to generate personalized communications to promote a product or service.

Tagged with:
preload preload preload