Internet Marketing, Social Media, Business | StuckInTheFunnel

5 Common PPC Mistakes to Avoid

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

Depending on your organization’s marketing budget, you may opt to manage your PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns in-house. While this can save you money on management fees, you run the risk of losing dollars if your campaign is not maintained correctly. Over the years, we have heard countless stories of under performing PPC campaigns from our current and prospective clients.

Here are 5 Common PPC Mistakes to Avoid:

1. Focusing on Budget and Not ROI – Many marketing managers view a PPC budget as another line item on a marketing report. This is common with small businesses. Unlike traditional media campaigns such as Television, Print or Radio, Paid Search Campaigns provide the opportunity for detailed analysis and analytics. Make sure you constantly track and refine your campaigns so you get the most out of your ad spend.
2. Sending All Traffic to Your Home Page – Your ads are ranked by a number of factors, including the relevancy of your destination URL. If you send your visitors to relevant landing pages, it will increase your ad position and your visitors will be more likely to convert.
3. Forgetting About Negative Keywords – Negative keywords are a great way to qualify traffic and avoid wasted clicks. Make sure you omit keywords from your campaigns that are not relevant to your brand, product or service. For example: if you sell Ferraris, do not include the search term “cheap” in your campaigns.
4. Not Checking the Competition – While you do not have to stalk your competitors, checking their ads and landing pages periodically will provide you with competitive insight. This knowledge gained can be used in your differentiation strategy.
5. Not Paying Attention to Ad Text – Be sure to include one or more of your keywords within your ad text and include a call to action. A good call to action will guide the visitor in the right direction after they enter your site. Placing keywords that are relevant to the search term in your ad text will also increase your ad’s relevancy and Click Through Rate (CTR) which will also help your ad positions.

How to Get Started With Email Marketing Software

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

Many of our new customers ask us about email marketing software and rightfully so. No matter how great your copy and call to action is, if no one sees the message your hard work will be in vain. It’s important to choose a reputable tool that will get the message delivered.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when selecting your Email Marketing software provider:

• Make sure the company does not allow it’s customers to market to purchased lists.
• Select a tool that can handle your subscription list. If you are a larger organization, you may have to get a custom quote.
• Look for a company that conforms to all authentication standards including Sender ID and SPF and DKIM which are used to prevent SPAM activity.
• Find a provider that provides live help and support, especially if you are new to email marketing.

There are a lot of products out there, but take the time to choose one that is a good fit for your business.

Social Media Automation – What's Good and Bad About It?

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

When discussing the topic of Social Media with our current or prospective customers we often get the response “I don’t have time for that”. While Social Media is a labor intensive form of marketing, it does provide the personal touch your audience is looking for. Many businesses are unaware that you can actually automate a good portion of your Social Media Marketing.

With a little planning, you can syndicate your online content and reduce the time it takes you to spread your message across all of your social pipelines.

Here are a few tools that can help you do this:

• Tweet Deck (update Twitter and Facebook simultaneously).
• Word Press Twitter Plugin (Display your Tweets on a Word Press Blog)
• Twitter Feed (Automatically feed your blog and other RSS content to Twitter)
• Hoot Suite (for scheduled Tweets and other workflow)
• Posterous - (Allows you to email content and have it distributed to multiple Social Networks Simultaneously. )

Benefits of Social Media Automation:

• Allows marketing staff to spend less time on copying/pasting so they can focus on generating original content and other critical business tasks
• Keeps your content/brand consistent across all social networks.

Negatives of Social Media Automation:

• Can result in neglecting social networks. Make sure you continue to login and build up your following and relationships.
• It may cause you to get labeled as a Spammer or robot. It’s important to comment on the content created by others. Don’t just send your content into the pipeline without participating in other discussions.

Social Media automation can improve your business processes, but remember to use the tools available ethically and build your audience organically.

Internet Marketing VS Traditional – What You Should Know

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

Digital marketing spending will increase 17% in 2010 as marketers move dollars away from TV, print and radio advertising to social media, mobile, search and e-mail marketing according to a February report from e-mail service provider ExactTarget and Internet marketing and e-commerce consulting firm Econsultancy.

You may have heard the buzz about Internet Marketing and it’s increasing popularity, but you might not now why the buzz is there. The fact is, Internet marketing provides some significant advantages over traditional marketing.

Advantages of Web Marketing Over Traditional Marketing:

1. Outreach – Internet Marketing allows you to target specific locations on a global scale with ease.
2. Conversion Tracking – Detailed conversion tracking and other metrics such as impressions, clicks, click through rates and cost per acquisition are readily available with Internet Marketing. This data is more difficult to obtain with say a newspaper or print ad.
3. Cost of Entry – With Paid Search or Banner Ads, you can spend as little or as much as you like and can adjust your daily budget at any time.
4. Ease of Deployment – With Internet Marketing, you can deploy your campaign as soon as you are ready and do not have to wait for the next print circulation.
5. Consumer Interest – When you present an ad to someone searching for a product or service, you are catching them in “Buying Mode” which is more conducive to producing a sale or lead.

Offline branding is important, but if you do not consider the Internet as part of your marketing mix, you will miss out on potential customers that your competition may already be capturing.

Design for Conversion and Increase Your Sales

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

PPC or SEO – What is Right for Your Business?

This post was originally written for the blog Raleigh Web Insights.

According to a 2009 study conducted by Nielsen and Pew Internet concluded that 82% of consumers perform a search on the internet before purchasing a product or service.

More of our new and existing clients are beginning to realize this and often ask us whether they should consider SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or PPC (Pay Per Click Advertising).

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A Case in Conversion: Dave Ramsey ELP (Endorsed Local Providers)

Now that I’ve gotten to the age where my liabilities and responsibilities seem to be increasing, I have started to search for a financial advisor to direct and handle my investments.

 While listening to Dave Ramsey on talk radio the other day, he made mention of the “Endorsed Local Providers” on his website. Although I have not taken Ramsey’s classes or read any of his books, I have enjoyed his practical insights on the radio. This already established trust led me to his website in a search for CFP talent.

 After submitting the obligatory “Locate an Advisor form”, I was officially captured as a viable prospect and my journey through the conversion funnel continued.

 This Conversion Funnel portrays my quest for a financial planner:

The ELP was straightforward during our meeting. I even blatantly asked him about the agreement he had with the Dave Ramsey organization and he answered honestly.

 So will I choose Dave Ramsey’s local provider as my financial planner? Not yet. Given my thorough nature, I have asked a friend with a financial background to take a look at the services and fees provided to me at the meeting. Based on his recommendations, I will see whether or not I exit this conversion funnel.

 What you can learn from this experience:

1. Celebrity endorsements still hold water and can help your digital persuasion.
2. Radio advertising is still a viable medium to include in your marketing mix. If tailored correctly, in can assist it increasing your online conversions.
3. Endorsements can help increase your prospect count, but don’t rely on that alone. You will still have to sell yourself well, especially in today’s market.

Why You Need a Web Based Dashboard

No. I am not talking about a car dashboard…

If you are an information junkie like me, you may find it hard to organize the streams of information that you find most important around the web.

Depending on your profession, you may spend a considerable amount of time online browsing information and topics of interest. This especially holds true for Bloggers and Social Media Marketers. According to Nielsen, Internet users spent 17hrs a week online.

So how do you uphold that new years resolution and start operating more efficiently in your day to day routine?

Simple – a web based dashboard. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, a web based dashboard allows you to syndicate RSS feeds, widgets and other content to a centralized location. Without my dashboard, I would have to open up at least 20 seperate websites a day to get my daily fill of information.

What should I you have your dashboard display?

It really depends on what content is useful for you. If you work in finance, you will want to see stock quotes for the day. Social Media Marketers will want to have the latest news breaking from Mashable.

Personally, I seperate my Dashboard of choice (iGoogle) into 4 columns:

1. Task/Work Related (Calendar, Date/Time, New Email)
2. World and Local News (World, Technology, Business)
3. Social Media Feeds (Twitter, Facebook, Linked In)
4. Inspirational Widgets (Word of the day, Things to Ponder, Quote of The Day etc.)

Here are some popular dashboards:

1. iGoogle
2. 24 Eyes
3. Page Flakes
4. Net Vibes

Most of these tools have comparable features. However, it is not so much the software that makes the dashboard useful, it is the quality of the information you monitor.

Small Businesses to Increase Email, Social Media Spend in 2010

Small business respondents to a survey conducted by Vertical Response, Inc said that they would be increasing their Email and Social Media marketing ad spend in 2010, but will be reducing their budget for search engine marketing and online display advertising.

831 Businesses were surveyed and 74% said they plan on increasing their email marketing spend and 68% said they plan on increasing their social media budget.

Are small businesses still scared of SEM and Display Advertising?

It appears so. I have worked with many small businesses in the Raleigh area and whenever I bring up SEM or Display Ads, I am usually met with opposition and hear things like “Well, what we do works for us”.  I am still a huge advocate of SEM and Display (mostly due to it’s measurable nature) and think that this presents an opportunity for vendor education.  If Internet Marketers can better educate SMBs on the benefits of these channels, it will only help their clients.

Recap of Internet Summit 09

Last week I attended Internet Summit ‘09 (#isum09) with RTP Designs. The conference  united like-minded businesses and internet professionals right here in the Triangle.

This entry focuses on my impressions of the conference agenda, speakers and material presented.

Parts of this post are also available for viewing at RTP Designs.

Venue:

The conference was held at the Raleigh Convention Center. Parking was ample, but cost $7 each day…ouch. The reception on Wed was held in a business casual setting complete with fine appetizers and an open bar. (beer and wine). I was lucky enough to be approached by some of my Twitter followers later in the evening as the gathering transferred over to the Oxford – a quaint pub in downtown Raleigh.

Keynotes:

Aside from the 5 minute video plugging ESPN.com, Jim Kosner’s keynote was informative and entertaining. He educated the audience on ESPN’s strategy for content delivery on multiple mediums such as web, phone, TV, radio etc. Many companies make the mistake of concentrating on one or a few media pipelines to deliver their message. ESPN proved that thinking outside the pipe (so to speak) can bring excellent results.

Richard Jalichandra of Technorati provided some interesting metrics on how bloggers monetize:

• Display Ads:  40%
• Search Ads:  39%
• Affiliate: 36%
• Paid Postings: 8%

Other than that, there was some additional discussion on blogging trends for 2010 but overall I was not inspired by this discussion.

Search Marketing Panel:

I was particularly impressed with Jason Dowell of Triangle Direct Media . He exuded an in depth technical knowledge and explained the architecture necessary to stay one up on search engine algorithms. While most of this was not new to me, his ability to articulate the subject passionately added to the discussion. Ian Kelevich of eMarketer beefed things up with some stats and outlooks for the Search Marketing industry. He noted that overall advertising spend was down 15% in 09 and search marketing spend is projected to increase 6% next year.

Analytics Panel:

This panel focused on the ongoing maturity of the analytics industry and how the issue of data integrity is holding it back. Dan Forootan, an obvious data-head was passionate on the subject of data integrity. When asked what his recommendations were for improving data he replied: “Hire better programmers” which I found amusing. However, I think it takes more than clean code to make analytics worth your business’s time. KPI’s are different for every company and need to be defined correctly. Once businesses’ begin to do this effectively, the value of analytics will become more evident.

Online Advertising Strategies Panel:

This panel was a little general for me but moderator Gian Fulgoni (chairman Comscore) did an excellent job of creating debate on the subject of traditional V.S. online marketing. Fulgoni kept stressing that traditional branding offline was just as important as marketing online.  At first, I disagreed. However, Fulgoni raised the point that 80% of purchases are still made offline, which changed my perspective a bit. I am still however, partial to online marketing.

Email Marketing Panel:

Aside from the debate on whether or not social media would eliminate the need for email marketing, this panel was somewhat stale to me. Ultimately the panel agreed that social media and email marketing are intertwined, which is my take as well.

Conclusion:

Overall I was happy with this conference. It provided great networking opportunities and it was good to see both local and national businesses come together. However, I was hoping for more advanced material in the panels.