Category: Local Marketing

Want to Improve Your Local Search Ranking? Focus on Mobile.

Posted on by Andrew

Mobile SearchWhen consumers search for local options on mobile, they usually have an immediate need and want quick answers, close to where they are. Optimizing for local search is important, but if you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you may miss out on your best source of local traffic. Many of those local searches come with a high purchase intent, making local mobile searches an incredibly important opportunity for your business. How can you structure your paid search campaigns to make sure your ads are appearing for local shoppers who want what you’re selling?

Use shorter phrases and keywords

Mobile users use short phrases and fewer keywords than desktop users. Go after short, concise phrases and keywords that your audience will be typing into their phones. For paid search ads, you can find mobile-specific keyword information by checking the Search Terms report in Google AdWords. This list will give you the searches people entered that triggered your ads.

Keep it local

Local searchers will be more likely to respond to ads from businesses that appear to be close to them. Clearly, state your city in your title and content to confirm that you are a local business. Break out your paid search campaigns according to the location to ensure that the location a potential customer is searching for shows up in your content. When searchers know you’re just down the street, your ad will be much more relevant to their query.

Use mobile ad extensions

Ad extensions can boost your ads by providing additional information to searchers. Experiment with different extensions and see which ones are the most effective. For mobile search, consider the following extensions:

  • Location extensions: Location extensions shows your address and lets searchers know just how local you are.
  • Call Extensions: If people often contact your business before they come in, you can eliminate a step for them by making the click on your ad lead to a call or text.
  • Sitelinks: Sitelink extensions let you focus on some of your site specifics that make your business stand out, like driving directions, special promotions, or a “contact us” page.

Test Local Search Ads on Google Maps

Local Search Ads or Promoted Pins increase the accessibility and visibility of your business for local searches by putting your ad right on Google’s Map. You can use this ad to feature promotions, incentives, and allow potential customers to search your real-time inventory before they head to your store.

Implement the right mix

Successful mobile advertising needs to be the right combination of keywords to fit Google’s algorithm paired with a great user experience to engage customers. When you create the right mix of keywords and relevant content, your message will reach your ready-to-buy audience. If you’re interested in learning more about mobile advertising contact us today. 

Get Local: 5 Tips to Reach Your Nearby Audience

Posted on by Andrew

Local Reputation ManagementAs mobile usage continues to grow, consumers are conducting more searches with local intent. In the past two years, Google saw a 2x increase in “near me” and “nearby” searches, with 80 percent of those searches occurring on mobile devices. Google refers to these geographic-specific searches as “I-Want-to-Go moments.” Google wants to better serve users by personalizing their results and delivering relevant information based on their exact location.

 

Hyperlocal targeting, or advertising to customers based upon their location, has the potential to connect your business with active buyers. How you optimize your content can make the difference between showing up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) or getting lost in the mix. Incorporate these five tips in your online strategy to establish your brand within the local market and drive traffic to your business.

 

  1. Adopt a mobile-first mindset

Make sure your business has a mobile-first mindset, including a mobile-friendly site design. Prominently feature contact information and include click-to-call or text buttons. The easier you make it for the mobile user to gather information, the more traffic you’ll generate.

 

  1. Complete your Google My Business profile

Every element added into your Google My Business page can provide important signals to assist with local ranking. Fill out every field relevant to your business and include high-quality images and other indicators that show a user a glimpse of your business.

 

  1. Get More Reviews

One of the biggest indicators of a successful business is positive reviews. Businesses with great ratings will always beat out those with mediocre or average reviews. Not sure where you stand on local performance? Take a look at our free local business listing snapshot report. We pull in all the data from our reviews and local listings and tell you where you’re doing great, and where you need some help.

 

  1. Include any schema data markup on your pages

Provide Google with as much information as possible about your business by incorporating schema data markup (for each location) on your applicable website pages. Using schema data markup, you can precisely define various business attributes, including business type, hours, address, phone number and more. By clearly telling Google what information is being presented on your page, you make it easier for your business to appear for relevant search queries.

 

  1. Monitor progress

Once you begin to optimize your content for hyperlocal targeting, track your keyword rankings at the local level. The closer you can get to your exact business location, the more accurate your information will be. Use this kind of data to gain insight to guide your strategy as you plan for the future.

Dealership Sees Increased Sales After Going Digital

Posted on by Andrew

Digital AdvertisingDoes your dealership still rely heavily on traditional advertising methods to reach potential car buyers? TV, print, and radio ads may have been effective in the past, but now digital advertising is where it’s at. If you haven’t taken the plunge, consider going all-in with a digital campaign.

Google recently profiled a small-town Canadian car dealership that experienced huge results after abandoning their traditional marketing plans and launching a digital strategy. Recognizing that car buyers were spending more and more time online, the dealership decided to go all digital in 2014. Since then, they have experienced:

  • 50% increase in new car sales
  • 79% increase in website visitors
  • 67% increase in the dealership’s website page views

By advertising to an online audience, the dealership was able to deliver highly-relevant ads to a targeted market. In addition to increasing sales and online traffic, a digital campaign can deliver these three benefits:

Multiple tools: Digital advertising allows you to develop a proactive strategy with the flexibility to adjust as needed. Here are a few tactics that we implement to drive traffic to your dealership.

  • Paid search ads: By using targeted keyword lists that focus on purchase intent, our paid search campaigns put an ad for your business at the top of the search results pages, giving you increased visibility to local searchers.
  • Dynamic Facebook ads: After identifying the best audience and determining purchase intent, we serve the most relevant ad to that potential buyer. The ad pulls real-time inventory from your website’s data feed. We optimize the bid to bring the most potential traffic back to your site, generating the maximum amount of VDP views. Dealerships using our highly-targeted dynamic ads are achieving record sales. Compared to standard Facebook ads, dealerships experience increased time on website, increased page views per session, and improved vehicle search conversion rate.
  • YouTube video ads: Video gives you the opportunity to personalize your dealership and creatively advertise your current promotions and deals.

Increased Engagement Opportunities: Digital advertising offers multiple platforms to boost engagement, build brand awareness, and foster relationships. Through social media, email marketing campaigns, and your website, you can reward buyers with valuable information they need to make an informed decision.

Measurable results: It can be difficult to pinpoint the effectiveness of a TV or radio promotion. With digital, you can track many metrics such as emails, site visits, calls, and car sales. By being able to instantly measure your results, you can spend your ad budget on tactics that deliver the best ROI.

 

We specialize in digital auto ad campaigns. We have the expertise and experience to create a plan for your dealership that will deliver results. Contact us today to get started.

Add HouseHold Extensions to your Retargeting

Posted on by Andrew

The goal of every retargeting campaign is to convert the most sales for the least amount of money. We offer a variety of tools and techniques to help you achieve this, but we’ve just added a new element to our arsenal: Household Extension.

Household Extension broadens campaign reach while still delivering targeted impressions across multiple devices in one location, such as a home or a small office.

Household Targeting

How can this expanded capability benefit your campaign?

Multi-device retargeting

Household Extension allows you to expand targeting to every device on a user’s IP address. This capability allows you to reach a single user on multiple devices (think laptop, tablet, and mobile) and/or reach other users on the same IP address.

Retargeting expansion

Consider this hypothetical situation. John Smith, age 18, is excitedly looking to purchase his first car. He’s spent hours and hours eagerly researching this major purchase, but ultimately he will rely on the input of his parents before handing over his hard-earned money.

Let’s say you’re a car dealership that stocks a large inventory of used cars. John is diligently looking at what you have for sale in his price range. Wouldn’t it be nice if Mom and Dad were also exposed to the same advertising John was viewing?

Your dealership may come out on top of your competition because the right people (in this case, multiple people within the same family) are seeing your advertisement. Influence decision makers by reaching multiple household members through connected devices.

Additional Prospecting Opportunity

By reaching multiple people on a single IP address, you have the opportunity to capture new users prospecting information within your original retargeting landscape, most likely their circle of influence.

We can help you implement this feature in an existing retargeting campaign or we can start a new one! Reaching more people means increased opportunity for conversions at a reduced cost. Grow your business and prospect list without any additional effort with Household Extension.

Capitalizing On Big Game Buzz

Posted on by Andrew

It is NFL playoff season and people are buzzing about football, especially here in Seattle where our Seahawks are Super Bowl bound after an incredible comeback against the Green Bay Packers. Although you may not have the marketing budget to buy air time during the Super Bowl (which is reportedly going for a cool $4 million for a 30-second commercial), you can still capitalize off the excitement and energy generated by the Big Game and use it to positively impact your business.

Make a game plan

You have a set amount of advertising dollars and it’s up to you to spend them how you deem most beneficial. How are you going to drive potential customers to make a purchase? You already have your plans in motion with your retargeting campaign, but consider ramping up your efforts and adding a special promotion or offer related to Super Bowl weekend.

Connect with your 12s

Seattle Seahawks fans are affectionately referred to as the 12th Man (or 12s) and the Seahawks organization masterfully connects with their fans. The 12th Man feels like they are part of the team and you can foster that same connection with your “fans.” Follow the Seahawks’ lead and stay in touch with your customers via social media and an effective marketing campaign. Offering a special incentive or offer can generate business and build brand loyalty.

NFL Conversion Driver

Execute your big play

Go above and beyond your standard offense and execute your big play with your Super Bowl offer. Through email marketing or a custom conversion driver, you can drive fans to your website and capture prospective customer information while providing them with a valuable offer. Use the Seahawks Super Bowl buzz to your advantage.

Outwit your opponent

You are not the only company selling your particular product or service, but you can be the best at selling, far exceeding others in your industry. By continually evaluating and refining your marketing campaign, you can stay 10 yards ahead of your competition. We offer several different tools to energize your online marketing, increasing leads and building your brand so you come out on top.

TOUCHDOWN!

Putting all of the right things in motion at the right time will result in a score for your business. Increase brand awareness, convert website visitors, or reward loyal customers. Get creative and come up with a fun, Super Bowl-sized way to score a touchdown for your business.

Using Purchase Intent to Target Car Shoppers

Posted on by Andrew

We all know car shoppers spend the bulk of their buying cycle researching online. They use more than 11 different sources and visit countless websites comparing features, prices and reviews.

So what does this mean for car dealers? If you’re looking to connect with car shoppers, you need to do it online. Luckily we have a tool that lets you do that.

It’s called Pixel Targeting. What we do is measure the intent of car shoppers and deliver ads to them based on what they’re looking for.

So how do we measure intent?

We do it in a few different ways. By analyzing browsing history, search queries and page contexts we can get an accurate picture of what car shoppers are looking for and serve ads appropriately.

Take this shopper’s history for example. From this page we can see that this shopper is looking at buying a new Jeep. They’re looking in the for sale section of AutoTrader and are located in Kirkland, WA.

AutoTrader Intent

Since we know where this person is located and know what kind of vehicle they’re searching for, we can deliver a relevant ad to them.

The power of Pixel Targeting is being able to reach people who are looking for what you have to sell them. You’re not trying to break down barriers and convince these shoppers they should buy a Jeep — they’re already looking for one. You just need to get your ad in front of their eyes and give them a reason to pick you over your competitor.

Interested in Pixel Targeting? Contact us today for more information.

Search Campaigns Can be Used for Branding

Posted on by Andrew

Search advertising has long been used as a direct-response marketing strategy, but a new study from Google reveals it could be helpful in branding as well.

Throughout 2013, Google and Ipsos MediaCT conducted 61 search experiments to measure the impact of search ads on brand awareness. They measured both top-of-mind awareness and unaided brand awareness even when the consumer doesn’t click on the ad.

Overall, Google found that there was a positive impact on unaided brand awareness and top of mind awareness.

Top of mind awareness from search campaigns

This can add an interesting twist to your search campaigns. Rather than focusing solely on direct-response campaigns, you can include a search campaign for branding as well. This can help drive your direct-response campaigns by improving your mindshare of customers.

To learn more about getting your own search campaign up and running, contact us today.

Advertisers look to expand into online video advertising for 2014

Posted on by Andrew

Video advertising is poised to explode in 2014. The medium is gaining momentum across the board, and advertisers are jumping in head first.

Interested in video? Here are ten facts you should know.

  1. Video was the fastest-growing ad format in 2012.
  2. 90% of users say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process.
  3. 80% of users recall a video ad they’ve seen within the last 30 days.
  4. Video viewers retain 95% of a message, compared to 10% when reading it in text.
  5. Americans watched a total of almost 50 billion video ads in October 2013
  6. eMarketer found that businesses are pulling money from traditional budgets in order to allocate more to online video.
  7. You can target online audiences the same ways you target with your normal display advertising.
  8. One-third of all time spent online is watching video.
  9. More online video has been uploaded in the last 30 days than all three major T.V. networks combined have created in the last 30 years.
  10. According to NPD, mobile and tablet shoppers are three times as likely to view a video as laptop or desktop visitors.

Video advertising is the ability to repurpose your T.V. commercials for the Internet. Imagine being able to show your T.V. ad only to people who were in market for a car? With online video advertising that’s a reality.

We can take your video and put it in front of people who’ve been researching for a car online, and even to those who’ve visited your website.

Take it to the next level for 2014. Get started with some video pre-roll advertising for your business.

Now Announcing: Million Dollar Test Drive

Posted on by Andrew

We’ve been working on this for a while, but we’re happy to announce a new product we’re starting called Million Dollar Test Drive. Million Dollar Test Drive is a promotional program for car dealers that drives floor traffic to your store, and creates new leads for your dealership.

Plus, every person who comes to a participating dealer gets their name entered into a drawing to win one million dollars!

Check out our site to learn more.

How do we protect against fake website traffic and bot traffic?

Posted on by Andrew

We wanted to take a second and give a quick update in regards to the recent reports about click fraud and bot traffic. Click fraud and bot traffic have been around since the beginning of Internet advertising. Luckily, the high-tech nature of digital marketing means attempts to dupe advertisers are discovered and eradicated quickly.

At AdsUpNow, we take our jobs and your campaigns very seriously. We’ve been leaders in data targeting since our company began in 2008. We’ve bought data from multiple sources targeting against keywords, website context, user behavior and more. We’ve also developed and collected our own data targeting techniques through our proprietary website history and sitelist targeting.

The breadth of our experience gives us the ability to detect fraudulent clicks and make sure we drive only real people to your website.

One of our tactics is that we operate your campaigns with an evolving blacklist and whitelist. This means that if a certain website is delivering too many impressions for the amount of traffic it actually receives, we can blacklist that site, so your ads won’t be served on it. We also work with our providers to block sites so you always show up on sites that are brand-safe for your business.

Another way to ensure we deliver the right traffic is through Google Analytics. Our ad servers give us reports, but we like to verify the information with a third-party system to track our traffic to make sure all of the clicks we delivered actually landed on your site. Through Google Analytics we can see exactly which campaign brought the people to your site, and what they did when they got there.

We touch our advertisers’ campaigns every day to assure they are getting the best results and the highest quality clicks as possible.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. Thank you for your support and continued business.