Have you tried doing Facebook ads in your latest display advertising campaign? Facebook is getting huge, and they own about a third of the U.S. display ad market. If you want to get the most out of your display campaign, forgetting about Facebook would be a huge oversight.
Continue reading…Why Hiring a Search Engine Marketer is Like Going to a Mechanic
Yup, you read that right. At first glance, there might not seem like there’s much similarity between digital advertising and auto repair, but they do have their similarities. For more information on search engine marketing, check out our post on online advertising and the state of search.
First off, both are things you can do yourself. Yup, it’s true. You can do your own car repair the same way you can do your own search marketing. It might take you longer and you might not get the same results, but it’s still possible.
The second reason they are similar is that a lot of people have had bad experiences in the past. Almost everyone you know probably has a story about a shady mechanic, and a lot of people have separate stories about search engine marketers over-promising and under-delivering.
The third reason is that you get what you pay for. There are mechanics out there that will give you a quote for really cheap car repair, but you don’t know exactly what you’re getting. The same is true for search engine marketing agencies. Someone can tell you that you only need to spend $200 per month on search, but don’t tell you what their methods are.
The last reason is that you’re better off hiring a professional. I know I said you can do it yourself, and it’s true. The only thing is that you’re better off hiring someone else. If I asked you to replace the head gasket in your car, the chances are you would have no idea where to start. The same thing would probably happen if I told you to make a search campaign that included dynamic keyword insertion, geo-modifiers, negative keywords, ad rank and quality score. You could spend hours researching how to do all of those things, but the truth is, you’re never done researching. Google, and other search engines, roll out changes constantly, and you need to stay on top of the latest changes in search marketing methods.
At Conversion Logix, we guarantee you’ll see a lift in traffic and will have nothing but good stories to tell your peers and colleagues. We are a full-service digital ad agency in Seattle dedicated to bringing you results.
Does Your Website Promote Conversions?
How much of your web traffic do you convert? The chances are, not very much. In fact, most small business’ websites achieve only a 2% conversion rate. That means 98% of your web traffic is leaving without taking any action.
So why does this happen? Consumer behavior has changed. With the introduction of the search engine, consumers shop around before making any purchase decision.
This means that you might get a lot of web traffic, but if all your traffic does is poke around your website for a few minutes and leave, your website isn’t doing you any good.
A conversion is either a sale (hard conversion), or a lead (soft conversion). To maximize your conversions, you need to alter your website to promote both types of conversions.
Examples of ways to promote hard conversions would be a feature where users could buy online. That way, for those visitors that are ready to purchase, they have the option right in front of them.
The only problem with promoting hard conversion is that barely any of your website visitors are ready to make a purchase. Thus, trying to convince your traffic to buy right away isn’t very successful.
Soft conversions are a better way to convert your users. Because a soft conversion usually consists of only contact information, your website users will be more willing to give out their information, allowing you to contact them later.
Examples of a soft conversion would be an offer to join a mail list, or using a conversion driver to give a special to your website visitors.
Also, because they are willing to fill in their contact information, soft conversions are further down the purchase funnel than the average website visitor, as they are already considering your product or service.
Your website can’t be a passive page. The Internet is dynamic; use the ability to change deals on the fly and host mini-sites with your special offers to help increase conversions.
Check out our mini-sites and conversion drivers today and see how to use your existing traffic to create more leads.
Online Listings Bring New Opportunities to Local Businesses
I consult a search engine about local businesses almost every day. You probably do, too. If I’m looking for the nearest bank branch, gas station or restaurant, I type it into Google Maps on my iPhone and away we go.
Research from eMarketer confirms my personal anecdote. They found that more than 70% of consumers check an online source before going to a local business or restaurant.
That’s a huge number. If you don’t put a lot of stock in your online presence, then you should.
Out of that 70% of people, 43% said they visited Google to find out information about a business. By far and away that was the most popular way of discovering new business. In a distant second place, with 30% of the vote, was yellowpages.com.
This tells us that the majority of consumers look for local businesses in the same spots, meaning it’s fairly easy to get noticed.
One of the easiest ways to appear prominently to searchers is to optimize your Google Places listing, and appear in hundreds of online directories with Local AdsUpNow. These two things alone will get you exposure to 73% of the consumers who search online for local businesses.
If you have any questions, sound off in the comments, or contact us for a free digital marketing consultation.
An infographic On the History of Google Places
Fellow Local Search Marketer David Mihm put together an infographic showing the history of Google Places changes over the last few years.
If nothing else, this graph shows the importance of diligence when creating a Google Places listing. It’s not something that you can just set up and forget about – it requires maintenance.
Continue reading…Get a Better Google Places Rank with Local AdsUpNow
More than 3 billion searches for local goods or services take place every month. That’s a huge number, and it’s only getting bigger.
We’ve talked on this blog before about Google Places optimization and some of the ways to get your business listing higher in Google. One of the things we mentioned was using business directories to get what are called “citations.”
Citations are mentions of your business name on the Internet. So why is it important to have so many citations? Well search engines think it’s important, that’s why.
Continue reading…Retargeting: The Ultimate Lift For Website Traffic
We’ve talked about retargeting before, but for those of you who don’t know what it is, how it works, or how it fits in to your digital marketing strategy, here’s the short version: A user visits your website, a tracking cookie gets placed in their browser, your ads appear to them over the next month as they browse the web, and they are more likely to return to your website and take action.
Retargeting is great in that it follows up with your website customers automatically. 98 percent of your web traffic leaves without doing anything, but with retargeting, you get a much higher return rate. In a study from comScore, sites with retargeting got a 726 percent lift in site visitation after four weeks of ad exposure.
Retargeting also reflects positively on your branded search. Branded search is when someone searches for your business, such as “Moe’s Pizza,” instead of searching a broad category like “Pizza Seattle.” Branded searches are important because it means more and more people know about your business. In the same study, comScore noted that after four weeks of ad exposure, branded search increased 1,046 percent.
This means that even if the retargeting ads themselves don’t have a high click-through rate, searchers are still looking for those businesses more often than ones they aren’t retargeted for.
After conducting its study, comScore concluded: “In building the model of branding effectiveness, one strategy clearly outperformed the rest – retargeting. This strategy works well in every scenario and should be considered for both direct response and longer term branding objectives.”
For more information on retargeting, contact us today for a free consultation, or ask a question in the comments.
Mobile Search Increased 269% Y-O-Y in Q4
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about the emergence and importance of mobile advertising, but I’m afraid we’re going to talk
That’s an outrageous amount, and really showcases the increasing importance that is being placed on mobile. Over the same period, mobile ad impressions also increased by 317 percent, and CPC decreased by 8.6 percent. Meaning marketers were serving more impressions at a lower cost than ever before.
Things were all good on the desktop front as well, as desktop search grew 22.4 percent year-over-year in quarter four. There were also increase in impressions (20%), clicks (34%) and CTR (12%).
Overall, the search market is still growing, especially in mobile. If you want some more background on what makes up a mobile marketing campaign, and why it’s important, check out some of our previous blog posts.
If you have more questions about mobile, let us know in the comments. Or, contact us today for a free mobile consultation.
Get the Most Out of Google Places and Business Directories
When users search in Google, the Google Places listings are becoming more and more prevalent. With more and more businesses expanding their online presence, it’s becoming increasingly important to appear in the first page of listings. How do you do that? Just follow these quick, easy steps.
1. Fill out your Google Places listing
We know, we know, this seems like a no brainer, but we mean you have to fill it out completely. Google will rank your business higher if you have more complete business information.
2. Use appropriate keywords throughout the Google Places listing
Making sure to use keywords appropriate to your business throughout your Google Places listing will ensure that you appear in the most relevant searches. Don’t pack your listing too full of keywords, however, as Google might become suspicious and lower your ranking.
3. Verify your listing
In Google Places, you have the option to verify your listing. This is a must, because it lets Google know that you actually own the business that you’re updating. You can either verify through a postcard or phone call.
4. Make your listing stand out
Put in photos and videos of your business so users can see exactly what your storefront looks like, and give them a reason to choose you over the other guys.
5. Put your listing in as many directories as possible
Google checks to see where else your business is listed, so be sure to include your business in as many directories as possible. However, this can be extremely
Just follow these easy steps and you’ll be on your way to a better Google Places rank. For more information about directory submission services, check out Local AdsUpNow and sign-up to request more information.
The Car-buying Mobile Revolution
Mobile is transforming everything from shopping to searching. According to wireless statistics, wireless users logged 1.15 trillion minutes on mobile devices in the first half of 2011. That’s more than 6 billion minutes of usage every day.
One place mobile is changing the world is in car sales. A recent survey noted that 78 percent of people who are planning to buy a vehicle during the next 12 months will use a mobile device at some point in the purchase process.
If you’re a car dealer and you don’t have a mobile campaign, well, you now have a reason to get one. You can’t alienate such a large percentage of your car shoppers by not having a mobile strategy.
Here are some more stats: 44 percent of mobile car buyers use their phones to compare prices at different dealerships, 32 percent will use them to locate a dealership and 23 percent will use them to contact a dealership.
Those are numbers that you can’t ignore. Mobile is the way of the future, and you need to start adapting your business to the wants of the mobile user.
That means mobile landing pages, mobile ads, mobile SEM, QR codes, SMS campaigns and more. Tailoring to as many different users as possible will ensure none of your customers fall through the cracks.
Call us today and see how we can help you with your mobile strategy. We’ll get you started on the path to digital marketing success.
