Digital Marketing Consultant

Effective keyword research will ensure that your PPC ads appear on the top slot in the sponsored links of any search engine results page. While having 10 or 20 well-chosen keywords may bring most of the traffic, it does not cover all possible niches.

Here are some tips to make sure you use the best keyword phrases for PPC ads:

• Use free keyword research tools. There are special tools on the web that help you find great keywords. Some of the free keyword research tools that work well are Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker, Metacrawler, Keyword Discovery, Yahoo Search Marketing and SEO Book Keyword Research Tool.
• See who is competing for the best keywords. Go to a search engine like Google and do a search for the keywords in your niche. See which other businesses are already dominating that space. If you realize that a search term is far too competitive and may drain your entire PPC ad budget, expand your search term into a long-tail keyword. Keep in mind relevance and the relationship of the word to your business.
• Search engine keyword phrases. Combine the best keywords and create search terms. Use different combinations, and use plurals as well as singulars. Make sure the terms are closely related, so you’ll get the desired results. Group top level keywords with other related search terms.
• Refine your list. From your shortlist remove any keywords that are not relevant to your website or keywords that you don't have enough content to support. Remember it is always possible to go back and add content and keywords later as well.
• Use compound, separated, hyphenated, and merged keywords. Users often search trying multiple variations of words and spellings looking for the right fit. To be sure you are not missing out on any terms or phrases research compound, separated, hyphenated, and merged keywords. Example, ‘lifesize’, ‘life-size’ and ‘life size’.
• You can even bid on your own / your company name. Enter a business / brand name into a search engine window. You’ll be surprised at how many organizations other than the one you searched for will show up with PPC ads! Your brand name should be your space on the Internet, so don’t let a competitor get in there by bidding a few cents on a keyword.

Make sure your PPC campaign stays as effective and efficient as possible by tracking keyword and keyphrase successes (and losses); which ads bring in the most traffic (and which don’t) and conversion rates. Contact us to manage your PPC advertising so you use your budget wisely and get the best results (traffic and conversion).

Pay-per-click (PPC) or Paid Search Marketing is a form of online advertising where you can attract traffic to your website or landing page via ads hosted on a search engine. Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine you choose to advertise with will display your PPC ad when a keyword query matches your keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content.

How does PPC benefit your online marketing initiatives?

• Immediate Results. Your ad will be visible on the search results page as soon as your PPC campaign with a search engine goes live.
• Cost Control. As an advertiser, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, not each time it shows up. You can control your spending on each PPC campaign. This is one way to ensure that your marketing plan for different categories of your products or services achieves targeted results. Not to mention, it is an inexpensive and easy way to get search traffic.
• Geographically Targeted. You have the ability to select a particular area or region as the target market by adjusting your PPC campaign settings accordingly.
• Seasonal / Time-specific Marketing Approach. You can actually define ad scheduling; choosing to run your campaign only on the precise days and in fact during the hours you want.

If you would like a better understanding of how to do this economically, contact us.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) generally covers two areas: Paid Search Advertising and Organic Search Optimization.

Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is the most popular or well known method of advertising your products and services on the Internet. Even though PPC is one of the best forms of advertising, like all advertising, your exposure stops when your budget runs out.

With organic search, once you achieve a page one Google ranking you will begin to receive up to 75% more visitors to your website than with traditional Google PPC. So how does one go about achieving these often elusive rankings? Once you know the secret to obtaining search engine visibility, you will be motivated to participate in the process of developing your online brand.

Search Engine Visibility

Search engine visibility means getting your company’s name and brand to appear on search engine results pages for many keywords that are related to your product or service. So how does one go about achieving this? Why do people use search engines today?

Analysing the Enviro and MarketingSherpa B2B Report 2009 identified that only 10% of people go to a search engine like Google, type in a keyword and then click through to a Web page and buy a product, all on the same day.

The rest of us go to the Internet to get information and do research on the product or service we are interested in.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a big deal for online business today.  It is the way a website obtains higher rankings on the search engine results for keywords.  SEO is a strategic marketing method that has the ability to increase income for a website as it attracts and drives more traffic to the site.

Some of the benefits of SEO include:
•    Increased internet exposure
•    Affordability
•    Availability
•    Popularity

If you feel any of the benefits listed above could be beneficial to your online business, you will want to make sure that you obtain SEO for your website.

It is fundamental that a higher ranking improves your visitor attraction when your site is listed in the top 10 or 20 results on the search engines for keywords.  The reason for this is relatively simple in that the end user will generally focus on the first page of results from the major search engines.  When you are on the first page of the search engine results, all users will see your site first and most users will never go beyond this first page.

Pay-per-click (PPC) is another way to obtain more visibility.   Pay-per-click is a method of purchasing advertising space and can be successful at improving popularity of a site.  But sometimes there is not much gain, and, frequently, actually the website owner loses on the campaigns.  Done the right way, Pay-per-click is a proven method of getting results faster while you wait for the SEO tactics that you use to take effect. 

SEO is a proven marketing technique and guidance, assistance and education from an SEO expert can provide lasting results for your business.  Unless you can afford an internal staff, you should outsource SEO completely.

I have written much about what SEO includes and about the process.  SEO not only improves accessibility but is improves availability at the same time.  

Most people don't think about it, or don't have the capacity, but  article writing or blogging is a SEO technique that provides information to your potential customers.  It is useful and describes the products and services you offer on your site in an indirect manner.   As your potential customers gain knowledge about the products and services that you offer, they become interested in the services/products themselves.  

Most of all, BLOGGING IS THE MOST POWERFUL tool you have available.  Video is powerful, but can cost an arm and a leg like PPC.  It must be done right.

As SEO increases your site popularity, users will begin to socially bookmark your website pages.  The more social bookmarks your site has, the more popular it becomes among Internet users.

Start by watching our free webinar and free whitepapers, and by visiting our wisdom book.

In today’s busy society people do not have the time for traditional shopping in a brick and mortar store.   Many people find it much easier to shop from the comfort of their home in front of the computer screen.  This makes Internet and Digital Marketing an effective approach for your business.  

Internet marketing has to start with SEO (search engine optimization) since it is the search engines that will be used by prospective clients to find specific information.  The backbone of SEO is keywords and keywords are also the backbone of internet searches.   The higher your site ranks on these search engines, the more visible your site will become to those searching for the information or products that your site offers.

You can offer Newsletters to your visitors.  This is an excellent way to build your own list of potential customers often referred to as leads.

Pay-per-Click (ppc) ads has the potential to improve your online exposure. Distribution of these ads is made to various websites or blogs making the links to your website available to a much bigger list of potential customers.  PPC can be effective on LinkedIn.

Email Marketing is a type of direct mail marketing online.  This allows for highly customized marketing which can lead the recipient to action.  It is considered THE most effective marketing tool on the Internet.

Another strategy is Link Exchange with other quality websites.   Identify other websites similar to your site with quality content and high ranking.  Send the webmaster of the site a request for link exchange.  You will request will probably be accepted if your site is of high quality also.

Get involved with social network sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook as these are the sites your target market is using to stay connected.  This allows you to keep your website in front of your target market as much as possible.

If all of this sounds like too much work, ease your Digital Marketing pain by thumbing through our wisdom book.

You can spend a lot of money to generate traffic to your site, but if your landing page is not designed to convert the traffic to action for the financial good of your business, your time and money are wasted.

A landing page that has "conversion architecture" with a great design and includes a compelling offer can successful create the conversions you seek.  Creating a good landing page is done through experience and testing.  The landing page should navigate easily (or not at all) and the offer needs to be obvious to the visitor as they spend only seconds scanning your page.  You do not want your visitor to have to search for the offer.   The basic message or content is needed for the search engines, but your visitors will only be scanning and glancing.  The proper use of attention getters such as bullets, headlines, images, etc are natural eye catchers for the visitor.

Creating a good landing page is more than just good wording on a white page.  Some creativity is essential in building a compelling landing page.   There is an art involved with landing page development, and without it, you will not have an effective landing page.

The ultimate goal of your landing page is to gain conversions.  That is, you want your traffic to be compelled to take your offer, make that purchase, sign up for your newsletter, or download a white paper.  You only have a few seconds for each visitor to get this action before he/she is mosing on down the search trail to another website.

Your visitors landing matters to your profitability and financial success, so visit, carefully evaluate, and test your landing page to see just how creative and compelling it is for a visitor.

For a complete description of how to set up a landing page, see page 117 in our Wisdom Book.