Pay-Per-Click marketing is like the gold rush. Everyone is flocking to the land, but only a few come out with more riches than they know what to do with. PPC marketing is very challenging, unbelievably frustrating at times, but it’s worth it. Actually, it’s more than worth it. Think about it. You have the ability to show thousands of potential customers your ads all day, and night, every single day of the week. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? Continue reading and I will go over 7 reasons why PPC marketing is vital to growing your business.

 

1. Pay-Per-Click

One of the reasons why this business model works and works well is because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad hence the name “Pay-Per-Click” or PPC Marketing.

Your ads can appear on searches but if a user doesn’t click, you don’t pay.

Your goal is to appear when your services are needed and wanted.

The whole point to PPC marketing is to appear in front of users who are in need, and properly offer your solution to their problem.

 

2. You’re in Control

Yes I know we’re advertising on Google’s platform and all, but we’re not at their mercy. We (the advertisers) are still very much in control of our success. Here are the following things we are in control of.

• Which keywords trigger our ads to be shown
• Which keywords we DON’T show up for
• How much we spend
• When our ads show up
• What our ads say
• Who we show up for (E-Mail list)

The things we’re in control of is utterly important. Do your due diligence when it comes to keyword research, negative keyword research, the latest trends, and be sure to test until you find your winning formula!

 

3. Google Analytics

One of your greatest allies!

Google analytics eliminates any and all confusion as to what works in your PPC marketing campaigns. Google lets you know which keywords are performing the best, what search terms your ads are appearing for, what time of day your ads are being clicked on, and much more.

This tool was created by Google tool to help us advertisers make informed decisions about our campaigns, and how to optimize them accordingly.

 

4. Tracking Conversions

How do you know if your campaigns are successful or not?

That’s where conversion tracking comes into play.  

Conversion tracking allows you to know which aspects of your campaign are working, and which ones are not (in terms of performance)

AdWords allows you track phone calls, app downloads, e-mail sign-ups, sales, leads, etc

Conversion tracking is one of the most important parts of daily campaign management, and conversion tracking should be set up as soon as possible.

We don’t want to spend money on clicks, and not know for a fact if they’re converting or not.

Be sure to set up conversion tracking as soon as possible!

 

5. Unlike SEO, Pay Per Click Marketing Can Yield Better Results & Do it Faster!

Don’t get me wrong, SEO is one of the most important parts of a great digital marketing strategy, but it takes a long time (I’m talking several months) to see results.

On the other hand, Pay-Per-Click marketing can have your ads on Google in front of your ideal customer in just several hours.

Let’s go over some of the benefits of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• It’s cost-effective (you never pay for a click)
• Increase brand awareness
• SEO can decrease your Cost Per Acquisition
• SEO builds trust and credibility

Let’s go over the downsides of Search Engine Optimization

• Takes an incredibly long time to see results
• Appear below paid ads
• Most people don’t go past the first couple of results (aka the paid ads)

Benefits of Pay-Per-Click Marketing

• Fast Results
• Accurate Results
• Trackable Conversions

Downsides to PPC Marketing

• Costs money
• Daily monitoring
• Constant optimization
• Never ending testing

 

Both SEO, and PPC have their pros and cons, but the best way to see fast, accurate, and trackable results is through PPC. To rank your page on Google using SEO will take you months, and even when you’re in top position for organic searches; you’ll still be below the paid ads.

 

6. Constant Testing is Encouraged!

When you’re a PPC manager the only thing that’s constant is change and why are we constantly testing, tweaking, and messing around with ads?

The question is, why aren’t you?

As a PPC manager, your job is to find a winning formula and duplicate it over, and over, and over again. That’s the only way to increase business for your client and keep them happy.

Here’s an important tip to remember… Not everything you test will be successful!

Don’t be discouraged by this instead think of it as a blessing, you figured out a way that didn’t work, so that eliminates one more thing that you have to test.

Your winning formula is out there! You just need to keep testing!

How do you know if one of your strategies is working or not?

Use Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics!

Because of these two amazing tools, you don’t have to guess whether or not something works. You’ll have empirical data that will show you if it’s working or not.

 

7. Remarketing

What is remarketing? 

Have you ever been to Amazon started browsing around, maybe you even added an item or two into your cart and now everywhere you go those same products seem to follow you?

That’s remarketing folks.

Remarketing is showing your ads to users that have been to your website, took an action on your ad, or have added an item to their cart.

If you have 100 clicks on your ad, and 20 of those users become customers you have a 20% conversion rate. But you may be asking, what about the remaining 80%?

You’ve already spent money getting them to come to your website, they clicked on your ad for a reason, so why not pursue them some more?

It’s much easier to convert a prospect into a customer if they see your advertisements over and over again

 

What’s so great about remarketing?

Remarketing is amazing because you get to target users that already interacted with your ad in one way or another, and remarketing costs a fraction of what a normal PPC campaign costs

If a remarketing campaign is setup properly, it can get you results for cents on the dollar and be sure to use remarketing as a part of your overall marketing strategy for maximum return on your investment.

As you learn more, and more about how PPC Marketing can positively impact your business; you’ll quickly realize that it can generate quality leads at a fair price, and at an incredible rate of speed. PPC is a hard beast to tame, but once you get the hang of it the results can be astonishing!

You’ve heard all sorts of hoopla about the internet, and how it affects your business, but have you taken any action? How many customers are you missing out on simply because your business isn’t listed on the world’s most popular search engine, Google? Those days are over, and your shift to promoting, and showcasing your business online starts today with Google My Business!

Introduction

At this point, you’re thinking two things.

1. What in the world is Google My Business?
2. Why in the world should I care?

Google My Business is a feature that Google offers to businesses that puts them right on the search engine map (literally) as well as Google’s organic search results, and Google+. The reason you NEED to care about Google My Business (GMB for short) is because this feature makes it unbelievably easy for customers, and clients to quickly and easily find your business no matter which device they are using.

This fantastic tool goes beyond the old simplistic features such as including your hours of operation, and your phone number. Google has made it very simple for everyone to navigate and use this feature; users can even find driving directions, or call you directly from the listing. Best part of it all? It’s FREE! The initial investment of creating, and setting up a Google My Business account can yield some amazing returns.

 

Setup

Alright, you’ve made it this far, let’s get your company or business listed with Google! To get started, the first order of business is to navigate Google’s new business page as shown in the picture below.

By clicking the “START NOW” button, you’ll be prompted with the following screen…

• Simple stuff, enter the name of your business

• Next, you’ll be prompted to fill this location form

• Pick your location on the map
• Users will be able to see your business location on Google Maps as well

• Name the type of business that you run (i.e – carpet cleaning, hvac, dental office, toy store, etc)

• You can add your phone number here to add a contact method
• You can also add your business address

• After you fill everything you’ll see this screen, simply hit “Continue”

• On this interface, you’re able to add and edit photos, phone numbers, hours of operation, business addresses, and virtual tours

• Once the progression bar reaches 100% then you’re fully finished with the setup process and can show off your awesome business listing
• You can make changes at any time by adding new photos, changing your location, etc

Conclusion

Google My Business setup is now complete! You can now go to sleep knowing that people who are looking for your business will find it, no matter what time of day they might be looking for it. Update this page on a semi-regular basis with new photos, and/or any major changes that may occur within your business (i.e hours of operation changing) An up-to-date, and strong online presence ensures potential customers that you’re on top of your game.

PPC mastery takes a number of years and countless mistakes along the way. From learning all of the technical terms to managing the interface itself, it takes a lot of time and dedication to reach mastery level. This article is designed to give you quick info blast on PPC mastery, and give you the few key things you need to focus on when it comes to running your campaigns.

 

Quick Tip #1: Run Mobile Campaigns

According to a 2015 study, more searches were conducted on mobile devices (phones and tablets alike) than from desktop computers.

It makes sense the more you think about it. Nowadays people are glued to their smart devices. No matter if they’re on a train, at work, or even at dinner with friends and family; people can’t seem to put these devices down. People feel as though their phone is an extension of themselves and their personality.

Digital advertisers can make great use of this situation, and run highly targeted ads to the most amount of people.

Be sure to test which platforms work best for your business or clients and really dive deep into what makes those platforms so attractive to the end users.

 

Quick Tip #2: Retargeting/Remarketing

What is remarketing?

Remarketing is a clever way of advertising to those who visited your website but didn’t perform your desired action once they got there.

Essentially, it allows you to position very targeted ads in front of a highly relevant audience.

Why is this important?

The users clicked on your ad for a reason, in one way or another your ad interested them enough to click on it

Since you know the user has interest in your site you can bring them back for a much cheaper cost-per-click

 

Quick Tip #3: Use Ad Extensions for AdWords Campaigns

This quick tip is Google AdWords specific and is a very important piece of your ad puzzle.

Ad extensions give you more virtual real estate by making your ad the biggest and baddest one on the search engine results page

What are ad extensions?

Ad extensions are additional pieces of information about your product, or service.

Ad extensions can send users to another part of your website, increase the visibility of your ad, increase the quality of your ads score.

Here are a few ways you can use ad extensions:

• Location (Great for local businesses)
• Sitelinks (Take users to different pages on your site)
• Call Extension (add your phone number)
• Seller ratings (showcase your high rating)

By including ad extensions, your ads will gain a lot of traction and bring your more business.

 

Conclusion

Those are my 3 quick tips that you can implement immediately, and see the fruits of your labor in a short time frame.

Be sure to test the following tips above, and keep track to see how they impact your campaigns.

Best of luck to you on your journey to PPC mastery!

Content marketing will always be evolving. For 2018, content still remains to be king of all marketing strategies and continue to be inexpensive compared to paid advertising. The key to having consistent success with content marketing is to look out for future trends and embrace the changes as soon as possible.

Here are our 3 Content Marketing trends for 2018:

1. Content Production: Producing content is a very inexpensive way to acquire new customers. Google, Facebook, and Apple are investing thousands of dollars in original content for a reason. Small business owners like yourself should do the same for the same reason. Having high-quality content posted on a consistent basis will help to grow an audience and provide you with free leads in the long term.
2. Video Marketing: Although having well-written content is excellent and should continue to be implemented, the future of content marketing is video. I believe all marketers can agree that video marketing will be dominant for many years to come. When you can combine video with your content marketing strategy it will give you the best chance of gaining new customers.  Besides video, companies can do live streaming. If your business is having a special event, it would be awesome to have a live feed for your customers if they couldn’t attend to it.
3. User-Generated Content: User-generated content, especially on social media platforms, acts as proof that a business’ goods and services are what they say they are. People who are on platforms like Instagram can trust the individual promoting the product and would be very interested in learning more about it and how it can also benefit them. Testimonials also serve a similar purpose and can be posted on your website for display.

Conclusion

 

With the emergence of smartphone devices, social media marketing will be playing a major role online for many years to come. Now with over 2 billion people using Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites, it’s becoming easier for businesses to gain a huge, loyal following.

Here are the 6 advantages of social media marketing for your business:

1. Brand Exposure: If your customers have purchased your products and services and it has benefited them, the natural thing for them to do is to tell their family and friends. When they share your products and services through social media, their recommendations can spread like wildfire, having your brand exposed to a vast number of people.
2. More Traffic: Without traffic, your business will struggle and traffic is extremely crucial if want to sell your goods and services and pursue a large following. On social media, it is always best to talk to your customers and encourage them to visit your website. Another idea would be to send them a free eBook or gift to subscribe to your newsletter. This can help you gain more traffic as well.
3. Very Affordable: One of the advantages of using social media marketing is that doesn’t cost much compared to other ways of advertising. On Facebook, you can start with 5 dollars a day for a post you would like to boost and scale the bid once you see activity. Very affordable for those who have a low budget.
4. Increased Brand Loyalty: There are times where things in your business don’t go according to plan. Someone may have ordered a product and it’s taking too long to be delivered. They may have complained through social media about the long delay of delivering the product and you can respond to them stating that you’re sorry for the long wait and can offer them a free gift in addition to their order and have it delivered on time. This is an excellent way to have your customers feel confident in your brand and would want to continue doing business with you. This is brand loyalty at its finest.
5. Customers are happy: Like we previously mentioned, once you gain the confidence and trust of your customers, they will always be happy and continue to do business with you. Whenever your customers are happy, they will share the good news with their friends and family that they should buy goods and services from you for interacting with them and treating them with respect.
6. Having an insight into the marketplace: On social media sites like Facebook, it’s easy to get an insight of your marketplace. When you can narrow it down to demographics, age, work history and the like, you can target your message to that audience, without having to go through a lengthy research of who your buyer persona is.

We are over halfway through the year, and today we would like to talk about the SEO strategies for 2018 that businesses would need to watch for and implement.

When it comes to SEO, the strategies used today are tweaked and changed consistently. Even when one approach has worked in the past, it can be completely inefficient in the future. However, some strategies have been improved. Let us explain what these SEO trends are that we need to look out for:

1. Using Voice Search: Voice search is becoming the most popular way for users to search the web. Every day millions of people ask their phone for the answers to their problems. How do you get everyone’s phone to respond with your answer? This is the million dollar question that we have the answer too. Simply put, you must provide the best answer. In-depth, you must give more details, in a fast and easily understood manner. Not only should you answer the question but you should answer any questions that may arise. So if the question is, how do I tie my shoes? You should provide multiple ways to tie your shoes, provide images or videos to support it, and answer questions such as, how do I tie my shoes when I can’t see or how where do I buy new shoe strings. Providing links to answer these questions is better than having a user go back to Google to search more.
2. Think Mobile: Although using laptops, at this time, is never going out of style, almost everyone today owns a mobile device. How could this information help with SEO? Simple. Let’s say someone wants to call a plumbing service. All they would have to do is search for a plumbing service on their smartphone and call the number. With Voice Search and Call Only Extensions, it is easier for customers to contact your business on a mobile device. Also, make sure that your website is mobile-responsive. To test your website’s mobile responsiveness, you can add in your domain URL in the Mobile-Friendly Test tool from Google and find out your results.
3. Create Video Content:  Youtube is the world’s second largest search engine. This means that your potential customers will be looking for your products and services through video content. When you combine long, quality content with engaging videos, you will begin to reach more people on both platforms which will then typically lead to more conversions.
4. Writing In-Depth Content: Gone are the days where you could write thin, keyword-stuffed content and ranked on the first page of Google. In 2018, high-quality, relevant content remains and is still king. Well-written articles with infographics, images, and video to help solve your customer’s problems will always reign supreme. When a website has long, quality content, the searcher that’s looking for a solution to their problem will have everything they need in one area.

Conclusion

We hope that we’ve helped to understand some of the top SEO strategies for 2018. Using these four strategies should help to boost your websites search engines results, giving your site a higher ranking.

 

When it comes to designing your website, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed. Not everyone is born with a super creative mind. To be a top-notch web designer, it is a must to practice this skill on a daily basis. Having said that, what if you, as non-designer, can design a site that looks beautiful and elegant compared to well-talented web designers? Well, guess what, you can. Just follow some of the tips below.

Here, we will give you great web design tips even if you don’t have a creative bone in your body:

• Build Your Brand Identity: It all starts with your brand. The questions you need to ask yourself are, what does your brand name represent? What makes you as brand stand above your competition? When you find the answers to your questions about your brand, you start to picture images of what your brand identity should look like.
• Keep it Simple: Web design doesn’t have to be complicated. Far from it. Realize that using web design that leans towards the minimal end of the spectrum is usually the best approach. You always want your design to be simple, elegant and easy on the eyes.
• Learn Color Theory: Like we mentioned about your brand identity, you will have visuals that will pop into your mind. What are certain colors that will fit with your personality and brand image? You may have favorite colors that may resonate with your website that will have it looking very professional. Please try not to use all the colors of the rainbow for your web design. Use a few colors and again, keep it minimal.
• Use Proper Photography: Make sure that you are choosing the right quality images for your website. In addition, make sure that you are careful of using copyrighted photos. In most cases, it is best to use your own pictures to design your website, so you don’t get into legal problems.
• Be Consistent With Your Web Design: Everything from your website must be consistent at all times from your images, to the fonts, to the color schemes, and to your content. Every element must fit together when someone navigates through your pages.

Conclusion

Even though you may be a non-designer, use these web design tips for your website, which help you build your website like the professionals.

I’m sure many us can remember a time in our lives where someone said something negative about us. It certainly doesn’t feel good when knowing the things that were said negatively about us were not true and we had to handle the situation by proving to others that the rumors were false. When it comes to promoting your business online, there are others out there that wish to put your company in danger and at risk of losing revenue, and above all, your reputation. With the emergence of social media platforms, it most certainly makes it easy for companies to have a target on their backs. Having said that, here’s the question:

What is Reputation Management and how it can help your company alleviate any bad press online?

Reputation management is a technique that incorporates marketing efforts and campaigns to bury negative reviews, information or search results and promote content that positively shows the desired image of a company.

Here’s how Reputation Management can manage your online presence:

• Increase Sales and Revenue: The internet is the primary spot for individuals to connect to when they are searching for answers to their problems. It is the best place to search and research for all kinds of topics. One of the best ways to use Reputation Management and increase your sales and revenue is to directly engage with customers through the means of social media and your website. Of course, this should be done in a positive light and you must be transparent so your customers can continue to trust you. The company who is implementing Reputation Management should make sure they find a reputable person or marketing company to take over this role.
• Build Credibility: Like we mentioned previously, gaining your customer’s trust is of the utmost importance for a business to survive online. Whether you’re in the B2C or B2B market, the internet gives your customers a voice to say whatever is on their mind online if they aren’t happy with your service or your product. One negative comment about your brand will spread much faster than a positive one. Once you have a reputation management strategy in place to alleviate negative reviews, it helps you build your credibility as a brand that deeply cares about its customers and wants to improve your services and products.
• Build a Brand Image: With Reputation Management, you can definitely build a better brand image for your company. Once you or a marketing agency can monitor the responses that are being put out by bad press comments, any attacks can be dealt with swiftly. This can be done by publishing a social media post, where positive dialogue can begin to build your brand’s image moving forward.

Conclusion

Building credibility and brand image are paramount. In the end, businesses make mistakes and it is their duty to have their loyal customers trust them again and continue to service them in the most ethical way. This is the power of Reputation Management.