Most people have heard of Pay Per Click, or PPC, but not everyone knows how to make it work for their ad campaign. If done incorrectly, PPC campaigns can cost you a lot of money and still produce minimal results.

Pay Per Click Strategy – What is PPC?

PPC is how Google charges you for the ads you purchase. As an advertiser, you “bid” on what you want to pay for a click on your ad. If a search term is a popular and profitable one, then Google will most likely ask for higher bids (some terms can cost as much as $22/click). If you bid the highest, you have a better chance of ranking number 1 in the sponsored results column where the ads appear. When your ad appears and someone clicks on it, you are charged what you bid. It’s kind of like the online version of a silent auction.

PPC Campaigns – How can you make the most of your PPC campaign?

It’s important to be strategic in your PPC campaigns. To keep costs low and results high, make sure to avoid broad search terms. Google’s Adword Keyword Tool tells you how competitive a search term is. Competitiveness is based on how many people search globally (around the world) and locally (in the U.S.) as well as how many other people are trying to optimize for that term. A highly competitive search term is harder to rank within, while a medium or low competitive search term makes it easier for your ad to rank.

It might seem counterintuitive to target a more obscure search term with less searches per month, but targeting lower competitive search terms increases the chances that the right people will see your ad and click on it. While the ad may not reach as many people, the people it does reach are more likely to find your ad relevant. So, before investing in a PPC campaign, it’s important to do keyword research to see what relevant terms are low to medium competitiveness so that you can structure your strategy.

Pay Per Click Campaigns – How you can beat out the competition

Beating out the competition is all about creativity. For example, the search term “t-shirt printing” is highly competitive, with 450,000 global searches and 201,000 local searches per month. But, the search term “t-shirt printing store” only has 1,600 global searches and 590 local searches a month. So, investing in a pay per click campaign for “t-shirt printing store” would improve the chances that your ad is seen by the right people while decreasing your costs. Because the term is less competitive, you will pay less per click while increasing your chances of converting customers.

Stay tuned for more articles in our Demystifying Google series.

Want to make the most of your online marketing efforts? Contact Incitrio at 858.202.1822 to get an honest review of your current efforts and to get brand-specific strategies proven effective in today’s online marketing jungle. We are an award winning, full-service marketing firm focused on client success in Search Engine Optimization, Graphic Design, Online Marketing, Email Marketing and Web Design.

Want a Transmedia video for your company? Call Incitrio to talk through your vision and pricing options.

Many business owners are hesitant about joining Yelp because they fear that bad reviews can hurt their business. However, one does not need to add their business in order to be featured on Yelp. Virtually anyone can add any business and can begin reviewing it. Chances are that your business might already be featured and several people have already expressed their views about your service. It is absolutely necessary to take the first step and claim your business as the business owner. This will allow you to join the conversation, helping you to quickly address both the bad and good reviews. Being proactive in your approach will allow you some control in what is being said.

Responding to a Bad Yelp Review

It is often difficult for a business owner to separate their personal feelings from business as their business is often regarded to as their “baby;” reading a bad review can hurt. One’s natural inclination is to defend the company. Taking a defensive approach will only hurt your reputation by making you look out of touch, and will likely earn your company additional bad reviews. The only real solution is to be honest and transparent in your online marketing efforts. If you have screwed up, and a passionate reviewer brings it to your attention with a bad review, rather than taking offense, try admitting your mistake. Then, assure the reviewer that you are doing everything possible to prevent the mistake from ever happening again. You will often be surprised by the response. The bad reviewer may see your honesty and may change the bad review, and you may impress future visitors who will be amazed that the owner cares so much by taking the time to participate. Remember to also include those who have sent you good reviews in your response. If a visitor is very happy with your service and writes an extraordinary review, be sure they come back to visit you. For example, consider offering them a group discount on their next visit. This way, you can be sure that they will bring their friends and more potential positive reviews. Also, remember to add them to your friend list in order to populate your account with happy and satisfied customers.

Become an Active Member of the Yelp Community

In order to get more exposure for your company on Yelp, become a valuable community member. Be sure to participate by routinely reviewing other businesses. Be clear and honest in your review without being mean or overly friendly. Be sure each review you post is useful and informative. This will benefit you in the long run when the community begins to see you as an authoritative figure, helping attract visibility to your page and more positive reviews.

Integrate Your Marketing Efforts

In order to get the most momentum with your Yelp account, be sure to integrate your online efforts. Link your social media profiles, like Facebook and Twitter, to Yelp; doing so will make sure each of your posts will get the most visibility. Include a link on your website and email signature and tell your clients about your Yelp page. Focus on those who have had a positive experience with you, but do not solicit a review as Yelp discourages this practice. Yelp will routinely filter reviews that have the telltale signs of having been solicited. This includes glowing reviews by members with incomplete profiles, good reviews from members with little to no history of reviews, and good reviews posted all in a short period of time. For this reason, it is best to first target your clients with existing Yelp accounts. Search for existing clients who are already Yelp members and request to join their friend network. Then, you can send them a friendly message asking them to visit your company profile, while avoiding soliciting directly for a review.

Post Offers and Announcements

Special rates and discounts are a great way to gain attention. Posting special rates and announcements of company anniversaries, press releases, media spots, etc. will also improve your chances of getting found locally, while also improving your chances of being featured locally in Yelp’s monthly newsletter. If you have integrated your social media accounts, each announcement has the potential of being seen by a large number of people.

Developing an entire Yelp or other social media campaign can be beneficial to any company in today’s market. It can help you grow and expand your business in a way that traditional marketing never could. Be sure you are working with a knowledgeable integrated marketing company to ensure that your online efforts pertain to your long-term business goals. A marketing strategy that provides you with greater access to your clients, while focusing on your long-term goals, will ensure that your business continues to grow online, without sacrificing your brand. Call Incitrio today to set up a free consultation about your online marketing efforts. We can help you develop the perfect strategy for online growth.

I keep hearing that old song by David Bowie, or Vanilla Ice for you younger folks. Man, are marketing directors under some serious pressure these days! With all the hype going on around social media, CEOs are pushing harder than ever for marketing departments to implement online marketing strategies. Here’s what I keep hearing: “Everybody’s doing it.” “I just went to a (blank) industry conference and the keynote said it’s critical to my sales growth.” “Let’s make sure we’re not the last one on the bandwagon.” “Just throw something up there.” “I want it done within the month, no excuses.” “I don’t care if it’s a Facebook Group, a corporate Twitter personality or if we start blogging…just get it done!”

The Problem is…

Once again, like website design , email marketing, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC or Google Adwords), we have key decision makers and well-meaning marketing managers being pushed into new technology and strategies they don’t completely understand. I mean if Twitter is free and takes less than 5 minutes to setup, why can’t I have my corporate Twitter account within a month? Or, if Facebook is free and I could use the Causes page to raise money for my non-profit, why can’t you get it done right away?

And the Answer is…

You can. You can get it done in 15 minutes or less. But…if you don’t do the work to assess your in-house resources for a disciplined, rigorous maintenance routine or train your staff regarding online etiquette or analyze your customer base to see if they even want (or will use) the dang social media strategy – then, it’s a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

The Gobbledy-Gook Factor

I know I’m being harsh here, but seriously, you can’t just throw something up and expect it to perform. Think about your corporate brochure, if you just put gobbledy-gook for the content would someone actually call you and hire you? What if you designed a gorgeous tradeshow booth but went to a tradeshow where none of the attendees were interested or had the budget to purchase your product/services? Would that be the best use of your company’s marketing budget and monetary resources? Would it produce the requisite ROI demanded by your CFO? Nope, it would be a complete and total WASTE OF TIME.

What Should You Do?

Well, first of all, pat yourself on the back that your entrepreneurial and cutting edge enough to consider a social media strategy. Way to go, you are a frontrunner and innovator. Seriously, that’s awesome. So, now let’s roll up our sleeves and figure out if social media makes sense for you.

How Do You Know if You’re On the Right Path?

Well, cricket… One: Do you have anything interesting to talk about? Product updates, new technology, new service offerings, demonstrating expertise in an area, resources your competitors don’t have, etc. As in, what makes your organization so darn special? We’re talking Point of Differentiation here. Two: What problem are you trying to solve? Increase customers, increase sales, increase average sale, increase sales from existing customers, establish presence as industry leader, reposition brand, demonstrate expertise, share unique resources, etc. As in, what is your metric for measuring success? It’s all about ROI, baby. Three: Who cares? Your C-suite, your marketing department, your outsourced vendors, your distribution channel, your customers, etc. As in, if you write it will they come? Everyone has to be fully vested or it won’t work, really it can’t be a one man or one woman initiative. (Funny side note: I had a vendor give me a quote for “man hours.” I thanked him and asked him what would the project cost if it was “woman hours?” He said: Oh, a lot more. That was the right response!)

If You Answered Yes, Then Social Media is for You!

Sensei says: Congratulations!! Now, you’re ready to start thinking about People, Objective, Strategy, Technology (POST per the Forrester folks who came up with this great methodology) and your Process, Implementation, Discipline and Measurement (PIDM per me, I made it up but when you think about it really makes sense to ensure successful implementation).

Th-th-that’s All Folks!

Well, that’s all for today. In my next post, we’ll talk about what you need to do next in your never-ending quest for Social Media enlightenment to ensure your efforts are not a complete and total WASTE OF TIME. Be sure to sign up for our RSS feed (top right orange button thingy on our blog), so you can get notified when we post next and stay update with the latest industry content. Good night and good luck.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Watch on YouTube

Through Search Engine Optimization and Website Design Optimization

In today’s economy, a marketing plan that’s not performing is unacceptable. No longer can you afford to leave any aspect of your budget unexamined. If you’re spending any money whatsoever on online marketing vehicles such as: your website, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC or paid search) or email marketing, it is absolutely vital that your sales team and more importantly, your bottomline, are seeing results. The following are 5 must-read online marketing secrets that are 100% guaranteed to radically increase your sales funnel, revenue and profitability.

1. ESTABLISH YOUR BASELINE
Behind every great business is a strong business plan. Equally true, behind every great online marketing campaign is a strong marketing plan and performance metrics. Establish your baseline with regular monthly analytic reports from your marketing dept. or vendor.

Websites: Setup a Google Analytics account (free) to measure and analyze site traffic. Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Review reports from your Google Adwords account (free) to measure campaign performance. Email Marketing: Request reports from your email dashboard (free) to review click thru and open rates. Use the information to optimize your online efforts and ensure your marketing dollars are working hard for you.

2. DETECT BUDGET LEAKS
Challenge: Your website analytics show a bounce rate higher than 50%. Visitors are leaving (aka bounce-ing) because they are not finding what they need. Solution: Rewrite your content or alter your website design to ensure they find exactly what they are looking for…immediately.

Challenge: Your keyword traffic or terms don’t make sense and you are repeating the wrong words over and over on your site. Solution: Align keywords with the pages visitors are visiting the most. Determine new keywords based on relevant terms and rewrite that page’s content.

Challenge: Your email newsletters are not delivering (aka going through) at least 90% of the time. You’re likely using an email provider that is blacklisted because they allow other clients to send spam. Solution: Switch email service providers. Make sure they are whitelisted and can send your emails in html and text versions to guarantee a much higher delivery rate.

Challenge: Your website is not converting (prospects are not contacting you). Solution: Determine a measurable conversion point (what does sales need as a signal that a viewer is a qualified prospect) and make sure it’s easy to find – request a demo, download a white paper, etc.

3. OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE
Challenge: Sales prospects are not contacting you. Solution: Look at ways to redesign your site, check to make sure relevant content falls into a “Z” or “F” pattern – it has been scientifically proven that this is how visitors interact with sites. Integrate a strong call to action – 800#, request a quote, etc. on every page.

Challenge: Potential prospects are not qualified appropriately before contacting you. Solution: Develop optimized landing pages (a hybrid between: about, features/benefits and your contact form). Perform A-B testing (different variations) based on design, content and time of day to discover the best performers and tie them to your PPC campaign to increase conversions.

4. INCREASE YOUR SALES BY 480%
Maximize your online efforts by determining your cost per customer acquisition (how much you’re willing to pay for a sales lead from your site). When you optimize this expense, you can actually predict performance and determine which variables need to be modified for optimal efficiency.

Radical sales growth begins when you factor in your cost per customer acquisition with your sales team’s close rate and your pay-per-click campaign to generate incredible results within 6 months or less.

How does it work? Review Company Z case study for the formula.

By inputting your own variables, you can accurately project the amount of revenue you will generate from your online sales efforts. (Results may vary.)

5. REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
After all of the steps are complete, go back to Step #1 and begin again. Through careful evaluation, like a car’s engine, you can tune-up your online marketing efforts to guarantee that they are producing optimal results.

If your acquisition cost is too high simply because your keywords are expensive or your site is not converting, then it is absolutely vital to re-assess your online marketing efforts and push your marketing department or vendors to improve results. Use your monthly reports as a means to drive that discussion and find budget leaks.

Lastly, remember the golden rule: If prospects are not buying from you or your competitors online, then don’t waste your money on online marketing. Save it for whatever vehicle works best for you – tradeshows, advertising, brochures, pr, etc. to ensure your sales team is converting every prospect and building long-term revenue.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For the past 17 years, Angela Hill has worked with global business and consumer brands. Today, as president of the award-winning graphic design and branding agency Incitrio, she partners with clients to build and grow strong, innovative brands that consistently outperform their competition.

Incitrio
10951 Sorrento Valley Road, Suite 2C
San Diego, California 92121

858.202.1822 tel
startfresh@incitrio.com email
incitrio.com web

This article was originally written for Smart Business magazine in April 2009.
Click here to request the PDF version of this article.

Economic times are tough, marketing budgets are tight and cash flow is unpredictable. Regardless of the economic situation, your clients still expect you to find them and communicate with them on a regular basis. Using the following strategies are a great low-cost, low-risk way to attract and retain clients without spending a lot of money. All it takes is discipline to create a system and protected time on a regular basis to implement and maintain the following strategies.

1. Web sites are now part of the cost of doing business. Create a basic brochure-ware site that communicates your core expertise and controls user experience. Segment by size, industry or service to make sure that your visitors are finding exactly what they want. Then, make sure to set up a custom data collection form that gives prospects an easy way to pre-qualify themselves before contacting you, and make sure it links up to an online database for your html newsletter system.

2. Online marketing collateral is the next evolution in marketing. Save money on printing and post your brochure in online PDF form for (free) downloading. Create a (low-cost) electronic template in Word that matches your brand and allows for customization. Add datasheets that relate to your different services and case studies per industry, and you’ve just completed your online marketing collateral system.

3. Analytics are a great tool to measure traffic to your site. Google has a (free) tool that you can download and link up to your site called Google Analytics. Look at them regularly to determine the top five reasons prospects come to your site and add content based on that.

4. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is just a fancy name for the (free) non-paid links that come up in Google or Yahoo. Analyze your competition to see where they are ranked compare to you. Perform a search of the top 10 keywords that best describe your business and/or service. Then, create a chart of how your competition compares to you on a per keyword ranking, optimize one page per keyword on your Web site and use that word at least three times or more. Don’t forget to put it in your meta tag for the page as well.

5. LinkedIn is a (free) online social networking site designed specifically for business professionals to communicate and do business with one another. To get the most out of the site, create your complete profile and add all of your contacts. Answer questions within industry sections and post questions to your contact database, then leverage contacts to connect you to prospects and develop strategic relationships.

6. Blogging or Weblogs are online mini Web sites that provide a (free) way to attract prospects, post content and position yourself as an expert within a category. It’s also another great way to drive traffic to your Web site. Create your own blog on wordpress.com, jot down topics over the week that spark your interest and create a folder to archive interesting articles to reference. Then, schedule one hour a week to write a well-crafted article on that topic and reference it within the other blogs, LinkedIn and your html newsletter.

7. Twitter is just a mini-blog. Following the right people and getting followed is the key to success. The key is good content. Use Twitter to talk about the cool projects you are working on, and use it to promote your blog or newsletter every time you post new content.

8. Html newsletters are another great (low-cost) way to stay connected with your clients and referral sources and integrate into your overall retention strategy. Promote yourself as an expert in your field by posting case studies and link ing to articles and trends within your industry, and use your newsletter as a tool to promote your strategic partners as well. Measure traffic and click-throughs via your online management system to determine who is reading your newsletter and what content is most important to them.

In order for your tactics to produce fantastic results, just remember two rules:

1. Content is king. The more valuable the information, the more traffic you will drive to your various online platforms.

2. Slow and steady wins the race. Keep a regular schedule that works for you, once a month or every week, and maintain it to position yourself as a credible, reliable resource.

By,
Angela Hill
President

Incitrio
http://www.incitrio.com
Visit Incitrio on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Watch on YouTube

Hill is president and owner of Incitrio, a boutique branding agency located in Sorrento Valley.