advertising

Marketing on the web, in some ways, is still like the Wild West. It has frontiers and exciting opportunities for profit, labor saving tools, and reliable experts. We also see well-intended but inept operators and a growing number of scammers and business perils. There are enough moving parts to overwhelm anyone who is not actively involved in web marketing -- even seasoned traditional marketers. From our perspective, we have two initial points of advice:

In explaining website marketing and advertising, we often refer to the search engine results page as being like a split-screen television. The natural , organic results appear in the left/center of the page, and the ad results (called “Sponsored Links” in Google AdWords) display on top center and down the right side column. While both results are triggered simultaneously by the same search, the mechanisms behind the two types of results have many differences.

Have you recently calculated the marketing or advertising cost of generating an incoming telephone lead or purchase? If so, were you surprised? This post explains tracking phone numbers and recording of incoming calls. The three main benefits of call tracking are: 1-to determine the source of business, 2- to monitor lead quality, and 3- to gauge your team’s effectiveness of handling the call. We find these tools particular useful for two categories of businesses: a- appointment based businesses; and b- businesses that have phone representatives answering incoming calls.

It takes more than an attractive website with a good content to be efficient at converting web visitors to customers. Lately we are seeing clients put more focus into conversions from their website.

Before going further, we should describe what we mean by local businesses. Some have asked us, “isn’t every business local to some place?” The answer is yes, however, for this discussion, a local business sells products or services to customers or clients in their local geographic area. In contrast, an e-commerce site that sells products to customers statewide or nationwide does not fit the definition of a local business.

Since pay per click (also known as PPC) ads on the top and side of a search engine results page appear simultaneously with natural or organic results in the center of the page, there is a lot of misunderstanding about them. The processes behind the two are very different, but both complex. The fact list below help you begin to understand PPC better:

• Focus on return on investment. Understand that fully before drilling into the details of how PPC works. ROI is the best comparison tool for all online or direct response marketing efforts.

Reach Potential Customers While They They Are Searching

The most powerful benefit of search marketing is remarkably simple: the link for your website gets displayed to your potential customers at the moment they are actively searching online. When there are fewer potential customers in your market due to a slower economy, it becomes even more important for the link to your website to be on the first page of search results.

Opportunities When Your Competitors Don’t Plan

I first got into search engine marketing and advertising as an employee for a corporate team building consulting company. There, we observed a predictable pattern on which teams were more successful in team building scenarios and back at their jobs.

Teams that take time to make a plan before taking action consistently perform better than those who do not.