P.O. Box 27
McNeil, TX 78651
From our new location, TopSide Media will continue to provide top notch search marketing and PPC management services to clients in Austin, Round Rock and nationwide.
The post TopSide Media Moves Headquarters to Round Rock Texas first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>This can happen to any type of business, if the person who responsible for the website does not know the right questions to ask to avoid the gotchas. We see this issue in specific verticals such as auto parts or marinas, but it can happen in any situation where the website builder or provider also serves as the website hosting company.
The basic questions
To get to the core of the matter quickly, ask the following questions:
(1) When I get ready to move my website from your hosting, what (if any) parts can I take with me for no extra cost?
(2) Can any competent webmaster use the files you provide and easily recreate our website to work at a different web hosting company?
(3) Is the website built upon an open source platform such as WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla? If so, what is the number of the version? If not, what platform is it built upon?
Breaking a website down into pieces
Here are the related main components you need to be aware of: Domain Name; Website Hosting Account; Website Platform/Structure; Images; and Text Content. Big picture, you need to maintain ownership and administrative login access to all of these components. Of course, you may need to share access to them with your webmaster, but always keep current admin level logins in case he/she cannot be located, etc.
If you cannot afford to have a website built that you own, you may have to start over to move your website to another host.
A recent example
A building contractor here in Austin recently called us and said that one of the largest national companies that provides local advertising was “holding my website hostage”. The contractor wanted to switch ad providers and work with us to get leads from search engine ads. However, this large web company was his web host, webmaster, and provider of traffic from online ads. Turns out that his website was built on a proprietary platform that the advertising company owned. Upon reading the fine print of his contract, the construction company owner learned to his dismay that after much effort, all he could move without a major technical effort was the text content that he had written.The upshot: he was renting — not owning — most of his website, but was not aware of it.
The stage on which we operate today
The quantity of information and delivery devices is exploding, but the hours in the day to process information (and determine what is useful) stay the same. This has been becoming increasingly evident in the tools we use and in working with our clients, who are mostly owners of small to medium sized businesses. Also, I began to pay more attention when I am in public. I’ve started to notice people staring at PDAs, driving distracted and one-handed while talking on their cell phone, and so on. Even when face to face with another human being, a surprising number of individuals will disengage to read their email or text messages, or look at FB. Not only if they are expecting something time sensitive — which we all sometimes have to do. Nope, just to check in. So, they check out in person so they can check in online, all the while being amazed that their device or program gets more intuitive.
Finding what you need can still be more difficult than it should
How happy are you with the results you find when you search online? Two recent but unrelated experiences I had prompted this post. They were: a- looking for an online collaboration tool to use with remote colleagues and clients; and b- finding a local auto shop to install a specific type of shock absorbers on my car. The collaboration tool was inherently not local in nature, and the auto repair was just the opposite. Without going into excruciating detail on these, I’ll summarize by saying: a- even with a deep understanding of search queries and search results pages, both tasks took way more time than they should have; b- neither solution was eventually found in the way I expected; and c- in both cases, I found the solution by talking to experts — one on the phone and another in person. If this topic proves to have legs, I’ll write a follow up on these two examples and what didn’t / did work. But for now, I’ll go out on the limb of predictions that resulted from these experiences.
TopSide’s 5 observations or predictions for online products or services
1 – Website meta data will eventually include a new section for SEO: negative keywords — just like search engine advertising platforms do now. These will filter out natural results that are related, but not relevant for the site. All parties – searchers and publishers — would /will be better served.
2 – Search engines will eventually enhance results with what I’ll call “intent category” options. These will help you clarify what you need when your query will likely trigger mixed or poor results. (Example: your query for “Bilstein shocks” will prompt the question: Do you want to do research / compare features and benefits, get shocks installed locally, or buy them online? A better example: your query for “AC repair Austin” would prompt the question: “do you need AC repair for your car or dwelling?”
3 – Increasing overload in info and choices (and more competition for the all-important first page) will decrease the adoption rate of, and increase the cost of launching new products and services to a more significant degree. Like in an economic downturn, weaker or undercapitalized players will not get traction and drop out.
4 – Web related products and services will require increasing amounts of face-to-face or other real-time human interactions to get noticed or increased traction.
5 – Due to being manipulated or noisy, previously relied upon types of online rants, recommendations and posts will become decreasingly useful. Possible exceptions: a- topics that are inherently social in nature (pubs, restaurants, clubs, yoga classes, group activities, team sports, music, movies, etc.); b –topics that have very large amounts of input from users somehow proven to have actually purchased or used them.
One last prediction: computer users will increasingly opt out of services or settings that annoy or distract them.
We hope you find this post thought provoking, and welcome your comments.
The post Search Results and Predictions for the Future: What Gets Let In Or Filtered Out first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>We appreciate the recognition from Microsoft. Whenever there is a company or person in a spotlight, you can bet they have good support close by. Along those lines, we want to thank our account representative, Ed, for the top-notch support he provides for us and our advertisers. Since Yahoo’s search advertising program was included last fall, he’s helped our TopSide team make a smooth and effective transition to the combined adCenter platform.
The post TopSide Media featured on the Member Spotlight for Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional program first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>As you likely know, having the ability to track conversions (desired customers actions) on your website is a key benefit of search marketing. With online ads, we can track conversions back to the keyword that triggered them. In order to track conversions, small snippets of code have to be placed in the source code of certain pages. Website analytics code and phone number substitution code (for segmenting and tracking phone calls from web traffic) go all pages. PPC conversion tracking code from Google AdWords or Microsoft AdCenter goes on specific pages that we designate as conversions. Examples of online conversions: receipt page after online purchase; thank you page after a form submission, etc.
Normally, when we work directly with an advertiser’s webmaster, we supply the snippets of code needed for their situation, and the webmaster inserts the codes without undue effort. However, lately we’ve had some clients whose website is not managed by a qualified webmaster. Instead, these websites are built on proprietary website platforms, and a surprising number of these don’t accommodate conversion tracking codes. Or the platform owner/provider has employees who don’t know what conversion tracking is, can’t follow well-written instructions, or are so overworked that they can’t get these basic requests done in reasonable time. The result: routine website tasks related to conversion tracking – ones that should take one email and a few days at most – are either not possible or end up taking weeks and dozens of emails and phone calls.
What Is A Proprietary Platform?
A proprietary platform is a way to build websites where the underlying structure is built, owned or controlled by a private entity other than you. This entity usually owns the structure and controls what and how changes can be made. In many cases, using one of these is similar to renting vs. owning your home. You have to call the landlord to ask for certain tasks to be done, and they do them if and when they want. Like a rental property, when you decide to leave, the underlying framework and structure of your website stays with the owner. This is a strategic decision for your website, and there are a lot of potential wiggles in the details. Tread carefully if you are considering one of these.
Examples of proprietary platforms can be ecommerce or shopping cart websites, template built websites, or vertical specific sites with features geared for one industry. One would think that no matter how the platform is constructed, its architect would have included provisions to get something as essential as conversion tracking codes added easily. To be fair, not all proprietary platforms have this problem. We do know of notable exceptions. However, our usual advice regarding platforms is this: unless you have a compelling reason to use a proprietary website platform, go with a an open source platform that you own –not rent– and that you and your webmaster can control. More on this below.
More Good Reasons To Use An Open Source Platform For Your Website
For most businesses that need a simple website, WordPress makes a good choice for a platform. For more complex websites, Drupal (or Joomla) would be recommended platforms. With either of these, you own the structure of your website, and you can easily get tracking codes added. You can also make changes to existing content or add pages of content yourself. When you get ready to change webmasters, it’s easier to find one who works with one of these platforms.
if you have had a related experience with this, let us hear from you.
The post Practical Advice For Your Website Platform and Conversion Tracking first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>Before doing that, I’ll provide a bit of background. The category of inbound links comprises a major part of what is known as off page SEO. These are basically references or mentions that point to (link to) your website. The search engines look at these back links as votes of confidence and relevance. In contrast, the other “half” of search engine optimization is called on page SEO, which are changes to the structure or content of your website to make it more friendly to search engines. Of course, it must be engaging and useful to your readers too, or they will bounce off or not convert to customers.
To help explain SEO to those less familiar with it, I often compare it to our legal system. In our legal system, we have the “spirit” of the law, which is to help maintain an free, orderly, and productive society. Then, we have the “letter“ of the law, made up of fine print, excruciating details, and sometimes include knee-jerk reactions to current events or trends.
Fortunately, the “spirit” of the Internet and search engine algorithms approach to it have not changed that much in the 6 years I’ve been fully engaged in SEM. Then, and now, one of the better ways to get more inbound links, more traffic, and higher search engine ranking is to provide original, useful content and resources on your website. This can be a product or service comparison table, a calculator specific to your business, a how-to video, etc. Videos are more versatile because you can post them on YouTube and on your website. When others in your industry and your customers or clients find and use your original content, they will naturally link to it and tell others about it.
High quality inbound links can also come from these sources:
– Associations (trade or professional) that you belong to
– Friendly competitors or colleagues in related industries with high quality websites
– Online news releases (real newsworthy stuff – not contrived spammy releases)
– White papers in relevant trade journals
– Authority directories, such as the Yahoo Directory
– Directories specific to your industry
– Local directories and maps, if appropriate
– Meaningful posts on other blogs that are relevant to your business
In contrast to the relevant examples above, way too many resources get used to create links that are from meaningless or irrelevant websites or from spammy blog comments that don’t add anything useful to online conversations. These nebulous “citations” remind me of the category of performance enhancing drugs. To some extent these tactics still work, but once exposed, the penalties can be severe. A recent business blog in the New York Times titled “The Dirty Little Secrets of Search” tells a related story about a well-known U.S. retailer. Check it out.
The post How To Get High Quality Inbound Links To Your Website first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>Before going further, for full disclosure I’ll state that TopSide Media is in a different category, what we call customized search marketing service. In our model, professionals who are qualified and have years of business and search marketing experience, learn the goals of your business, design the campaigns and align the intent of searchers with your company ad budget, services and products. We also research the negative keywords, write and test multiple versions of ads, and manually use the many settings for each search engine. We monitor and optimize all along the way, from impression to conversions, to get the most return from your budget.
What a bid management platform does
OK…back to platforms. At the most basic level, a bid management platform helps automate bidding and some routine optimization and reporting tasks across multiple PPC ad platforms. Think of these as a tool that can help a person who already knows how search engine advertising works do it faster and save time on creating reports. While they can save time on routine tasks and reporting, on the down side, bid management platforms do not perform the most complicated, but essential tasks: design robust campaigns and ad groups that align user intent with your company offering, write many versions of text ads, analyze and help fix conversion issues with your website, and so on. Further, some of these platforms take a sizable bite from your budget, and require up to 5% of total spend every month for using their online tool.
What a budget based platform is about
In contrast, in a budget based platform, you tell the sales rep for the platform (or the many companies that use a private label platform) how much budget you have to spend. This number is plugged into your business category in their automated platform, and it combines traffic from multiple sources. At the end of the reporting period, you look back and see how many clicks, “web events”, phone calls, other measurements you got for your money. So that they can be automated, from our point of view, a lot gets sacrificed. Just one example of features lost: many custom geotargeting features from Google AdWords.
Transparency or lack of it
In a bid management platform, the cost to the search engine and the cost to the provider of the bid management tool is usually transparent.
In a budget based platform, you will likely not know what percentage of your budget was spent on traffic and how much was commission or fees. Generally, though, the bite is a major one. Further, it may not be easy or even possible to determine how much traffic was search traffic, and how much was contextual or other types of traffic. Some would argue that it’s the results, how many calls or conversions and their cost that matters. To some extent, we agree with that point, as long as the numbers are real and the right ones. For example, it is also important to know how many clicks, calls and emails came from the use of your company name as a keyword. Another key metric that is not easy to get is quality of incoming phone calls: how to filter out repeat calls, how many lasted more than 1 minute, etc. (Note: if the two examples seem like hair splitting, take a deeper look — results from your company name or duplicate and short calls can each be 20% or more of the total.)
Use Automation Wisely
In reading this, one might get the opinion that I am against automation. Far from it. I’m all forautomation as long as it saves work or cost, and does not compromise much quality of the process or results. For example, at TopSide, we recently automated two processes that, when done manually, take more time and do not deliver added value to clients. a- Rather than manually testing websites we advertise (to make sure pages load and quickly) we now automatically “ping” these websites at more frequent intervals. b- Also, we now have a reporting dashboard that automatically summarizes click, conversion, and other data from the search engines with data from our phone call tracking system. Although these tools initially cost quite a bit to build, using them helps our clients and us too.
Web pages that load slowly can be tricky to find. Why? We’ll list just three of the many possible reasons.
For starters, if the slow load is being caused by images or large files, those may be stored in yourcomputer but not in that of a new user to your site, your potential customer. If you have not cleaned your cache recently, you won’t have the same page load experience as a new user — yours will be faster, but deceptively so.
Next, if the problem is intermittent or browser specific, you simply might not run across it unless you or your webmaster test specifically for it.
Third, if you rely on data from PPC ad dashboards or web analytics, but focus on the wrong metric, slow page load problems may not be evident. For example, in search engine advertising, slow page load can “hide” behind normal impressions or click through rate in AdWords. Low bounce rate in your web analytics, which otherwise is a good indicator of user behavior on your website, also will not catch the problem. Why? if the user exits before the page fully loads, the analytics tracking code will not register the visit. However, the lack of results would certainly show up if you were measuring online conversions, incoming phone calls or click to contact or conversion rates in any manner.
In online advertising, if the page load speed problems are significant, they can cause your website to receive a low quality score from the ad provider. This, combined with the other inherent penalties of a slow web page, can trigger a downward spiral: higher click cost, lower page position or even low/no ad impressions. And, of course, low or no conversions.
If you have a webmaster watching your website, page load speed should be part of their normal monitoring. However, It never hurts for you to also know about page loads, and how fast your web pages load compared with those your competitors.
The post Why Page Load Speed Is Critical To Website Conversions and Profits first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>A quick definition of negative or excluded keywords is as follows: a filter that prevents ads from showing. They are used to exclude aspects in your business category that you don’t want to trigger an ad for your particular business. Negatives (or NKWs as we call them around the office) increase overall efficiency of online ads. Proper use of negative keywords increases the CTR clickthrough rate, and this an important indicator of efficiency and relevance. The search engine ad programs reward efficiency with a lower CPC cost per click. More relevant ads usually produce a higher conversion rate and lower cost per conversion also.
Although in many ways they are opposite, like “positive” keywords that are used to trigger PPC ads, negative keywords can be single words or phrases. In some PPC ad programs, such as Google AdWords, negative keywords have broad , phrase, and exact matching options. Once an account is built and launched, we use a report called a Search Query report to look for additional negative keywords and topics for additional refinement.
The example we referred to is a Business-to-Business advertiser. B-to-B companies, particularly those in technology, tend to need more advanced negative keywords and tactics. The reason: many enterprise technology products and services have consumer level counterparts. Some of these (a couple of examples would be anti-virus and data backup /storage) are even free. In addition to negative keywords, filtering text in the ads can help filter out individuals who are not good prospects for a specialized or more costly product or service.
In summary, to make the most of your search marketing budget, a significant number of refinements are necessary to the default settings in PPC ad programs. Some of these are done up front, and more need to be done as search and click data comes in.
The post Negative Keywords Improve PPC Advertising Efficiency first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>So, anything that can simplify a process without reducing its effectiveness too much should be considered, right? The questions below help you understand what kind of search engine marketing & advertising you need. For this discussion we will divide the options into two categories:
–Customized services provided by search engine marketing specialists
–Automated search packages re-sold by some credit card companies, conventional media companies, etc.
Disclosure: Topside Media is in the customized services category.
Here are questions to ask any provider of search engine related services
If you don’t get a definitive “NO”, ask if they can:
This is part 1 of a 2 (or more) part series. We will follow with questions to ask those who can create customized solutions.
The post Twelve Questions to Ask Providers of Search Engine Marketing first appeared on TopSide Media.]]>