internet_marketing_blog

Firefox Add-ons that Rock!

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:23:20 +0100

This week, I'm taking a break from the Marketing on the Run: PPC Advertising series. I share two Firefox Add-ons that can improve your life! One is Xmarks, the other is Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures. Enjoy! Here's the video:

The "Gift" Strategy for Maximizing PPC Performance

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:25:27 +0100

This week I took a break from driving while talking marketing - please forgive! Anyway the topic is understanding how you can have an impact in each of the three components of PPC advertising: Impressions, Clicks and Conversions. The "Gift" strategy is outlined in the video. There are lots of variables, but I try to break it down to the really big, simple things. Remember, we're building toward more complex strategies. This is another foundational episode. To understand the variables at play, I've provided definitions for Google's Quality Score and Yahoo's Quality Index:

Quality Score is a Google measure of historical click-through rate (CTR) of the keyword and matched Ad, account history (CTR of all Ads and Keywords in your account), historical CTR of the display URLs in the Ad Group, Quality of Destination Page, relevance of keywords to Ads within Ad Group, relevance of keyword and matched Ad to search query, and account performance in geographical region.

Quality Index is a Yahoo! measure of Bid or Click Price, Historical click-through data, Conversion data, Organic Rankings of Advertiser URL, keyword appears in Title, keyword in URL, Keywords on Destination Page, Other keywords at the Campaign level and a comparison between other sites competing on the same keywords.

You may have to go full screen to read the diagram.

Creating Effective PPC Ad Groups

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:20:50 +0100

This episode discusses picking the right keywords and organizing them into Ad Groups. This is really the first step in creating effective Pay Per Click campaigns. There is also some discussion on selecting keywords for search engine optimization.

The Cardinal Rule of PPC Success

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:59:59 +0100

If you do nothing else to improve your PPC Management (meaning increase conversions at a lower cost per conversion), you must always run two Ads per Ad Group. This gives you the ability to compare and replace the poor performing Ad, leading you down a path toward conversion-optimized advertising. That's what I talk about in this episode (under 3 minutes).

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Pay Per Click Advertising Made Simple

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:58:14 +0100

This is the introductory video for a new series on Pay Per Click Advertising. I discuss the cardinal rule of online advertising success and provide five (5) techniques for creating Ad variations. Keep in mind, this is just one of several methods to increase Web traffic.

Boston Market Gets It Right

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:05:09 +0100

It's a small thing, but they're actively asking for an email address. Sure - they should have been doing this 10 years ago. But hey, this is positive, forward movement. Here's the form available at the front counter of any Boston Market:

This type of business lead generation should be happening at every restaurant! And, they should be charting what we order. If we eat there, they should give our finished plate a score - as in "loved it" (nothing left) or "hated it" (hardly touched it). Then, they could entice us back with our favorites or recommend new things to try. But obviously I'm getting ahead of myself. This is just a shout out to Boston Market - great to see you asking for email addresses (if you register online, they ask for your mobile number).

It will be interesting to see if they use text messaging to instantly increase Web traffic. Here's the concept:

Restaurant looks lonely at 1:30p on a Tuesday, so they send a text message announcing a special deal on meatloaf good for the next hour. Then, they watch the people flow in and ask for meatloaf.

Alright - Kudos to you guys!

Adidas Botched Internet Marketing Opportunity

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:09:22 +0100

This evening, I was forced to buy a new pair of Tennis shoes (actually for playing Tennis). I had about 30 minutes before my date with a ball machine, so I stopped at the Tennis pro shop. I found myself attracted to the New Adidas Barricade V shoes. The salesperson was atypically knowledgeable and went on to tell me about a 6-month warranty on the outer sole. Apparently, Adidas has added a new compound to the sole that makes it extremely long-lasting. They call it AdiWear 6. The shoes felt great, they look cool, and I could get them at a great price. So I bought them.

After hitting the ball machine, working some kinks out of my once-good forehand, I returned home and read the fine print on the Adidas warranty card.

Do you see what's missing?

This is a perfect opportunity. The shoe is made for a sports niche: Tennis. Where the typical life of a shoe is 3 to 4 months (if you're playing 2-3 times a week). Personally, I switch Tennis shoe brands almost every time I buy a pair. If, however, I received a compelling email offer from Adidas in 7-8 months, knowing that the shoe with AdiWear 6 will probably be ready for replacement, I'd probably take them up on the offer (increasing my lifetime value for Adidas).

They missed the opportunity to collect my contact information!!! This is such a simple thing - it's called Business Lead Generation Marketing. They just needed a form, where I could login and prove my purchase (which, by the way, would have been a better customer experience than asking me to hang on to the warranty card and my original reciept for 6 months). Then, assuming I was interested in future offers and specials from Adidas, they just grew their email marketing database. That is an essential component for creating loyalty today.

But, the way this warranty offer is structured, they still won't have my email address after I send in my $8.30 to pay for the shipping of my second pair of Barricade V shoes - because you know I'm going to wear through them in four months!

Internet Lead Capture

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:09:53 +0100

If the purpose of your website is to increase revenue, efficient lead capture should be at the top of your list! This video was created June 22, 2008. In this video, I mention a company called MedTech Mammography - it was a wonderful example of lead capture that is no longer accessible as a domain, as they were purchased by Solis Women's Health. However, using the Way Back Machine - here it is for your review (watch the video so you'll know why).

Semantic Marketing Example

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:39:01 +0100

In Episode 4 (Part II), I described Semantic Marketing (originally created June 16, 2008). In this Episode, I thought it might help if I gave you an example, albeit from a Semanticator perspective. The example is for the Hospitality industry. If you want to learn more, visit Semanticator or Seconds5.

Semantic Marketing Introduction (Part II)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:35:58 +0100

In Part II, I build upon the Semantic Web foundation created in Part I (originally created June 13, 2008). Semantic Marketing is a subset of the applications that are part of Web 3.0, and website owners can begin taking advantage of it today. You can learn more about it at either Semanticator or Seconds5. You'll also hear me talk about PowerSet as a Semantic Search Engine. They were purchased by Microsoft and became a component of the new Microsoft search engine: Bing.