infographics
10 Easy Mistakes That Will Make You Fail with Google Adwords
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Pay per click advertising is confusing for most small business owners. They know what they want: an easy and economical way to advertise their businesses on the Internet. Still, the thought of paying for AdWords for people who are “just browsing” can be daunting. Here are some tips about how to make the most of your AdWords budget by avoiding common mistakes.
- Do not use broad geo-targeting. Instead, limit your geo-targeting to a local audience. You will find that people are often searching for local merchants, and you want your name at the top of the list.
- Avoid unfocused campaigns. It might seem like a good idea to be purposefully vague and target a large audience, but customers tend to become irritated when they click on a link only to find out it was not what they wanted.
- Do not use uncategorized groups. It is important to categorize your keywords. Otherwise, you are throwing them into a communal pool in which you cannot possibly compete.
- Avoid low quality scores. Your landing page should reflect exactly what your ad promises. Otherwise, you risk a low score and wasted advertising budget. You also risk customer disapproval or frustration at trying to find what they were looking for in the first place.
- Do not allow uncapped CPC bids. Never use auto-spend on pay-per-click or you could find your budget awash before you begin. Start small and build your advertising to a level that gives you good ROI.
- Avoid bidding broadly. Long-tail keywords are the key to success. Using fatheads not only burns your budget but puts you in competition with many others doing the same thing. Your business specializes in something, so your keywords should reflect that specialization.
- Be sure to include keyword in your ads. Some people try to avoid the issues surrounding keywords by deleting them from their ads, but this lowers your overall quality score and does not help promote your business.
- Avoid under-performing keywords. If your keywords are not working, try something else. It could be that you are simply missing the mark slightly with your audience. Refreshing your keywords could give you a bounce in your rankings and site visits.
- Do not avoid the use of negative keywords. There is a place for negative keywords, and it is in filtering your results so that you draw in serious customers. Words like “cheap” or “free” will invite a lot of non-buying clickers.
- Avoid running campaigns without using conversion tracking. You will never know if your ads are working if you do not track your conversion rate. Simply knowing how many people clicked is not enough. This is essentially the same as counting the number of people who come in a store without tracking actual purchases.
With a bit of work, you can tailor your PPC campaign for maximum value and ensure that your customers will buy things when they visit your site. Bulletproof Digital can help you maximize your PPC campaign. Give us a call to discover how.
Interactive Formats & Responsive Design Infographic
Since at least three-fourths of the population consists of what is known as “visual learners,” it is important to consider the visual aspects of data presentation when creating a website. In simple terms, most people respond to a graphic far more readily that the written word. Reading long paragraphs is boring; looking at an exciting colorful infographic is much more fun.
This infographic deals with what is called “responsive design.” In order to understand responsive design, it is necessary to go back to school—no, don’t worry, we won’t be there long!
Educators discovered many years ago that not every child learns in the same way. They began to study how each individual learned, and they found that there were a number of different “learning styles.” With this knowledge, teachers began to make lessons that covered the same material but delivered it in different ways. This process is known as “differentiation” in educational settings and is used today to reach students of all learning types.
The same general idea can be applied to responsive design in website building. It is important that website builders understand and respond to user needs. In other words, website builders must go through the same process teachers went through years ago; recognize and change their practices based on the various needs of users.
Fortunately, designing responsible websites with interactive formats is not as difficult as keeping a roomful of third-graders quiet! It simply requires analysis of what works for users and changes to incorporate those techniques.
A good example of this can be found with interactive forms. Many websites feature forms for users to fill out so that the owner can capture visitor information for future contacts, mailing lists and other purposes. However, many website owners or designers never consider how visitors respond to these forms and how many of them simply “click out” before filling out the form.
Think about your own experience. How invested do you have to be before you are willing to spend your time filling out a website form? For most people, the answer is that you have to be ready to buy. Introducing a long form before that point in the sales funnel can drive away a lot of business from a website, and if the designer or owner does not study these results, he or she will never know how close the customer was to buying before turning to an easier-to-use website.
This situation is what is meant by a responsive design scenario. A website owner or designer looking at the reality of visitor experience to the site could easily decide to move the form-filling process to a later point in the sales funnel and to replace it with an engaging, interactive module that builds a desire in the customer to purchase. In this way, he or she is much more likely to fill out the form at the end and to ultimately make a purchase.
Bulletproof Digital can help you analyze your website and take advantage of interactive and responsive design. Call us today for more information.
Understanding Search Engine Marketing Tactics
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Why is it getting harder and harder to leave Google?
This question has been debated by SEO experts for some time. Many fear that Google is setting the standard for advertising in a monopolistic way that eliminates the competition from other search engine providers and defines which web sites are considered relevant. Others accept Google’s dominance and appreciate working with a single set of rules for SEO purposes.
However you feel about Google, the fact remains that the industry giant is sometimes difficult to figure out. Some experts feel that Google’s attempts to eliminate spam are thinly-disguised efforts to substitute its own version of controlled content; others disagree. This infographic traces the deletion of spam and the substitution of Google’s own method of funneling users.
Google says: Do not use spam.
Google does: Use paid links to promote businesses.
Google says: Do not use paid blog posts.
Google does: Use paid blog posts on its Japanese site.
Google says: Do not use doorway pages.
Google does: Use content farm pages like eHow, inserts thin content pages in its search engine results, and fast-tracked Google+ pages to the detriment of other content.
Google says: Do not use duplicate content.
Google does: Use thin, duplicated content for its pages from sites like Yelp.
Google says: Do not use low diversity.
Google does: Use little diversity in its AdWords keywords.
Google says: Do not use content farms.
Google does: Use AdSense which funded content farms.
Google says: Do not use cloaking.
Google does: Use frequent surveys in which you cannot enter a site without completing their survey.
Google says: Do not use thin affiliates.
Google does: Use selling of paid third-party affiliates and promotes their own pages.
Google says: Do not tailor pages for search engines but for users.
Google does: Use canonical tags geared for search engines.
Google says: Do not use multiple pages or domains with similar content.
Google does: Use multiple sites with the same concepts and even the same content.
Google says: Do not put in too many ads.
Google does: Use so many ads on some pages that content falls below the fold.
Google says: Do not promote questionable websites.
Google does: Use sites such as illegal pharmacies that cost the company millions in fines.
Google says: Do follow quality guidelines.
Google does: Not follow their own guidelines.
Getting Help From SEO Experts
Whether you agree with the opinions in the infographic or not, few would argue that making Google happy is a primary consideration for those who want to advertise on the web. In view of this, it is often helpful for business owners to have experts who understand Google’s rules and peculiarities and can structure advertising campaigns that take them into consideration.
If you are in need of professional help, please contact Bulletproof Digital for a free quote. Our experts can help you navigate Google’s complexities and maximize your Internet presence, giving you better site traffic and conversion rates.
60 Seconds – Things That Happen On Internet Every Sixty Seconds [Infographic]
Your Infographics Can Still Count
Earlier this week, Matt Cutts talked about devaluing infographics. This is not surprising given Google’s stance on content and link issues. However, the statement set the world abuzz with speculation. We all know that spam analysis is not an exact science, so many are hoping Google will be unable to carry out its threat.
This is probably a vain hope. If your infographics are used to link to wonky sites, be prepared for Google to devalue you. However, this does not mean that you should toss infographics away altogether. You can still use them if you are careful to ensure that they are being used for the right purposes. [Read more…] about Your Infographics Can Still Count