Top of Mind vs. Top of Page

Author: Dr. Joe Schaefer

All CPM's (cost per thousand impressions) are not equal.

I have heard so many people say “yeh, we tried pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. We just wasted a lot of money”. These very same people will tell me how they spent $3000 on radio last month and got one call that didn’t even convert. However, they will proudly tell you how their friends heard the radio ad and thought it was cool.

What follows, is a few comparisons between Old School mass marketing tools like radio and New School search engine marketing. In later articles I will discuss comparisons between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Sponsored Link Advertising (PPC).

Old School Advertising: Broadcast your message to 1000 people so that hopefully 5 will be interested in the product and want to move toward purchase. You pay to reach all 1000. Average Cost per 1000 impressions runs $30-$100.
New School Advertising: Wait for 5 people to look for your product online and have your ad suddenly appear. You pay to reach just those 5 people. Average online Cost Per Click (CPC) varies greatly with each industry. You can usually get traffic for $1-$2 per click and for much less in some instances. So, the same 5 people will cost you $5-$10 with PPC.

Old School Advertising: Image advertising seeks to create “Top of mind” placement. Bombardment of the population with your name and message will eventually associate your product name with a single word or need in the customer’s mind.
New School Advertising: Assuming that the population has a need for your service or product, they will eventually come to a computer and enter some search terms into Google, or another search engine. The advertiser then seeks to achieve “Top of Page”.

Old School Advertising: To get real mind-share in your town you will need to spend between $0.50-$1.00 per person, per year. This means that well-meaning business owners who are way out of their league spend most of the advertising dollars in this country. The seminal work of advertising is Claude Hopkins’s, “Scientific Advertising”, and even implied that the jury was still out on whether advertising works. Time has proven that mass-market advertising does indeed work, but the key to that equation is “mass-market”.
New School Advertising: To get “top of page” presence on the search engine screen, you need only bid high enough (PPC). As long as you website is a highly tuned machine for converting visits to leads or sales, then you can make very easy calculations as to what bid price makes sense for your business. For small businesses this is the most powerful and incremental method for gaining new customers in existence. It is a pay-as-it-works method for growing your business.

Old School Advertising: The people who complain about this method are the ones that didn’t have the budget to play the game properly.
New School Advertising: The people complaining about this have lousy websites, without simple navigation or a path toward action. Their ad campaigns lack strategy or dynamic reaction to the changing search environment.

Summary

If you cannot afford to spend several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on TV, radio, and newspaper, then online search marketing is a definitely solution for the small business owner. If you love to tinker with technology and get excited at the thought of tweaking ads everyday, then you can do-it-yourself. However, the information superhighway is littered with the wrecks of do-it-yourselfers that gave Google a ton of money and didn’t see results. When this happens to you, have the common decency to realize that the fault lies entirely with you. People click your ads because they were searching for a product or service like yours. They came to your site and bounced out because you don’t know how to communicate your offering. If you’re not willing to do what it takes to compete for their business then don’t play the game. Competing means more than just getting some clicks to your site with Google PPC ads. The game begins after I get the click, and I entreat you to join me in the sparring match that is online marketing.

Everything Under the Sky for Online Marketing

By Naman Jain

A few years ago the field of online marketing was not so wide spread as it is today. People earlier were hesitant to begin an online career as they were doubtful about its scope. Also, online interaction was quite limited and expensive too. Most of the net based services were paid and users, were extremely suspicious of transacting online. Unlike those days. Internet today, has become a friend to the world. It guides users from one point to another, helps them gather information, and also helps them earn money and do business. The biggest advantage of this advancement of the internet is the facility of online marketing.

Companies are gradually realizing the importance of online marketing and are promoting their brands rigorously in the web. The movement is so wide spread that almost everything under the sky is now being promoted in the web through online marketing. Different modes of online marketing are used to promote the websites, that belong to different verticals. Some of the techniques that are applied to market these things online include, Blogging, article marketing, email marketing, PPC campaigns, banner advertising.

Online marketing is proving beneficial not only to the marketers as a great source of lead generation, but is also beneficial to the users, who are happy to get everything in just a click. From business to socializing, to shopping everything is now being done online. Where there are numerous sites for socializing, where users can not only reconnect with their lost pals, but can also make new friends, community building and open forums for discussions are some of the social features that are being used for online marketing in a lighter note.

On the other hand, websites dedicated to buying and selling of goods have helped in creating a completely new market place, better known as the online market. Considering the rapid popularity that the field has acquired, in a remarkable time period, website owners that require user information for further interaction are now bound to secure their critical information. Any defamation in the same are thereby handled by these websites themselves. The scope of online marketing is wide spread and is expected to improve further in the years to come.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/everything-under-the-sky-for-online-marketing-490205.html

Autoresponders - Your Most Important Marketing Tool

By MemberSpeed, Inc.

Autoresponders let you build and maintain an email list. Traditionally, autoresponders were known as a method of sending emails from your email program while you are away from the computer. An autoresponder allows you to collect and send emails to mailing lists. This is a very powerful way of retaining your website visitors and building a profitable relationship with them.

An autoresponder service makes it easy to set up a sequence of emails to send to your subscribers on a time scale that you specify. This can be used to deliver quality content, product promotions, courses or any other material that you deem relevant to the interests of your mailing list subscribers.

If your subscribers have signed up to receive free dog training tips in their inbox, then make sure you only send them topic content that has the same theme; or else, they will unsubscribe and might even consider your emails to be spam. To retain your good reputation, you should be knowledgeable and willing to share your knowledge with list members. After all, that is what they have signed up for!

Purposes of Autoresponders

We will now take a look at some of the specific purposes of using autoresponders and how they can benefit your business.

1) To Deliver Newsletters - If you create newsletters regularly, then the best way to deliver them is via email. Autoresponder software makes this very easy as you only have to load up the newsletter content into a form and the software sends it to all your confirmed subscribers.

2) To Deliver Content/Articles - Many list owners simply deliver free, quality content and articles regularly. If your niche topic is geared towards information, then this is an ideal way to keep your list interested and gain their trust.

By providing totally free information without a catch, people will trust that you are there to help them (which you are of course!). They are then likely to buy from you if you suggest any products.

3) To Deliver E-Courses - E-courses are a great incentive for people to sign up to your list. Make sure the course relates to your website niche. For example, your E-course might be about teaching people to write articles, setting up a home aquarium, or building a compost heap. Whatever the topic, make your course exciting and deliver new chapters regularly.

4) To Make Special Offers to Customers - If you provide a service like web design or article writing, then you can use your mailing list to inform customers of specials and discounts.

The above methods of using autoresponders show just how versatile this method of marketing and customer relationship building really is. By building up a trusted relationship with your subscribers, you have considerably more chance of making sales when you promote products and services.

Rather than losing your visitors when they leave your website, entice them to sign up to your autoresponder by providing a free incentive like a short report. You can then use the power of autoresponders to stay in touch with them and maximize your chance for profits.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/autoresponders-your-most-important-marketing-tool-498432.html

Advantages of Internet Marketing

by wikipedia

Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost against the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and purchase products and services at their own convenience. Therefore, businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a medium that can bring results quickly. The strategy and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns depend on business goals and cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.

Internet marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively. Nearly all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested. The advertisers either pay per web banner impression, per click (PPC), per play (PPP), or per action accomplished. Therefore, marketers can determine which messages or offerings are more appealing to the audience. The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an advertisement, visit a website, and perform a targeted action. Such measurement cannot be achieved through billboard advertising, where an individual will at best be interested, then decide to obtain more information at a later time.

Internet marketing as of 2007 is growing faster than other types of media. Because exposure, response, and overall efficiency of Internet media is easier to track than traditional off-line media — through the use of web analytics for instance — Internet marketing can offer a greater sense of accountability for advertisers. Marketers and their clients are becoming aware of the need to measure the collaborative effects of marketing (i.e., how the Internet affects in-store sales) rather than siloing each advertising medium. The effects of multichannel marketing can be difficult to determine, but are an important part of ascertaining the value of media campaigns.

Meta Tagging as SEO Technique - Obsolete?

by Deca's Blog

During the early days of the Internet, much weight was placed on meta tags as they carry vital information that let users know of the content of a given website. Nowadays it seems meta tags are increasingly being deemed unnecessary.

A lot of people started implementing dubious means in an effort to push their rankings higher, often placing deceiving information in the tags. Meta tags are so susceptible to spamming that it practically renders the tags useless. Consequently, most of the major search engines like Yahoo and Google don’t really factor it in anymore when judging a website’s relevance and have altogether stopped using it as a criterion in determining site rankings.

There are also other hazards associated with meta tagging. Since the tags contain information about your website, this may potentially be used against you by your competition. They become familiar with the keywords you painstakingly chose and use them to promote their own sites. A poorly constructed meta tag can actually hurt your ranking chances and possibly get your website banned even if you didn’t intend to break any rules in the first place. Some people contend that you are better off devoting attention to title tags as search engines still give importance to them.
Are meta tags truly an unnecessary practice? While meta tags no longer determine how well a website does in search engine rankings, there is nothing wrong with continuing to use them provided they are constructed well and do not overstep ethical boundaries.

A meta tag contains a description of what your site offers and if it is well written, can entice visitors to click on your link. It may not boost website rankings but it is still a legitimate method of generating traffic. Plus if you do not write a meta tag for your website, the search engine will construct one for you and this might not be a wise move as you are the one who knows about your site best.

It is better to write a meta tag that accurately describes what you offer rather than sticking with a generic description of your site. If you do choose to continue using meta tags as an SEO method, there are certain things you must keep in mind. Do not make your tags too long and be sure your description matches the content found within your site. Put in relevant keywords and do not be repetitive.

Using Facebook to Build Your Business

By Serene N

A great marketing tool that many business owners overlook is the social networking site called Facebook. Facebook is a social networking site that allows users to share information and interact. Being part of any social network site can help you build your business. Facebook is one of the best social networking sites to join to aid in the building of your business. Over 35 million people and growing are members of facebook. You can build some customer clientele, promote your business, and build important business contacts that can enhance your business. You can have deeper interactions with people to enhance their opinion and experience with your company. Utilizing facebook to build your business gives you direct marketing toward anyone in your friends list. Plus, your friends are automatically updated when you change anything in your profile. You can use this instant notification process to send sales information, company information, or new product releases. Facebook is a great marketing tool that many businesses overlook because of its reputation as a college site. This is rapidly changing and everyone is on Facebook networking. Facebook also has many additional features that make it easy to interact and promote to the masses. Facebook allow you to easily without any hassle soft sell to other members. You have much more freedom on facebook than other social networking sites to post links and other forms of media. Many other social networking sites ban or delete you for selling or promoting claiming it to be spam. A little or a lot of shameless promotion is not prohibited on facebook. This makes it an excellent tool to use to build your business.

There are six ways facebook can help you build your business.

The first way you can use facebook to build your business is through branding. The popularity of facebook among a diverse age demographics can be a great way to generate brand awareness as you build up your customer base.

The second way to use facebook to build your business is to use it to drive traffic to your site by posting links.

The third way to use facebook to build your business is to target specific vertical markets with specific business objectives. Facebook has searches and software that can help you find a particular demographic to add as friends or join in your group.

The fourth way to use facebook to build your business is to focus on client retention. Using the various features on facebook to interact with potential clients or customers building a trusting relationship with them via facebook.

The fifth way to build your business by using facebook is to engage the customer. Business is all about the customers and gaining as many as you can. Using facebook you can entice people to learn about your brand, products, or service.

The sixth way you can use facebook to build your business is by reputation management. You can read what other consumers post about your business and brand. Majority of facebook profiles are indexed in search results making your page automatically optimized. This is a very cool helpful tool in promotion.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=723964137

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Serene_Ng

Demystifying Quality Score For Google And The Search Network

By James O'Brien

Quality Score measures the relevance of a keyword to your advertisement group and to a user's search query

Do you know that Google assigns a dynamic metric called Quality Score to each of your keywords? Quality Score for Google and the search network is calculated using a number of factors, but more importantly, it measures the relevance of a keyword to your advertisement group and to a user's search query. In other words, the higher your keyword's Quality Score, the lower its minimum bid and the better its advertisement position.

The components of Quality Score differ based on whether it is calculating minimum bid or advertisement position:

• Quality Score for minimum bid is calculated using a keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, its relevance to your advertisement group, the quality of your landing page, the historical performance of your account, and other relevant factors.

• Quality Score for advertisement position is calculated using a keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, the relevance of your keyword and advertisement to the search item, the historical performance of your account, and other relevant factors.

PS: Quality Score is determined separately for the content network.

Google wants ecommerce advertisers to meet few baseline goals, in order to improve their landing pages and minimize bid prices on keywords:

• Offer relevant and substantial content: This can be realized if advertisers link their advertisement to a page that matches the items in their advertisement.
• Handle user information carefully: While collecting a user's personal information, ensure that you treat it responsibly.
• Provide intuitive navigation for users: By developing an intuitive navigation for your site, you offer users an easy access to information and simple procedures to purchase.

The Google Adwords system determines and assesses an advertiser's landing pages many times. The system bot visits an advertiser's site not less than once a month, but in case of some changes made to the site, it may possibly visit more often to review those changes.

Recently, Google also unveiled another feature to inform advertisers of their keyword ratings through an additional Comment column in the AdWords account interface. You must enable this feature manually, since it is disabled by default.

Each keyword is rated with one of the three Quality Scores -- Great, Poor, or OK. If a keyword is rated as "Poor," it will be made "inactive for search" or substituted by a more specific keyword in order to scale down the bid prices. If you don't wish to substitute such keywords, try optimizing the associated advertising text and landing pages.

Additionally, AdWords advertisers are able to view the minimum bid prices for all of their keywords-both active and inactive. This way you can track your progress, by keeping an eye on the decline of bids.

Finally, Quality Score for Google secures that only the most relevant advertisements appear to the users on Google and the Google Network. The AdWords system works like a charm for everyone-advertisers, publishers, users, and Google too-when the displayed advertisements matches a user's needs as closely as possible. Relevant advertisements tend to earn more clicks and higher position, which in turn brings you definite success.

James O'Brien Shopping cart software Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_O'Brien

Starting for Success: PPC Search Engine Marketing (online marketing)

By Free IQ

“PPC Search engine marketing is a method that is favored by internet marketers the world over. PPC search engine marketing is great because its business size agnostic. PPC search engine marketing is the real deal if you’re looking for promoting your business in the brave new world of the internet.

Beginners and veterans alike will tell you that they’re feeling depressed or upset because they really cannot get an edge against those incredible internet veterans who barely sleep because they’re so busy following leads. It seems almost impossible to put in anywhere near as much effort as they do, but why would you bother? You do have an edge on them, PPC search engine marketing.

Don’t stress yourself out! There are some really simple techniques and tactics you can use with PPC search engine marketing that will allow you to absolutely blitz the competition:

Test your market: If you’re new to this, don’t let it bankrupt you. Start a small campaign at first to test the waters of your new market. This is great because if you choose a market that isn’t as big as you thought, you won’t lose anywhere near as much money. The big secret to really maximizing your business using PPC search engine marketing is to really nut out what your customers are looking for.

But how on earth can we figure out what they’re looking for? Even then how could we test what works and what doesn’t? This is where the great services provided by Google come in. Google allows you to pay a really small fee for a few small ads so you can test what copy and what techniques work for you. You’ll be able to see almost instant results on what is working and what isn’t, and if you’re onto a winner it may be a sign that PPC search engine marketing really is for you.

The secret to success in the internet businesses world really just comes down to intelligent PPC Search Engine Marketing.”