Simple ways to improve your AdWords performance

by admin on January 31, 2012

While there are numerous somewhat complex tools available to help you manage your AdWords it’s often the simple things that can make a real difference.  Here’s a few tips:

Pricing

If you are the cheapest then try adding the price in your ad copy, if you are not then don’t.

Test discounts too; sometimes 50% off works better than advertising the discounted price.

Try Long Headlines

Google will often combine the headline and description line 1 into one long headline. You can’t control when this happens but be sure to include a full stop at the end of the description line 1 otherwise they won’t merge the two.
In Apple’s ad below Google has combined the headline and Description line one but it hasn’t for the Vodafone ad because there is no full stop between the first and second description lines.

Can you give something for Free?

Free can work extremely well!  Perhaps a free consultation, white paper or sample.  The uplift might outweight and additional costs!

Ad Extensions

Ad extensions are additional information that can sometimes appear.  Common extensions include address and phone number.  When your extensions are displayed your ads take up more real estate so they stand out more.

Sitelinks

Sitelinks as the name suggests are additional links to pages within your site.  Google has been adding them to organic results for some time and you can now add them to your AdWords ads.  As with Ad extensions, there’s no guarantee they will appear.  They typically appear for searches where there is little competition e.g. brand searches.

The flight centre ad below is displaying an address extension and the Virgin Ad includes three sitelinks:

Make use of the Display URL field

As long as your root domain in the ad and site are the same your display URL does not have to be an actual URL i.e [your_root_domain]/marketing message

Use Trademarks

If you have rights to a trademark then include it in your ad.  It makes it easier for brand searchers to differentiate between you and any potential imitators.

Need help with AdWords?  Call Steer Digital Marketing – Auckland on 09 579 4269

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Facebook Advertising Basics

by admin on January 22, 2012

If you are new to Facebook Advertising here are some things to consider:

Image is everything!

The key difference between Facebook Ads and Google AdWords is that Facebook ads have an image. The image is the most important component followed by the headline. Start with at least three ads each containing different images to determine the best performer.

Capturing leads?

If your objective is to capture leads then we recommend directing traffic to a lead capture form on your Facebook page. There a several free Facebook applications for lead capture e.g. http://www.facebook.com/contact.form

Building fans?

If you want to build fans we recommend using an incentive and communicating this in the ad. If your incentive is ‘like us for special offers’ then clicking on the Ad should take them to a page (Welcome Page) which re-enforces this.

Include a Call to action

People need to be told what to do, despite how obvious this might be.  The simple addition of ‘Click here’ can have a significant impact on click throughs.

Need a help with Social Media?  Call Steer Marketing on 09 579 4269 or search@steer.co.nz

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Improving Google NZ Rankings using Digital PR

January 22, 2012

Increasing brand searches and discussions about your brand in social media is a great way to help SEO/improve your rankings. Suppose you have just launched a new organic cider brand.  Here’s how you might generate some PR online: Run a campaign/competition to encourage discussion around your brand e.g. complete the sentence: ”My favourite time for an [...]

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20 Online Marketing Ideas for 2012

January 17, 2012

Create (& maintain) a Google+ page Build relationships by spending 30 minutes a week commenting on relevant blogs and news articles Set-up social media monitoring for mentions of your brands and competitors’ brands Write a GREAT blog post at least monthly, ideally weekly Create videos on your products & services (try www.screenr.com) Speak at your local Chamber [...]

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Get a Google+ Page Now!

January 17, 2012

With the arrival of Google+ many digital marketers reaction was “I can’t even manage my current social networks let alone another one,” and as a result have parked the task of creating a page. Google realises this so what they are doing (starting in the USA) is giving bias to Google + pages in the [...]

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Adwords – Getting the basics right

January 14, 2012

While there are lots of sophisticated targeting options available it amazes us how many companies don’t get the fundamentals right.  By fundamentals we mean the Ad matches the searched term and links to the most relevant page. We did a search for ”iphone 4 cases” and were amazed to see the number of ads promoting [...]

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Social Media – a key ingredient for SEO

December 20, 2011

Social media is influencing search results both visiby (e.g. seeing which results your friends favour) and invisibly through their impact on Google’s Ranking algorithm. Here are some tips to improve your social influence: Social results will be accompanied by a heading that says “Results from your social circle”.  If you can get into these results [...]

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Quality score in AdWords

December 12, 2011

There are two factors which determine your ranking: how much you bid and your quality score.  Improving your quality score can result in increased traffic and reduced click costs. To see your quality score log in to your AdWords account and click the small speech bubble icon next to the keyword:         [...]

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Does AdWords help sales in other channels?

November 30, 2011

Journeys leading to sales/conversions are never straight forward process i.e. many people will have multiple exposures to your brand before they convert. For example, they might receive a flyer in the post, search for your brand, click on an AdWords to visit your site and bookmark your website.  Suppose this person does not purchase in [...]

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Images & SEO

November 29, 2011

Images can help your SEO.  Because Google can’t interpret images it relies on other indicators. Here are tips for optimising images and driving traffic to the images themselves. Include alt text/tags on all images Alt text is the text that displays in place of an image.  Often email programs prevent images from showing so you [...]

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SEO & Copywriting

November 21, 2011

Keyword optimised copy might draw traffic but customer optimised copy will convert.  You need to strike a balance between the two.  Here are some tips: Use synonyms to improve readability without significantly impacting SEO Try to include keywords in the following: Navigation links Headlines (H1, H2, H3) Images Body copy Link text Calls to action [...]

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SEO – Optimising Twitter activity to rank better in Google real time search

November 20, 2011

It’s no secret that ”social signals” are part of Google’s ranking algorithm.  Here’s some tips to optimise your Twitter activity. Quality over quantity Google determines authority by the number of followers and their “reputation”.  If you get followed only by a few people but they include reputable people (e.g. Journalists) you’ll get lots of Google Juice for [...]

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Adwords – Right Hand Ads to Disappear

November 15, 2011

Google is going to start showing AdWords ads above and below the organic search results; dropping ads on the right hand side. Google claims tests have shown a better click-through rate for ads at the bottom when compared to the right-hand side. Aside from potential revenue benefits to Google it’s likely this change is part [...]

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Siri – Apple’s New Weapon

November 11, 2011

The latest iphone 4S features a voice-activated virtual assistant called Siri. We’ve yet to have a play, but reading various articles it appears to be a real threat to Google’s search. More and more people are using mobile devices to search the internet, with Google being the most common search engine.  The theory is that [...]

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Two new Adwords features

October 8, 2011

Call metrics Call metrics is where Google generates a toll free forwarding number which appears on your ad. Being a forwarding number,  it automatically redirects to your phone number. The big advantage is that it enables you to track calls originating from AdWords. This feature is currently only available to US customers. We’ve implemeted our [...]

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AdWords and the +1 Button

September 22, 2011

For those who aren’t familiar with the +1 button it is best described as Google’s equivalent of Facebook’s like button.  Google have introduced it in all search results; paid and organic. You can vote for a site simply by clicking the +1 button within the search results. If you are performing a search whilst signed [...]

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Optimising Facebook Ads

July 20, 2011

Here are some tips to ensure your ads get clicked on and your campaign is profitable: Start with reasonably broad targeting to ensure your ads receive enough clicks.  This will help you identify good and poor performers. Pause the poor performers, write new ads and adjust your targeting to be less broad Wait until an [...]

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AdWords – Ad Copy Tips

July 19, 2011

Think about the conversation in your prospect’s head.  Reproduce that conversation in your ad, website, and beyond. Come up with a USP which is as much about your customer as it is about you e.g. ‘Fresh, hot Thai delivered in 40 minutes or less, guaranteed.’ Headline: Include keyword & try dynamic keyword insertion.  Inserting the [...]

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Blogging tips

July 13, 2011

Regular blogging is great for SEO and a good way to ensure you keep up with your industry. Here’s a few tips to help you maximise the impact of your blogging: Set up your blog on a sub-folder on your website’s domain e.g. www.yoursite.co.nz/blog.  Avoid setting up a blog on a separate or sub-domain. Try [...]

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Google Analytics Worldwide Report

July 4, 2011

A significant proportion of businesses worldwide use Google Analytics.  Because of this they can aggregate their data to show averages across key statistics per country.  Here are the results: Pages/Visit: 4.5 Time on site: 5:23 Traffic sources breakdown Direct: 37% Referral: 20% Search engines: 28% Other: 15% NZ Specific Bounce rate: 42% Conversion rate: 1.8% [...]

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