DaBrian Marketing Group Blog - Internet Marketing, SEO, and Web Analytics

Data Quality is Essential to Pharmaceutical Marketing Success

2012-02-09T14:31:00.000-05:00

Through my work with several financial services organization and pharmaceutical companies, one of the biggest issues I have noticed is with their data quality. These organizations typically have numerous data points such as web analytics, CRM solutions, email marketing platforms, sales information, etc. The challenge is that most of the business units don’t collaborate to integrate their data or to identify the best possible solution to integrate data. If you can’t agree to collaborate, it makes it even more challenging to manage data quality issues. At the same time, organizations have a tendency to use multiple data sources for the same information. Which source is providing the real picture?

Our team encountered data quality issues with a pharmaceutical client while developing monthly marketing metrics reports. We estimated that the data quality issues were costing them over $250,000 per year (if not more). The outdated web analytics solution wasn’t being maintained, so they had skewed SEO traffic, inaccurate referral sources, and limited functionality to integrate with their CRM solution, email marketing, or paid search campaigns.

Basically, they were blindly marketing to healthcare professionals and patients without any knowledge of what their target audiences were engaging with from a marketing perspective. Product managers were being held accountable for something that they had no visibility into, whether it increased new acquisitions or not.

Total Costs to the Organization:

Outdated Web Analytics Solutions: $250,000 per year (minimum)
Human Resources for Web Analytics Solution: $100,000 per year
Estimated Marketing Budget Total: $3,000,000 per year

Poor Data Quality + Poor Data Integration = Poor Decision-Making!

Data Quality isn’t just an issue for Fortune 500 companies. It is also an issue for smaller businesses where decisions can make or break them. Regardless of the size of the business, we still need to take into account the business requirements, technical requirements, reporting, and the impact that the data will have on the organization’s ability to create efficiencies and save time and money. There are significant costs associated with a lack of data and poor data quality.

Twitter Analytics, Finally!

2012-02-01T13:16:00.003-05:00

Twitter recently announced that official analytics tools will be launched later this year. Although these tools may only initially be available to advertisers on Twitter , I am sure that some form of official analytics/tracking tools will be made available to all Twitter users. Here is a great article from Marketing Land, that gives more details and provides more links about the announcements. Why is this important?

From a Digital Marketing prospective, one will now be able to easily track the reach, effectiveness, and efficiency of Advertising on Twitter. As all marketers know, it is vital to your budget that you show your marketing ROI or at least Return on Ad Spend (ROAS.) Not only will this help you prevent budget cuts, but it could also help increase your marketing budget. Check out our website and Blog. Also, contact us if you have any questions. We would love to help you with your online presence – SEO, SEM, PPC, etc.

Financial Services: Increase New Accounts & Acquisitions via Web Analytics

2012-01-25T12:24:00.004-05:00

Countless industries have made dramatic increases to their web-based marketing efforts as of late. In 2011 alone, budgets usually allocated to print-based efforts were diverted to online ad spending. The Internet Marketing space has proven to be an efficient means to market to specific clientele via various forms of targeting. However, as with almost every instance of change throughout history, there are still those who lag behind in adapting to the circumstances.

In the financial services industry in particular, we have noticed a sizable population of organizations that either lack in marketing in the digital space or are not monitoring their marketing channels effectively (if at all). Large portions of marketing budgets are still being alotted to traditional efforts like print or billboards, which is fine: But how accurately is return-on-investment for these channels being monitored?

If implemented properly with solid policies and procedures, Web Analytics can shine quite a bit of light on the performance of your web efforts as well as how much return traditional channels are really generating. Here's 3 ways Web Analytics can help:

Optimization for Increasing Loan Applications & New Accounts: In many ways, your institution's website is as important as your branch tellers and representatives. It is client-facing, has to serve up the information your customers are looking for, and get them to bite on additional products and services you offer. Web Analytics can help shine light on how well the site does at cross-selling and up-selling your clients and point out where improvements could be made.

Identification of Seasonal Trends: Different seasons yield different trends with consumers. This is old news to anyone in marketing. Monitoring what non-branded search phrases people are using to find the website on search engines can uncover gems to base marketing strategies on in the next month.

Monitoring Effectiveness of Traditional Channels: Web Analytical platforms' visibility can extend beyond the website. Want to determine how much of a return that shiny new billboard your organization has on the interstate is really generating? Using a combination of vanity numbers, URLs, and unique landing pages, you can measure its effectiveness at creating new banking and investment customers right alongside your website's data.

The list of benefits extends well beyond these alone. Not only can you optimize your institution's website, but you can also measure return-on-investment on other channels of marketing as well. Gone are the days of remaining blind to performance and the inability to compare and contrast channels. Use Web Analytics to increase sales and new accounts.

Want an example of how Web Analytics actually helped a Financial Services Institution? Check out this Case Study. Also be sure to Follow Us on Google+ to receive the latest news & tips on Web Analytics, Internet Marketing, SEO, and more!

Social Media Tips for Real Estate Agents

2012-01-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

DaBrian Marketing Group's CEO Daniel Laws recently gave a presentation on Social Media for the Real Estate industry and provided tips on how Real Estate Agents can more effectively connect with potential home buyers. Here's the full 30 minute presentation:

Be sure to Follow DaBrian Marketing Group on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook to get the latest news & tips on Social Media Marketing!

SEO: Think You Can Do It Better?

2012-01-18T09:34:00.002-05:00

Many business administrators believe their internal marketing and IT staff have the capability of running successful SEO campaigns. This common misconception originates from a theory that SEO is nothing more than a process of choosing keywords that relate to a business and implementing those keywords on the business’ website. However, much more is needed to run a profitable SEO campaign. The number one necessity for running a successful SEO campaign is utilizing a reputable SEO firm--that’s the easy part.

Internet marketing has become very competitive and complex within the past few years. For this reason, companies may no longer find success with a one-time implementation of basic SEO components. To be successful in today’s competitive Internet marketing environment, one must give constant attention to the campaign. For example, factors such as industry trends and changes to the major search engines’ algorithms occur regularly. Competition is fierce; a business may achieve top ranking for certain keywords one month and drop in rank the next if proper attention is not given to the campaign.

SEO firms are better suited than internal marketing staff for managing SEO campaigns because they have insights into Internet marketing strategies appropriate for various types of industries such as: financial services, pharmaceutical, and professional services.

The qualifications and certifications SEO firms acquire, such as SEMPO certification, illustrate the firms’ specific training, knowledge, and skills. SEO firms are subject matter experts--they know what to do and how to do it.

In-house marketing departments may not have the depth of knowledgeable, training, access to industry tools, and time necessary to run a successful SEO campaign. Therefore, it is best to hire an SEO firm to work in conjunction with an in-house marketing department in order for a company to achieve its goals.

By working with an SEO firm, businesses will create efficiencies, save time, and money--after all, that’s what it’s all about it.

SEO Results for Regulated Industries in 2012

2012-01-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

There have been numerous predictions on what changes will be seen in 2012 for SEO. We are predicting that more companies in highly regulated industries such as Credit Unions, Banks, Pharmaceutical Companies, and Independent Insurance providers will start to proactively engage in SEO, Social Media Marketing and measurement of internet marketing tactics. Major factors determining marketers’ budget allocations to these initiatives will be the economic conditions and the marketing managers’ abilities to demonstrate the positive influences on ROI.

SEO & Social Media in 2012

As many have predicted in 2012, the days of implementing SEO campaigns without a thought or allocating resources to Social Media are over. This should be the catalyst needed to encourage Banks & Pharmaceutical companies to consider their presence online. Last year, SEOmoz and other industry internet marketing blogs displayed a correlation between high ranking companies and social media metrics. We assume the launch of Google + as well as the modifications to Facebook and Twitter promotions will be more relevant to the equation in the future. Metrics from these platforms have even been added to SEO software as a result.

Figure 1: SEOmoz Facebook Metrics Report

Internet Marketing Challenges for Regulated Industries

One of the biggest challenges for these industries is the interpretation of the financial services laws or the lack of a specific guide by organizations such as the FDA. There currently is a list a specific list of dos and don’t for online marketing provided by the governing organizations. In addition, privacy of customers’ or prospective customers’ information will continue to be a challenge. It is highly recommended that you have someone with marketing experience within the industry overseeing the marketing efforts who understands internet marketing tactics, and has a history of ethical practices. Otherwise, you will increase the probability of experiencing issues and public scrutiny.

Measurement & Privacy go Hand-in-Hand

The measurement of internet marketing is a cause of concern within these industries as well. All of the backlash from retargeting campaigns, the collection of personal information and the use of 3rd party cookies is understandable. But it is critical that all of the internet marketing tactics be measured and aligned to the organization’s goals and objectives. Otherwise budgets and personnel will be cut, because without measuring the marketing efforts there is no way to show how they impacted ROI.

In the case of Banks and Credit Unions, many of these organizations have websites with two different sections that included a secure domain for applications and an unsecure domain for product/service offerings. Many financial service companies do not track the secure domain due to privacy concerns. Generally speaking, as long as you are not collecting personal information within the analytical solution, you legally can measure if visitors completed a specific task (i.e. loan application submission). Since you can accomplish this, you will be able to measure the impact on ROI and demonstrate to senior leadership the value of your internet marketing tactics.

Figure 2: Even Google Analytics has the able to track secure pages.

Remember that SEO results go beyond keyword ranking. Consider the impact that SEO has on new visitors, on-site metrics, landing pages, and other marketing tactics such as PPC cost. Part of the process of SEO for regulated industries is to educate those that are less informed. As marketers, we do not just deliver reports; we must deliver the message and insights, as well as show ROI in a form that senior management can understand.

The Cost of a Low Quality Score

2012-01-04T12:57:00.007-05:00

Quality is important in advertising, but even more so in PPC advertising. Google AdWords gives the top Ad Position to the highest Ad Rank, and Ad Rank is Max CPC Bid multiplied by Quality Score. This means that there are two factors that decide what position your PPC ads are shown – 1) How much you Bid (CPC) and 2)What your Quality Score is. A Quality Score can range from 1 (terrible) – 10 (excellent), as shown below.

In order to clearly see the Value (or Cost) of Quality Score, let’s walk through an example. First, assume a competitor is Bidding $0.75 with a Quality Score of 7. This means their Ad Rank is 5.25. The Table below reveals the CPC Bid that is needed in order to achieve the same Ad Rank depending on your Quality Score.

As you can see, a Higher PPC Quality Score can actually save you money, while a lower Quality Score could cost you $1.00 or more of additional cost per click (CPC.) Let’s continue with this example and assume 100 Clicks in a month. The below Table shows the additional and total savings/cost due to Quality Score.

The Yellow Highlighted Row is your competitor. The Green Highlights show the possible savings per click, and how you could be paying less than your competitor, if you have a higher Quality Score. However, the Red Highlights reveal that a low Quality Score could cause you to pay more than double your competitors per click. Now you should be able to clearly see how a Low Quality Score will greatly increase your Cost per Click, which in turn increase overall Cost, but also how a high Quality Score could lower you Cost and increase your Bottom Line.

Paid Search Drives Offline Sales?

2011-12-14T12:42:00.006-05:00

I just finished reading an article, from MediaPost that stated PPC ads help increase in-store purchases. This is great news for the bottom line of the stores/companies running Pay per Click Ads. However, for the marketers, it is very difficult to contribute the off-line sales towards the PPC Campaigns effectiveness. With that being said, new strategies and technologies are beginning to be implemented to ensure that PPC Campaigns get full credit for the online and offline sales that they drive. An example of a strategy being used is implementing coupons via barcodes or keyword phrases, to PPC Landing Pages can help keep track of people seeing the ads online but buying in the store, this is still a work-in-progress. Do you have any other ideas of how to credit the appropriate in-store purchases to the online marketing campaign that initiated the sales process?

Selecting a Sensible Web Analytical Platform For Your Organization

2011-12-07T11:28:00.007-05:00

There’s countless blogs, articles, and studies out there that preach about how web analytics is the greatest thing since sliced bread and how it can tie together virtually any marketing effort for an organization and measure their effectiveness side-by-side and against each other. All the features, reports, visuals, metrics, and alerts are great…but only if your organization can dedicate the time, talent, and funds to properly implement and support the platforms.

There’s been more than one instance where we’ve seen a large organization invest in a big and flashy analytical platform like Omniture and WebTrends, and not dedicate the necessary resources to properly implement, support, maintain, or even use it properly. It almost seems like some organizations view these platforms as set-and-forget endeavors, when in reality they are no different than the machinery that is used to make their products or the buildings in which those products are sold. Just because it isn’t tangible does not mean it won’t need ongoing support.

One of the driving reasons these platforms and strategies are improperly executed is because of a lack of budget. Most of the larger analytical platforms use a pay-per-pageview approach to their billing, which for well-traveled websites can add up quickly. After figuring in servers and databases, the total cost for the year can easily stretch into the tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This usually swallows up the majority of an analytics budget and doesn’t leave much more room for bringing on talent for proper implementation and usage. So this brings us to the driving point of this blog: Choosing a web analytical platform that your organization can actually afford to support (via either internal talent or external agencies) is a critical step that should not be overlooked.

For some of the aforementioned organizations, selecting a cheaper (or even free) platform like Yahoo! Web Analytics or Google Analytics would have yielded much better insights. We even saw this with one client, as they had both WebTrends and Google Analytics, and the latter platform offered exponentially deeper and more insightful reports.

So whether you are the individual or an agency pitching to the higher-ups of an organization why they should go with analytics, make sure you ask the right questions: What do we really need, and what can we actually afford to support moving forward?

Keep your eye on DaBrian Marketing Group’s website for a more in-depth article on this. Also be sure to follow DaBrian Marketing Group’s new Google+ Page!

Email Marketing- A Quick and Cost Effective Way to Reach Your Target Audience

2011-12-01T08:59:00.005-05:00

Email marketing is an important component of a successful Internet marketing strategy, and its benefits include:

1. Staying in front of your target market
Email marketing allows your company to stay in front of your current customers and to build long-lasting relationships and enhance connections.

2. Measurability
Many aspects of email campaigns can be measured, such as the number of opens, click-through rate, and conversions. These key metrics allow for optimization of future email campaigns.

3. Cost effective
Email marketing is a more cost effective method of communicating, as it does not include the cost of printing or postage that direct mail requires.

4. Immediate messages
Messages are delivered immediately, allowing for quick notifications and responses to promotions and sales.

5. Increase traffic to website
By embedding links into your emails, customers can easily access specific pages containing relevant information on your site with just a click.

6. Flexibility
Email marketing provides great flexibility in the type of emails sent, such as newsletters and promotions.

Make sure to take advantage of the numerous benefits email marketing provides.

Event Tracking to Reduce Bounce Rate Due to Affiliate Sites

2011-11-22T12:05:00.006-05:00

One of the greatest challenges a web analyst faces in the field is gaining full visibility into all facets of an organization’s online presence. As analysts, we are curious creatures by nature with an unquenchable thirst for data and knowledge. We want to know where traffic is coming from, how these visitors are using the website, and where they are going. Discovering a missing piece to a data collection puzzle can be a double-edged sword: It means we aren’t getting the complete picture, but it also serves as motivation to always be on the lookout for new sources of analytical data.

In the past year, we were approached by a client in the financial services industry that wanted to track their website’s organic performance on search engines as well as receive monthly analytical reporting and recommendations. A few weeks after initial implementation, however, we noticed a consistently high bounce rate to the website. These bounces were primarily happening from the Home page of the website, which is a major red flag to even the most inexperienced of analysts. After some additional analysis and a look at the navigational summary of visitors, we were able to determine that most of these bounces weren’t leaving the website: They were proceeding to the separate secure Online Banking portion of the website. Due to internal security policies of this particular bank, we were unable to implement any direct tracking of this platform beyond the Home page of the website. A new solution to alleviate the high bounce rate needed to be identified.

That’s where event tracking came in. With Google Analytics, event tracking is a method traditionally used to track actions visitors can perform on a website that aren’t captured by the standard analytics script. This often takes the form of a PDF or document download. Since we could not place any sort of tracking code on the Online Banking platform itself, we decided to place the event tracking code on all links on the bank’s website that pointed towards it. The change in the skewed bounce rate for the website was noticeable almost immediately:

Not only did this help alleviate the high bounce rate, but it also provided more insight into how the bank’s customers used the site and where the entered the Online Banking platform from.

There are never perfect circumstances when it comes to web analytics. More often than not, internal policies, procedures and security will stand in the way of getting the complete picture of an organization’s web presence. Learning these policies from the start and identifying alternative solutions will help in overcoming these obstacles.

Be sure to follow us on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest in web analytics, SEO, and more!

5 Reasons to Use a CMS-Based Website

2011-11-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

If you are considering redesigning or building a new website, a Content Management Systems (CMS)-based website is a must. The use of a CMS website will save you time, money, and create efficiencies.

5 reasons to use a CMS website:

Easy to update content: Adding, removing, or updating content may be executed by staff members without the need for a web designer.
Design: Simply change the design and appearance of the website without the headache of using editors or creative suites.
SEO Friendly: Stay on top of the Search Engine Optimization of the website.
Increased Functionality: Plug-ins and widgets may be integrated effortlessly for additional functionality.
Security: Content is safely stored in a database.

There you have it. Five quick, great reasons to switch your company's website over to a Content Management System.

Privacy Protection on Search Engines & Social Media vs. Value of Data

2011-11-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

USA Today recently ran an article about Facebook's data collection methods and the issues they raise with privacy protection. Although there is very good reason for these concerns to be voiced, consumers should still be aware that not all monitoring is a bad thing, and in fact, a lot of the monitoring that marketing and business intelligence departments do often benefits consumers greatly.

Check out our latest YouTube video that we released earlier today discussing this hot topic:

So what are you thoughts on this? Be sure to leave comments on both the blog and the video!

Don't forget to subscribe to our blog as well as to our YouTube Channel to stay up-to-date on the latest issues, news, and tips on internet marketing, web analytics, SEO, & more! Also be sure to follow DaBrian Marketing Group on Google+!

Top Tips to Stay Relevant to Google Quality Raters & New Google Algorithm November 2011

2011-11-11T10:40:00.000-05:00

As we all know, Google recently rolled out an update to its search algorithm. One of the focuses of this update is serving up the most recent, up-to-date information for a user's search query. A human element is also brought into the equation, with the algorithm working alongside Google Quality Raters to rank relevancy and age content. Check out our video below, where DMG's CEO Daniel Laws provides some tips to keep your website relevant and ultimately lead to increased targeted traffic.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also check us out our new Google Plus page!

Managing PPC on Microsoft adCenter

2011-11-07T11:46:00.011-05:00

Just last week Microsoft updated their adCenter Desktop program, making it easier to manage and update PPC Campaigns running on the Bing and Yahoo Search Engines. A few of the changes included faster bulk bid estimates, easier import process of Google AdWords campaigns, default location targeting, and more. For the official announcement and further details about the updates check out the adCenter Community Blog. Now Microsoft adCenter just needs to make the Search Query Report accessible to agency log-ins, since it contains import data to managing keywords. Anyone have any other changes they would to see on adCenter Desktop program?

By the way, have you seen the new changes to the web UI of adCenter? PPC Hero wrote a great post detailing the major changing.

Philadelphia Web Analytics Symposium November 2 & Future of the Mobile Web

2011-11-04T12:18:00.000-04:00

This past Wednesday, both the CEO Daniel Laws and Web Analyst Brandon Wensing of DaBrian Marketing Group were able to attend the Web Analytics Symposium at the Philadelphia Ritz-Carlton, hosted by the Web Analytics Association. We were able to sit in on some very interesting lectures and presentations by industry legends like Jim Sterne covering the latest in Web Analytics, as well as the importance of Analytics as a whole as the internet evolves. In addition to the fantastic presentations, the symposium was also a great opportunity for DMG to network with all sorts of Web Analytics and Marketing professionals from all over the northeast region of the United States.

One particular point that came up across a large portion of the presentations on Wednesday was the increasing importance of mobile with regards to the web. This tied directly with countless conversations that have occurred within the walls of the DaBrian Marketing office, as we've felt for a while that companies need to put more emphasis on monitoring and expanding their mobile offerings. If you missed the WAA Symposium on Wednesday, check out our latest YouTube video below. Also be sure to subscribe to both our blog here and our YouTube channel for weekly updates on trends, practices, tactics, and more!

Impact of Google Analytics Premium on Web Analytics & Consultants

2011-11-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

Web Analytics solutions such as Google Analytics, WebTrends, and Omniture have continued to evolve with increased functionality for social media and mobile analysis. Unfortunately the gap between free web analytical solutions and enterprise solutions was significant until now. The introduction of Google Analytics Premium not only impacts the web analytics enterprise solutions market but also analysis service providers, business intelligence solutions, and consultants. Before Google Analytics Premium, small and mid-size businesses were forced to use free tools such as Yahoo Analytics or pay an “arm and a leg” for enterprise web analytics solutions such as WebTrends and Omniture. Realistically, there wasn’t much of a middle ground in this space.

With the addition of Google Analytics Premium and several improvements to the free Google Analytics solution, the gap between enterprise solutions just got a little smaller and puts more pressure on the industry to continue demonstrating value for web analytics/business intelligence dollars. It will be interesting to see the industry’s response in the future to Google Analytics Premium as well as how Analytics Consultants will modify their service offering to avoid direct competition with Google.

Alternative PPC Platforms

2011-10-27T09:47:00.000-04:00

Check out DaBrian Marketing Group's latest YouTube video, where our Search Engine Marketing Consultant Justin Miller discusses the importance of pursuing alternative Pay-Per-Click platforms.

For more information on our Pay Per Click and Banner advertising services, please check out the SEM Services section of our website! Also, be sure to subscribe to both our blog and our YouTube channel to always get the latest news and tips for SEM, SEO, Internet Marketing, & more!

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Mobile Accessibility of Your Website

2011-10-26T13:12:00.006-04:00

One of the most common mistakes made in the web and e-commerce worlds is the dismissal of the importance of mobile-friendly websites. Mobile activity on the web is increasing exponentially every day as more and more consumers trade their laptops and desktops for smartphones and tablets. Society wants to be mobile and less constricted by the ball-and-chain of cables and cords, yet there are still countless websites that fail to accommodate for this properly.

So what excuse is there NOT to optimize your website for mobile visitors? Web Analytics data and reports have proven this traffic has been increasing hand-over-fist every day. Further analysis even indicates these visitors are trying to access what they need and engage with the website (multiple pages viewed per visit), however they tend to leave before they actually convert. A glance to the average amount of time that they spend on the website compared to normal traffic provides a clear picture of just how much trouble they’re having. If the time they spend is significantly more, it means they’re finding the use of the website difficult or perhaps load times are taking a lot longer than they should because of large images.

More often than not, however, the decision makers will not make a move on a mobile solution based upon website performance metrics alone. That’s when you take a look at the market statistics and demographics. The visual below (from the article located here) shows the breakdown of tablet users according to their social status as well as which age groups they are from:

Keep in mind, the visual above is only covering the tablet users, which is only a segment of the total mobile visitors out there. Even more people have smartphones than tablet devices. The performance metrics are there. The demographical data is there. Don’t ignore the writing on the walls! Optimize your website for mobile!

Why Social Media is a Must for Businesses

2011-10-19T12:47:00.006-04:00

Social Media is one of the best ways for businesses to connect and communicate with their target markets. The benefits of Social Media include:

Maximize exposure for minimal cost

When compared to other forms of marketing, participation in Social Media offers a great opportunity to expose your company to the public at a much lower cost than other forms of marketing.

Monitor your brand and image

It is important to be aware of what is being said online about your company. Companies may take immediate action to capitalize on positive feedback and build on the momentum. Likewise, any concerns that are raised can be handled quickly before a problem escalates.

Generate leads

Social Media offers an inexpensive way to attract new customers and promote interest in your company. A network of “friends” can help generate leads by spreading the word about a company’s products or services.

Increase traffic to website

It is easy to direct Social Media users to a company’s website where they can learn more about the business and become engaged in the website.

Engage with customers

The casual environment of Social Media promotes conversation between customers with mutual interests. Also, discussions between representatives and current or prospective customers may easily take place.

Local Search Engine Optimization Package Trial Offer

2011-10-14T08:54:00.008-04:00

DaBrian Marketing Group's Business Development Specialist Christopher Brown presents our Special Local SEO Package Trial Offer! For more information on this deal, please check out our SEO Promotion page.

Is Your Pay Per Click Campaign a Success?

2011-10-12T14:31:00.007-04:00

For PPC, how do you measure the success of your Campaigns? Is it by the number of clicks, or do you measure visits through analytics? Are you tracking conversions, and if so, how valuable is each conversion? Is your Pay Per Click marketing goal to increase brand awareness or increase sales?

Lots of questions, but they all need to be considered when starting and running a PPC Campaign. Your answers to these questions will drastically change what metrics you focus on and how you manage your campaign. In order to ensure success in the Pay Per Click realm, make sure that you know how you are going to measure success.

SEO & Social Media to Capture ZMOT

2011-10-05T10:37:00.001-04:00

We continuously receive questions about the position of SEO within the internet marketing space. It is true that the waters between SEO and Social media have been merged to some degree, but the result is still relevant results within the search engines. Also, the mentality of users is still roughly the same: a stimulus-like an email campaign and search for more information. The recent eBook “Winning the Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT) by Jim Lecinski provides further insight into the new mental model.

Shifting the focus to the mentality of the user has come full circle. The ability to align SEO and Social Media within your marketing plan will help you attract customers at the ZMOT, but doing so takes a solid strategy and communication from your SEO & Social Media teams. It’s not enough to implement SEO & Social Media into the plan; what’s more important is that these elements align to attract customers.

Capabilities of Multichannel Analytics

2011-09-30T09:46:00.000-04:00

One of the greatest challenges in the past has been effectively tracking traditional marketing methods like billboards, direct mail pieces, and print advertisements alongside internet marketing efforts. This is much more attainable nowadays via Multichannel Analytics. DMG's Web Analyst Brandon Wensing describes some of the benefits of using this method to yield imperative insights into your high level marketing efforts:

Effectiveness of Email Marketing

2011-09-28T16:07:00.010-04:00

If you’re looking for an increased return on investment regarding your marketing efforts look no further. When it boils down to it, the most effective marketing channel is still Email Marketing, as indicated in the chart below. The best thing about email marketing is that it gets better as you use it. Once you have the basics, consistent branding, list building, message crafting, and email delivery, you’ll be able to increase the effectiveness. According to a JupiterResearch report, using Web analytics to target email campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and eighteen times the profits of broadcast mailings. With all that being said, implementing sophisticated analytics and tactics such as segmentation, targeting, multichannel integration, A/B testing and social sharing is the best place to start. Nonetheless, it’s almost a no brainer when it comes to using email marketing. Whether you are doing it in-house, just using the basics, or whether you outsource it to an internet marketing agency, for sophisticated analytics and tactics, Email Marketing is an opportunity you can’t pass up.

PPC Management - Microsoft adCenter Desktop

2011-09-22T15:54:00.005-04:00

The Microsoft Desktop is an excellent tool to monitor, manage, and update all your PPC campaigns in adCenter. First, you have the three main screens – browser, manager, dashboard. The Browser pane keeps your Campaigns organized and lets you know what level (Ad Group, or Campaign) you are viewing. The Dashboard screen display customizable visuals, tables, and important metrics.

The final screen is the manager, which is the most useful for updating and maintaining your campaigns. Within the Manager screen use the Home, Manage, and Research tabs. The Home tab gives options to sync changes between the desktop and your account, as well as import and export files. To create new campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and ads use the Manage tab. Finally, the last tab is the research tab, which allows you to learn about the demographics, estimated monthly traffic and more keyword information.

Overall, this is a great tool to use to help monitor and manage your PPC Campaigns on adCenter. It is a one-stop shop for everything you need to do to maintain a well performing PPC campaign. I am sure that once you get comfortable with the navigation, Microsoft adCenter Desktop will help you save time managing your PPC efforts.

Five Reasons to Monitor Your Internet Marketing Efforts

2011-09-14T08:50:00.005-04:00

Over the past several years, the greatest challenge facing internet marketers and web analysts has been convincing superiors and clients of the value of monitoring all of their web-based efforts. All-too-often, they will fire back with something along the lines of “Oh, we know how many visits we’re getting to the site.” This statement usually comes from an organization that has their overworked IT department “monitoring” their site’s activity. Little do these organizations know that the visits metric means little-to-nothing in the grand scheme of things, especially if you are not using it in unison with the countless other metrics that are available.

So perhaps you’ll be making a pitch to the higher-ups in your company about implementing a web analytics strategy, or maybe you are one of the higher-ups and are curious to see whether or not it’s worth it. Well, here are 5 great reasons to use web analytics to track your website and internet marketing efforts:

Visits Don’t Mean Anything! As mentioned before, simply knowing how many visits your website received in a month does not mean you know how your website is performing. There are so many more metrics that should be considered that can be combined to yield more detailed and useful statistics about the website. You can have all the visits in the world, but if they’re not converting, then they’re practically worthless.

Discover Where Marketing Efforts Should Be Focused. Not only can Web Analytics solutions uncover where your visitors are coming from, but it can also shine light on where your organization should be focusing its marketing and internet efforts.

Know What Your Visitors Are and Are NOT Looking For. Paying attention to what pages and content your visitors are viewing most often can uncover what your consumers are actually looking for. Just the same, it can also show what visitors are less interested in, so you can save your company’s time and efforts in pushing the wrong products, services, or information.

Monitor Traditional Marketing Effectiveness. Web Analytics isn’t just limited to seeing how well your website is doing or where your visitors are coming from. When implemented by web analytics ninjas, you can also see how effective your more traditional marketing methods are at driving traffic, and more importantly, conversions, to your website.

Hone in on Your Target Market. Using methods like advanced segmentation and conversion tracking, you can identify who is spending the most quality time on your site and who is most likely to spend money. In doing this, a much clearer picture is painted of who your organization should be reaching out to the most.

There you have it- Five great reasons to seriously consider Web Analytics for your organization. In an economic climate like today’s, your organization cannot afford to turn its nose up to this, as monitoring your internet marketing strategies and efforts yields crucial insights into increasing conversions and sales.

Mix Online Marketing Strategies for Optimal Results

2011-09-07T08:45:00.003-04:00

To reach the greatest number of customers, it is important to utilize a mix of online marketing strategies. These strategies include: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC), Local Listings, Social Media Marketing (SMM), and Email Marketing. A brief description of each of these strategies follows.

The goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to improve the ranking of a website’s position in search engine results pages. This strategy enables your website to be seen by your target audience before the competitions’ websites.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) provides more control over placement of your ads and website on search engine results pages. Businesses may control when, where, and how often their ads show up when related searches occur on search engines.

Local Listings are especially useful for companies providing a product or service in a specific location. They are displayed in search results and may include information such as a phone number, address, map, hours of operation, and specials. This is a great way to connect with the local community.

With the rapid rise in the use of social media, the importance of Social Media Marketing (SMM) has never been more important. SMM offers a way to keep in constant touch and get feedback from your target audience.

Email Marketing is best used to encourage current customers to return to your business. This may be achieved by promoting specials, informing of upcoming events, and thanking customers for their business.

Each company should take the opportunity to customize their online marketing mix to best suit their needs.

Social Media: Monitoring, Marketing, Measuring, Testing, for Optimum Result.

2011-08-31T12:43:00.005-04:00

A while back I posted a blog with a helpful list for those who were wondering how to find out if their social media was actually helping them or not. Well, I decided to add to the list and here are a few more items to keep an eye on.

Brand mentions in online media. So, you have a highly active social network and members are talking about your company, the company’s brands, your service/product names and maybe even your company url. Measure and track both positive, negative, and neutral mentions, and their quantities for all of them. This is also something that can be done even if you do not have an active social network. Because you are not active does not mean they will not talk about you through online mainstream media, forums, blogs, comments, posts, update, tweets, and reviews. Just remember “Stick and stones may break your bones, but, online, words can last forever.” If you don’t find the negative mentions and rectify them, others will stumble upon and judge for themselves.
Measure & Monitor Competitors. Know what your competitors are doing from a social media marketing standpoint, measure and Monitor their mentions, and know their share of voice compared to yours
Virality. Social members might be sharing Twitter tweets and Facebook updates relevant to your company, but is this info being reshared by their networks? How soon afterwards are they resharing? How many FoaFs (Friends of a Friend) are re-sharing your links and content?
Blog interaction. This is actually more than one metric lumped together. Blogs are part of a SMM (Social Media Marketing) toolkit, but only if you allow comments and interaction with readers by responding. If you’re doing this, encourage responses either directly in the comments section of blog posts, or via Twitter. (Use a blog widget that allows this.) If your blog’s content is suitable for social voting (Digg, Propeller, Mixx, etc.) or social bookmarking (Delicious, Stumbleupon) sites, install a blog plugin that displays the necessary sharing “buttons”, then track referrals back from those sites

As I said before, if you’re doing social media on your own or if an agency is doing it for you make sure that while they’re Marketing, they are Measuring and Testing for optimum Results.

Testing Changes in PPC Advertising

2011-08-24T10:41:00.008-04:00

As many of you have probably heard, both Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter are testing multiple aspects of PPC advertising. Some items being tested include placement, layout, ad extensions, images within text ads, and more. Descriptions of each follow:

Placement

It has been reported that text ads have been spotted with the organic results on search pages.

Layout

The Headline can sometimes include the first line of description and the URL has jumped to just under the Headline.

New Ad Extensions

These let you have searchers request that you contact them via phone of email directly from your ad.

Images within Text Ads

Lastly of the ones that I am mentioning is the ability to show off products being advertised or the company logo within the contextual ad space.

To wrap up, keep an eye out for some, if not all, of these aspects being tested to be implemented into either Microsoft adCenter and/or Google AdWords. Also remember that no matter how frustrating these changes are to keep up with, both Google and Microsoft are trying to improve their services so that we as online markets can improve our CTR and Conversions.

The Latest and Greatest in SEO

2011-08-17T16:47:00.000-04:00

Here is some of the latest and greatest we’ve found going on in the Search Engine Optimization world:

1. Google introduced new and improved site links which means visibility to sub-navigation pages, link selection changes from query to query, and delivery of relevant links.

2. Yahoo's new image presentation also allows for easy searching of galleries, a connection to your friends' Facebook images, and easy navigation of full-sized images.

3. Content is still king. Don’t use redundant articles, duplicate content, limit the automatically generated content, and reduce the high ad-to-content ratio on your web pages.

4. Google + and other social media metrics will be part of the evolution of search engine optimization and link building.

5. Link Building isn’t going away but it may not weigh as heavily as it once did in the overall search algorithm.

Monitor Phone Lines, Billboards, Direct Mail Pieces, and More Using Multichannel Analytics

2011-08-10T09:05:00.003-04:00

Most people involved with the marketing facet of a company would agree that there are countless avenues to market with. Websites, banner advertising, e-mail marketing, direct mail marketing, cold calling…the list goes on and on. Over the past decade, it’s become increasingly important to monitor marketing effectiveness. Web analytics tools have been improving as quickly as the rest of the internet has, allowing for more dynamic, in-depth analysis with every new update. With these new updates and improvements, it has now become possible to monitor much more than just a website.

When implemented properly and in the hands of a web analytics ninja, platforms like Google Analytics can be used to monitor and track the effectiveness of more than just websites. Using advanced integration methods such as event tracking, virtual pageviews, and cross-domain tracking, these tools can be used to track everything from your organization’s social media efforts to phone calls. That’s right: phone calls. Call tracking is the latest trick in the analytical magic bag, using a hidden, blank web page bound to a specific phone number to track calls via “pageviews”. Call tracking isn’t the only trackable avenue of marketing that isn’t limited by the internet. Using things like custom phone numbers and vanity URLs, it is also possible to use web analytics platforms to effectively track direct mail and even billboard advertising.

As human beings, we can’t help but think in silos. In today’s marketing world, it is crucial that we break away from this old way of thinking and see how all of these facets and avenues of advertising are tied together. When data from all of these areas of marketing is combined, it can generate crucial business intelligence and reveal insights that could give your organization the edge it needs.

Don’t Get Left Behind—Mobilize

2011-08-03T09:05:00.005-04:00

According to research conducted by Google, “over half of all Americans will own a smartphone” by the end of 2011. As a result, consumers will be more likely to use their smartphones to make online purchases. Therefore, businesses must respond to this trend by creating mobile-optimized sites. Mobile-optimized sites provide users with a version of the full website that is more easily used on smartphones. Often, the version of a full website contains numerous links, small text, small clickable areas, and many images. These elements make for a difficult and frustrating experience on a mobile users behalf—so much so, that the user may leave your website.

On the other hand, mobile-optimized sites contain fewer images to decrease load time, tabs that allow for easy navigation, large clickable areas, and categories that enable consumers to narrow their search. Because of these features, the consumer may more easily access your business’ information, service, and/or product. Furthermore, Mobile-optimized sites often contain links to the business’ social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter accounts, thereby creating more exposure for your company.

As a result of the increase of smartphone users, it is crucial for all businesses, small and large, to create a mobile-optimized website or they will be left behind.

Bing Gets Creative: Testing Ad Placement with adCenter

2011-07-27T14:12:00.006-04:00

Recently Microsoft’s Bing has confirmed that they are running tests by showing Ads via Microsoft adCenter intertwined with Organic Results. Though there are some screen shots out there, I have not had the opportunity to see ads within Organic Search Results. Another change that I have noticed is the extra benefit of being the number 1 or 2 ad in the overall search results. In addition to being listed at the top, in those top 2 ad spots, the top 2 ads are also shown at the bottom of the first page adding more compelling value.

I’m glad to see that Microsoft adCenter is testing and trying to improve their services. As a PPC advertiser, who is adCenter Certified, I would now like to know if my ads are getting clicks while at the top of the page, the bottom of the page, or somewhere in between. I hope they are measuring this to help educate us all on where the best placement is and whether it is beneficial to have an ad in the middle of Organic Results. Only time can tell if this will be something that Bing will use in the near or distant future, but my guess is we’ll see some variation sooner rather than later.

The Next Step In Social

2011-07-21T13:48:00.004-04:00

For some strange reason, there are still those who believe social media is just a fad, but more people have realized that social media is here to stay. Regardless of the side your on, you should still be informed of what’s to come. In this article I will cover a few things to expect in the future of social media.

I foresee companies deciding to build social e-commerce stores on social sites, like Facebook. With a social platform like Facebook that has 700+ million users, it’s hard to believe that companies won’t try to capitalize on that further. Why not keep the prospective customers in one place where they can shop and socialize.
The physical world and digital world will become more connected. With the increase in smart-phone and tablet users, 1 in 2 people by December 2011, it becomes easier to stay connected. Meanwhile, app developers create more and more ways to connect the two worlds with the tap of a button.
There will come a time when data will find you instead of the other way around. With all of the companies we allow to collect data on the who, what, when, where, why and how we do things online, what we are interested in will begin popping up once we log on, without even searching for it.
SEO & Social SEO will become more important as time goes on to prevent an information overload. Due the immense amount of information that will be coming in, not only the standard info that’s on the internet, but also social info that increases every day, today’s search engines will have to adapt. This means that we will see new search engines to search only social info, starting the Social Search Revolution.
Pay-Per-Share will become more common. With so many people sharing on a normal basis why not generate money from it. Twitter has begun the wave and I feel many will follow suit with their own variations of pay-per-share programs in order to increase profits.

Internal Site Search Usage: Gateway into the Visitor’s Mind

2011-07-14T09:43:00.003-04:00

The main goal of virtually every single marketing strategy is to understand what the target market wants. Whether your particular strategy involves generating more leads or increasing sales, it is common marketing knowledge that you must know what your customer is looking for. In the wide world of web design, internet marketing, and web analytics, there are many avenues of data and insights that can lead to more targeted marketing.

In particular, internal site search is a very important aspect of your website that should be tracked and analyzed carefully. If your website supports this functionality, visitors can use it to find specific products, services, or other pages on your site quickly and easily. Just as monitoring the top-performing keywords and phrases visitors used to find your website organically on search engines is very important, paying close attention to how your visitors search your internal site is also crucial. It can raise the following questions:

What are visitors searching for the most?

Are they able to find what they’re looking for? If not, is it a product or service you can carry or offer in the future?

Are visitors searching for pages more than using the actual navigation menu?

Paying attention to the internal site search report for your website can yield some interesting results you may not have anticipated before. It may indicate that people are looking for products or services you don’t currently offer. It could also point out detrimental holes into the structure, navigation, and optimization of your website that could negatively affect conversion rates. Monitoring this aspect of your website can help streamline your overall web presence and internet marketing approach, as well as provide a look into the minds of your visitors.

Google AdWords' New Targeting Options

2011-07-07T15:36:00.007-04:00

Google AdWords recently eliminated the polygon (custom shape) targeting system, and replaced it with a simpler pin point with radius method. Although this method is easier to set-up and visualize, it may not be as precise. However, select exact city location with a radius can still be very effect and efficient. Your options are either to individual select the cities, or points, that you want to target and set appropriate radius, or to select a central point and set the radius high enough to include all the desires points. Whichever option better fits your PPC management targeting strategy, be sure to implement it by the end of 2011, at which time Google will automatically change your polygon targeting into a set point with a radius. An Example of an alternative targeting strategy is pictured below - if more careful one care make it an even closer match.

Old Polygon Targeting New Alternative Targeting

Has Your Company Forgotten the Web Analytics Data Capturing Basics?

2011-06-29T15:04:00.006-04:00

We did some web analytics consulting for a Fortune 500 company recently. This case was very unique! The company had numerous global websites and campaigns, but lacked a standard web analytics solution, standard profile configuration, dedicated data collection team, data validation process, and avenues of communication between IT and the rest of the business. “Web Analytics capabilities”…are you really serious?

We would highly recommend that you solidify these areas before working on web analytics capabilities. Don’t even talk about data collection methodologies until you have the resources (human) in place to develop universal and standard processes. With good talent and proper documentation, you should be able to identify the gap and resolve any issues.

Google's New Cost Per Lead Format

2011-06-22T14:08:00.004-04:00

Google is currently testing search and display versions of a cost-per-lead ad format. If launched, this new format could be beneficial for business-to-business advertisers. The new format would allow users to request to have an advertiser contact them either through a phone call or an email. Looks like Google and Google AdWords have identified another opportunity to generate revenue. At the same time, provide advertisers with a new method to engage with customers via the internet. Stay tuned for more information.

Web Analytics: Usage Analysis Leads to Improved Customer Relations

2011-06-15T09:18:00.004-04:00

Knowing how your target audience uses your website is integral to increasing visitor conversions and improving customer relations. Various retail stores around the world spend millions of dollars on researching how their customers browse their brick and mortar stores. They use this data to arrange the store in the most efficient manner, even engaging in testing to increase purchases by the customer.

Your internet marketing campaign should adopt a similar approach. Focusing on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within your web analytics solution can provide insights into how your target audience is using the website. The KPIs can bring troublesome drop-off points within your goal conversion funnels to your attention so you can make the required changes to the design of the page or its content to increase conversions. Perhaps certain landing pages have a consistently high bounce rate. Or perhaps the pageviews-per-visit or average time on site are down. This could indicate that the content on the page is not relevant or targeted enough for the consumer.

Customer relations are not only managed in brick and mortar stores, over the phone, or in emails. Implementing web analytics into your internet marketing approach can provide an integral avenue of improvement to customer relations and conversion rate.

PPC Advertising > Keywords + Ad Copy; Don’t Forget about the Landing Pages

2011-06-07T14:47:00.000-04:00

Testing is a crucial part of improving your PPC advertising efforts. You test Keywords to enhance targeting and increase relevant traffic to your site. You test Negative Keywords to prevent irrelevant clicks and lower cost. Testing Ad Copy is to find out what appeals best to your clientele. However, testing should not stop there. Your Landing Page is a critical component of obtaining conversions, and not just clicks.

If you have tested and found great Keywords and have excellent Ad Copy, then there is no doubt that, you are getting clicks and driving relevant traffic to your site. However, what is happening after that still has a huge impact on the success of your PPC efforts. Your Landing Page is the first experience a potential customer has with your website. It needs to aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and a good starting point for your conversion funnel.

In order to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of your Landing Pages, you will need to integrate your Analytical Solution with you PPC Platform. Once you have the Analytics in place, you can begin testing your Landing Pages with tools, like Web Optimizer. Test various wording, layouts, pictures and more to discover what works best for you and your clientele, and watch your ROI increase.

6 Tips to Consider Before Implementing Your Email Marketing Strategy

2011-06-02T11:18:00.008-04:00

Most businesses utilize email marketing as a marketing tactic to cross sell new business or for retention purposes. It is pretty rare for an organization to develop a comprehensive email marketing strategy to increase subscription, cross sell, etc that goes beyond email marketing and the basic email metrics. Some email marketing solutions even provide industry averages for those metrics.

The email marketing strategy should go well beyond simple open rates, click through rates, and industry averages. The content of the emails and promotional materials should have a consistent look and feel as well as being customer centric. By customizing the message to the different types of customers or service offerings, it should improve the overall effectiveness of email marketing campaign.

6 Tips to Consider Before Implementing Your Email Marketing Strategy:

1. Segment Your Opt-in List by customer type or services offering

2. Test Your Message & Layout by segments

3. Integrate Email Solutions with Analytical Solutions

4. Implement Social Media functionality

5. Implement Triggers for Follow-ups and Tailored Materials

6. Create Effective Landing Pages to Reinforce the Marketing Message

Social SEO

2011-05-25T14:02:00.001-04:00

We’ve all heard it, Social Media and SEO are connected but why and how are they connected. Well, in a time where technology is getting better by the second, you have to understand that this includes search engines. Every day the search engines get smarter, making it easier for searchers to find relavent information. Meanwhile, Google & Bing’s algorithms continuously advance side-by-side, on top of having the ability to know how to treat all links differently, make it more prominent to adjust your current internet marketing methods.

Those that handle marketing for their company must realize that if their brand(s) isn’t publishing content to the web they will continuously fall behind the curve. The main goal of SEO is to help achieve more targeted traffic to the brand’s site and obtain whatever is deemed a conversion. These goals reinforce the importance of being social, providing endless & fresh content, frequently updating social sites & websites, social bookmarking and encouraged sharing, which produces organic links. This all revolves around the ongoing trend that potential customers that connect to a brand socially are more likely convert as well as, in a sense, viralize their site and social efforts.

So as they “If you build it they will come”, combined with a constant push of social content you will be destined to have social success, which equals an increase in ROI.

Be Relevant to Searchers with Dynamic Text

2011-05-18T15:42:00.003-04:00

Anyone doing PPC advertising knows that you want to incorporate your best performing keywords into your ad copy. Not only will this help your quality score and cause your ad to stand out more with bold text, but it also keeps you relevant with people searching for your products and/or services. If your keywords are very similar or even synonyms, Dynamic Text will save you many headaches.

Using Dynamic Text will automatically insert your keyword or phrase that is generating the impression into your Ad Copy. This means that you no longer have to create a new ad for each one of your keywords. Instead, save time and effort by letting the automated Dynamic Text take care of it for you.

The example of how to implement Dynamic Text below is from Microsoft adCenter, although other popular PPC platforms, like Google AdWords, provide this service as well.

As you can see, this generic Ad Copy will tailor itself according to the keyword list and the search query. Depending on the search this Ad Copy could read:

Looking for Fresh Fruits?

We have the Fresh Fruit You are looking for.

www.--------------.com/Fresh_Fruits

Looking for Apartments?

We have the Apartments You are looking for.

www.--------------------.com/Apartments

Looking for Computer Parts?

We have the Computer Parts You are looking for.

www.--------------------.com/Computer_Parts

A quick warning, before implementing dynamic text make sure that all your keywords will make sense in the Ad Copy. The keyword “rent apartments” would not work in the example above. Also, make sure that the inserted keyword does not exceed the character limit; otherwise, your ad will not be shown.

Hope this helps improve your PPC efforts and keeps you relevant to your audience.

Google Analytics: New Site Speed Report Measures Page Load Time

2011-05-06T11:15:00.005-04:00

We all know that using web analytics is key to running successful internet marketing and search engine optimization campaigns. It is always good to know what content on the website is driving conversions and where those visitors are coming from. The quest to improve your visitors’ website experiences doesn’t end there, however. With the latest version of Google Analytics, you can now monitor the average page load time via the new Site Speed Report. This new report comes along with the latest version of Google Analytics.

So why bother monitoring your website’s load times? Here are a few reasons:

Browser Compatibility: Ensure that your website performance is top-notch for all of the most widely-used browsers.
Search Engine Optimization: Make sure your landing pages not only have optimized content, but are also performing to the best of their ability.
Goal Conversions: Increase goal conversions by ensuring your visitors are receiving the best possible performance and load times from your website.

Search engine optimization and internet marketing efforts don’t stop at optimizing content and online advertising. Monitoring website performance through the Site Speed Report of Google Analytics benefits both you and your visitors, and results in higher conversion rates.

PPC advertising – More than Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter

2011-05-04T09:05:00.002-04:00

If you are looking to run an internet advertising campaign, consider your options. Yes, Google is the search giant with the Yahoo and Bing partnership coming in second, but there are other options that may fit your advertising needs better and be just as profitable, if not more. A few of the other options include Facebook, Twitter, and Likedin. Lets take a quick look at each and what makes them different from each other and the big two, Google and Yahoo/Bing.

Facebook, one of the biggest social media sties on the web, offers a unique twist to targeting an audience for PPC advertising. Instead for the traditional keyword base targeting, Facebook opted to allow targeting through interests, groups, activities, as well as demographics and geo-targeting. If you are accustomed to keyword targeting, this may take some time to get used to, but can be very effective.

Twitter, where everyone can state what is on their mind, is currently testing a variety of PPC advertising options. Currently, promoted trends are available, but promoted accounts and promoted tweets could be coming soon. Promoted Tweets specifically, could potential have an endless reach and visibility with minimal cost. Interaction with retweets of a promoted tweet is increased reach and visibility without cost.

Linkedin, a more professional social network, provides marketers with a niche market. Targeting options for Linkedin include: Jon Title, Industry, Company Size, Company Name, and more. If you are looking to advertise specifically to businesses or business people, then you may want to take a closer look at Linkedin.

Hopefully this expanded your view on PPC beyond the search engine giants.

Yahoo! Web Analytics Offers Alternative Solution to Google Analytics

2011-04-25T12:31:00.002-04:00

Yahoo now offers its own Web Analytics solution, Yahoo! Web Analytics. This platform provides small and medium-sized businesses a strong analytical platform that rivals, and in some cases, surpasses Google Analytics. Some of the features of this platform include:

Customizable dashboards.
Real-time data collection – See visit data mere moments after they occur.
Visitor demographic reports – Understand who is viewing your website.
Merchandise Reporting.
Email notifications.

Like Google Analytics, Yahoo! Web Analytics is a free platform to use, however it is not open for everyone to use. In order to gain access, you must first either already advertise using Yahoo Advertising, own a Yahoo Merchant Solutions Standard or Professional plan, or have a contact that is a member of the Yahoo Web Analytics Consultant Network (YWACN). Though Yahoo! Web Analytics seems to be a powerful solution, this requirement negates the “free” aspect of the platform for many website owners.

Helpful Advice to writing Text Ad Copy PPC Advertising

2011-04-14T11:15:00.005-04:00

When writing good Ad Copy, one must remember the end goal of the Campaign. Are you trying to drive traffic, obtain conversions, build brand awareness, or something else? For best results, the Call to Action in your Ad Copy needs to be aligned with the goal of your PPC Campaign. In addition to the Call to Action, the other part of the Ad Copy needs to be enticing and informative at the same time. The target audience needs to know what your business can do for them and why they should click on your Ad. Select one benefit that your business can provide and focus the Ad around it. To end the Ad, use the Display URL to tell the target audience who you are.

The first step is now done, you have an Ad. Now, it is time to optimize it. Read over your Ad a few times, trying to slice in keywords whenever possible. These keywords will help make your Ad more relevant and standout among other Ads. Finally cut your ad down to fit the appropriate character limit. Lastly, test your Ad Copy. Try running variations – focus on a different benefit, use different keywords, or reword the Ad – to see what achieves the best results.

From SEM to Results

2011-04-06T15:38:00.001-04:00

It seems like businesses are trying to justify SEO, whether it’s the tactics itself or the assumptions that Social Media has made SEO irrelevant. In order to effectively justify SEO for the business, you need to understand their purpose for hiring an SEO agency or an SEO consultant. In most cases, you want more relevant traffic that should generate leads or sales. There’s a process as to how agencies go about implementing a campaign. In addition to improved site traffic, a good consultant or agency should be able to provide you with the following items:
1. SEO Audit – this should identify strength, weakness, opportunities, and threat for competitor in relation to your business goals and objectives.
2. Competitive Data – this information should be used to identify or create a competitive advantage.
3. Web Design issues – they should be able to identify indexing, crawling, load time issues, etc.
4. Improvement!

Why Use Internet Marketing?

2011-03-28T12:16:00.006-04:00

Internet marketing has been creating quite the buzz in the past few years. But should marketing directors, business owners, and advertising professionals be focusing their efforts online? The answer is yes, short and sweet. The real answer is your business can’t afford NOT to be in this space. For every business who is thinking about using Pay-Per-Click, Search Engine Optimization, or Social Media Marketing; the reality is that your competition is most likely already in this space. Not only is your competition already hiring 3^rd party agencies and hiring in-house specialists but you are missing out on the massive audience on Google, Yahoo, and Bing that are specifically looking for your service.

One of the main benefits of using PPC and SEO is that you are marketing to consumers or other businesses that are already looking for your services or have a genuine need for your product. Leveraging this space is critical as the internet becomes the main source of shopping, researching, education, and social activity.

Internet marketing services come full circle when qualified Analytical professionals are involved with helping your SEO, PPC, Email, Web Design, and Social Media campaigns. The beauty of Internet marketing is the ability to track ROI and increased traffic. Through traffic metrics, conversion tracking, and keyword position reports you can see if your agency is providing real results or real fluff.

I am not saying to rush into acquiring Web Marketing services, but I am saying that companies should be aware of the benefits and reach of these services and attain some insights on various competitors. After these issues are taken into consideration along with company goals and objectives, a recommendation on hiring in-house e-marketing specialists or Internet marketing agencies can be done with greater confidence!

New Version of Google Analytics: Improved Interface Means Improved Reporting

2011-03-25T14:55:00.001-04:00

On March 17, 2011, Google announced that their new and improved version of Google Analytics has been released to beta. They have started rolling out the beta version of the new interface to a small group of users, and have also provided an option for people to sign up for the free beta.

Google Analytics Version 5 brings quite a few improvements and additions to the table, including:

Streamlined, easier to use interface.
Customizable widgets.
Ability to create multiple totally customizable dashboards for each profile.
New, customizable visualizations, including pie charts and term clouds.

The smoother, more efficient design and added functionality should allow for improved reporting and better insights into the performance of your website. Internet trends are changing day-to-day. Luckily, the tools to monitor these changes are evolving at the same pace.

Your Trademark = My Keyword

2011-03-15T11:29:00.002-04:00

Recently, a California Appeals Court ruled that it is legal (as least for now) to use competitors’ trademarks as keywords. Although it is legal, that does not mean you should run out add your competitors’ names, or other trademark terms, to your keyword list. Google Adwords and others give keywords a quality score based on how relevant the term is to your products/services and the landing page of your ads. Assuming that your site is tightly optimized for your specific products/services, then adding competitors’ trademark as a keyword will generate low quality score. This low quality score will result in your ads not being shown, average Cost-Per-Click increasing, and/or ad rank dropping. Although adding competitors’ trademark terms to your keyword list will get more impressions for your ads, specifically when someone is searching for a competitor, is it worth it? This answer may vary depending on the industry, the competitor, and even the location. Before, you start having your ads appear for your competitor’s trademarks, make sure that it is worth the time and effort. My point being, trademark or not, do research and test keywords and make sure that it is worth the time and effort to implement them it into your keyword list, and continue to monitor and measure performance to ensure results.

Marketing. Measuring. Testing. Results!

DaBrian Marketing Group LLC.

Increase Marketing Effectiveness With Web Analytics

2011-03-07T14:26:00.001-05:00

When it comes to marketing your product or service, it is best practice to determine who your target audience is, both demographically and geographically. You figure out who you want to market your product or service to, and then where to market it.

When it comes to traditional marketing, it can sometimes be difficult to determine how effective your marketing campaign is, or how many people view it. With internet marketing, however, it is possible to not only determine who is viewing your website, but where they are from, and how much they interacted with your website. With web analytics, you can find all of this information, as well as:

· How much those visitors interacted with your website.

· What traffic sources they came from.

· Where they went after landing on your page.

· Success of e-commerce transactions.

· Determine whether those visitors are generating ROI on your site.

Internet marketing does not stop the moment you launch your shiny new website. It is an ongoing and continuous process, which benefits greatly from being monitored. Implementing web analytics tracking and reporting can provide the key insight to get your results.

Social Media: Measuring Gets Result.

2011-03-02T10:42:00.003-05:00

We are at the point where almost everyone is doing something social. The question is, are their social media marketing efforts effective. So for those who are wondering how to find out if your social media is actually helping you here are a few items to keep an eye on.

1. Social media leads. Track web traffic breakdowns from all social media sources, and chart the top few sources over time. If members of your social media networks are sending referrals, consider measuring this data as well.
2. Membership increase and active network size. This is the portion of your company’s social networks (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) that actively engages with your social media content (e.g., Twitter, Facebook Pages, etc.). Are your collective members, followers, fans network growing, and is there interaction with your content?
3. Activity ratio. How active is your company’s collective social network? Compare the ratio of active members versus total members, and chart this over time. There’ll always be some social network members who are inactive, but if you initiate a campaign to increase interaction, you should also measure the resulting data. Activity can be measured in a variety of ways, including usage of social applications.
4. Conversions. You want social network members to convert: into subscriptions, sales (direct or through affiliates), Facebook application use, or whatever other offerings you have in your overall sales funnel and that can somehow be directly or indirectly monetized. (E.g., subscription to a weekly e-newsletter can be monetized by giving other companies access to your list in the form of advertising.) Measure all types of conversions and chart them over time

So if you’re doing social media on your own or if an agency is doing it for you make sure that while they’re Marketing, they are Measuring and Testing for optimum Results.

Google Adwords Reports + Alerts = Success

2011-02-16T10:15:00.002-05:00

Any good marketer will tell you that the success of a marketing campaign is in the results. However, it is not wise to wait for the final results before measuring and analyzing the success of a marketing campaign. Fortunately, Google has made it easier to monitor and review Search Engine Marketing campaigns in AdWords using the customizable reports and alerts. The reports, which can be scheduled monthly, weekly, or daily, are a quick way to see the performance of critical metrics of your campaign at each level. The alerts, on the other hand, are warning signals. Think of them as a check engine light for a car. Alerts can be set-up to warn you that your ad position is dropping, or that you are receiving less impressions, clicks, conversions, etc. Use the Reports and alerts wisely, and they will help keep your Pay-Per-Click campaigns on track, leading you towards success.

Tracking Other Search Engines In A Google-centric World

2011-02-10T11:56:00.002-05:00

When you mention the term “search engine” to any internet user, the first name that comes to their mind is usually Google. It is obvious why; Google has held the top spot for search engine usage. Their name has even become a term in itself. Don’t know which companies in your area sell the type of widget you’re looking for? Google it.

When it comes to tracking, Google Analytics tracks a comprehensive list of the most widely used search engines on the internet. This of course includes the three titans Google, Yahoo, and Bing, however it also includes over 40 other organic search engines. But what about the other thousands of organic sources that are out there? Google Analytics does not recognize these sources as search engine traffic by default, and as such, your Traffic Sources report will be somewhat inaccurate and skewed. Even though the “Big 3” search engines drive a great deal of traffic to your website, ignoring the other search engine traffic is statistically irresponsible.

In order to track the search engines not found in Google’s list of recognized ones, you can use the _addOrganic() method. This allows Google Analytics to identify the unrecognized search engines and classify them properly in your reports. By doing this, you can make better-informed decisions and recommendations for with your website’s Web Analytics and determine whether your Search Engine Optimization is working, and not just on the titans.

From SEO to Conversions

2011-02-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

We passed around a great column by one of our industry leaders. It listed the many kinds of SEO that marketers talk about. The most common are the white hat and black hat SEO; however, we also believe that the distinction is deeper than that. That SEO Company is generally defined as the best solution for the client’s goals, metrics, detail plans, and business achievements. These SEO companies are completely different. They are worried about reciprocal links and reporting good news. They see the search engines as the enemies and don’t have a process, and are not very consultative for the client.

It is great to get a lot of traffic to your website, but is it targeted traffic that is consistent with your target audience? SEO is not just about more traffic. It’s about helping businesses to achieve their business goals and objectives. It’s about telling clients the truth and not selling “snake oil”. It requires us as SEO organizations to understand that client and their goals. Dealing results and making an impact is the bottom-line! We would rather have 10 more conversions than 1 million visitors and 1 conversion.

Google Analytics Provides Insight on Importance of Mobile Browser Support

2011-01-26T08:47:00.003-05:00

You cannot go five feet down the street anymore without seeing someone immersed in his or her mobile device. They are making calls, texting, and as of late, surfing the internet or transferring funds between bank accounts. Even with this level of mass mobile usage, it still amazes me how many major companies and organizations have yet to add true mobile support for their websites via mobile-friendly versions of their site or applications. There are several key insights that Google Analytics can provide that can convey the positive impact a mobile-friendly solution of your site could have:

First, you can drill down through the total visits of your website to see how many of those visitors were using mobile devices. These numbers can often be surprising, even for smaller, informational websites. This drilldown can provide crucial information right off the bat.

In addition to viewing the number of mobile visitors you had to your site, you can also determine the level of interaction they had. This can be determined by looking at the average number of pages per visit. If you have a website that employs many graphics or Flash objects, you may notice that the number of pages per visit will be lower than those of standard computer users. Mobile devices often do not have the same bandwidth or processing capabilities of a standard computer, and as such they have a more difficult time loading and displaying this type of content.

The average time on site metric also provides a great look at site interaction. Though a higher average time on site is often a good sign, it may also hint at a poorly optimized site for mobile users. This can be determined when you compare the average time on site with the amount of pages per visit for mobile visits. If the pages per visits are lower and the time on site is higher, it may mean that they are spending a great deal of time waiting for the page content to load. In contrast, a high level of pages per visit and high average time on site may indicate a site better suited to being displayed on a mobile device.

The key to the success of any website is knowing how the website is being used, and who is using it. Monitoring this usage via web analytics can provide invaluable information to assist in growing your web presence.

The Strength of Social Media

2011-01-21T14:41:00.004-05:00

Many Marketing Directors and business owners think of social media marketing as something less important compared to other internet marketing services. Not true. Social media is just as important as other forms of Internet Marketing. Social media is helping businesses to forge a new era in business transparency and engagement, creating both new challenges and opportunities. Social Media can not only help you strengthen the relationship with your customers but it can also help strengthen your internet marketing campaigns through complete integration. I believe that the foundation of social media marketing can be established by using the 4 C’s: create, collaborate, and communicate, and convert.

Create is referring to the intricate process of developing optimized content that is made to reach the customer and will also help with your SEO. Providing compelling content which caters to the interests of your visitors and you will keep them on your site once they have arrived; organize your content so that it guides your visitors through the conversion process in a simple manner, as well as motivating them to return in the future.

Collaborate refers to your social media efforts joining forces with all marketing mediums online and off. We have made it to the point where nearly all social media can connect with each other making it easier to communicate with your customers across all platforms. Those very same social media sites, using your optimized content, help influence your position within the organic search results. They can be placed, as buttons; in your email blasts so that after you communicate with them, they can communicate with you. This gives your customer the ability to quickly and easily give you feedback while they are there to see what’s new. You can also use your favorite social media site, i.e. Facebook, as a landing page for your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) or use a social media widget, i.e. “Like” box, so your customer can see who else thought your ad was helpful. Lastly, would be web analytics which you can use to not only track all of your other internet marketing mediums but also almost all of your SM. You can track your SM buttons, landing pages, widgets, PPC ads, conversions, and who, what, when, where, and how people communicate.

Communicate refers the public and private interaction that you have with your current and future customers on your social media sites. These interactions provide an open and transparent channel for people to interact with you and each other, without the pressure of response that comes with e-mail. Public interactions are a great starting point for engagement that never existed before social media, giving businesses the opportunity to build relationship and funnel customer to convert.

Convert refers to the “call to action” in online media to generate intentional outcomes. According to The Social Media Marketing Survey by R2integrated, over a third of companies surveyed (36.1%) say that they are converting traffic from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube into sales. This is what I think would be a company’s main goal and it is measurable which helps with most companies sole problem with social media….ROI.

Discovering the Targeting Abilities of Search Engine Marketing

2011-01-12T12:47:00.000-05:00

As someone, who has recently made the transition from the classroom to the office, I am just discovering the depth of the power of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising, specifically that of Google AdWords. Any good marketer, or marketing student, can tell you the importance and benefits of having highly focused ads reaching a specific target market. However, figuring out how to practically do this in an efficient and effecting manner is not an easy task; at least not until now. Using Google AdWords, one can easily customize the targeting setting to tightly focus on a specific target market. Some of these targeting options include:

· Keyword Targeting

· Geographical Locations (National to City level)

· Placement Selections (specifying certain websites)

· Language(s)

· Ad Scheduling (selecting Seasons, Days, and/or Hours)

Combining these targeting capabilities to the Conversion Tracking and Budget settings, which are also available with Google AdWords, one can now more easily create, manage, and maintain a marketing campaign, or at least a Search Engine Marketing Campaign.

Forget to Measure the Impact of your Web Design or Website?

2011-01-03T10:16:00.004-05:00

Where’s the accountability on the part of web design companies and traditional agencies? For the most part, they both position themselves as being able to design the website or execute on the marketing after the launch. Most internet marketing companies generally focus on everything related to internet marketing or online promotions. Don’t get me wrong, many of the traditional agencies do very good work. The challenge is that our clients rarely hold the web design or advertising agency accountable for the performance of the website. In this day and age, the website is a critical element of both traditional and internet marketing promotions because customers and prospects review the website for information.

For web design projects, most clients have specific goals and objectives that they would like to accomplish with the launch or redesign of a website. The design of the website should focus on achieving the client’s goals and objectives; however, the majority of the web designers or traditional agencies ride off into the sunset with the client’s money and on to the next project without evaluating whether or not they helped to achieve their end goals. This is an injustice to the client and any other projects that involves promoting the website!

We wouldn’t know about your clients, but we can tell you that our clients want value and for us, as their internet marketing company, to demonstrate return-on-investment. We would have to say that as a business owner, we agree with the need to show value and ROI. But, where’s the value and ROI of the non-functional and that “Web -2.0 thing” your agency or web designer calls a website? We have worked with, for, and partnered with numerous “BIG Name” agencies in the Philadelphia and Cleveland area, but we’ve yet to see or hear of any agency coming back for an end of year evaluation to measure the success of the web design project.

While on the other hand, internet marketing companies, such as ours, are continuously forced to show value and ROI for our search engine marketing and search engine optimization, as well as provide monthly reports. It’s a good thing that demonstrating value and showing ROI through web analytics is part of our culture! The question is when will demonstrating value and showing ROI be part of the web design evaluation process for ad agencies or our clients? We have worked with clients and prospects with long-term MSAs (master services agreements), over $250,000 web design projects, and no web design metrics whatsoever, are you serious? With the advances in website design technology, there is always something that the agency or web designer could be doing cheaply, quickly, and effectively to show value or help clients to achieve ROI. Instead, they’re the first one yelling “show me the money” for the next project that they won’t measure or the client won’t require them to measure. It’s time to stop wasting money on high priced unmeasured web design and marketing initiatives.

Conclusion

Let’s be clear; we have an appreciation for the services that web designers and advertising agencies provide. We just don’t believe that an agency or designer wants to tell the client that they made a little mistake with your $250,000 web design project, and by today’s standards that their website is inadequate! So, how do we change that? Here are my top 5 ideas:

1. Get the metrics for the web design project in writing and as part of the Statement of Work.
2. Schedule a date and time to evaluate whether or not the web design/agency delivered on the goals and objectives.
3. Identify any variables that would have hindered them from accomplishing their goals and objectives that were out of their control.
4. Hold your web design or ad agency accountable!
5. Get feedback from your IT team, SEO consultants, and/or internet marketing company. They can usually see technical, search, and performance issues that would impact the ROI of their initiatives.

We will continue to work with prospects and clients to identify proven web designers and ad agencies. In addition, we’re going to continue to educate our clients and the public, measure results, identify website issues, and turn the heat up on over-priced and ineffective website design projects, that prevent our prospects or our clients from achieving a greater impact through internet marketing.

Web Analytics: An Invaluable Tool

2010-12-16T09:40:00.004-05:00

Websites have become the new storefront. Every year, more and more product and service transactions are completed over the internet. With this increase comes the need for functional and visually appealing websites.

The tactics that web design and marketing organizations have taken over the past decade have varied with trends. For a while, the emphasis was placed on having creative, visually appealing websites using platforms such as Flash. These sites were slick and cutting-edge, demonstrating that the company was in-tune with the latest and greatest technologies. All too often, however, this approach affected the usability and functionality of the website across the board. Different browsers handled Flash differently (if at all), and the hardware requirements to actually view it properly were often too steep for large amounts of the visitor base. Perhaps the greatest factor of all was the fact that the websites were not laid out logically, and often sacrificed functionality in the name of style and vanity.

Nowadays, Flash-based sites and the like have gone by the wayside, being replaced with designs that are more functional. Flash has been replaced largely by sites using CSS and Javascript. Companies have gone for designs that maximize the amount of transactions or allow the user to find exactly what they are looking for in the least amount of time. So if a company has designed a website that fits all of their functional and cosmetic needs, they are good to go, right?

Wrong!

The success of that website can and should be tracked. Think about this: Virtually every product (tangible and intangible) ever created and sold has been tested in some way to ensure its success. If your company’s reputation and even a fraction of its success rely on its presence on the internet, you should definitely make sure that website is doing what it should! One of the best ways to do this is to track who is visiting your site and how they are using it. Using tools such as Google Analytics, you can not only view these usage statistics, but also manipulate and present them in a way that you can determine what improvements you can make to your website in order to increase your traffic.

The common misconception is that a web design project is complete after it has been implemented and has gone live. The reality is that it is an ongoing process. Something that may have worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. This is why usage should constantly be tracked and analyzed. The internet is always changing, as is how people use it. Logically, this usage should be monitored so you can act on it immediately. Even if you are not literally selling a service or product, you are still presenting or “selling” an idea or information via your website.

5 Social Media Tips for Small & Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB)

2010-12-07T13:27:00.005-05:00

When stepping into the realm of social media as a small business you should have a plan. I suggest that you take your time and generate clear goals and objectives for your social media marketing strategy before you do anything. Once you have done this; check out our social media optimization and marketing tips for SMB’s.

Take Advantage of the Big 3: Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.
Blog: Create and Participate
Make Sharing and Bookmarking Easy
Mobile Social Networks and Local Networks
Track and Monitor

Social Media is a great marketing tool for small and medium businesses to use and I hope our tips will help you when implementing social media to your business.

Social Media Marketing is Not Free!

2010-12-02T11:19:00.004-05:00

I have heard many businesses say that “social media marketing is free”, but that’s not true! There is this little elephant in the room called “opportunity cost”. Opportunity cost is the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. In other words, these are the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.

This concept is not exclusively applied to social media marketing. It also applies to businesses that allocate resources to Pay Per Click advertising, Search Engine Optimization, or even Web Analytical reporting.

It Pays to Listen to Your Social Media Conversation

2010-11-23T14:36:00.006-05:00

Every business plan or marketing plan has a section allocated to customer analysis, identifying the target market, and market research. Social media monitoring provides businesses with the ability to listen to what customers& prospects have to say about their experience with your company or product. Combined with web analytics, social media monitoring can provide your business with the numerical data as well customer feedback.

In the end, this information provides businesses and marketers with the information to improve products and services. Through social media monitoring, you’ll have the opportunity to see the real impact of tweets, blogging, press releases, and social sharing tools. Furthermore, it will provide insight into which segments to target, and avoid costly marketing campaigns. The question is “Are you looking for ways to capitalize on what customers and prospects are saying?

Are You Using Social Media to Increase Your Business Exposure?

2010-11-16T13:00:00.001-05:00

Social media marketing is being used to increase awareness for organizations within their target market. According to eMarketer.com, businesses have been accomplishing their goals regarding social media marketing tactics. For the most part, social media is a useful tool for increasing awareness, attracting new customers, and engaging with current customers.

The most important part is whether or not the tactics are aligned with the business goals and objectives. Businesses have achieved their objectives, but are you seeing the value in generating leads, sales, and revenue for the business? What is the ROI for your social media marketing campaign? Doing the social networking and getting a customer to become a fan of your business on Facebook is great, but are you seeing the benefits in your wallet?

Back to the Basics with Testing for Internet Marketers

2010-11-09T10:34:00.004-05:00

It seems like business owners have forgotten the fundamentals of marketing and that it includes testing. “Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly, and finally by a test campaign, said Claude Hopkins the author of Scientific Advertising (1923). Although the book is dated, scientific advertising is critical to SEO, Pay per Click, Website Design, and Email Marketing. It is not just important to determine what works but also learning what doesn’t work to helped the business get to the point of generating leads and converting them into sales. In today’s environment, web analytics and conversion optimization are linked to scientific advertising or marketing. Continue to test your landing pages, ad copy, and call to action.

For more information, read “Always Be Testing” for tips, guidance, and tools.