Category Archives: Small Business Marketing

6 Tricks To Create Killer PPC Ads That Convert

AdWords, PPC, SEO, Small Business Marketing, , ,

You might think that writing ad copy is simple compared to writing a blog post or a landing page for a website, but it’s not.

In fact, it can be much more complicated. When you write a blog post, there are no restrictions as to how lengthy it can be. You get to decide how much space you need to share your message across. When it comes to PPC ads, you’ll need to squeeze your message in a short and catchy ad and that can be quite a challenge.  For example, if you choose to advertise on Google, you ad copy needs to be comprised of:

• 25-character headline

• Two lines of 35-character description

• A URL that sends users to your landing page

That’s all you get! Sounds like a lot of pressure, doesn’t it?

But don’t panic. Even if there’s little space, there are ways you can make the most of the limited space. Read on for the top six tips and tricks to write killer PPC ad copy for your campaign…

1. Make Your Headline Count

Take as much time as you need to write an eye-catching headline for each ad. This is the first thing people see so make it count, otherwise your ads will just be ignored.
You have 25 characters you can take advantage of so use them wisely. Use strong keywords, numbers, percentages and power words that will grab users’ attention.

Be specific in your headline and make sure it reflects exactly what you’re promoting. This ensures users know exactly what they’re clicking on and what they will find once they land on your site.

2. Use Powerful and Relevant Keywords

PPC advertising is about bidding on keywords so make sure yours are as powerful and as specific as possible. Make them relevant to what people are searching for online when they’re looking for your services or products.

After all, when people type in a keyword or keyword phrase, that’s exactly what they want to see. In other words, being predictable can give you a better chance of earning some clicks.

In addition, use your keywords sensibly throughout the copy so it looks natural and not stuffed.

3. Always Include a Call to Action

When it comes to advertising, calls to action are vital as it tells people what they should do next to find what they’re looking for.

Effective calls to action include “sign up now”, “buy now”, “order today”, “save 80% on…”, “free download” or “get a free estimate today”.

Include a strong call to action that’s clear and specific so people know exactly what they should do next.

Exactly what kind of call to action you use will depend on what you want people to do once they’ve clicked your ad, so make sure it is aligned with the landing page you are sending them to.

4. Get Those “Power” Words in There

Most successful ads include power words in their headlines, but you can also add them elsewhere in the ad copy. For example, experiment with using words like buy, get, try, go, download in your body copy. Of course, you can use others as well but you’ll need to test them and see which ones work better for your audience.

5. Test Your Ad Campaigns For Success

Once you’ve created your ads, it’s critical to test them and see which ones perform best. Check the statistics and data and track your ads’ click-through rates to see which ones are the most effective.

There’s always room for improvement, so if an ad isn’t getting any clicks, replace it with a better one. And then keep testing and improving as it’s the only way you can ensure your ads are as effective as possible in terms of generating revenue for your business.

6. Create a Conversion-Oriented Landing Page

Don’t forget that you’re using your ads to direct potential customers to your site. The URL you include in your ad needs to redirect them to a specific landing page that’s relevant to the ad. You should never link your PPC ads to your homepage.

You landing page is an extension of your ad, so when users click on your ad it means you’ve captured their interest and your conversion-oriented landing page needs to close the deal and convert them into sales. Take the time to create a landing page that includes your offer, clear call-to-actions and no other distractions.

Following these six tips will help you make the most of the limited space you have when creating PPC ads.

This guest post was written by Alex Gavril, who is part of the 123-reg blog team. The company is the UK’s largest domain name registrar and also provides a range of other services, including PPC management.

Using Webinars To Drum Up Business

Business Tech, Events, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Technology, Webinars, , , ,

Using Webinars To Drum Up BusinessHosting a webinar is a great way for Managed Service Providers (MSP) to generate interest in their business. Webinars are an effective marketing tool for bringing in new clients or selling and promoting additional products and services to clients. Webinars as a sales technique is simple and efficient. It offers free, helpful information to companies and provides business owners with the opportunity to ask valuable questions. How does a MSP successfully create a revenue-generating webinar?

Topics

Webinar topics a MSP can choose from are endless. Successful webinars focus on topics that are of interest to attendees. What do attendees what to hear? Focus on current technology and business issues. What is currently trending in the industry? Is there new technology or applications clients want to learn more about integrating into their business? Are business operations flowing smoothly? Discuss topics that provide valuable information for attendees.

Information

Information can include products and services offered by the MSP. Include a link to the website in the webinar. This gives attendees an opportunity visit the website to learn more about the company, products, or services highlighted in the webinar. Not only does this increase website traffic for the MSP, but it also increases potential for future sales.

Technology

A variety of webinar-hosting technology is available to meet the most diverse presentation needs. Features a MSP might consider are screen sharing, voice or IM chat capabilities, etc. The MSP hosting the webinar might need to change between speakers or record the webinar for posting online. Thorough research of software features under consideration is the best way for a MSP to determine if it will meet their presentation needs.

Practice

Practice is an important part of hosting a webinar. It will help a MSP detect any production issues such as sound or bad connections that might occur during the presentation. Clients are investing their time in attending the webinar, and so should the MSP in regards to producing quality content. A great webinar will be highly visual and engaging. Be sure to include visuals such as pictures and videos and always avoid heavy text.

Marketing

A webinar without an audience is a bit obsolete, so MSPs need to devise a solid plan to market their webinar. Send out e-mail invitations and make phone calls to potential attendees. When scheduling a webinar, choose a date far in advance. This gives attendees enough time to clear their schedule. Also take into consideration time zone differences and the time of day to avoid catching attendees at a bad time.

Follow Up

The follow-up after the webinar is a critical time for MSPs. The MSP should have a good follow-up strategy in place to reach out to attendees. Following the completion of the webinar is when attendees will request additional info or have more questions. MPS should use this time to forge closer relationships. Take the time after the presentation to send out you e-mails summarizing key points and links to products or services promoted in the webinar. Have attendees that couldn’t make it last minute? Don’t let them slip through the cracks! Send a link to the archived webinar. Also consider distributing surveys, which is extremely helpful in helping a MSP plan for their next webinar.

A successful webinar is informative, promotes products, generates leads, and strengthens existing relationships with clients. Webinars should be part of a MSPs marketing strategy. Take the time to experiment with different webinar software and invest time in the presentation. Make the effort to connect with attendees after the webinar to form stronger relationships with clients in order to build business and revenue.

Our guest blogger: Jessica May, is a resident of Vancouver who loves mountian biking in the summer and snowboarding in the winter. She frequently guest blogs about SEO, social media, outsourcing and help desks.

How To Focus Your Social Media Strategy

Blogging, content marketing, Facebook Marketing, Pinterest, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter Marketing, Viral marketing

How To Focus Your Social Media Strategy

Things are getting all hyped up

With all of the recent buzz around the changing value of links and what this might have to do with social signals, a lot of people are getting lost in the shuffle. Which is more valuable they ask, a link or a social signal (a “like”, a mention, a retweet, a share, etc) and how should they go about obtaining whichever is most valuable?

Video: Focus Your Social Media Marketing

This video focuses on targeting your social media strategy at a local level. Definitely some food for thought!

Adding to the increased activity and discussion is the appearance of dozens of new social websites. Some focus on sharing and bookmarking, others on visual elements (similar to Pinterest and Instagram), and still others on text-based status sharing. Because of this it is difficult to choose which social channels to cast your lot with. How can you know which of them is right for your business? We’ve done a few posts on this topic before, if you have a moment take a look at them to learn more about circumspection and the selection of appropriate social channels for your brand.

Simplify your direction and focus your social strategy

social media strategy

The idea of working smarter, not harder comes into play when figuring out how to simplify and focus your social media strategy. You want to make things easier and more fun for everyone, yourself included! People don’t take to social media sites to be marketed to or preached at, but if you can make things interesting and entertaining enough, once you throw some ease of use in there you’ll be sure to see results in no time!

  • Link to your website – This is one way that you can make finding your website easier for your social audience. Imagine that someone comes to your Facebook page, likes what they see, and decides to “like” your page to receive future updates. After a few posts they decide that they want to see your website and get more information about your products and services…but they can’t find a URL anywhere. It is all too easy to place a link to your website in most social media profiles, and if you’re not sure how to do this, a simple web search will turn up all kinds of tutorials!
  • Seize promotional opportunities – Take advantage of promotional opportunities like Facebook’s option to promote a post. While some people claim that these services are not effective, you will not know how they will go over with your brand and it’s audience until you try. Make sure that you have plenty of options available for your audience to choose from when it comes to engaging with your brand socially!
  • Keep your membership count low – And by this I mean to only sign up for the social channels which will most benefit your brand. Not every brand is well-suited to every social channel; you can choose a few that are most likely to benefit your brand and post to them frequently and see better results than a brand that signs up for everything and never maintains a presence on any one channel.
  • Stick to original content – Whatever you do, don’t try plagiarizing something and then promoting it on social media. Try not to just republish / share things that other people have already shared. Instead use your head and work with a professional content creation team and social media management firm like rankpop.com to create unique, original content that is sure to delight your fans!
  • Don’t ignore visual channels – While they might not seem suited to your brand at first, check out Pinterest and Instagram and similar networks and see how other brands like yours are faring in such an environment. YouTube is also a great way to showcase your brand and generate some social buzz. All you need are a few videos and you’re ready to enter the game.

Our Guest blogger is Kris Dietz: I love creating something amazing then spreading the word about it!  My mission is to develop and mold SEO into an amazing outlet of sharing valuable resources.   I enjoy networking and meeting like minded individuals.

The Art Of Balancing Content Creation And Promotion

Blogging, content marketing, Copywriting, guest blogging, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Viral marketing

Many people can be seen to be debating over content creation and promotion. Both are known to be unique and important in their own way and individuals are recommended to give a good amount of attention to them in order to acquire a good feedback from the customers and real-time visitors. When it comes to the importance of choosing between the two, nothing can be said since both the processes are considered to be equally significant. However, ineffective content creation really does not help the content promotion as it fails to pique the attention of the target market. On the other hand, good content creation with low content promotion does not easily reach the customers, resulting is low feedback and followers in the long run.

The Art of Balancing Content Creation and Promotion

Importance of Efficient Content Creation

Content creation can be difficult for people who are not really aware of it. It is essential to create good content beforehand in order to attract the customers. The process of content creation and promotion is linked to each other and both become worthless even if one is ineffective. Therefore, in the beginning, interesting and well-written content must be written for the purpose of promoting it in the long run.

Benefits of Efficient Content Promotion

Since content promotion is equally as important as content creation, individuals are recommended to give a good amount of attention to it in order to avoid any kind of shortage in the target audience in the near future. It is essential to publish content at as many sites as possible in order to give it an adequate amount of coverage and promotion. Without promotion, content ceases to exist and acquires extremely low rankings in the search engines, which is likely to ruin all the chances of possible promotion in the long run. Effective content promotion allows many WebPages and blogs to achieve a high status and ranking in the search engines, resulting in higher web traffic on a daily basis.

Preventing Audience and Content Shortage

A balance between content creation and promotion is a must in order to achieve success. Even if one ignores, then the other is not likely to act the way it is supposed to. The fact that bad content creation ends up in audience shortage and bad content promotion ends up in content shortage gives all the more reason for people to maintain an appropriate balance between the two. The one and only way to do so is to take both the processes seriously and to attend to both the content creation and promotion on an equal basis.

The Art of Balancing Content Creation and Promotion

Acquiring Content Harmony

The main strategy for creating a balance between both the processes is to indulge in content harmony. According to a lot of research and professionals, content harmony can be achieved through the correct usage of both the content creation and promotion and that too, on the right time. The results are going to be much better than just following content creation or content promotion. Good content creation can be satisfactory for the time being but it undoubtedly results in a shortage of audience in the long run and the same is the case with promotion as it tends to create a vast content shortage.

Content Creation and Promotion for a Successful Marketing Campaign

An effective process of employing both the content promotion and creation ends up in a successful content strategy which enables people to earn a good amount of profit in the long run. Businesses must really follow both the strategies in order to excel in content creation and promotion. Content harmony is something which can be easily achieved by hard work and determination. All marketing campaigns can be easily successful if people try and concentrate on both the content related and promotional aspects of their business in the long run.

Our guest blogger, Jordon, has varied and broad career in the technology world and he is one of the most experienced SEO writers who love to spread the knowledge through his informative contents. His articles mostly cover the exact step by step working procedure and current research, inventions in the technology field. His most of the case studies can be found on Climb Digital.