Category Archives: Small Business Marketing

Things To Know Before You Start Facebook Ads

Facebook Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, , ,

Things To Know Before You Start Facebook AdsWith small and local businesses gaining main stream attention, particularly through Facebook Ads, every one with a product is eager to jump on the band wagon and make a quick sale. But a lot of people who want to try it out get trapped in the technical terms which sometimes prove to be hard to wrap your head around. With this article we will try to put an end to this dilemma of yours.

There are many terms used in Internet marketing or online advertising industry such as CPM, CTR, PPC and CPI. Let us try to take these terms one by one so that after you have understood them, you will end up with a better mindset regarding budgeting of your marketing campaign.

  • CPM:

CPM stands for Cost per mile, it is also known as CPT (Cost per thousand). The term is relevant and used in almost all of the advertising mediums like Radio, Television, Magazines etc. But it has come in public domain with the growth of internet marketing. CPM is calculated by dividing the total cost or Budget for running the ad campaign by the total number of estimated viewers and then multiplying the result by 1000. For example if the total Budget is $20,000 and total estimated viewership is 2,000,000 then CPM would turn out to be $10. The main objective of calculating CPM is to compare the expenditure for your campaign across different advertising Medias.

Calculating CPM can be a very useful metric to decide whether you should take your campaign to internet or not, alternatively it may also be used to decide which service provider you should side with.

  • CTR:

CTR stands for Click through rate. It is considered as an ultimate metric for measuring the success of an internet marketing campaign. CTR is obtained by taking the number of times an advertisement is clicked by total number of times the advertisement was displayed. The result is multiplied by 100 as it is expressed in terms of percentage.

A point that demands attention is that higher click through rates with low purchases can mean loss.

The main objective of CTR is to make an assessment of customer’s initial response to the ad displayed. If you have an unusually low CTR then it can very well be an indication of the fact that your ad is not interesting enough and you need to make some updates to it.

  • PPC:

PPC stands for pay per click. As discussed above, clicks are informative of the customer’s opinion. A high click rate shows high interest and a low shows otherwise. For the same reason PPC is a preferred option for such an assessment compared to CPI( Cost per impression).

PPC may be easily calculated by dividing the total budget for online marketing campaign by the total number of clicks generated by concerned web impressions (Displayed ads).

When it comes to PPC, there are two models that are widely followed:

  1. Fixed-rate model – In such a model, the publisher has a rate card or list that may display different PPC rates for different areas of their websites. Areas or pages that attract more traffic will have a higher PPC rate as compared to those which are rarely visited.
  2. Bid-based model- In such a model, the advertisers are required to compete against each other in an auction for particular ad spots. There are many advertising agencies who offer PPC bid management services to small and medium business owners.

Now that you understand these terms more accurately, you can plan your budget accordingly for your online marketing campaign.

The author of this article is an expert in online marketing campaigns and works as a consultant in an advertising firm. Matthew has written and published several articles on conceiving and optimizing Facebook Ads.

How SEO Training Can Skyrocket Your Businesses Online Success

Organic SEO, SEO, SEO tools, SEO training, SEO video, Small Business Marketing, Technology, , ,
SEO Training in NYC Westchester and CT

Search Engine Optimization Training Can Help Your Business Succeed in a Competitive Market

The web is an extremely competitive environment that is very difficult to obtain even the slightest attention from possible customers.  Therefore, you need to be on the first page of search results for certain keyword terms that are searched on Google.  This is a difficult task even for the best SEO companies out there and an even more difficult task for a small business that is busy with the day to day task of keeping their company afloat.  So how does a small business or start up get on the first page of Google without breaking the bank?  SEO training, or search engine optimization training, may be the answer to your companies needs.  SEO training allows you to work on some of the SEO tasks necessary to get on top of the search engines without paying a company to do all of the work. I call this a “shared SEO package” where you pay for some of the work to be executed by a professional SEO company while offsetting the cost by learning how to perform the basic on page SEO and automated tasks yourself.  This “shared SEO package” is initiated by having someone on your staff or yourself learn the basic search engine optimization tasks through an SEO training company that will come to your place of business and show you step-by-step how to implement on page SEO using your HTML editor or your content management systems editor.  This hands on process will allow you to learn in the environment you’re familiar with and give you personalized attention to your companies SEO needs.  A good search engine optimization training course will also inform you of the best SEO tools and tracking technologies to show improvements in rank, page-views, bounce rates and time on site.

Whatever your business provides to customers SEO is one of the most effective online marketing strategies you can implement.  Normally over 50% of all visitor traffic comes from search engines, so ranking high for certain keyword terms is vital for the success of your business.   Being seen on the first page of Google also promotes a strong local and/or national brand visibility for your business, depending on your search strategy and focus.

In a world where we are bombarded with marketing messages hundreds or even thousands of times per day the choice to take control over your SEO is probably the most sound advice you can make as a business owner.  Because search engine optimization gets your website to stand out in front of the customers that are actively searching for your service or product.  For a comparatively low marketing budget outlay, SEO also maintains your marketing presence 365 days a year, ensuring that you climb  to the top of Google’s fabled first page status, thereby giving you an edge over your competitors.

Good SEO training can make a huge difference in both marketing spend and long term return on investment (ROI) by preparing your staff or yourself to take control of your online presence.

SEO Training Expert Peter MarinoBy Peter Marino the owner and SEO training expert for reelWebDesign.com. We teach in house SEO and social media training while also providing supportive SEO services to lessen the time and work necessary to optimize your businesses success.

Best Apps And Tools That Will Make Your Blogging Life Easier

Blogging, Business Tech, Content creation, Self-employed, Small Business Marketing, Technology

blogging appsBlogging may be hard for some of you who are not yet comfortable into the routine of coming up with something exciting and new to talk about regularly. It is very necessary that you are able to catch the inspiration when it strikes. It may be on the breakfast or dinner table, while you are on the thunderbox or when you are lying on the bed. This is where the apps come in handy and allow you keep your genius along with you always. 

Here is a list of the best apps and tools that will make your blogging life easier:

1. Evernote

This is one of the most famous web capture tool these days primarily due to the fact that it enables you to grab full web pages, audio, images, text snippets etc. and allows you to recall them whenever needed. Those who are on Evernote find it easy to recall information. If you come across such situations where you encounter a setting that you wish to write about later, use Evernote to clip it and save it for future reference. Evernote also has a lot of cool integrations to offer that make it super-easy-to-use app.

2. Tape-A-Talk Recorder or Dragon Dictation

If you are among those who prefer speaking over writing, it is advisable to get a voice recorder app that will enable you to talk about your post instead of writing it down by typing each word on the keyboard. This voice recorder app can also come in handy when you are driving to work and enroute your mind fills with ideas that you wish to write about. For Android users, Tape-A-Recorder is a useful app as it gives you the freedom to append the recording and send it across to Evernote or e-mail easily.

For iPhone users, a similar app is called Dragon dictation which has the capability of making your dictation appear as text instantly. This app can also be integrated with Evernote.

3. Google Drive

One of the biggest conveniences for any blogger can be the freedom to take his or her content anywhere and post ideas from where he or she is. This is where a web based word processor like Google drive comes to rescue. For those who keep writing on different terminals or devices and collaborating with various authors, storing documents on cloud enables an easy access to the documents to either pick up from where they left or to find out what edits have others made to it. Cloud enables a 24X7 access to your documents from any computer or gadget.

4. Springpad

This app is much similar to Evernote. Other than saving notes, you can also save tasks, look up items to save, and set reminders for particular tasks. Springpad has a wonder feature of organizing your thoughts by itself and does not bother you to do so. Hence in case you wish to blog about a location or a particular product, this app reminds you of these items and allows you to access them easily from your mobile device or computer.

5. White Noise – Rainy Day

There is no denial that the environment poses the biggest threat to your idea of working and writing on the go. All public places are so loud that you can barely concentrate on an idea. This app is a wonder way to combat such a situation. This noise generating app blocks all other distractions around you enabling you to concentrate on better things. All you need to do is plug in your earphones and run this app to focus on writing and do the task at hand.

6. Focus Booster

This free app is a simple app that runs on your desktop but the dividends that it generates are far more productive. You can set the timer and start doing the task at hand viz. designing, writing or whatever you need to do to grow your blog. After the preset time is over, take a break that is built in the app and take your time to freshen up so that you can be back with a better focus.

7. FireShot

This is a Firefox, Chrome, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird extension. This enables you to get screen shots from the web and annotate, edit, export, upload and even print them conveniently. There are a number of capture options viz. full page, visible part of the page etc. One unique offering with this extension is the set of annotations and editing tools that come with it. It also lets you capture flash content.

About the Author:

Robert Bryant is a blogger and works with MaxWell Systems – A Construction Software Company. He likes blogging about online strategies that are related to Social Media, Online Marketing and Legal issues.