WSI Marketing, Surf, Search and Social

Analytics Data & PPC Optimization

Analytics Data & PPC Optimization to Achieve Meaningful Results:
Using a Network of Tools and a Data-Driven Approach to Optimize PPC Marketing

Download this pay per click advertising and  Guaranteed you will walk away with incredible information to help your internet advertising and internet marketing campaigns.

Think about it, a great website that few people see will not get the marketing results you desire, and with the explosion of online marketing activity, capturing your place online has never been more important.  As the internet becomes the dominant vehicle for marketing, an internet marketing plan including; pay per click advertising, search engine marketing, and social media marketing is essential to compete in the years to come. Too many businesses are failing to fully capture the potential from online marketing, and this is due primarily to a lack of knowledge about the tools available to be successful.

Google has made enhancements to their Adwords platform. Paid search marketing or pay per click advertising, sponsored link marketing, and PPC are all terms that describe the process of paid online advertising with Adwords as the platform to manage paid search marketing. Also, Google has made free to the marketplace its Google Analytics tool, which captures all kinds of data about how people are using your website, where visitors are coming from, and what keywords people are typing to find you. The combination of free Google Analytics and pay per click advertising, Adwords, bring forth opportunities for businesses large and small to succeed online advertising. After all, the more business are successful advertising and marketing online, the more they will spend doing it. In this case, everyone wins – the business and the search engines.

Download Pay Per Click and Website Analytics Whitepaper.

The easiest websites to optimize are the horrible ones. In fact, the hardest part about optimizing a site that has a million and one problems is deciding which ones to go after first. However, where do you begin if you have a beautiful, clean, profitable website? If there are no clear issues – if the calls to action are visible and the page uncluttered and the buttons big and shiny – then what can be done short of remaking the entire site (an idea as scary as it is unnecessary)?

Sometimes, all you need is a change in perspective. We, the web savvy, see the Internet through big, clear monitors and 11 point font. We look at our site and we can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t be able to perform whatever task the site is designed to do. Well, to that end, Google Labs has created Browser Size. This nifty little tool allows you to see how much of your web page is immediately visible to your visitor depending on the size of their monitor and resolution settings.

The concept of “the fold” of a web page (as in “above the fold”, i.e., what can be seen upon landing on a webpage without any scrolling) is not a solid line that snips the bottom off every page, but rather a subjective experience. The notion of having important links, buttons and messages above the fold is taken for granted as a good policy, so what if you found out that 20% of your visitors couldn’t immediately see what you thought they could?

Plug your site into Browser Size and you’ll get that perspective. Each band of color represents approximately how many visitors will see that section immediately upon landing (the seemingly shaky lines are actually a true representation of the visible area excluding the title bar, toolbars, etc). If you have important information or buttons in the 70% range, that means 30% of your visitors are forced to scroll to see that information and convert.

Take a look at this example from the Website Optimizer homepage:

As you can see, most people can see our primary call to action, the “Start testing now” button. However, some of our educational content like Benefits and Testing 101 sections is below the fold for 50% of viewers.

Think the numbers are different for your site? Browser Size bases its data on a sample of visitors to Google.com, but you can check out your screen resolutions report in your web analytics tool to see the most common visitor screen resolutions for your own site. For most sites the list of dimensions is quite long, and the ones we in the industry tend to use – 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024 – typically only represent about 50% of the visitors at best.

So get back to the optimization grindstone, squeeze another percentage point or two into your conversion rate, and give all of your visitors the experience they deserve. You can start using Browser Size at http://browsersize.googlelabs.com

Nearly every website out there has a goal, some action they want their visitors to take. The goal may be to generate leads, buy products, click on ads or even just subscribe to an RSS feed.

A call-to-action is the copy or graphic you use to entice and persuade your readers to take that action. Well-designed calls to action can dramatically increase a site’s rate of conversion to its goal.

So what’s a well-designed call to action? I’ve done testing on countless different sites, and here are the 7 most important best practices I’ve found.

Create Urgency

Use discrete measurements of time in your call to action. Phrases like “click now” or “try our software today” give the user an understanding of how easy and immediate the action will be.

Use Numbers

Concrete digits including prices make the action very specific for the user and in nearly every case I’ve seen test very well.

Indicate a Specific Action

Make your call to action as specific as possible. Tell the user exactly what you want them to do and how. Avoid vague generalities and instead tell them to click, sign up, contact us or download.

Use Images

It often helps to direct a user’s attention to a call to action by placing a stock photo of a person looking directly at that call to action. Images with actors looking directly at the user tend to distract them.

Make Your CTA Clickable

Make sure your call to action uses the accepted web conventions of clickability. If it’s a text link, it should be at least underlined, if not the standard link-blue. Buttons should have a 3-d effect that simulates the buttons found in web and desktop interfaces, and both buttons and links should change the default cursor when the user hovers over them to the pointer hand.

Use Contrasting Colors

Contrasting colors can draw the user’s eye to the action you want them to take. If your site is cool blue and gray, use a red or orange graphic.

Pay Attention to Position

Calls to action “above the fold” on a page (in the first screen viewable on a page without scrolling down) do very well. Calls to action in a sidebar don’t perform as well as those in the central content area of a page. Put the call to action where the rest of the page will naturally lead a viewer’s eyes.

Bonus Tip: Test, Test, Test!

New trends in online marketing are constantly popping up

Trends are getting more savvy and unique and include Internet-video marketing, Internet-social network marketing and many more. Many experts advise that blogging is the most important of these trends and if not included in your Internet marketing strategy, you are missing out on an extremely important part of your traffic building opportunity.

Here are a few tips on how you can implement blogging to its full prospective within your Internet marketing strategy.

The key is to make blogging work for your business by understanding who your target market is.

Implementing blogs should make you more flexible and the objective is to encourage additional traffic to your website by providing information to a wider audience then you would normally reach.

The first tip is, ‘Make your blog interesting’.

Insure you use engaging headlines on your blog. This makes your blog more searchable. When your post has a memorable and engaging headline, you engage the interest of many web users. With that, the user will find your blog and pick up more about your products or services.

Once catching their interest, they hopefully will make a purchase and you will have a new customer. The key here is to use a memorable title to entice prospective customers to your business. Blogging as a part of your Internet marketing strategy might seems easy, however, you will need to quickly determine what works and what doesn’t.

The second tip, ‘Keep your blog short and simple’.

Blogs should not be story-like or boring. Choose your words carefully, use bullet points and  be honest. Provide benefit after benefit on your product or service. Web users want rapid gratifying differences that convince them to purchase your product and require reassurance that their buying decision is correct. With a simple, popular and obvious blog post, you are able to increase traffic to your website that should naturally lead to more business.

The third tip, ‘Words are powerful’.

Do not use egotistic and hard-to-understand words. Be aware of your customers and the language that they will understand and respond to. If you intend to attract customers globally, you must be aware of the limitations in the basic understanding of the message that you are trying to convey.

Use elementary English words that explain clearly and are accepted by many. Do not use conditions that users cannot understand. Enormous or complicated words that are hard to pronounce do not assist with brand recognition or create an affinity for your product or service.

Write your blog with a personal touch. Write as if you are talking to someone. Write in a simple yet interesting manner to gain the attention of your prospective customer.

The final but most important tip, ‘Imaginatively make use of graphics’.

If you wish customers to purchase your product, they must identify with your products ability to satisfy their need. In order to do so, customers must be able to see your product or service. Add cinema and or radio to the mix and be honest. If you are marketing clothing online, ensure customers are able to see what they are buying and also freely obtain what they see.

Many valid studies with regard to online purchasing, conducted over the years, confirm the large number of complaints received from disappointed customers who have been lost to this particular channel through misleading copy and advertising. Add fun and engaging graphics to your blog.,but do not over-crowd it as it is the clean look that counts when communicating visually.

‘Blogging is not only popular but is proven as a valid Internet marketing source of additional traffic and new business’.

Blogging only functions when you implement its limitless potential. So, if your intention is to take your business online or expand your online presence, strongly consider including Blogging as a communication tool within your Internet marketing plan.

After all, you have nothing to lose by trying it!

Pope Benedict XVI says social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can foster friendships and understanding, but warns they also can isolate people and marginalize others.

Pope Benedict gave serious props to social media sites like Facebook and MySpace in his annual message Friday for the World Day of Communications.

Benedict called them “gifts” new technologies , social networking sites, saying they fuel our “fundamental desire” as people to communicate and belong

But he also warns that “obsessive” virtual socializing can isolate people from real interaction and deepen the digital divide by excluding those already marginalized.

He also urged users and the sites themselves to self police for “goodness” and thwart perverse sexual conduct online.

All this comes as the vatican plans to open it’s own streaming vidop channel online just a few days.