There are a million opportunities to place ads on the web these days. You've got your classic PPC AdWords ads, Facebook Ads, Display Ads, and Native is predicted to make a big impact in 2017. If you're going to invest in paid advertising on the web, please don't make the mistake of creating a poor and confusing user experience for the small percentage of people who actually click on your ads. This happened to me twice recently and I was [...]
Laura Chambers’s business was the least likely company in America to adopt e-commerce solutions for her rental company. For the past 17 years, JEAL LLC has operated the way it did when it was founded: hand-written quotes, snail-mailed invoices, and frustrating phone-tag to collect on receivables. These “personal touches” added nearly 5 hours to Laura's work week The adoption of newly-available e-commerce solutions isn’t always done for the business owner’s benefit; instead, its the business's customers who value the new [...]
So you probably understand by now that display ads are targeting you based on the websites you visit, the keywords you search and the content that you read, right? We’ve all shopped for boots or sneakers, only to see them appearing in display ads a few minutes later as we surf the web. You may have even felt that this kind of targeting was a little creepy the first time you experienced it. But if you’re like 85% of consumers [...]
It seems innocent enough. Taking that meme or picture you found on the web and sharing it on your Business' Facebook page, right? I mean, who can be expected to generate fresh original content every day, multiple times a day? Grabbing a cute pic from Pinterest and posting it to your business's Facebook page is something "everybody does". But this process can get you into trouble. Stock photography brokers are crawling the web, and finding their photographer's images being used [...]
Nothing makes me happier than when someone smarter than me backs up a lessons I've been preaching with intelligent facts and an amazing infographic. So, I simply had to share this infographic by The Boston Consulting Group. But first, here's a peek at my video where I teach advertisers that the best way to measure a display campaign, isn't using CTR (click-through-rate), but rather, by focusing on metrics like quantity of web traffic, increased brand name searches and higher quality [...]
I remember the very first time I discovered how to make a website rank on page one of the search engines. It was 2005ish and I was selling online business profile pages for the yellow pages company I worked for. These profile pages were simple, template pages that allowed for the business to post its NAP and a business description, but otherwise they weren’t very robust. Anyway, a friend of mine figured out how to alter the title tag to [...]
This video is pretty long. At an hour and twenty minutes, it is filled with statistics about review sites, how consumers are influenced by reviews and what reviews - both good and bad - can do for your business. I also highlight a strategy that will help you acquire more reviews. Plus, there are some clever examples of reviews in the real world that are pretty educational and often kinda fun. If online reputation management is important to you, I [...]
I recently had the privilege of speaking to the at AZIMA (Arizona Internet Marketing Association) about Search Engine Marketing and Targeted Display. With several years in SEM and a couple of years studying and working closely with Targeted Display, it was felt that I might have a unique perspective on two digital strategies that are normally in competition with one another. Enjoy "SEM and Targeted Display. Two worlds collide. And the results are awesome." Complete transcript: MODERATOR: Okay. Well, tonight we have with [...]
Google is the king of search. Right? I think most people would agree with that statement. What if I told you that Google may be the king of search, but may not be the king of search data? Consider the following. Unlike Yahoo’s “life engine” or other sites that want you to spend a lot of time on their site, Google’s whole job is to get you to click a link and go away. Based on my unofficial survey, asking this [...]
If you haven't already, please read How Google Set Standards That Other Online Advertising Channels Can't Live Up To, before proceeding. This article is really a follow up to that one. Okay, you're back (or still here because you've already read that one) so... if we can't measure digital advertising based on the click, then what? In the article I mention increased store traffic, increased phone calls and increased sales. But come on, it's 2014. Surely there are some better [...]
