“Focus on the intersection between what you do best and what your customers want the most. Relationships outlast transactions.” This is a quote that I took away from watching a clip recently on Fox Business News – How to Market in a Down Economy. A concise statement that many might pass off as commonsense, but […]
As the weather cools down, leaves change color and football takes over the television it is clear that Fall is here. This can only mean one thing to any Online storefront….the Holidays are near!!! Over the years I have experienced the Highs and Lows of proper planning for what can be the busiest time of year for any online business in retail. Are you Prepared? Will you see December come before you realize the missed opportunity?
Christmas for most B2C retailers is by far their busiest time of year. Consumer impulse spending behavior, while it may slightly vary year to year, is generally highest for the Christmas Holidays. Because of this, intelligently designed PPC Strategies should take full advantage of the “shortened buying cycle” for consumers during this time. Not only is the buying cycle significantly shortened, but there is also a dramatic increase in online sales. In fact Christmas is the time that even “Grandma Janice,” who still doesn’t even understand what this whole “World Wide Web” thing is, will make online purchases for her grandkids! With this in mind, here are some suggestions for implementing seasonal PPC strategies:
We have all heard that following up with web generated leads as soon as possible is a good idea. The question although still remains, what time frame should your business strive to make phone contact with potential buyers in order to maximize contact and qualification of web generated leads? A recent study by MIT and InsideSales.com, should help answer this question and also help increase your businesses sales.
Part of the job for the PPC or SEO analyst, consists of debunking… a large part of our job revolves around explaining rumors and misreads. For years, we’ve had to explain a particular twist of semantics that somehow has convinced people that if you have duplicate content on a web site, Google takes out a […]
Yes, you read that correctly… since their income-driven site redesign in June, MySpace has begun surpassing Yahoo in number of ads delivered. According to eBrandz.com Search Marketing & Technology News reporting on the comScore announcement: “Yahoo Inc. lost its position in the U.S. marketplace for online display advertising to MySpace, which has served 56.8 billion […]
In the UK last week Brand Republic reported that UK spend on search engine marketing would reach £2.75bn this year.
However, just a tiny fraction of that cash – £330m – was spent on the art of SEO or search engine optimisation. The lion's share of web site owner's budget went on paid search solutions like Google AdWords or Microsoft adCenter.
SEO is an essential and vital route to improving usability and search engine visibility of web sites. So with what appears to be a disproportionate amount of time and money being allocated to this fine discipline, it made me wonder how much was being invested in web analytics.
When I say investment, I mean investment in people. Although many web analytics tools cost money to run, some are now free but you still need people to make sense of the data they provide.
At Microsoft we have full time analysts pouring over dashboards of data, setting benchmarks and looking out for actionable insight.
Some might say that having dedicated resource is a luxury a large company like Microsoft can afford – and they might be right!
But that doesn't prevent company leaders from coaching their marketing manager or webmaster to spend an hour a day keeping an eye on what traffic trends might be exploited.
Investment doesn't necessarily mean spending a lot of cash.
A few hundred dollars on a training course at a conference for someone in your company who's interested in data could result in thousands of dollars made or saved.
Paid search is an incredibly valuable lead generator and marketing channel, but in order to build a better web experience for users we need to better understand their behaviour and then act – that means investing a little more time and energy into web analytics and SEO.
How do you stand out to the ‘credit crunched’ customer? The growth of online sales has slowed down in recent months as a result of the current financial climate. The Creative Services team believes creative ads could be the saving grace for your search campaign.
Online Growth Slows Down
The IMRG Capgemini Index shows that UK shoppers spent just over £4.8 billion online in July. This meant a year-on-year financial growth of about 15.2%. A slowdown compared to the 75.6% year-on-year growth reported in January this year.
Communicate Credit Crunch Defying Deals!
As your online ads and offers are so easy to update at no extra cost, it’s worthwhile ensuring your campaigns are targeted to the current situation.
Creative, smart ad copy will boost your CTR, brand awareness and visibility at any time and will make you stand out from the competition. When growth slows down it is even more important to keep a competitive edge.
One of the reasons why online sales still are still growing in contrast to the high street where sales are down*), is that the internet is the place to be to pick up a bargain. People are looking for discounts and to compare prices to ensure they get the best deals. Shops and online services respond with attractive offers.
A 5-minute spot check on some of our advertiser’s websites shows that great offers are definitely out there: ‘free delivery on everything’, ‘2-day delivery times on electrical goods’, ‘reserve online and pick up in store against online prices’, ‘buy one get one free’ and ‘5 year interest free credit’.
The challenge is to ensure these deals are reflected in your ad copy and that the ads appeal to someone who is likely to be looking for a deal instead of indulgence and luxury.
Here’s how:
· Ensure your deal is mentioned in your ad but be careful not to sacrifice clarity for creativity. Stay clear and to the point as well as being imaginative.
· Describe your product or service in an appealing way. Think about how your product, service or deal could appeal to more shrewd searchers (if appropriate). Think of using words such as ‘affordable’, ‘low-priced’, ‘pre-season-sale’ and ‘early bird bonus’.
· Think how your offer or service may actually help your cash-strapped customer.
Save money, save time (you don’t have to rummage through racks to find a deal) or offer alternatives (self-catering cottages as opposed to opulent hotel rooms).
· Use tempting adjectives.
Here are some powerful examples:
The Creative Services team will give you more tips and insights in the weeks and months to come!
Read our previous blog on how to prepare your search campaign for the Christmas holiday period.
Thanks
Kate
*The IMRG Capgemini Index reports high street sales are down by 0.9 % year on year compared to July 2007.
In which we answer queries from our recent webinars
Every month, we get great questions in our ongoing series of advertiser webinars. Even if you’ve never had a chance to attend one of these sessions, this info is too good to keep to ourselves. With this post about keywords we continue to share those questions and […]
Yahoo! helps LendingTree test the benefits of combining paid and organic search
Who: LendingTree, LLC, an online lending exchange that connects consumers with multiple lenders who compete for their business.
Objective: Yahoo! and LendingTree wanted to quantify how using sponsored search ads and paid inclusion listings together increases traffic.
Products Used: Sponsored Search and Search Submit Pro
Results: During the […]
Leverage Marketing, LLC
2301 W Anderson Ln 
 |  |
 |  |
