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Pay-Per-Click Campaigns Need to be Monitored

Posted By Sara Bergeron in Pay Per Click, Uncategorized on July 26, 2010
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We’ve talked about the importance of pay-per-click advertising before. In terms of marketing dollars, Internet advertising and pay-per-click marketing are the best, more cost effective ways of promoting your business and they have the highest return on investment (ROI) of all forms of marketing.

You can target your campaign as specifically as you’d like and you only pay when someone clicks on your ads. You can use website analytics to determine exactly which ads are the most popular and the most effective. You can see if the advertising is just boosting traffic or if it’s actually boosting business.

However, to do all of those things you need to keep an eye on your campaigns regularly.

Many of the benefits of online marketing is that you can see what ads are working and make the necessary changes to your campaign almost immediately. You don’t have to wait for a sales report at the end of the month and there’s no need for guesswork. Your website analytics will give you all of the information you need.

But that benefit is lost if you’re not monitoring your campaigns. If you try to “set it and forget it” you will definitely find that your campaigns are less effective. You risk running an ad for weeks without ever knowing that no one is clicking it. That time could be used to run a useful ad instead.

Even worse, you could end up running an ad that people are clicking, but one that isn’t converting those clicks into customers. You’ll end up paying for each of those clicks, but not getting any of that money back through increased sales. If you had been monitoring that ad regularly you probably would have noticed that trend within a few days instead of a few weeks. Figuring out when a campaign is failing and making changes to it as soon as possible can save you a lot of money.

Another aspect of your campaign that requires regular monitoring is the bid process. Google AdWords and other pay-per-click advertisers operate on a bid system. That means that the price to have an ad displayed in a prominent position. Yes, you can set a maximum price and leave the system alone, but it’s far more productive to check in regularly and participate in the bid process.

Obviously many businesses do not have the time to regularly monitor their pay-per-click marketing campaigns. This is where a pay-per-click marketing company is very helpful. These companies have the expertise and time necessary to set up and actively monitor your advertising campaigns.

First2Search is a Toronto pay-per-click marketing company and Internet advertising company. We can help you create a campaign that will benefit your business and make modify the campaign to get the highest possible return. Contact us today for more information.

Targeting Website Traffic

Posted By Sara Bergeron in Uncategorized, Website Promotion on July 19, 2010
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Think of it this way: If you own a fishing tackle store, is it better to have 200 people that have no interest in fishing walk through your door or 50 people that regular fishers and need new tackle? The answer is pretty obvious: You want people that have an interest in what you are selling and are likely to buy.

The same is true on the Internet. Yes, it’s always nice to watch your website traffic grow, but it’s not always the best thing for business. The best way to grow your business is by drawing targeted visitors to your site.

There are a couple of great ways to do this. The first way is to choose the right keywords for your website and to build your site around those keywords. Make sure you select keywords that match your product or service, not just keywords that receive a large number of services of do not have much competition.

Another great way to deliver targeted traffic is through pay-per-click ads. These ads are displayed beside regular search results on Google and other search engines. Users searching for a product or service online are more likely to become customers than those passively searching online. Again, it’s important to choose relevant search terms to focus on. When done properly, pay-per-click advertising campaigns can be a great way to deliver targeted traffic to your website. First2Search offers pay-per-click advertising services that can help you out.

If you operate a local business or operate primarily in one geographic region, you may want to focus your marketing, advertising and search engine optimization efforts on that region. There are several ways to do this. There are many local business directories that you can become a member of. Both Google and Bing offer local business listings.

Advertise within your niche. Using the fishing tackle store from the beginning of the post as an example, the owner of the store could spend some time on fishing message boards and forums. He could join social networking groups focused on fishing and fishing tackle. Developing connections online is a great way to grow your website. Just be careful not to spam and annoy people.

Once you start getting more targeted, relevant traffic, you will definitely see an increase in sales.

What Do You Want From Your Website Design?

Posted By Meagan Mills in Website Design on July 12, 2010
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One of the most important things to think about when you are designing a website is the site’s purpose. Not all website designs are appropriate for all types of sites. What looks great on an entertainment website looks strange on the website of a law firm.

Whether you are a website designer creating a new page or a business trying to come up with a site’s style, you definitely need to pick a design that matches your business.

Another thing you need to figure out is what you want from your website. Is the goal of your site to have clients contact you for more information? Do you want visitors to fill out a form to receive a quote or subscribe to a newsletter? Are you using your website as an online portfolio? The purpose of your site will definitely dictate the design.

For example, if your goal is to display your work online, then you need to design a website that makes it easy to do so. You will want to have the primary focus on the site’s images and you will need to come up with a way to present your work in a visually pleasing, intuitive way. You will also need to place your gallery in an easy-to-access location on the site.

If your goal is to have client’s contact you, then you would place your contact information in a highly visible location. If your site is primarily an informational one, a strong navigation structure and a site search should be two of your priorities.

The style of the site matters as well. The colours, graphics and general look and feel of the website will be different depending on the topic and the goal. If you are trying to portray your company and established and professional you will want a more traditional look. If you want your site to have a more youthful or abstract edge, you will need to keep that in mind when you are designing.

It’s also important not to mix your styles. That can be distracting for the visitor and possibly give them a bad impression of your company. Your site navigation should be consistent throughout and your usage of colours and graphics should match on each page. You don’t want a bad design to scare your potential customers away, do you?

Once you have determined how you would like to portray your business online and figured out what the site’s purpose will be, you will have a much easier time coming up with a compatible design.

Establishing Your Identity Online

Posted By Nathan Hughes in Uncategorized on April 10, 2010
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These days it’s very important to present a good image online. A lot of business is generated on the Internet and most people head to the web first to find information. That’s why it is important to establish your identity online.

This is true for individuals as well as businesses. You want to make sure that your brand (whether that be your company name, your full name or anything else) is consistently represented on the Internet. The last thing you want is a potential client confusing you with someone else that makes you look bad.

You want your company represented well online. Having a strong brand identity on the Internet can definitely strengthen your business’ image and make you appear more professional and knowledgeable online.

There are a few things you can to to establish your identity on the Internet and grow your business.

Brand your website design

◦ This is probably the most important tip on this list. Whether you are having your site developed by a website designer or if you are creating your own website design, it is important that your site represents your business well.

◦ All pages should be consistent. This isn’t just important for branding, but also for usability purposes. You should also come up with a colour scheme for your company and have that represented on your website. Any logos you use should be consistent as well.

◦ It’s also important to have a website design that suits your business. A company aimed at young people will want a more youthful look while a professional organization may want something more traditional.

Brand yourself using social networks

◦ Sign up for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and any other social networks you find relevant. Apply the same sort of consistent branding to these pages. Use images and logos that represent your brand and, if possible, register the same user name on each site. This will keep your company’s look uniform across all platforms.

Promote your brand online

◦ Once you have the image crafted on the Internet, your next job is to make it stand out. Search engine optimization and pay per click advertising campaigns can greatly help you in this respect.

First2Search can work with you to develop your identity online. Our team of website designers and developers will create the perfect site that showcases your brand as you want it to be represented. We will then use pay per click advertising and search engine optimization to promote your website and strengthen your brand.

How To Get Visitors to Return to your Website

Posted By Sara Bergeron in Search Engine Optimization on April 6, 2010
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No matter why type of business you run, chances are you would like your clients to be repeat customers. Even if you operate a business that doesn’t have many repeat customers, you’d like your clients to keep you in mind for referrals. A great way to make customers remember you is through your website. If you can make customers return to your site even after they’ve made a purchase, you’re on your way to customer loyalty.

But how do you do this? Usually it’s quite tough, but we’ve got some tips that will help you out.

Have a blog

◦ We’ve talked about the benefits of blogging before and we’d like to stress this point again. Blogging about your industry, providing news and updates about future products and services and giving insight into your company will attract people to your website.

If someone just bought one of your products, they may be interested in knowing how it was made, who came up with the idea in the first place and when an updated version will be available.

Have a message board or support forum

◦ Your customers may be looking to discuss their experiences with your product or service or they may have a few questions about it. A great way to entice them to come back to your website is by adding some sort of interactive forum. This is also great for customer service purposes.

Offer games or contests

◦ If you want to build a loyal audience, you could hold a contest that requires customers to come back to your site frequently in order to win. You could also have some branded games designed that will draw in visitors.

Have a mailing list

◦ Encourage your customers to sign up for an email newsletter. This will keep your company name fresh in their minds and bring them back to your site when something in the newsletter interests them.

Search engine optimization and website promotion

◦ Make sure that your company comes up highly in search rankings when people search for your product or service. A customer that just purchased your product may head to the Internet to find out more information. If your website comes up first, they will head to your site for that info.

First2Search offers website promotion and Internet marketing services that will make your website stand out. Contact us today for more information.

Managing Your Brand Image Online

Posted By Meagan Mills in Search Engine Optimization, Website Design on April 1, 2010
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One of the most important aspects of running a business is managing your brand. Regardless of whether you set up your business last month or whether you’ve been in operation for a long time, you probably put a great deal of work into your company’s branding.

Think back to when you started the company. Remember how you spent hours (if not days) coming up with the perfect name for your business? Remember how things like designing a logo and choosing colours took far longer than you thought they would? You spent a lot of time coming up with your brand, so it makes sense that you need to continue to manage and protect it as time goes on.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy for your brand to be tainted online. Given how relatively easy it is for almost anyone to set up a website, it’s possible that someone else could purchase a domain name similar to yours, copy your website design, steal your written content or a combination of all three!

A competing website with a similar name and look could be stealing your customers. Even worse, it could be offering an inferior experience that could make your company look bad.

Another, more dangerous way of damaging a brand’s business online is by spreading untrue, negative messages. It’s very easy for a disgruntled former employee, angry customer or competitor to set up a blog online and trash your company’s name. There are numerous business review sites that people can take advantage of to spread false information.

Imagine what a customer thinks when he or she looks online and finds negative comments on numerous sites. If your brand is tarnished online it could destroy your business. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to protect yourself.

First, you can Google yourself. Head to Google (and Bing and Yahoo! and any other search engines) and search for your company’s name. You can even set up Google alerts that will email you whenever your company name appears online.

If only good things come up, you should be fine. If bad things appear, look into them. If the comments are coming from clients with concerns, see what you can do to improve the situation.

If you find any truly malicious, untrue statements online there are a couple of things you can do. The first is contact the person that has made the comments (if you can find contact information) and try to rectify the situation. If that doesn’t work you could attempt legal action, but that can often be a messy and expensive process.

The other method is to drown out the bad with the good. Add website content that makes your company look positive. Create profiles on Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. Start a blog. Eventually the positives will outweigh the negatives.

Then you just have to promote the positive content. First2Search can help you design the website, create the content, market it and handle the search engine optimization efforts too! We will do our best to ensure that the information presented online is accurate and that your content is featured highly in search engine rankings. Contact us today for more information.

Five Ways To Turn Website Traffic into Business

Posted By Meagan Mills in Pay Per Click, SEO, Search Engine Optimization on March 11, 2010
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One of the first struggles that website owners usually deal with is trying to get traffic to their sites.

It’s often difficult to find traction and sometimes it seems like no one will ever visit your website. But, through some good website design, skilled search engine optimization efforts, website marketing and a pay-per-click marketing campaign, you finally start to attract some traffic. But you’re still not seeing any increased sales. Why?

Unfortunately, while it definitely helps to see increased website traffic, that increase in traffic doesn’t always translate to an increase in sales. Here are a five tips that can help you turn website visitors into customers:

Make your website easy to navigate

One of the main reasons that visitors do not turn into customers is because they website they are on is too difficult to navigate. You should have easy-to-understand links placed in a highly visible area of the website. In order to avoid confusion, try to declutter your page and only place the information you need on the site.

Introduce “Calls to Action”

Having a call to action button, logo or link on your website is an excellent way to convert website visitors into paying customers. This is a great way to direct your visitors to a contact form or a current promotion or sale.

Write compelling content

Well-written, informative and easy-to-understand website content goes a long way. If your website writing is persuasive and interesting, visitors will be more likely to purchase your products or services.

Have a professional website design

An up-to-date, professional website design that adheres to current standard is important. Your website could be the first time a visitor has ever heard of your company so it is important to look presentable. The graphics and the design of your site should represent your company well and you will want your site to look relevant, so use up-to-date design technology and standards. That doesn’t mean that your site needs to be filled with music, video, graphics and animation, but it does need to look good.

Make it easy for clients to contact you

Have a contact form placed in a highly visible location. Write your phone number and/or email address in large print. Offer online chats or “click-to-call” services. Do whatever is necessary to make it easy for a visitor to contact you.

First2Search is a Toronto website design company, pay-per-click marketer, website promotion and search engine optimization company. We specialize in getting your company noticed online and converting those visitors to customers.

For more information on our services and how we can help your business grow, please contact us today.

5 Google AdWords Tips for Newcomers

Posted By Nathan Hughes in Pay Per Click on March 8, 2010
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Google AdWords can be an excellent way to increase the number of visitors to your site. A Google pay-per-click campaign has many advantages. You only pay when users click your ads and the traffic that you draw in will be targeted towards your topic. You won’t pay for irrelevant traffic and you won’t pay for people that ignore your ads.

For newcomers, AdWords can be intimidating. While it’s very easy to sign up for the program, it’s tough to jump in and immediately be successful. At First2Search, we are experienced with Google AdWords and can help you with your AdWords campaign. Here are a few tips for those who are just getting started:

Optimize Your Landing Pages

The page your users end up on when they click your ad is called your landing page. This page is incredibly important as it is usually the first experience a visitor has with your company. Make it easy to use and make sure there is a call to action on the page.

If the goal of your ad campaign is to make visitors fill out a quote form, that form should be highly visible and easy to reach from your landing page. If your goal is to get potential clients to contact you, your contact information should be clearly displayed on the page.

Try and reduce the clutter on your landing page in order to make the most important features stand out.

Think Hard About Content Network Ads

When you post an AdWords ad you have the option of having it only show up on Google itself or on any relevant pages that display Google ads. Choosing to display ads on the content network will get you more exposure and possibly more clicks, but there is also a downside.

These visitors may not be as targeted as those that are searching for information on Google. The fact that you can’t control the content on the page where the ad is displayed is also a downside.

Sometimes displaying ads on the content network can be a good idea, but not always. It pays off to think about this decision carefully.

Use negative keywords

You can use negative keywords to ensure that you ads are not displayed when certain words are included in the search. For example, if you run a web design company you will likely want your ads to come up when someone searches for “web design” on Google, but you may not want your ads displayed when someone looks for “web design jobs.” Those searching for employment are not the same people who are looking to hire a website designer.

Using negative keywords can definitely target your campaign to a more useful audience.

Choose relevant keywords

The keywords you choose to bid on are very important. Don’t just bid on every keyword that is somehow connected to your business. Yes, that might bring more people to your site but it might not bring you any additional clients. Choose only relevant keywords and focus on those. Monitor the success of your campaign and modify, expand or contract your list of keywords as necessary.

Google AdWords is not a “set it and forget it” system. Truly successful campaigns and monitored and adjusted regularly.

Write Persuasive Ads

The content and the quality of your ad matters. Depending on your topic, you could be competing with thousands of other companies online. When you write your ad copy you want to write something that will attract visitors. You’ll also want to write content that is relevant to the terms the user is searching for.

Often this means making different ads for different keywords and adjusting them as necessary. The more relevant and clear an ad is, the more likely it will get clicked.

Google AdWords can be overwhelming at first, but it is also incredibly powerful. First2Search specializes in Google AdWords campaigns and other pay-per-click advertising campaigns. If you need help with your AdWords campaign or if you’re looking for an expert to handle your campaign for you, give us a call or contact us online!

5 Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

Posted By Nathan Hughes in Internet Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Optimization on March 8, 2010
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One of the first decisions you make when setting up a website is what domain name you will purchase. For some people this may seem like an easy decision, but it is one that you should put some thought into. Choosing the right domain name can help with your online marketing plans, your search engine optimization and the popularity of your website.

Here are a few tips that will help you choose your domain name:

Include keywords

◦ Sometimes it helps to include some of your keywords in your domain name. This can help your search engine ranking and make it more obvious what your company does at first glance.

Make it short and memorable

◦ If possible, a short domain is usually better than a very long one. However, that’s not always the case. For example, VeryGoodDomainNameChoice.com might be a better name than VGDNC.com. A series of initials isn’t very easy to remember. Then again, neither is IThinkThisIsAReallyReallyGoodChoiceForADomainName.com, so you’ll have to put some thought into your choice. Unfortunately, you’ll likely find that many short, memorable domain names are taken, so you’ll have to be clever.

Notice how it looks and sounds

◦ A domain name could look great on paper, but it can be difficult to say. The opposite can be true as well. You should practice saying your name out loud to other people. It should be easy to pronounce and straightforward.

A dot-com if possible

◦ Most people still assume that commercial websites end in .com and most major websites do. If you choose a .net or a .ca address, you’ll have to make a point to specify your address to people. This is especially true if a competitor owns the .com. You could risk sending people to your competition if you’re not clear.

Check out similarities

◦ For example, if you want to buy domain.com you should also look at domain.net, domain.ca, domains.com and any other similarities of mistypings. If they’re available you may want to buy them. If they’re own by the competition, you have to be careful that you’re not infringing on copyrights and that you don’t accidentally send your customers to a competitor’s website.

Once you’ve thought of a name, make sure you pick a reputable domain name registrar to purchase it from and you’re on your way!

Why Your Website Needs A Blog

Posted By Meagan Mills in Content Writing, Search Engine Optimization on February 24, 2010
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Blogging is very important for almost every website. There was once a time when blogs were personal diaries written by individuals, but that time has passed. Today almost every website has a blog, from the smallest freelance workers to the largest companies. Even the White House has a blog!

But why are blogs important for your business and your website? There are many reasons.

First of all, a blog helps connect your customers to your company. It allows you to regularly update your visitors with company news, information and changes. The comments section of a blog allows your users to interact with you. They can provide you with feedback, ask questions and make suggestions. This sort of connection with your clients will build loyalty and strengthen your brand.

Secondly, a blog is a great way to spread information. Many people read blogs and their very nature makes them easy to share. A blog post about a new development in your organization can be emailed, linked to, shared via social media and promoted on social news sites such as Digg and Reddit. You don’t need to call a press conference to provide some information to your clients.

And the best part is that the information will reach your audience unfiltered. You can write exactly what you want to write and not have to worry about the media distorting your message or your story being changed by word of mouth. There is no “broken telephone” with blogs. Every person that reads the blog will read the exact same message.

Blogs are also great search optimization tools. Google and other major search engines love frequently updated content and there is no better way to add this content to your site than through a blog. You can blog about your industry and add keywords to your text. This will make you much more likely to show up for certain search terms.

Finally, having a well written, frequently updated blog is a great way to gain loyal customers. If what you are writing is interesting and informative, people will return to your blog on a regular basis. They will read your website just like they read the newspaper. These loyal visitors will be much more likely to become repeat customers.

Blogs are very important for businesses of all sizes. They serve as a promotional tool, they build customer loyalty and they increase your client base. If you want your business to grow and prosper, you should consider adding a blog. Remember though, having a rarely-updated blog is almost as bad as not having one. If you decide to start a blog, spend some time on it and develop it properly. It will pay off in the long run.

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