Local Online Advertising

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Michael Kern

Local Pay-Per-Click Advertising With Google Adwords

Pay Per Click is a great way to advertise in your local area. It puts your company, and advertising message on the top of the search engines immediately. No waiting like with organic advertising.

Customers searching for your products and services will have instant access to your company message right at the top of the search engine results pages, or next to relevant content in the local online newspaper.

Geo-Targeting Example

If you only want your ads to be seen by people who are searching from within a 2 mile radius from the North End of Boston, your campaign can be structured this way. You determine what neighborhoods have access to your message, and which don’t.

There are Two Ways to Set Up a “Local” PPC Campaign

  1. Determine a geographical area at the campaign level, so people outside your target zone will never see your ads, so they can’t waste your money.
  2. Run a national campaign but only use keywords with local modifiers. EXAMPLE: If you are a dentist in Boston Massachusetts add keywords near your practice; boston dentist, dentist boston, dentist boston ma, dentist in boston, dentist near boston etc…(You do not need to capitalize keywords)

When you begin to add all the towns around your area, you may end up with a keyword list of 500-1000 words and phrases. Setting up an account and optimizing it with hundreds or thousands of long tail keywords, spread across many campaigns, with many ads, in multiple ad groups is more work than most PPC management companies ever do.

Search Engine Optimization For Local Businesses

Optimizing Webpages for Local Search

Optimizing a web page for local search, means being careful to include geographical identifiers in your web page content. If your a boston dentist, make sure you have these keywords in your content. Also include synonyms for your keywords and rearrange them.

Local Optimization Tips

  1. Be sure to use keywords naturally in your content, do not stuff keywords onto a page. But, do make sure they are also in your; Title, H-tags, and URL if possible.
  2. Include your physical location on every page of your companies website.
  3. Link to Your Google Maps page.

Local Town Directories

Most cities across the United States have a local town directory, or some sort of county directory. I would not pay for placement in these resources, but when you can get a link to your website, and some free local publicity and traffic, why not?

Press Releases

Issuing a Well Written Timely Press Release Is A Great Way to Promote New Local Services

Alerting the local media when your company is offering a promotion, or is helping a local charity, is a great way to promote your business in the community and build a little brand awareness.

Adding geographical keywords to your press release will help it to get picked up by local news companies, and properly indexed in the search engines. Always be sure add your address, and cover; who, what, why, and when.

Press releases have a chance to go viral, meaning, if your story is good enough it will be seen by many, who pass it along to many more, the story grows exponentially. When its all done and said you may have a great local reputation, Brand awareness, and tons of links all over the web that routinely direct traffic to your humble little website. Free-Press-Release.com is a great site, I recommend going for the 1 dollar upgrade so you can ad a link.

The Best Free Lunch On The Internet For Local Search

directory and press release example

Click Image For Larger View

Be sure to claim your free business listing at Google Places, most businesses on the top of the search engines are listed in their free directory. The United States most heavily trafficked search engine is Google, they own like 80% of all search traffic. Did I mention it is free?

Other Major Directories

Bing Local  and Yahoo Local are also worth mentioning as well as Local.com, Yelp, Merchant Circle and Whofish. All these directories are free at this time. Of course they all offer upgraded services, but I have tried them and did not find them worth the expense.

These are the places your neighbors are searching for local products and services, you have probably been on one of these sites your-self in the past.

Video Tagged With Local Modifiers & Keywords

A simple little video hosted on your own  YouTube channel is an extremely powerful way to promote your location, services and or products. Be sure to have keywords + town and state in the title, description as well as the tags section. Most new cell phones can capture the video, and the YouTube account is of course free to set-up.

So there you have it, many ways to advertise in your local town and surrounding area. For more tips and advice follow me on twitter @Inform_Local.

Written by Michael Kern

Posted in Small Business Advertising | Tagged geographical area, local search, optimization tips, pay per click advertising, search engine optimization | Comments Off

All You Need Is A Website – Baloney -BS

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Michael Kern

Web hosting companies are advertising on television a lot more lately. This is a sure sign I am watching way to much boob-tube. But, the latest commercial I saw from 1and1.com said “All you need is a website and you will be found everywhere”. What a complete load of crap!

Most online marketers know that a website is just like a tv commercial that never gets aired. I maybe actually stealing that line from someone. hmm, anyway, unless you optimize your website some, or do something to market your website, online or off, it is exactly like a tv commercial that never plays. Looks good, sells nothing.

Google has teamed up with Intuit and other partners, they are going through the states offering all business a free website, hosting and domain name for one year. See examples here: http://www.newyorkgetonline.com/ and http://www.ohiogetonline.com/, which is where I got / stole the idea for http://informlocal.com/blog/lowell-get-online/, try not to notice similar graphics.

I looked over the Intuit website builder software and found it lacking. Google want them to sell AdWords to all the new sign ups. The one difference between 1and1.com and the deal from Google is, Google is offering free events where they train people on how to market there websites *Cough – with Google products.

A website is a great place to begin, but if you pay for one without a further marketing plan and budget, I would probably have to say to save your money! What an outrageous claim from 1and1 though.

You don’t have to take my word for how outrageous a claim it is, just ask anyone who has actively tried to get on the first page of the search engines, never mind the top spot on the page. I guess 1and1.com could use a fresh course on business ethics. Hey, if it weren’t for them though, what would I write about? Probably Fear Factor or House (these are television shows for the uninitiated).

Written by Michael Kern

Posted in Small Business Advertising | Tagged business ethics, free website, tv commercial, web hosting companies | Comments Off

Lead Generation Review Of Service Magic

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Service Magic – Lead Generation Review

The most popular lead generation site for contractors, and by far the most successful is Service Magic. They advertise on the search engines using Google’s Adwords pay per click program. They also use the Adwords program to advertise on millions of other web sites via content networks. Service Magic only requires Contractors to prove the minimum of insurance to be listed in their directory, they do not look at any past work, check references, or anything else.

Why should they make it tough for contractors to sign up? Every time Service Magic gets an inquiry from a homeowner, they sell the lead to three contractors for between $12 and $40.00 each. Some contractors accuse them of selling leads to more than just three other contractors, but Service Magic says these claims are not true. Lead generation sites buy traffic from the search engines, and resell it for more, a form of keyword arbitrage.

Why Homeowners Should Not Use Service Magic

First and foremost they offer very little value for the cost. Of course Service Magic does not charge homeowners for their services, the cost that I am referring to is this; Service Magic is driving up the cost of advertising by competing with contractors for leads. This raises the cost of doing business, which gets passed onto the homeowners.

Why Contractors Should Not Use Service Magic

Regardless of what was already mentioned in the above paragraph, there are a few other reasons not to use them. 1, You can generate leads cheaper by using a good online marketing company. 2, Once you stop paying them, all your reviews are deleted, and you get no more leads, if you had been investing all that money you spent with them on your own online advertising campaign, you would have residual leads for years to come, and all reviews would be posted on sites that Service Magic could not delete. 3, and maybe most importantly, Google does not like keyword arbitrage, and will likely punish them before to long. Let’s face it, Google would make more money if Service Magic was not around. Business 101, do not put all your eggs in one basket! Where will you be if Service Magic goes down?

Why Google Should Not Allow Lead Generation Companies Like Service Magic To Advertise With Adwords.

Without lead generation sites, contractors would have to find alternatives to acquire leads. This would mean more business for Google, and  Google has been hot and heavy moving into local search promotion over the last year, cutting this avenue would boost their bottom line.

Lets be honest, lead generation site are completely unnecessary, and are the sickest form of advertising. Sites like Service Magic, Elocal, Networx all create directories of contractors, contractors they find on the search engines, then they sell leads to them, leads they find on the search engines.

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged advertising campaign, lead generation, marketing company, review, service magic | Comments Off

SEMRush Review

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

SEMRush is an awesome keyword tool that will help you quickly and intelligently find profitable keywords that Google’s keyword tool just can’t do. Well Google could do what ever it wanted if you asked me, so the previous sentence should say; Google’s keyword tool “won’t” do.

All the reviews I read basically tell you the same things SEMRush themselves say on their website, that they have a huge data base, and they add new keywords all the time, bla bla bla… Not helpful!

What you need to know is that with SEMRush you can enter “any” domain name, like that of your competition, and see what keywords they are bidding on in Google’s Adwords. Not just what keywords, but how often they get clicked, and how much they actually spend on each keyword.

Whatever domain name you enter, SEMRush will scan the keywords in the Adwords campaign, and give you a list of who your competitors are, and what keywords they are bidding on, what they spend…

This is the most insightful keyword tool for SEM/PPC there is on the market. If you run your own marketing, you can scrape buy using some common sense and Google’s keyword tool, But if you are running or managing someone else’s PPC campaign, this is a must have tool.

SEMRush instantly lets you know the best keywords in your vertical and who your competition is. Obviously this is SEO gold as well.

Website builders/designers for years have neglected/omitted competitive keyword analysis from their work, this one tool gives instant access to crucial marketing data, giving any online marketer an insiders view and advantage in their business.

If you ever wanted more reliable data with regards to PPC campaign cost, or needed accurate data for a PPC campaign management proposal. This tool separates the professionals from the rest of the pack.

Follow this link below and sign up today, this only cost 60.00 a month, but, it’s FREE to try for two weeks, and you will make it back with increased traffic to your website or via less expensive paid search.

SEMRush.com. The new tool for Search Engine Marketing. US database 40 000 000 keywords. Learn everything about your competitors!

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged keyword analysis, keyword tool | Comments Off

Google Boost is Adwords for Dummies

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Google is Rolling out Boost for Select Categories and only in Select Cities for Now!

There is not a whole lot of information available about Google’s new advertising product, Google Boost. It appears it is a cross between AdWords and Google Places. AdWords has allowed you to “add-in” an address or phone number when relevant for quite a while.

But now you will not need to set up an Adwords account, it seems you only need pick a category, and an area, and Google handles the rest. No bidding for keywords, no setting of negative keywords, and no control basically, hence AdWords for dummies, you simply set a monthly budget and Google handles the rest.

The Ads appear in the usual place for sponsored ads, but resemble a Google Places / Maps Ads. The advertiser’s phone number and address are displayed, and if the ad is clicked, the would-be customer is directed to your Google Places /Maps Page. So having a places page is a prerequisite (and free to set up).

“Don’t call that dog lifesaver – Call him shithead” -Movie Quote “The Jerk” – Starring Steve Martin

I say don’t call that advertising program Google Boost – Call it AdWords for Dummies.

I know Google Boost is available in Massachusetts, because in my Google Places Management area, under one of the listings I manage, a new link appeared “Google Boost”. For a cleaning company in Boston. It is not available for any other business listed in my account.

It makes sense to me that Google Boost is not available in all cities, or in all categories, because, they are only filling in ads were people do not advertise with AdWords.

AdWords advertisers should not have to compete with Google Boost Advertisers. People have been trying to hire Google for years to run their AdWords  Campaigns. And now they actually can with Google Boost. I don’t care how you slice it, there is a definite conflict of interest. Google has access to better information and analytic data than any of us do.

C’mon man

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged advertiser, adwords, boston, google, massachusetts, new advertising | Comments Off

Google Engage Review

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Google Engage is a relatively new product offered by Google. It is aimed at small marketing online companies. After signing up for the program and watching 3 videos, Google will give you 20 coupons worth 100.00 (unlimited really), marketing materials, and support to promote their AdWords Pay Per Click Program.

The coupons are only good for new AdWords subscribers, or accounts less than 14 days old (one per customer).

Google recently paid for me, and 26 other Google Engage partners to fly out and visit them in sunny Mountain View California, to participate in a “Workshop”, which was really more of a focus group as the promise of training turned out to be pretty thin, and it seemed like Google was looking for feedback from us.

The experience was good and I did learn quite a bit, but mostly from other attendees as is usually the case when you do conferences, work-groups, and conventions.

As an AdWords manager I do not find the Google Engage program helpful at this point. I need help acquiring new leads, and help “re-engaging people who have tried AdWords and found it wanting.

The only teeth this program has are the 100.00 coupons which are not enough to help potential clients cross the chasm and become customers of AdWords, or of mine for that matter.

Here the rub, I want to get paid by people to set up and manage their AdWords accounts. Google is willing to set up the campaigns for free, but that takes money out of my pocket. People do not care about one hundred dollars of free AdWords spend when I am charging 300.00 to set up their account (really small businesses – like contractors). To them, their spending 300.00 for 100.00 worth of advertising- So whats free about that?

Now suppose I go out and find potential new AdWords clients, give them the coupon and have them call Google to set up their new campaign. What does this do for my company? I  spend my time and money finding a customer for Google whom is not paying me for the work. They want to empower the customer to manage their own campaign, they certainly do not set up the campaign for them and then say, “hey, call the nice guy who gave you the coupon to manage your AdWords account”.

AdWords Pay Per Click program is seen as risky by small businesses, they do not know how much a new customer will cost them in ad spend. A return on investment seems unlikely. As a potential AdWords customer you have to account for; the cost of clicks, campaign set-up, and the cost of AdWords management fees.

Compare Engage to Groupon

Groupon clients know the exact amount of risk /exposure they have, they know exactly how much a new customer will cost, it’s fixed and requires no out of pocket expense. This product has a great concept that eases a new advertiser into the market.

Google Engage has a better product in my opinion because you can acquire new customers without giving away the cash register. I give a client a $100.00 coupon with a phone number to Google Support, which will set up their entire account, and small businesses get new customers for free via search engines, and can then see the cost of a new customer (5 clicks @ $2.00 each cost $10.00 = 1 customer with average spend of 100.00, = $90.00 profit) .

Marketing Google Engage Via Marketing Agencies is Silly Without Incentives

So where does that leave me, the marketing agency? Now I have to explain to the customer that Google only sets up the account, that “GOOGLE” will not do as good a job as I will (which is defiantly true), that they need me to optimize, manage and monitor their campaign for them? Which is also true!

It is irresponsible to advice people to manage their own accounts. Customers are likely to loose more money learning the ropes than paying for management service, unless they have 6 months to study the software.

For more reviews follow me on Twitter @Inform_Local

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged adwords, engage, google, google engage, ppc, sem | Comments Off

Facebook Vs Google – Where To Spend Your Advertising Dollars?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Google and Facebook both offer CPC (cost per click), and CPM (cost per thousand impressions) based advertising programs. The CPC model is pretty straight forward, if someone clicks on your ad you are charged a fee. With CPM you are charged each time your ad is viewed.

Google’s content network includes millions of websites, each web page on Google’s content network has an overall theme or topic. Some pages have articles, while others are blogs, or offer information and how to tips. If you sell fishing lures, you can choose to advertise on just pages about fishing, or just fishing tackle, etc.

Google has an awesome database of individual personae information, and can deliver ads just to people who have expressed a interest in what you sell.

Facebook may have an even better collection of personae data than Google, with everyone running around saying what they “like”.

I would have to say both Google and Facebook are tied for the CPM advertising venue. I believe CPM advertising is best left to large companies trying to build a brand either locally or nationally.

Google is the most popular search engine, used close to 80% by people in the United States alone. So advertising on Google’s search engine alone will get you awesome exposure.

People use Google to research buying decisions, search for answers, and Facebook to keep in touch with friends, or customers.

Ads on Facebook are more like TV commercials, they are interrupting what you do for entertainment. Ads on Google offer solutions to questions people want an answers to.

Search advertising offers the best return on investment for small and large businesses alike.

If I were growing a brand, I would use both Google and Facebook, If I were selling a service or product, I would use Google 90% of the time.

Before the internet, if you needed an attorney, a restaurant, local hotel, etc, you would pick up a yellow pages, or call information, today directory assistance will costs 1.50 per call. People use Google places, formally Google Maps, for directory assistance now, quite often right on their cell phones.

The overwhelming winner in my humble opinion, and absolute best choice for your advertising dollars is Google Search.

Written by Michael Kern of Inform Local, A Lowell Internet Marketing Company. 978-973-6048 [http://informlocal.com/] SEO Massachusetts

 

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged awesome database, content network, cpm advertising, entertainment ads, facebook, google, return on investment, search advertising | Comments Off

SEO XRay Tool Review

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Review of SEO X-ray Tool

SEO XRay Tool provides instant analysis of key website components. See instantly while visiting any web page: title tag, meta-description, meta-keywords, with links to whois, and Blekko for link counts and information. SEO X-ray is part of the SEOBook.com Toolbar.

 

Download here: SEO Toolbar, Make sure you already have the Firefox browser.

While viewing a website, simply hit the SEO x-ray button seo xray button and a window will pop up providing an instant view of the page title, keyword meta data, and page description meta data in a pop up box. In the box will also be three links to Blekko.com that will provide instant count of inbound links to the domain and lots of other SEO data. Outside the box the page will show all H-tag elements. Screenshot example below captured at elocalroofers.com
 seo x-ray screen shot example of how tool works

What a great way to get instant analysis of a site! You get a quick link count for your own site, or your competitors. Discover who is linking to your competitors. It does get a little glitchy with java script elements, but all you have to do, is click and drag the box away from the java script elements that interfere with display.

Quick Keyword Competition Analysis

Do a Google search for the keywords you want, visit the top 5 or so sites, and run SEO X-Ray, you will quickly learn which keywords your top competitors are targeting.

Don’t worry about mal-ware or spy-ware, there is none of that in the download, this site is run by “Aaron Wall”, a well know SEO GURU, you have to register to get a username and password. Take advantage of the free tools SEOBook has to offer, and consider some of the paid features, I have found them worth the investment.

If your not already using the Firefox browser your gonna love it! If your not using SEO X-Ray, you will love it too. If you already have the Firefox browser you may need to update it to version 9.

Download Spread Firefox Affiliate Button, and SEO XRay for Firefox Browser here

I should have probably reviewed the SEO toolbar instead of just the SEO X-ray portion, as it is loaded with SEO goodies like Keyword tools and page rank checker just to mention two. This is a must have tool for anyone looking to market a website.

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Tagged competition analysis, firefox plugin, instant analysis, meta data, ppc tool, seo xray, webpage analysis tool | Comments Off

11 Pay Per Click Search Marketing Mistakes

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Pay Per Click Mistakes In Order Of Importance

# 11 Letting Ads Run During Hours You Do Not Answer The Phone.

This one almost didn’t make the list, but if you sell services, and are not running ads to build your brand, or are on a limited budget, this is probably a strategy you should avoid.

# 10 Not Using Longtail Keywords

Most people think long tail means using many words in the phrase, like three or more words, which is usually the case, but really it means finding phrases or a word with little or no competition. You will pay very little for these clicks, and if you can put enough of them together, you will run a very successful PPC campaign.

# 9 Not Using Keywords People Are Typing In Your Ad Copy, On Your Web Page, Or At Least Your Web Page Title Tag.

This is about quality score and click through rates, people with low quality scores pay more for clicks. People are more likely to click an ad that has the keyword they typed in the ad copy, and are more likely to hang around reading your web page if it looks like they landed in the right place, hence more likely to become a customer.

# 8 Paying To Much For Select Keywords

Some keywords convert better than others, and in a need to be in the number one slot on Google, companies keep upping their max cost per click till they are spending way to much. But hey if you want to crush the little companies with small ad budgets and starve them out of your market, bid your ass off. But if your really trying max your budget, find some lower hanging fruit.

# 7 Using Terms That Are To Broad

You can never really delete anything from AdWords, I have seen more than one account where people just through away there money. Example: “A Home Builder using the word {house} as a keyword. His ads were coming up for doll house, dog house, house paint, you name it.

# 6 Using Only Broad Match

I like to use some broad match with new campaigns to find out what people are actually looking for, then I set up with mostly phrase match and exact match, I like to use the new broad modified search using the + symbol. But if your not using mostly phrase and exact your probably wasting money.

# 5 Not Sorting Keywords Into Specific Campaigns

As mentioned earlier, you need keyword themes represented by specific ads and landing pages on your website.

# 4 Sending People To A Buy It Now Landing Page When The Keyword They Typed In Was Not Far Enough Down The Buying Cycle

Most people are looking for information when they search, once they know what they want they will usually search for it by model number, with the exact size or color. Informational keywords need to bring people to pages that create the desire to buy, before slamming them into a buy it or bounce choice. To many people are trying to close the sale to early.

# 3 Failing To Set Geographical Location

If your in a service business like a roofer, with a set service area, you do not want people from outside your service area clicking on your ads, wasting your money. However some people from out of state, and out of your area are looking for roofers in your area. Here is what you do; set one campaign for local search, say a radius that covers an extra 5 miles around your service zone, then set up a national campaign and only use keywords with town and state modifiers. Example: for national {Massachusetts Roofers}.

# 2 Not Using Negative Match Keywords

This is a very important issue unless you enjoy wasting money. I took over a tourism PPC campaign for a state that wanted to increase tourism to a section of there state. I won’t say which state I worked for, but the area was called “Newport Beach”, When I investigated their campaign, I found three quarters of their ad budget was being spent on clicks from people looking for Newport Beach in other states. There are many Newport Beaches in the United States. By adding the other states as negative keywords, I was able to reduce money wasted in this account, and spend the money saved on better keywords.

#1 PPC Mistake: Failing To Monitor How Your Campaigns Are Doing, By Monitoring Your Conversion Rates And Tracking ROI (return on investment)

This is one of the most over-looked aspects of running an AdWord Campaign, mainly because it involves some programing knowledge. Without the ability to monitor success, how will you know if your succeeding, or where you could improve. Without the information needed to make good decisions, many will quit, and the main problem with this is they become convinced AdWords doesn’t work!

Posted in PPC Tips & Reviews | Comments Off

Groupon Review

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Michael Kern

Groupon – Whofish and other Coupon Companies

The marketing strategy offered by Groupon is an old idea with several clever new twists. Groupon reminds me of the old coupon books restaurants used to put out. They would contact all the Boston area restaurants for example and charge them to advertise in their coupon books. People would buy these books for short money, and take advantage of all the cool super saver coupons.

Cool New Twists

  1. Customers do not have to but the coupon book! (pretty sweet)
  2. No upfront cost to the business (pay for performance / businesses love this model)
  3. Affiliates and Social Networks make distribution and promotion almost viral.

Difference Between Whofish & Groupon

Groupon is utilizing affiliates and is involved in one business, whereas Whofish’s daily catch is only a part of what they do. Groupon has a clear powerful marketing model, with a super clean cool looking website, loaded with easy to follow informational videos to get started.

Who Should Use Groupon

Everyone! I am afraid though, that Groupon will not be interested in business services and products with little demand, and not everyone will have the same opportunities.

It’s clear for now that they are interested in promoting restaurants with new age funky marketing plans.

Who Does Not Need Groupon

Anyone who can not handle new customers. If you can get full price for your products and services, why sell them at a discounted price?

Considerations

What is the life cycle of one of your customers? Whats a new customer really worth? You need to know this before you end up with 2500 coupons out there that could potentially cost you profits.

Skeptics might have a problem with giving away part of the register to gain new clients, but as business owners know, it is less expensive to keep a customer that to attract a new one.

Posted in Small Business Advertising | Tagged business owners, business services, groupon review, marketing strategy, Small Business Marketing | Leave a comment