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The bottom line with any website?s marketing campaign is to increase traffic to ultimately drive more sales.? Google Adwords give web marketers the chance to tap into a true marketing juggernaut that presents a lot of opportunity.
Within Google, there are approximately 5.9 billion searches per day.? Adwords can help draw interest to your site from potential customers who are not only interested in the products you are offering, but they are generally qualified buyers as well.? Google Adwords is an advertising system in which advertisers bid on certain keywords in order for their ?clickable? ads to appear within search results.
So why do we care?? I was a guest presenter for a Nexternal webinar last week that focused on the importance of Adwords and what it can bring your business.? The advantages of an Adword campaign are numerous and some of the most important reasons why include:
? ? ? ??* You pay only when someone clicks on your link
? ? ? ? * You can control your own budget
? ? ? ? * You have access to extensive reporting
? ? ? ? * You learn more about your business
So now, if you?ve decided that you?d like to give Adwords a try, I have outlined a number of helpful tips that will help your website succeed.? Once you?ve created an account, you?ll be able to access the system and can follow along with these tips.
1) Start With ?Exact Matching?
* Broad Match = misspellings, synonyms, variations of your keyword(s)
* Broad+Match+Modifier = not synonyms, in any order
* ?Phrase Match? = your keyword(s) with words in front and back
* ?Exact Match? = your exact keyword(s)
* Negative Match = searches without your keyword(s) term
** Why is ?exact matching? important?
* You pay only for clicks on the keywords that you desire
* Higher click-through-rates (better targeting)
* Reduces wasted spend
* Allows for controlled expansion of keyword phrase
?2) Use Shopping Campaigns
** Where can you create a shopping campaign?
From the ?campaign? tab, simply click on ?shopping? to start your campaign.
** Why are shopping campaigns important?
* Allows for more control than Product Listing Ads
* You can sort and bid by Category
* Typically lower cost-per-click than normal search campaign
* Better return on investment
3) Bid On Your Own Brand
** Why is bidding on your own brand important?
* Very inexpensive click cost
* Two links are better than one
* Control your messaging
* Fight off competition
** Suggestions:
–> Create a separate branded campaign
–> Control budgeting and reporting
4) View ?All? Search Terms to Find Negative Keywords
** Why is viewing ?all? search terms important?
* If you don?t use it, you may be bidding on undesirable keywords
* Budget is wasted on bad keywords
* Improve the efficiency of your spend
** Where is it found?
You can find ?view all? is located in the Keywords tab, by clicking the ?details? tab and then clicking on ?search terms – all?.? This makes all keywords viewable, even if they are relevant or not.
Here is an example of ?view all search term.?? You can see the keywords that match exactly as well as others with little relevance:
5) Use Sitelinks
?
** Why are sitelinks important?
* Your ad gets more real estate and exposure
* Ads with sitelinks have a 30% higher click-through-rate
* Ability to test different wording and calls to action
** Where do I implement sitelinks?
* Ad extensions tab
* Either the Campaign or Ad Group level
While many businesses and online stores have Adwords campaigns, are they truly effective?? Are they utilizing the correct strategy?? In an ultra-competitive marketplace like the Internet, creating an effective Google Adwords campaign is crucial to your site?s success.? Following tips and recommendations like the ones provided will help to drive traffic to your site and influence your potential customers, ultimately improving conversions and sales.
Content marketing.? We hear it more and more, every day.
Smart marketers understand that traditional marketing is becoming less and less effective by the minute, but what exactly is content marketing?
The main purpose of content marketing is to not only attract customers and engage a clearly defined target audience but to retain them as well.? This is achieved by consistently creating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior (Content Marketing Institute).? Changing or enhancing consumer behavior basically means to drive profitable customer action.
So how do you drive profitable customer action or call customers to action with this type of marketing?? While no one has it down to an exact science just yet, what has been successful for many companies, both small and large, has been communication with customers and prospects openly and honestly without selling.? It sounds funny, but it works.? Consumers have been approached, from a marketing standpoint anyway, the same way for years.? They know and understand the process well.
Instead of simply pitching products, content marketing seeks to deliver information to the consumer which is informative and engaging, ultimately making the consumer more intelligent.? The bare essence of a strategy like this is that if sellers and businesses can deliver consistent and truly valuable information to consumers, they will be rewarded by consumers with their business and loyalty.? For Ecommerce websites, this concept is extremely important.
According to Roper Public Affairs, 80% of business decision makers prefer to learn about a company and their products in a series of articles versus an advertisement.? ?70% say that overall, content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company and 60% say that content and information about the company helps them make better product decisions? (Content Marketing Institute).? The proof is right there: people want to know more about what they are buying and who they are buying from.
Content Marketing Examples
The age-old internet standard, ?content is king? truly applies in this digital day and age.? There are many ways to engage an audience, while educating them on your goods and services and hopefully turning them into not only customers, but repeat customers.? Here are a few very simple content marketing ideas with which you can inform your audience about your site and its products:
* Blogs
* Webcasts/Podcasts
* Newsletters
*?White Papers
* Videos
* Social Media
You may want to consider running an informative ?series? which examines at greater depth a particular model or item that is new or popular in separate installments.? This will keep consumers tuning in to learn the latest.? In addition to keeping your content fresh, engaging, and informative, make sure that you actively participate in discussions by asking questions and urging your audience to get involved in the conversation.? Think about creating polls or areas for feedback where anyone can get involved.
The bottom line is simple: it?s ok to be creative and expand upon conventional marketing techniques.? Besides, old-school, traditional practices just aren?t as effective as they used to be.? Consumers are much wiser to the marketing practices of old.? Not only that, search engines are really focusing on high-quality, relevant content and ranking websites accordingly.? Content marketing isn?t just the future; it?s here now.
Our last couple of blogs have focused on the changing landscape of SEO.? While SEO isn?t dead per se, it has made a huge shift towards a more semantic focus.? But don?t let that fool you, keywords are still important basics as are metatags and content.? Included within the realm of metatags are title tags.
Title tags and page titles are crucial to any site and especially Ecommerce sites and according to the search experts at?Moz, ?35 out of 37 ?influential thought leaders? in the SEO community thought that keyword usage in the title tag was the most important place to use keywords to achieve high rankings.?? There are more than a few ideas regarding the strategy behind using them, but some, more than others, are recommended by most SEO professionals.
Here are my ?8 Title Tag Optimization Tips for Ecommerce Success? to help organize and strategize your Ecommerce site?s marketing/SEO campaign:
1)????? Your homepage title should use your two most important keywords.? I prefer to limit any given page to focus on two keywords (excluding the site name/title) even though some people like to use 3 or 4.? I think it starts to look spammy .? Your homepage optimization is really important to tell the engines what your site is going to focus on and you definitely need to have the strongest keywords as titles on this page.
2)????? Use no more than two keywords for category pages.? Using two keywords will really start to narrow down the page?s attention.? It?s ok to use a single keyword (like the category name if you have optimized that) surrounded by calls to action if it makes sense for that category.? ?Whether you use 2 keywords or not, you will need to make sure that the keywords are used throughout those pages (in H tags, content, etc.).
3)????? Category keywords should be plural.? Since there are typically more than one product in a category, it makes more sense to have the category keywords be plural.
4)????? Use no more than two keywords for product pages.? This way, the value of the keyword(s) can be focused squarely on the product itself, not diluted through other less-relevant and less important keywords.? Be sure to customize the product page titles.? If your Ecommerce software allows dynamic insertion, use it.? For example, if you can tell the system to use specific elements of the product in the title, try that.? You can use product names, manufacturer, and SKU.? They are all valuable.?? If you don?t have a lot of products and your software allows for custom title writing, be sure to write custom titles.
5)????? Product page keywords should be singular.? Since you are usually featuring a single product on the detail product page, you should use the singular of the keyword.? This provides you the ability to optimize for both plural (on categories) and singular keywords which are both important for attracting traffic.
6)????? Title length is about pixel width not character count.? Most SEO experts agree that limiting your title tags to a maximum of 70 characters (including spaces) is probably the best practice.? However, search engines like Google are now placing a lot more emphasis on?pixel width?of a title tag vs. a simple character count.? Basically, this means that while you may be able to ?go over? the recommended 70 characters by having narrower characters (i.e. ?i? and ?l?), if you use wider letters (i.e. ?m? and ?w?), you may go over the max width restriction with fewer than 70 characters.
7)????? Use the most important keyword in the beginning of the title tag.? The beginning of the title has more weight than the end so be sure to put your more important keywords in the fron if you are using more than one.
8)????? Format your title tags for clicks as well as relevance.? This plays a bit on the marketing side of things, and can apply to your category and product pages.? The formatting of a title I like to use is ?keyword phrase 1 ? (call to action or benefit using keyword phrase 2 and 3 if possible).?? For example: ?Hospital Towels ? Wholesale Medical Towels On Sale?
One last note: Google, Yahoo, and Bing search result titles are pulled from your title tags.? With Google, it has become a bit more difficult to gauge exactly what they will decide to display.? Many people have noticed recently that the search engine has displayed a condensed version of a site?s title tags or even a different tag altogether.? Trying to understand or figure out how and why Google is doing this is an exercise in futility.? Just look for high-quality keywords and keep optimizing your site and it?s titles!
The world of search engine optimization is never stagnant.??Web sites need constant attention and updating in order to perform well in search engines while maintaining the attention your audience.??Think of a car that drives and keeps driving.??At some point, you will need to re-fuel by adding gas in order for it to keep going.??Of course, re-fueling is an ongoing process that we are all very familiar with (especially with the price of gas!).??The same can be said for your website.? If you approach things with a “set it and forget it” mentality, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Optimizing?doesn?t mean to keep changing your keywords and technical structure often (unless they need serious improvement), it simply means that optimization is an ongoing process.??If you add products to your Ecommerce site for example, make sure they go through a strict optimization process before or when they are added (i.e. coptimized titles, meta descriptions, seo-friendly URLs, and new content).
Changing keywords as well as the technical structure of a web site is generally frowned upon as search engines tend to rank websites that have an established history and consistency much higher than others that don?t.? Again, this certainly doesn?t mean you should ever take the ?set it and forget it? approach.
The bottom line, however, is that you shouldn?t change any of the targeted keywords or your site?s structure (web design, etc.) if it?s not?really?necessary to do so.
You should always focus on adding to your website, not taking away.
Search engines are increasingly looking for and ranking websites that are ?well-rounded? and relevant with high visibility throughout multiple channels.??There are a number of ways your site can achieve this.
You can create additional pages of content in your site describing a product or certain product or products in detail.??Within your site, you can also host a blog and make it interactive with links to other similar blogs.??Think about writing articles and press releases about your website and its products and submitting them to other websites as well.??Social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest allow users to ?like? and ?follow? your website while creating backlinks to it and boosting relevance.
Simply put, generating original content is very important and should be part of your ongoing business.??Adding information to products, writing articles, blog posts, and using social media are all great ways to not only create links but to increase your site?s relevancy.??Creating fresh and new content can generate a bit of a buzz around the web and it never hurts to create a little awareness about your site or something new or exciting about it.
If you continue to optimize, you will continue to improve your search engine results and generate more traffic.
As the great Michael McDonald sang, ?I Keep Forgettin? We Are Not In Love Anymore, I Keep Forgettin? Things Will Never Be The Same.? ?This soulfully explains what my relationship with SEO has become.? I have been optimizing websites since 1997 and over the past year, we have seen the most significant changes to the industry that I can remember.? I used to be in love with SEO but the reality is that it will never be the same again.? They (Google, Bing, etc.) made it very easy to love them in the past.? We were able to look good very easily, knowing the ?secrets? of how to rank websites.? There really were no secrets but as SEOs we liked to believe there were.? There were simply tactics that were either designed to make your site more attractive to the engines or if you used ?black hat? techniques, you used tactics that broke rules in order to compete.
In the late 90?s and early 2000?s, marketers could simply register a domain name with a keyword and make it to the top of the rankings.? In fact, we could register 10 keyword rich domains and fill up a lot of the first page. Times were good.? We were in love with SEO and we made a lot of money doing it.
Then in the mid 2000?s, link building became the secret of success.? While everyone began to pay for links and see great results, the engines caught on and made it clear that buying links was not acceptable.? While things once again changed, I was still in love with SEO.? We just had to figure out ways that did not involve paying for links and we had to make sure the links were relative and made sense to the visitors.
Over the last few years, links and link acquisition tactics had become more scrutinized.? Social media emerged and became an integral part of ranking factors, building links, and distributing content.? While I don?t consider myself a big social media guy, I was still in love with SEO.? I appreciated the changes and understood the game always changes.
Then we enter the last year and half.? Google pushes multiple updates and begins a huge shift toward semantic search.? This is where I realized that we were not in love anymore.? Things will never be the same.? While I know Google doesn?t owe me anything, a one-sided relationship simply doesn?t feel very good.? Maybe we can be ?friends with benefits??? ?I had to come to terms with the fact that the SEO industry is not what it used to be.? I have the option of breaking up and leaving, or staying and adapting to the changes.? The truth is, I don?t want to leave.
So I did what I have been doing for over 16 years?I decided to adapt to the changes.? I also realized I was able to fall in love again, but not with SEO.? My new love is semantic markup.? It is an incredible world of new opportunities, both exciting and overwhelming.? I created a new division of my company called Rich Snippets (www.richsnippets.com) to focus on this area.? It feels good to love again.
We all know that content is king. ?Even more so now that there are so many different channels that you can utilize to get your Ecommerce name and your products out there. ?Here are a few non-traditional ways that you can increase awareness of your brand and drive traffic to your site, all by using relevant content:
1) Write and submit?SEO-friendly Press Releases. ?Whether you do it yourself, use a service, or have a professional write it, consider using some keywords and creating keyword anchor text links in the release. You?ll only want to include 2 or 3 links at most. ?It?s a good way to build relevant backlinks to your site when the release is published on other websites.
2) Get customer reviews for your products. ?Solicit your customers for feedback and comments if they are not posting it themselves. It usually takes a little pushing in emails or phone calls. ?There are 3rd party services that will give you product reviews and these are good for user experience but not for the engines. ?Numerous sites share the reviews so the products reviews are not ?original? content on your site.
3) Write ?editor? comments on product detail pages. ?Consider writing your own personal info about the product. While your business may not be allowed to personally recommend or condemn the product, you should be able to write information that you feel is relative.
4) Submit articles to social bookmarking sites. ?While submitting alone may not get your article seen by too many users, it still can create a link back to your site. ?Do enough good submissions and people will begin to trust you and the articles will gain some traction.
5) Write Guest Blogs. ?Blog owners will often welcome additional content to their site. ?Contact some blog owners with sites relative to your products and ask them if you can write an informational article to be included on their site. ?If they don?t offer for free, it can even sometimes be worth paying to have the article published if they have a big enough audience and traffic.
6) Participate in related discussion forums. ?If your industry has any kind of community around it, try participating in forums or community groups frequently. ?Answer questions as an expert and become an authority. Once you are a trusted member, communities often then let you put a link to your website in your signature file.
Recent search engine algorithm updates have caused a stir in the SEO world, especially as they apply to keywords in general. ?It would seem that Google, Bing, and Yahoo are placing quite a bit less emphasis on keywords alone, preferring to rank sites that are more relevant to user search queries, listing them in the search engine results pages (SERPs) according to their quality.
Does that mean that a keyword-rich site isn?t relevant anymore? ?Of course not! ?Should you give up on keywords? ?Nope! ?Should you abandon all hope when constructing your site?s category and product pages? ?No way! ?Don?t be intimidated by the recent updates. ?Keywords are still very important and still a huge ranking factor. ?In fact, when used properly, they are still the building blocks of a website.
A lot of the following ideas and recommendations for keywords work well on many types of websites, however, they work really well on Ecommerce sites and sites that sell lots of products:
* Be sure your homepage title tag (<title>) uses your 3 most important keywords (sometimes 2 plus your company or site name).
* Choose 3 keyword phrases to focus on per category page (sometimes 2 if it?s very focused), and use those in your title as well.
* Make your top keyword for each page the first word in your title tag (<title>) for all category pages.
* Customize your product page titles to include the actual product keyword.
* Format your titles for clicks as well as relevance (this is the ?call to action? part).
?* Use keyword-rich page names and create URLs that separate words with dashes (dashes are seen as spaces by search engines).
Of course, this is just the start of how to construct your website using keywords. ?It may be a bit tedious, but it?s definitely worth it. ?No matter what search engines tell you, keywords are still the backbone of a website and need to be utilized properly.
Whether you?re just starting out in the Ecommerce world or you?ve established yourself as a legit player, one thing you should always do is keep an eye on your competition. That doesn?t mean that you should mimick their every move, but if you notice that their website ranks higher than yours for similar keywords, browsing their website might help you understand why.
Try this: do a search in Google using:?site:www.yourdomain.com. This allows you to see what pages of your site are being indexed and how they look. ?The results should be keyword-rich and definitely include a call to action for users to click.
Do the same thing for your competitors by entering their site in Google search. ?Are their results optimized better than yours? ?Are they written better?
Granted, there are a few factors that you can?t really change about your website vs. your competition (like how old a site is), but virtually everything else is under your control. ?You owe it to your website and the future of your business to become the authority on your products and services.
A few basics: after researching your competition, make sure that each and every page on your site has the proper meta tags implemented. ?This means utilizing keywords that you have studied and adding them to detailed meta descriptions and creating title tags and page names with the right keywords. ?Also, you can never have too much good, descriptive content. ?Keep it fresh if possible, calling to action potential customers. ?Remember, you?re not trying to?match?your competition, you?re trying to?beat?them.
Following these simple steps will help your site start in the right direction. ?Next, you can think about diving into other important ranking factors like linking and using social media as a tool to drive more traffic to your site.
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Not all ecommerce traffic is created equally. We help drive targeted visitors to your ecommerce site through SEO, PPC, Shopping Engines, and other channels.
Semantic markup improves click through rates in the SERPs. Modifications to the user experience increase conversion rates on the site. Small changes improve the bottom line.
Content marketing and social media offer numerous opportunities to create awareness. However, you must have the right purpose and strategy, otherwise nobody will hear it.
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