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Online Marketing for Small Business

The Latest Trends in Web Analytic Software

by DigiMarketing on August 10, 2010

70% of Advertisers Are Looking for a Better Way of Measuring and Tracking Their Online Marketing Efforts

Omniture, an online marketing and web analytics company, released an in-depth report reviewing current online marketing tactics and measurement tools for blogs, user generated content (UGC), social media, and display advertising.  The purpose of the study focuses on consumer behavior given today’s overwhelming online advertising landscape, as well as how marketers can quantify their online marketing campaigns.  The study is packed with great insight on where consumer habits are trending. What’s most interesting and highly sought after by any online marketer is how to quantify these tactics and what the best analytics tools are for this.

Current Web Analytic Tools and Trends

While traditional forms of advertising i.e., brand, image, display, have been widely used online since the Internet’s inception, new measurement tools are being looked at to bridge the gap between impression and click through.

Here’s a snapshot of the article we found most intriguing:

“More than any other time in the history of the Web, marketers are measuring a variety of metrics. On average, they use six metrics. Click-throughs account for the highest usage at 80 percent, followed by impressions at 62 percent.

Direct response-oriented metrics are becoming increasingly popular at 57 percent, particularly registrations and purchases. In addition, engagement mapping (also called purchase path measurement or attribution) is emerging as a metric – - it is the idea that you can attribute a consumer’s fulfillment to a previously viewed ad, even if they took not obvious action at that time.

This lingering awareness, or latent impression, results in the consumer clicking a second similar ad or returning to the Web to perform a search on the product. The principle is a new idea; it is happening in relation to Web analytics tools as a way to determine how display campaigns really affect consumer behavior on a particular site.

Marketers must expand their metrics horizon to consider out-of-box methods for measurement, such as using free tools for listening to buzz on other sites about your product or creatively leveraging search analytic tools you are already paying for to monitor how individuals change their search behavior, as an indicator that your advertising in the social media space is having a desired impact.”

Jupiter Research’s findings state 70 percent of advertisers want more accurate campaign measurement.

The Omniture report, collaborating with Jupiter and Forrester, goes on to introduce a newly formed metric: Engagement Mapping (also called Purchase Path Measurement or Attribution). This consists of the idea that as the advertiser, you can attribute a consumer’s fulfillment to a previously viewed ad, even if the action is not taken at that time. Simply, if the consumer sees an ad campaign targeted to where the demographic is searching, it will be highly likely that the consumer will run into that same ad campaign enough times – -  the end result being a response to purchase.

In today’s world of ad tools overload, there is an emerging need for an accurate, simple, and manageable web analytic software. Emily Riley, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research, sees that advertisers are only beginning to see the need for attribution. “The pivotal factor for success is to figure out the resulting behavior, then be able to reverse segment the user population based on whether they saw the campaign or not”.  For instance, tracking the impression and click through rates.  She goes on to say, “This will start to prove that those who are exposed to creative spending are more likely to convert over a period of time.”

Thus, serving the consumer ads that are relevant and targeted is key of course, but making sure that Advertisers can directly link the sales funnel through to purchase with more robust analytics tools is what’s on the mind of most advertisers.

For Digispace, an online performance based advertising company already providing web analytic software and optimization tools in the CPA and direct response segments, we believe we’ll crack this code too. Stay tuned!

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Helping Online Professionals Conduct Professional Offline Networking

by admin on July 27, 2010

Tips to help you stand out in the crowded world of online marketing

With Ad Tech around the corner, we want to help refresh your memory of the importance of networking and building connections with others. Specifically in the industry of online marketing and advertising where more individuals becoming consultants and self-employed workers, it is imperative for us to understand the power of professional networking.  It allows you to connect with like-minded individuals, but where most people fail is that they do not exchange contact information or never follow up with the individuals that they met.

Here are a few tips to make it easier.

If you have an iPhone, then download the free app called Bump. Bump allows you to share contact information with other iPhone users simply by bumping your phones together.  This makes it simple, even allowing you to include a picture of yourself making sure you don’t get lost in the stack of business cards collected over time. You can download this app by searching for Bump in iTunes. The Bump app is now available for the Android.

When sharing contact information with individuals, make sure to include the following:

Your name, email address, that you check most frequently, accessible phone number, instant messenger handles (AIM, Skype, ect.), a picture of yourself, social networking sites, your business website or product site, and a few words to summarize yourself just in case the person forgets- ex: guy from xyz forum.  Text messaging is becoming more acceptable, as it is easier for people to reach and respond to others. Just make sure if you feel fine text messaging that you identify yourself.

Although you are giving individuals a lot of information, it allows them to reach you in their most convenient way. You have to understand that at these types of events, you can meet some major players and genius underground marketers.  By gaining contacts in this industry, you can build friendships that can turn into joint ventures, business partners and even private masterminds.

If you don’t have an iPhone, that’s OK too. Take the traditional route such as a business card. With a traditional business card, try to include the information that was outlined above. Also, try to keep the back with minimal text and graphics. Having an almost plain side on your business card allows individuals to take notes.  If you receive a cad, write a note or special information they shared.  This will help you out when you get home.

If you have a Blackberry, you can easily share your information with people via email.  Before you attend the event, make sure to create a contact of yourself with all the information stated above.  Then when it comes time to share your information, just select “compose” and ask for the individuals email address. Then select “attach content” and choose the contact you created earlier.

Never be intimidated when it comes to exchanging information.  You will never get what you never ask for, the worst they can do is give an excuse to why they don’t have their business card, so give them yours, or even exchange email addresses. If you are attending a seminar that is multiple days, make sure to get acquainted with your neighbor, but change seats from day to day, same goes for breakfast and lunches. Once the seminar is over, find out what people are doing after. Are some attendees going to dinner? If so, try to join them and continue the conversations and learning more.

These small recommendations can help you get comfortable with networking.  Once you do it more often you will become confident, making it easier to find your own personal plan. But you have to understand that you will need to be patient, it will take months to start benefiting from any contacts you have made. But it is true that if you start things off by helping others, listening to others, making connections for others, then things will certainly start happening for you.

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Online Media Buys – Targeting the Right Media Mix

by DigiMarketing on July 21, 2010

Many factors come into place when looking to make a media buy, but the primary focus starts with budget, demographics, and what you’re marketing or selling.

Sure, if you had unlimited funds for unlimited campaigns you could just buy everything and look at the results later, but this is extremely inefficient and not result oriented.

The primary goal of media is targeting. Which vehicles target which demographics at what reach and at what price?

How to get here?

Start with research.  Your ads need to appear on the sites that your prospects like to visit. Once you’re clear on your demographics, we like to use these sites to start the research phase:

  • Google Ad Planner – - This is an excellent tool that identifies media opportunities by demographic or by URL
  • Magic Bullet System’s Demographic Tool – - Insert a URL of a site that is related to the offer your are going to promote to get specifics on who is visiting the site
  • Compete  – - Very similar to Quantcast except broken down by keyword.  There is also a paid version where you can do more in depth analysis
  • Alexa  – - Alexa is one of the original ratings sites providing free web traffic metrics, top sites lists, site demographics, hot urls, etc.

Once you get a decent read on what the research is telling you, create a media target list and dig deeper to start to indentify which of the sites provide the best returns.  This is a funnel process and by the time you’re down into the smallest part of the funnel, you should be looking at your most targeted sites based on your demographics with affordable rates.

How do you get affordable online media rates? 

Build relationships.  Media buying and planning is all about relationships.  A Media Rep is just as interested in selling you a successful buy as you are interested in executing on one.  You can work with your Media Rep to tell them what your goals are, how much you have to spend, what your campaign is about, etc.  Also ask your rep for recommendations.  At this point you are in your final phase of research and understanding how each of the media networks you’re most interested in will help you meet your end goals. And, don’t be afraid to negotiate rates – - media rates are based on negotiations too so once you get your initial rates, ask them how to get the best rates possible. There is always wiggle room here for the most part.

Finalize your research by creating a Media Buy Plan – - a spreadsheet listing all of your media channels, media rep contacts, website targets, ad size specs, and budgets. This puts your entire buy in one place for you to manage.

There are many different vehicles to use for paid online advertising.  Find the ones that work best based on these objectives and create a targeted media mix to run your campaigns.

Then, get your ad creatives and tracking together, launch, monitor closely for optimization, and Test, Test, Test! 

If you reach your break-even point then pause your campaign.

Be sure to start with remnant traffic when you are initially testing traffic out and gathering your metrics.

Also, start with at least two banners to rotate for each size.

Before signing an Insertion Order (IO) make sure you have the following terms in your contract.

- Remnant Traffic

- Net 30 Terms (if possible)

- Frequency Cap 1×24 with even delivery

- 24 hour out clause

- Billing based off of your reporting

-  US Traffic Only (Unless you are promoting a non-US offer)

 Contact Digispace Solutions for strategic consulting expertise for your nexts online media campaigns.

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What Is Google’s Quality Score and How Do You Improve It?

by DigiMarketing on July 19, 2010

Pay per click (PPC) Advertising Tips for Online Advertising Campaigns

A ranking developed by Google, Quality Score is an algorithm that calculates how relevant your paid keywords are to the end-user you’re targeting.  Because of this, your Quality Score is just as important as your bid when it comes to where your ad will be positioned.

How does this really impact you? If two competitors have similar or equal bids, the higher Quality Score will earn a higher position.

Pretty important to understand right?

Here’s a few ways to analyze the data and create a plan to increase your Quality Score:

#1-Prioritize & Optimize

Review all of your current campaigns and sort based by:

- spend

- then > ad groups by spend

 -then > keywords by Quality Score.

In those top spending campaigns and ad groups, any keyword with a Quality Score below 7 should be the priority for Quality Score improvement.

#2-Coordinate Search Queries and Text Ads 

Since your Quality Score also factors in click-through-rates, the more you can refine your ad groups so that the keywords are highly relevant to the text ad copy, the better results you’ll see.

Make sure you have different ad groups set up based on how a user may search for your product.  If you’re selling beauty products, you wouldn’t want to have the keywords “anti-aging” and “mineral makeup” in one ad group.  You will want two separate ads to break out these products and target the ads specifically for people searching for these specific products. Hence, your ad copy and your ad groups should be aligned based on this type of user-search structure.

#3-Revise and Test Ad Creative

Now that your ad groups are aligned and organized, you need to make sure your copy is proving to be compelling and effective.  Persuasive and targeted copy is the most optimal way to get good click-through rates.

Take a look at all of your text ads now and analyze the current data.  Find your lowest performers by click-through-rate in your top Ad Groups (by spend).  Delete any non or poor performers and start to integrate and test copy that is stronger and even more persuasive.  Continue this exercise to weed out the under performers and gain higher Quality Scores.

#4-Eliminate Bad Keywords

Get rid of low performers. 

Take a look at the overall distribution of your Quality Score in your account.  If you see overall good performance, you don’t need a major overhaul.  However, this is all part of the vigilance needed in maintaining or increasing our Quality Score. 

Since your Quality Score also looks at historical click thru rate (CTR) on your keywords, you do need to review and  eliminate keywords and text ads that you see with historical low CTRs. These non-performers pull down your overall average and historical rates, which will impact your QS negatively.

Maintain and eliminate as necessary.

#5-Have an Effective and Relevant Landing Page

Your Landing Page can have a huge negative impact on your Quality Score if it’s not functioning, has irrelevant copy, broken links, etc.  If your Quality Score has been driven down, make sure to watch for the issues below and fix asap.  Because Google doesn’t look at landing pages as frequently, be patient, your improvements to your landing page will be soon be realized in a higher Quality Score.

-Pop-ups

-Landing pages that are “bait and switch” offers or that have very little to do with the ad or search query

-Very slow loading pages

Below are the factors you should have on your landing page to ensure a high Quality Score.

- Set up landing pages in Silo Structure

- Content MUST be relevant

- Have at least 5 pages of content

- Have a sitemap on your page: www.xml-sitemaps.com

And finally, include your business pages: Terms of Service, Privacy Policy,  Contact Us,  About Us

Digispace Solutions, is an online performance-based advertising and technology company focused on providing proprietary web technologies to power online advertising strategies and solutions.

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Killer Headlines For Online Advertising – - How To Create Them

by DigiMarketing on April 15, 2010

You don’t have to be a copywriter to create ads that work, but it’s crucial to understand what works and the methodology behind it all.

Let’s start with what headlines should do at minimum:

 -Grab Your Attention

 -Filtering the audience (speaks to your target market)

 -Generate Curiosity

 -Promise Benefits

 -Create an emotional attachment

 -Compel the reader to read more!

Essentially, your headline is like a first impression, but there are many other factors that convince prospects to keep reading….your headline needs to draw the user in and the rest of your copy should lead them the rest of the way…all the way to conversion.

 Here’s a great list of tips from Bob Bly’s, The Copywriter’s Handbook:

  • Direct Headlines go straight to the heart of the matter, without any attempt at cleverness. Bly gives the example of Pure Silk Blouses – 30 Percent Off as a headline that states the selling proposition directly. A direct blog post title might read Free SEO E-book.
  • An Indirect Headline takes a more subtle approach. It uses curiosity to raise a question in the reader’s mind, which the body copy answers. Often a double meaning is utilized, which is useful online. An article might have the headline Fresh Bait Works Best and yet have nothing to do with fishing, because it’s actually about writing timely content that acts as link bait.
  • A News Headline is pretty self-explanatory, as long as the news itself is actually, well… news. A product announcement, an improved version, or even a content scoop can be the basis of a compelling news headline. Think Introducing Flickr 2.0 or My Exclusive Interview With Steve Jobs.
  • The How to Headline is everywhere, online and off, for one reason only – it works like a charm. Bly says that “Many advertising writers claim if you begin with the words how to, you can’t write a bad headline.” An example would be, umm… oh yes… the title of this post.
  • A Question Headline must do more than simply ask a question, it must be a question that, according to Bly, the reader can empathize with or would like to see answered. He gives this example from Psychology Today: Do You Close the Bathroom Door Even When You’re the Only One Home? Another example used way too much in Internet marketing guru-ville is Who Else Wants to Get Rich Online?
  • The Command Headline boldly tells the prospect what he needs to do, such as Exxon’s old Put a Tiger in Your Tank campaign. Bly indicates that the first word should be a strong verb demanding action, such as Subscribe to Quick Fat Loss Secrets Today!
  • Another effective technique is called the Reason Why Headline. Your body text consists of a numbered list of product features or tips, which you then incorporate into the headline, such as Two Hundred Reasons Why Open Source Software Beats Microsoft. It’s not even necessary to include the words “reasons why.” This technique is actually the underlying strategy behind the ubiquitous blogger “list” posts, such as 8 Ways to Build Blog Traffic.
  • Finally, we have the Testimonial Headline, which is highly effective because it presents outside proof that you offer great value. This entails taking what someone else has said about you, your product or service, and using their actual words in your headline. Quotation marks let the reader know that they are reading a testimonial, which will continue in the body copy.

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