Marketing

Episodes as Ads

Have you seen the newest ad format? Full length episodes that auto play.

What? Two rules in effective advertising broken at the same time?

Yes, that’s right.

Often times, what is most effective is zigging when everyone else is zagging. That’s what these ads do. And they are mighty effective.

I keep seeing these full length episodes as ads on Google Play. I’m telling you, there is something here.

When I want to listen to my “free” music and a video starts playing about a woman’s trip to Barcelona and playing as a local… living the local life… it catches my attention and I watch for much longer than I would any traditional ad (or click on some image).

This one was really well done and it was for AirBNB. It creates great emotional connection and makes you think, “I’d like to rent that room.”

The ad generated the exact response they were hoping for.

There’s a lesson here and even small businesses can take advantage of this. I don’t think it needs to be Hollywood-level production. It just needs to be authentic, tell a story and elicit emotion.

That’s the real opportunity here.

Can’t Spell Usability with YOU

One of the most common comments I hear from clients is, “When I am surfing the Web, I don’t like when a site has…” The truth is your personal opinion doesn’t really matter.

Just because you don’t shop on Black Friday or even think about Cyber Monday, doesn’t mean those are not the most significant days in retail. Just because you never use PayPal to buy anything doesn’t mean your target audience won’t. Just because you don’t like a color, banner, button, right/left hand columns, don’t assume your target market feels the same way. It’s not about you.

When designing your site for web usability, your personal preferences need to be put aside. Focus on the target audience, what each page needs to accomplish and then test different designs to determine which converts the best. Sure, you should look at other sites and see what they are doing to help identify options for your site but be careful of your personal biases in the design process.

I believe that there are still many business owners out there that are stuck in the early 2000’s when it comes to web design. Just look at the number of sites that still have the stock photo of the multi-cultural, mult-gender team in suits and standing in a white conference room. Ugh! Who are these people and what the heck do they have to do with your business?

We, as business owners, still spend too much time on getting the look of our sites just right. Then, we spend too much time looking at our own site after the design is complete.

In today’s Web, it is more about what is going on outside your site than on your site. Of course, take care of the basics. Yes, you need to have your product or service complete, you need to be able to take an order or provide information.

Then, move on. Get relevant traffic to your site. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and news sites are a great place to start building your own social media channels. Let your target audience decide what changes need to be made to your work of art based on click and conversion patterns. Test, test, and test.

With data in hand, you can then determine which conversion rate you like best. At that point, go with your personal preference. 😉

A Lesson in Web Design – Keep the User in Mind

I’m looking to take my family back to Dave and Busters (it’s been quite a while) for some family fun. I have one of their “power cards,” which is where game play credits are stored. Before we head out, I wanted to check the balance on the card – simple enough, right? Wrong.

Turns out, visiting DaveandBusters.com was a frustrating experience and a lesson in weak site design and usability. Finding the site was easy (thanks to the new Google predictive results feature – see video). What is interesting is that even after watching annoying flash commercials and fumbling through inadequate navigation, the answer was to call an 888 number and leave a voice message with personal information for some woman in the “corporate office”.

Welcome to the age where databases are hooked to websites and user experience is important. Here’s the 5 min video, “Dave and Busters – a lesson in designing for the user.”

Be Careful Where Your Online Ad Lands

With so many online marketing opportunities to choose from these days, you really must be careful with where you want your ads to show.

Check out this 2 minute video of a message received from the Wall Street Journal. It shows where good intentions can go bad and makes a suggestion about using news outlets for your message.

Google AdWords Traffic Sources Explained

I get a lot of questions regarding the various sources of traffic from Google AdWords pay-per-click ad campaigns. Here’s a 5 minute overview of the three different sources.

I hope this helps!

The Rocket Science of SEO

Search engine optimization done right requires a well thought out strategy, relevant content and consistent effort. Is it rocket science? No. Is it easy? Absolutely not.

The key to success is focusing on the business goals. If the goals are clear and the potential upside to a successful online marketing effort is quantified, then you can build a marketing strategy that is optimized for ROI. Building relevant traffic will result in more conversions – however your business defines conversion.

The search engines (and the people behind them) are trying to make search results as relevant as possible. Although there are some proven tools of the trade, there are no silver bullets, and tricks of the trade are simply that – tricks, and do not to work long term. Basically, your online marketing strategy should be one of relevance. Your site’s relevance should really be developed at the page level, as each of your pages should have a single purpose.

How to improve your site’s relevance?

Content. Yes, content is still king… at least a prince. Solid content drives good inbound links to your site. And quality inbound links are a vote of confidence that the search engines tally. Remember, you can have the best content on the web but if you don’t promote it, no one will know… including the search engines.

Keywords. Already have a list of 2,790 keywords you are optimizing for? Don’t kid yourself, the 80/20 rule absolutely applies here (or, in some cases, 95/5 rule). Much has been written on developing a target list of keywords. Work with your online marketing firm or use some of the tools such as WordTracker or Google Keyword Tool.

Anchor text. When links to your site use anchor text that is relevant (in your list of targeted keywords), the search engines read this text as pointers to relevant content. The more certain terms are used as links to your site, the more important your page becomes in the search results for those terms. Again, not rocket science but, all too often, we find inbound links using terms that lack any relevance to the page’s purpose.

Promotion within your niche. Blogs, associations, schools, networking groups and directories. Think about all the players in your industry. How can your site contribute to their efforts? Is there an opportunity to provide some content to a trusted industry site that would result in a link back to your site? This targeted approach pays off in a big way in online marketing.

These are some strategies that simply don’t change with changes in the search algorithms. Stay true to the goal of becoming relevant in your niche and, in the long run, you will be pleased with the results.

Building Trust Online

If you think about it, our online interactions are really online conversations. Sometimes with other people but mostly with websites we visit. If a website does not earn a visitors trust in the first 30 seconds, the next site is just a click away.

So why, after many years of online marketing experiences, do so many sites jump out at visitors with designs that spin, move, jump and play uninvited music in an effort to grab attention? What web designer today still believes that these whirligigs are a good idea? (Hint, if this describes your web designer, fire them today. Seriously.)

Keep in mind, people “buy” from websites they trust. Your site should greet users and answer two simple questions right off the bat:

What do you offer?
Why should I trust you?

Doubt the second question matters as much as the first? Think about an online purchase you made recently. In your pre-purchase research, did you see sites that had what you were looking for but the design was a bit scary, the text was written for search engines or it lacked credibility indicators (Verisign, BBB, etc.)? Were you willing to given them your email address? How about providing them with your name and credit card number? I didn’t think so.

In order to give your visitors a reason to stay, keep your pages focused and make sure those two questions are answered clearly right at the top. Let your first online conversation with a prospect be a rapport-building experience not a carnival.

Will the REAL SEO please stand up?

Why is it that some firms get so hung up on rankings? Now, don’t get me wrong, we like pages that rank for high volume keywords that convert to sales. (Revenue is still a good thing.) Where the problem comes is when site owners or marketing departments focus on rank instead of revenue.

Search Engine Optimization provides an avenue to let the world know about your product and service offerings – simply one part of your online marketing strategy. Many years ago, a close friend of mine told me that no matter how beautiful your website is, it’s a “Post-it in the desert” unless visitors can find you. This was before the SEO industry took off but the logic is the same today… except the number of sticky notes and people peddling sticky-note marketing has exploded.

The real opportunity is taking advantage of the fact that Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN are all trying to provide relevant results. Why should your site show up on Page 1? The more relevant your site seems to the search engines, the better the traffic (better, not necessarily higher). Why should other sites link to yours? The trick here is really no trick at all; become more relevant.

This is where a competent SEO consulting firm can help. If you have a solid offering that the market wants, they can help you with an online marketing strategy to take advantage of the niche problems you solve. Although digital marketing can be broken down into many parts, there is nothing easy about it. Online marketing done right takes solid strategy, consistent execution and time.

Call 858.367.0055