If you’re in search engine optimization you know that organic search results are always more effective or more sought after than PPC keywords. On occasion though PPC is a must, the problem is that rates are getting extremely high. High prices combined with click fraud can bankrupt someone.
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There is something new and exciting in the world of search engine optimization and it’s called Google Local. Originally Google was fairly simply using links to measure any given websites relevancy to a topic. But as Google grows and search engine industry with it, there needs to be new ways to use the search engine and new ways to find what you’re looking for. Welcome to the world of personalized and geo-targeted results. So the new system is going to use not only links but a combination of factors in determining which websites are most relevant. Some of these factors are popularity, geography and content relevancy (i.e. LSI). When searching for something on Google (more…)

There was a time, that any business that needed to advertise for more customers had very few options. The traditional choices have been Radio, TV and billboards for big business and then yellow pages, coupons, fliers, window ads, etc for the smaller guys.

The problem with all of the various methods of advertising a business is that there was never a really good way to know if an ad campaign was working or not. If the phone rang then it was good, if it didn’t then it didn’t work so well and you just came up more money, to try again.

Coupons were OK because if you included a coupon in a printed ad then you could track the number of coupons redeemed. Radio, TV and all of the others forget about it. Really in the year 2007 not much has changed with any media effort, you are still not sure how you’re doing or if any of your advertising is working. The time line of ad to sale also is an imperfect science with much guesswork and little fact to back up the conclusion.

Welcome the Internet! the greatest tool to hit business, since the cash register or the ability to take credit cards. Why you say?

Here are the reasons that the Internet now is the vehicle of choice for any serious advertiser:

1. Statistical reporting - With any website the owner should have access to real time reporting on traffic to his/her site. This tells you right now if what you are doing is working or not.

2. Take a 60-second spot and get some real mileage out of it - Anytime a business is running a radio or television spot, they should promote their website on that ad. Once an ad airs there should be a direct correlation within moments on the website with a spike in traffic. A business knows who came, how long they stayed, what they looked at on their site, what they purchased and expressed interest in.

3. Targeted Reach- Go right at potential buyers -Advertisers are able to pinpoint buyers using keyword advertising. You are paying only for people actually looking for your specific product or service and not for the masses to be presented with your message, whether they are interested or not.

4. Flexibility to turn on or off -An effective Internet campaign can be turned on or off at will. If you launch and you are not converting the prospects to buyers well enough. Then stop the campaign, tweak a few things on your website or strengthen your offering and then start the ads again. There is nothing more flexible than a website.

5. Less Expensive - On a price verses exposure equation there is nothing that compares to online advertising. Since you are targeting your specific buyer instead of having to pitch everyone and hope the right guy shows up. The cost per sale goes down significantly.

6. Greater Control - Traditional advertising is usually not very flexible. Yellow pages are printed for the year, billboards are there until you create a new one, and production costs for radio and TV are prohibitive. Internet adverting allows you to change campaigns, pricing, message, featured product and about anything on the fly.

7. Flexible spending programs - All of the major search engines have very flexible programs that can accommodate about any businesses budget or cost constraints.

8. Flexible Terms - Most online advertising is very flexible allowing any business to adjust the length of a campaign as needed. For 1 week or 1 year or anything in between. It is also easy to change directions multiple times during the campaign.

9. Proactive Selling - A website allows you to gather an email address from potential buyers for you to contact or present offerings too in the future. No other medium allows a business the ability to gather this kind of information from potential prospects and then pitch that person later.

10. Deliver Detailed Offerings For Free - Sales presentations, products details, spec sheets, pricing options or complete virtual sales presentations can be made available to any user without cost. There is no postage, packaging, envelopes or time required. The effective use of an auto responder gives your prospects immediate access to your special services.

11. Global reach - The Internet allows any business to operate on a global platform if they choose. No other adverting medium is as widely accepted around the world.

This list of great benefits associated with online adverting goes on and on. Radio sales, Television sales, Yellow page sales, Billboard sales and every possible type of traditional marketing is now being impacted by the World Wide Web and its extraordinary capability. In the future we will all benefit as radio ads and television ad pricing comes down to compete.

The best way to be found online however is still to have a professional Search Engine Marketing team get your site found at the top of your select keywords or target market. It is still the best, least expensive and most productive way to advertise.

See how some of our current clients have done online and hear their stories SEO Case Studies

Good business to all!

An interesting reality occurred in 2006. According to media watchdogs, there were more advertising dollars spent on the Internet, in all of its varied forms than radio, print and TV combined.

10 years ago when I was a Stock broker the equity markets were all a buzz about this new introduction called the Internet. Many considered it a passing fad along with the .com companies that seemed to defy gravity, any logic or grounding in financial reality. Consider the many companies that just made no sense. These stocks would move 5, 6, 7 dollars and more a day and then come back the next day to keep going up. As a broker it was hard not buy into the “Irrational Exuberance” as it was called then by Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan.

Well here we are in 2007. The Internet is here to stay, it has opened distribution channels and doors that are unheard of, it has shifted the wealth in America (Google Billionaire Boys Club) and changed the way that we do business and will continue to do so in the future.

Back in the old days if you were not featured prominently in the yellow pages then forget it, your business just did nothing and the prices you had to pay for your ad was a non-negotiable cost tied to your phone bill since the phone company owned everything. Today is a different situation for these traditional advertising mediums. There are dozens of yellow pages and most are now trying hard to feature there advertisers online as well as in the book just to keep pace and provide additional value.

Radio is no different. Stations across the country are suffering from shrinking top lines and stiff competition. Interesting the number of times each day that the disc jockeys are sending listeners to the stations website to sign-up for something, get a list of songs played that day, get recipes, become a VIP listener with special perks, etc. The only way these stations can survive is to join the millions that each year are spending more and more time on the Internet.

Smart brick and mortar companies are now creating marketing campaigns that tie it all together. Consider Walmart this last Christmas season. They published ads all over the United States that indicated that there were “hidden buys” that could only be identified by going online to Walmart.com to find out what they were. Senior management badly under estimated the number of people that would show up to find out what these specials were. The number of wild holiday shoppers logging on to their site crashed their servers and for the next 9-hours techs were doing damage control. The busiest shopping weekend of the season and the only thing users got was a blank screen. Bummer for Walmart.

Why are smart advertising being spent online instead of radio or print?

Check in on Monday for part 2 of this blog.

There was a very interesting article posted in BusinessWeek online dated January 12, 2007. This article detailed a trend that is beginning to alter the way 1000’s of online advertisers are handling their business marketing for this upcoming new year.

It has been widely known by all of us in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) business that the problems with any extended or stand alone PPC (Pay Per Click) effort were inevitable. With problems of click fraud and any business good or bad, being able to be #1 by just throwing more and more money at the market. Was a recipe for disaster.

The article detailed the experiences of a few large operations that spent over a million dollars for online ads only to have fewer sales this year than last. They detailed Jewelers, Luggage resellers, and an electronics supplier all experiencing similar stories. The good news for Utah search engine marketing is that this trend compels these companies to actually do some top level SEO and get their acts together. Has to be good for business on many levels.

The days of just bankrolling a PPC effort and standing back to collect checks seem to be going the way of the Atari and pong. The full article entitled “Small Fry Sour On Search Ads” can be read at Yahoo.