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First, approximately three-quarters of American homes are wired for internet. Next, online marketing is able to segment audiences in a way that makes campaigns truly targeted to reach the right demo- and psychographics in a way that other media just can’t match. And let’s not forget about analytics: running an online campaign can provide near real-time results so that you can determine what’s working, what’s not, and adjust your plan to get the best ROI.

But how do you know you’ve set up your PPC campaign to get the most bang for your buck? Here are five tips that should help:

1. Vigilant Keyword-level Optimization. Your PPC campaign is not a set-it-up-and-go procedure. You want to continually build upon strong performing keywords while weeding out those that don’t produce the desired results. That means you need to pay attention, review, revise – all the time. It’s this kind of ongoing dedication that will make the biggest difference in your success.
2. Time Zone Adjustments. Make sure that you adjust your day-part campaigns based on the proper time zone. Your office may be on Eastern time, but if you’re marketing to (and/or competing against) someone on Pacific time, you need to make sure you’re visible during peak search times. Otherwise, the competition can get a jump on business you’d otherwise win.
3. Ad Groups. You’re going to want to develop multiple ad groups with very succinct keyword lists and related ads to ensure a strong ad rating and click-through rate.
4. Negative Keywords. Make sure you create a concise negative keyword campaign, so your ad doesn’t display for unrelated searches. For example: Allegra Network, which specializes in print and imaging services, could potentially display when someone performs a search for Allegra allergy medicine. But use of the negative keyword “medication” would eliminate the problem.
5. Analytics! It’s difficult to overemphasize the importance of tracking when it comes to your PPC campaign. You need to track all of your progress, paying attention to clicks and impressions, click-through rate, cost per click, market share, and lead conversions, then evaluate and build upon your overall return on investment. Be vigilant. Pay attention. Revise your plan for superior results.

Talk to your SEM provider and make sure you’re doing everything you can to get the most out of your budget.

photo by TheTruthAbout, via Flickr

“Guaranteed to drive thousands of visitors to your site a month!”

“First place Google placement – guaranteed!”

I see advertisements like this every day. And I hate to be a killjoy, but this sort of program is NOT going to help you bring in qualified leads for your team. If you want sheer volume of site visitors, great. If you want traffic that will convert to customers, then this isn’t for you.

I know the law of large numbers says that the more people you can get through your doors (or in this case, your website) the more people will buy/become customers. While this, in theory, is true, you’re wasting marketing dollars on an advertising campaign that won’t produce qualified leads. Since most of us in the real world have to work within budgetary constraints, throwing good money after bad trying to get any Tom, Dick and Harry to visit your site is poor strategy.  Buying generic keywords that may or may not draw people interested in your services to your site just won’t convert well. Personally, I’d rather see a smaller volume of site visitors with a higher conversion rate.

A great way to ensure qualified leads are driven to your site is to bid on longtail keywords. Longtail keywords don’t drive a lot of traffic, but the traffic that is generated has a much higher conversion rate: these are people specifically looking for what you have to offer. For example, someone searching for “2007 Honda Civic Columbus Ohio” is a whole lot more likely to convert than someone looking for “Honda Columbus”. Since demand for these specific, longtail keywords is relatively low, so is the price. Don’t get discouraged by a lower site traffic report – instead, pay attention to your conversion rate. Remember it’s not just about big traffic numbers, it’s about SALES.

Photo via flicker, by net_efekt

The ban was slated to be lifted as of June 15, 2009, but I’m not completely sold that it will remain in place, if Google did indeed follow through on their announcement.  Imagine yourself as a company like Apple or Lexus, wouldn’t you file a lawsuit to block others from using your brand name for their profit? There is just too much riding on this for the brands not to fight – trademarks were instituted for a reason. If these likely lawsuits pop up the deadline will have to be pushed back (if the ban is still lifted at all).

The big issue is the cost per click. Obviously if demand for purchasing certain keywords (like Toyota Prius or Lexus IS Convertible) goes up, the price for these terms will too.  This could really hurt an already ailing automotive industry if their online advertising budget has to increase to keep up PPC keyword bidding.  Great for Google though because this increases their revenue.

As many of you know, the major auto manufacturers affected by this policy change would be Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) and BMW. These brands strictly enforce their trademarks in ad copy (whereas other brands like Ford do not). Right now, to use any of these protected brands or their models in your ad copy the advertiser must have permission from the manufacturer. This stops dealerships who aren’t affiliated with the brand, who likely have the cars in their used inventory, from using the keywords in their ad copy. So instead of advertising their “great selection of used Lexus cars”, they can only talk about their “wide selection of low-mileage vehicles”.

Lifting the trademark ban on Google isn’t a cut and dry, good or bad issue. While keyword costs would increase and manufacturers would lose control over how their brands are represented, there are some winners. Used car dealers or dealers with other brands in their used inventory would finally be able to run a PPC campaign for their specific used inventory.

So, what do you think? Are you for or against Google removing these trademark restrictions?

Moderators will be: Todd Swickard (CEO & Founder) and Tanesha Bennett (Director of Sales) for Auto Dealer Traffic

Why this webinar? Many auto dealers are having to make drastic cuts in their advertising budgets. The most cost effective advertising medium today is the internet, but many dealers are unsure how to get the most out of their internet advertising. Ours FREE 30 minute webinar, brought to you courtesy of AIADA and Auto Dealer Traffic (their Affinity Partner) will offer strategies to help dealers more effectively execute internet marketing strategies and how to effectively spend their internet budget. We’ll cover:
* Online inventory
* How is inventory displayed in classifieds
* Where are your efforts focused
* Getting the most real leads online

The strategies we’ll cover will help dealers get the most from their internet marketing and help cut advertising spend.

To register now, click here.

In fact, according to Tealium (a Web analytics integration and consultation provider), businesses are grossly under-counting their social media and PR traffic by skipping over “view-through” traffic.

Tealium conducted their own study on this (using their own product, which measures the ROI of social media and online PR, including tracking view-through traffic).  According to the study, only 20% of site visitors from social media and PR are the result of a direct click.  The remaining 80% are via view-throughs.

So what’s a view through?  Tealium says view-throughs are “traffic from Internet users that come to the site after viewing a piece of social media or online PR content that DID NOT contain a direct link to the site or didn’t acquire the user as a result of a direct link from the content.”  In other words, view-throughs happen when people see your social media or online PR message, but don’t click through right away, instead, they later go there directly or through a 3^rd party, without following your content’s direct link to get there.

Basically, according to Tealium, you can break social media and online PR traffic down into 3 scenarios:

1. The social media outlet provides a direct link to a site and the visitor clicks the link. This is what most analytics measure.
2. The social media outlet provides a direct link to a site, which is not clicked on, but the outlet still generates the interest for a future visit. Not typically measured.
3. The social media outlet does not provide a direct link to the site and all traffic generated will be indirect and occurs as a view-through. Not typically measured.

Now, it’s obvious that Tealium conducted this study to push their own product – since it claims to be the industry’s only view-through measuring analytics. Think about it. 80% of traffic to your site is being under-reported, according to this study.

But the fact remains, not every hit to your site can be tracked to a specific marketing or PR tactic. Even if their results are wrong by ½, that’s still 40% of traffic that’s being misattributed. It’s something to consider when you’re putting together your marketing and PR strategy – considering what to cut and what to keep.

iPropect recently released the results of its study that really highlights the benefits of combining search and display advertising.  I’ve been telling my clients how important this combination is to reach your target for ages, so it’s great to have this to back me up. You can read the full study here. It’s a great study in the relationship between display ads and search and how users interact with each.

History proves this. Think about the turn of the last century. There wasn’t even electricity yet – or assembly lines. By the 50s, there were factory worker unions and everyone was on the grid; there were radios in every home and tvs soon to follow. By the year 2000, robotic assembly lines and 1GB memory that’s smaller than your thumb.

Which is why it’s no surprise that technology is the one area that’s still growing, even in this economy. According to the 2008 Central Ohio Innovation Capital Report as referenced here by Tech Columbus , investments in tech-based companies in central Ohio hit an all time high last year.

These statistics should receive more news – because it’s good news for our future. Today’s tech advancements will form the base economy of tomorrow.

How do you get these different media to work together effectively? You know you need an internet presence. Your website isn’t getting you the leads you want, and you’re not sure whether it’s because it’s not optimized, because visitors aren’t finding what they need on your site, or whether your offline campaign isn’t driving them to the site. Your sales are down – is it because your broadcast campaign isn’t working, or because people are finding better options after looking for you online? What part of the equation is working and what isn’t and how do you fix it?

Photo by valilouve, via Flickr

It’s all in the tracking. And the planning.

Traditional agencies tend to view interactive as a tack-on, rather than fully incorporating it into the plan, while interactive agencies may overinflate the value their services provide. If you really want your traditional and your interactive marketing to work hand-in-hand – and that IS the way to achieve the best results – you need to plan it that way from the start. Get your strategy in order. Figure out who your target is and what you want them to do. Then, determine what the message is and how you’ll get it out. Part of this must include how you’re going to measure, for each tactic you use, whether the targets have done what you want.

Include a special offer with a promotional code that is logged into the cash register when redeemed. Or create unique URLs and 800-numbers for each message, so that whenever someone contacts you, you know for certain whether it was tactic A or tactic B that drove them there. An agency that is focused on your results, not their own award shelf, will always include a method for tracking every piece of marketing that you use.

Nowadays, there’s absolutely no excuse for your marketing to not work together. Your website should be updated to match each and every promotion you run. Your SEO and SEM plans should shift to match keywords that your TV, Radio, Print, and/or Outdoor campaigns may be using in the creative. Promotions should have updates in every medium in the mix. Campaign messaging can be segmented so that you can run tests of your messaging and stick with what works.

And, you should have instant analytics at your fingertips so that you can see for yourself that it’s really working.

What it fails to mention, from our press release, is that this tracking mechanism will track both on- and off-line campaigns, so marketers can be sure of their ROI. This is something the marketing industry has been lacking. We’re going to fill that need.

REAL accountability in marketing. That’s what it’s all about.