Thursday, December 10, 2015

How To Get More Out of Your PPC Ad Campaigns


You don’t need to be the Michael Jordan of PPC campaigns in order to get the most from them.  You just need to make sure that you have an end goal and steps in place that will help you in reaching that goal.

Define the Goal
Exactly what are you wanting your PPC campaign to accomplish?  Before you can begin to get the most from your campaign, you need to determine what you want to get from it.  Your end goal will determine how you are going to use the following techniques in order to optimize your PPC campaign.

Keywords
Don’t be afraid to get down and dirty with the keywords.  You have neither the time nor the money to waste on those keywords that are not performing well.   
 Remember that when it comes to keywords, quality is incredibly more important than quantity.  Try to find the sweet spot in your campaign.  This is where you will be spending less per click while earning the most, all while getting good traffic.
There are a few programs out there that will allow for you to find the keywords that are both relevant to your campaign and searched for frequently.  These programs can be invaluable when used correctly.  Using the right keywords can result in your ads being more effective.

Ad Text
You don’t need to reinvent your complete ad text, just add some variations to it.  When you are optimizing the text in your ad, use the same guidelines that you did for the keywords.  Remember that each and every ad group needs to always have 2 or 3 variations of the ad text.
You will probably want to have a few trial runs in order to determine which ads are working best and which ones are wasting your time and advertising money.

Landing Pages
You don't want to forget about your landing page either.  When someone clicks on your PPC ad, which page will they be taken to?  This page is called the landing page.  It should be SEO optimized for the search engines to be able to find it and it needs to be directly related to the ad campaigns you have going for PPC.


Bottom line: when it comes to PPC campaigns, optimization can make you or break you.  Neglect optimization and you could be harming your business.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

How Does Inbound Marketing Work?


For your business to succeed, it must continually increase its sales. The only way to do that is to increase the number of qualified leads your business generates. This is where inbound marketing comes into play. 

What Is Inbound Marketing?
Inbound marketing is the process of attracting the right prospect, nurturing them through the buying process, closing the sale at the right time, and then turning them into delighted customers who keep coming back. It works like this:

Attracting the Right Visitors
Lead generation efforts begin with attracting a prospect who is interested in what you have to say. By creating valuable content that answers your prospect's question or solves his problem, you will start attracting higher quality leads. This is the foundation of inbound marketing.
What problems do your ideal customers have and how can your product solve them? This is the type of content you want to develop.

Converting Site Visitors into Leads
Once a prospect visits your website it is time to convert them into a customer. This process can take some time depending on the industry. No matter how long the buying cycle, you will need to nurture them along using more content.
By offering eBooks, white papers, webinars, and consultations, you are allowing the prospect to identify themselves as a qualified lead. Inbound marketing allows the prospect to go at his own pace and make a buying decision when he is ready.

Closing the Sale
As your prospect moves along the buying path, you will be able to monitor him and determine when he is likely ready to make a buying decision. At this point, turn him over to your sales team for a quick and easy sale.
Because your sales team will be dealing with prospects who are ready to buy, they will close more sales and increase your revenue.

Keeping Your Customers Delighted
Once you have acquired a customer, it is then your obligation to delight them and turn them into advocates for the business. The process does not end once a prospect becomes a customer. By using follow-up content and post-purchase surveys, a business will be able to address any questions or challenges a customer has.

The inbound marketing process starts with proper lead generation. This should be the foundation of all marketing efforts. By implementing this foundation, your business can supercharge their lead generation and will ultimately increase their bottom line.