Create the Perfect PPC Campaign in 5 Easy Steps

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1.) Define Key Performance Indicators

Not all KPIs are created equal. When starting an advertising campaign, make sure to clearly state which metrics are most important to you. Do you want to focus on conversations, or reach? Do you want higher click-through-rates, or impressions?

For example, if the client is looking for new leads, you want to focus on conversions. If the campaign is generating a ton of clicks but still isn’t showing many conversions, then there may be an issue with your ad and whether or not it’s truly relevant to users. Lower volumes of clicks that actually produce sales are so much more valuable than massive amounts of clicks and no real results.

2.) Optimize Your Landing Page

Develop a simple, succinct, and foolproof landing page. Lead the user through your landing page effectively by giving them fewer options. Restricting actions such as navigating to a different page or downloading different files makes it clear what the correct actions are.

The best way to do this would be to create a unique landing page for an ad. This will also help you to see how well the ad is performing. Keep the landing page short and sweet with a quick contact form or sign up sheet, and you will significantly lower the risk of confusing the user.

Also make sure that the landing page is as relevant as possible to the ad. This will help to improve both the quality score of the ad, as well as its conversion rate.

3.) Boost Your Quality Score

There are so many simple ways to improve your quality score. Google’s algorithm gives first and foremost preference to the user’s experience. This means that it tries to show only the ads that are the most relevant to that user and their recent search. A better quality score equals better positioning on the results page. Oh, and did I mention that all of this is for free?

Here are a couple quick solutions to enhance your ad’s quality score:

  • Add sitelinks
  • Refine your keyword lists to improve relevance  
  • Optimize the landing page

4.) Focus on What Happens Next

The customer’s experience does not suddenly end once they click on your ad. There is always a next step. Did they fill out a form? Did they look at other pages on the website? Did they leave the website?

Try to dive deeper into how users are engaging with your brand, and what types of responses they are receiving. If they did fill out a form, where did that information go? Is it sitting in a file that no one ever checks on their computer’s desktop? Or is it being utilized and added to the company’s email marketing campaign contacts? It is not enough to simply have the information, it also must be used effectively.

5.) Don’t Stop Improving

Even if your campaign is performing well, it can always be better. Keep refining your keyword lists to make sure that all of the terms are extremely relevant to their ads as well as to potential customers.

Making these types of small changes over a long period of time is a strategy referred to as making “micro-wins” and can be explored further in this article of ours. Micro-wins won’t produce phenomenal results right away, but they certainly will over time.

Client Spotlight: Prime Portables in Chicago

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Prime Portables Inc. is Chicagoland’s #1 Portable Restroom Rental Company. Prime Portables is a full service portable restroom rental company that provides services to the entire Chicago Metropolitan Area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The industry is more competitive than one may think, and with Onimod Global’s digital expertise Prime Portables continues to stay ahead of the competition.

Initial Challenge:
Prime Portables, a new business only a few years old wanted to be the premier portable restroom company around Chicago. To achieve this, they needed to be different, and people need to know who they are and what they offer.

Prime Portables wanted a bold new website to tell their story, gain their reliable reputation and truly represent their presence as a trusted and quality portable restroom company in the Chicago area.

The main challenge: Long established competition. Other companies sprang up with their own models for portable restroom rentals a long time ago. The nature of the portable restroom business—hyper-competitive in the extreme—meant that Prime Portables’ online marketing strategy had to hit consistent home runs.

Strategy:
SEO, SEM, Social Advertising, Website Development, Customer Behavior Analysis, A/B Testing, Advanced Segmentation Targeting, Advanced Conversion Tracking, and Custom Reporting. All of these combined is what our Digital Synergy Service has to offer.

Our cross-channel digital marketing expertise, data analysis, precisely targeted digital marketing campaigns make sure the brand and product meets the consumer when and where they need them.

Immediate Results:
Q1 2015 vs Q1 2016:

  • Organic Leads +5,700% (116 vs 2)
  • Google Adwords Conversions +553% (85 vs 13) 
  • Organic Traffic +44%
  • Local Map Traffic +426%

An explosion of conversions from Google AdWords and organic traffic via Google, Yahoo and Bing.  Natural rankings and subsequent traffic increases due to organic SEO and local business optimization. Essentially, with assistance from our expertise at Onimod, Prime Portables continues to stay on top of the game due to their strong cross channel digital presence.

Contact Us:
If you’re a local business like Prime Portables seeking an upgrade in brand awareness, website development, or any other digital marketing service feel free to reach out to us at Onimod Global on our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you!

3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Utilize Location-Based Ads

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1.) The Potential

It’s no secret that the use of mobile devices is skyrocketing. According to a report on SmartInsights, the average individual in the US spends 87 hours each month browsing on a smartphone. With so many consumers engaging with these devices throughout the day, it creates a wealth of opportunity for marketers and retailers.

Another report conducted by Google states that half of consumers visit a physical store immediately after researching the store on their phone. Simply put, if you’re not utilizing location-based ads, you’re missing out on an outrageous amount of potential sales.

 

2.) Consumers Like Customization

There are many technologies that allow the advertiser to target a specific location, such as beacons, geolocation, geofencing, and geotargeting. These many advanced mechanisms create a more familiar and customized experience for the consumer, which is often well-received. Potential customers enjoy seeing ads that are close to their physical location because it saves them the time of weeding out places that are too far away.

Beacons allow a retailer to offer notifications and promotions once customers are inside of their store. The only drawback is that beacons operate through Blutooth, which many users turn off to save on battery life.

Geolocation uses information to determine a user’s location. A consumer’s IP address or GPS location allows this technology to be possible. This is primarily how location-based mobile marketing is achieved.

Geofencing is the creation of a digital parameter or “fence”. Once a user enters the fence, they suddenly become able to receive special promotions or push notifications.

Geotargeting runs along similar lines to geolocation. This technology uses digital information to determine a user’s location, but it can discover more in-depth insights than geolocation. With the user’s permission, geotargeting can access purchase history and unique preferences to customize an advertisement to that user. Loyal customers can easily be rewarded with a special offer, or narrow channels like soon-to-be-mothers in the greater Ft. Lauderdale area can be connected to a nearby retailer.

 

3.) Stop Overspending for Your Ads

Dominant advertising platforms such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads all reward advertisers that create higher quality content. These platforms strive to ensure that consumers are viewing the most relevant ads and search results possible, and that is exactly why they assess the content any user produces.

Adding location extensions to an ad will help to improve this quality score. With a higher quality score the ad will appear more frequently in a higher position for less money. So what’s not to love about location-based mobile advertising?

What is Onimod Global?

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This article is written for those trying to gain a deeper understanding of who we are and what we do. Onimod Global is a Chicago based Digital Marketing & Consulting firm that strives to work with your company on an ongoing basis to adapt and stay ahead of your competition in an ever-changing digital marketplace. Onimod is much more than a simple digital marketing company. We pride ourselves on being versed in a wide variety of online marketing channels as well as offering customized reporting capabilities to every single one of our clients. We are not a cookie-cutter company. We are not one-size-fits all. We are Onimod Global.

 

Google Partner:

If you have ever browsed the Onimod Global homepage, you will notice a few different things. For one, we pride ourselves on being a Google Partner. This partnership allows us to have access to specific Google representatives that keep us updated on any and all Google-related news. These representatives also provide unique assistance with any issues that may arise when using Google products. What this partnership also means is that the company contains employees who are certified experts in all areas of Google such as Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and more.

 

Digital Synergy:

Another focal point displayed on the Onimod Global homepage is our Digital Synergy service. Digital Synergy is our cross-channel digital marketing expertise, advanced analytical analysis and experience in constructing and executing successful digital campaigns. Digital Synergy ensures your brand meets the consumer when and where they need them. This type of all-encompassing service provides a business with the opportunity to integrate and implement all of their digital marketing strategies and goals into one single work plan that we provide. Rather than creating several fragmented campaigns across several advertising platforms with several different administrators, Onimod Global handles them all, making it easier to maintain and report on results.

 

Other Services:

In addition to Digital Synergy, Onimod also offers a variety of other services including SEO, SEM, Social Media content development and maintenance, Website design and development, Graphic Design, Email Marketing, and Analytics Reporting. A myriad of advertising platforms are used alongside of these many services. Here at Onimod we frequently utilize Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google tools, and more to increase brand awareness and traffic. We make it simple for the client to pick and choose which services they would and would not like to implement. This also allows for a more unique and customized experience for the customer. Each of our clients greatly appreciate the ability to create a custom digital marketing strategy because it gives them the freedom to tailor their digital needs to be most effective and beneficial to their business.

 

Contact Us:

If you or someone you know is interested in working with us here at Onimod Global to improve upon your digital marketing strategies and techniques, please reach out by visiting our website to fill out a quick and easy contact form!

Google vs Bing: Which Ad Platform is Better?

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When weighing out your options for SEM and how to most effectively spend ad dollar, analyzing the benefits of using Google AdWords and Bing Ads is a great starting point. The common assumption is that Google AdWords dominates, yet utilizing Bing Ads can be very advantageous depending on numerous factors. Let’s evaluate the strengths of each advertising platform.

Google AdWords Strengths

1. Amount of Search Volume: It’s no secret that Google is the king of search engine traffic. Therefore, this means a higher potential for customers, leads, and conversions for whatever you are advertising.
2. Advanced Features: Especially with the recent launch of an upgraded AdWords platform, Google’s program has more advanced features to offer than Bing. Working with optimization, targeting, ad extensions, and management settings Google gives advertisers a much more advanced interface.
3. Easier Talking Point: Because of how known Google and their Adwords platform is, many businesses will quickly jump on the AdWords “bandwagon.” AdWords is more commonly known in the digital advertising world and Bing tends to be overlooked as a result of this.

Bing Ads Strengths

1. Better Value: Advertising on Bing in most cases is about half the cost as Google Adwords. Less people also advertise on Bing’s platform, so the price of keywords is significantly lower. Ultimately, this leads to cheaper conversions and a better use of ad dollar for organizations.
2. Audiences: Although the search volume of Bing isn’t any competition for Google, the quality of clicks tends to be better. In some cases Google AdWords will “eat up” ad dollar through meaningless clicks. If utilized correctly, you would be surprised at how many relevant clicks and conversions can come through Bing.
3. Customer Service: Being an extremely large organization, Google has much more customer service issues to worry about compared to Bing. Not to knock Google’s customer service department but because of Bing’s smaller organizational size, they have a greater ability to spend more time with customer problems and fulfill more specific needs.

Micro-Wins: The Key to AdWords Success

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There are plenty of articles out there claiming to have some sort of quick fix or tip to exponentially boost your AdWords campaigns. In certain case studies these hints may have actually been incredibly successful, but that doesn’t mean the same goes for every advertiser or every business. In reality, micro-wins are much more valuable and much more attainable by most digital marketers.

 

What Are Micro-Wins?

Micro-wins are a series of tiny improvements over a long course of time, sort of like a theory of evolution on an AdWords campaign. These changes may not look like much in the beginning, but when compiled together at the end of a year, they make a very large impact.

 

Exploration

Hundreds upon hundreds of trial and error attempts are the secret to achieving these micro-wins. It’s best to begin by trying a myriad of strategies, so as not to limit your campaign based on what you think you already know. Experiment, it’s okay to fail! This is how you determine what works and what definitely does not.

 

Refinement

Once you can see where the biggest potential lies, start trimming off the fat. Take away all of the failed experiments, and all the money they’re draining, and leave those that still hold some potential for the future.

 

Optimization

Start experimenting again. Weed out the best of the best in terms of advertisements by thinking outside of normal limitations. Do not be afraid to try something new because you can always change it later on if needed. Once completed, you’ll be left with only the highest achieving and most successful ads.

A New Google AdWords: 5 Things to Know

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With the recent launch of a new Google AdWords interface and updates, it will become essential for businesses, marketers, agencies, etc. to adapt to an ever changing world of digital marketing. After watching Google’s AdWords webinar on May 31, 2o17 here are five important takeaways regarding Adwords and their upgraded platform.

1. Updated Quality Score Metrics:

Although metrics such as click through rate and landing page quality are still relevant, Google has announced that more factors are now going to be considered. This includes mobile friendliness, social media engagement, response rate, conversion rates, reorganizing accounts, and other factors. Due to a rapid increase in mobile site visitors, Google has responded accordingly and have placed a higher emphasis on mobile traffic. Regarding social media engagement, staying on top of platforms and showing consistency will be recognized by Google and lead to more clicks through search. In addition, having an effective response rate can be difficult to achieve yet if given the appropriate attention you will be noticed. Customers enjoy quick responses and if your organization stays on top of the game Google will begin to recognize this. 

2. Ad Rank Calculations:

It’s been reported that Google may be placing a higher emphasis on bids when it comes to Ad Rank calculations in the near future. Although quality metrics are still going to be extremely relevant with determining Ad Rank, it still needs to be pointed out that max cost per click (CPCs) might end up holding more weight for certain queries. Therefore, if increased bidding does end up being a larger determinant for Ad Rank, firms will need to adjust their AdWords strategies accordingly.

3. Historical Quality Score Data:

The new Google AdWords interface will now enable advertisers to view historical quality score data. Adding quality score reporting will greatly assist AdWords users in determining what is working and what is not. It’s even reported that advertisers will have the ability to segment the data by day, which will show quality scores changing on a daily basis and what improvements are needed to maintain a higher score. There will also be feedback icons for every keyword, giving recommendations like landing page improvements, click through rate, and relevance of ads.

4. Local Search Ads:

The addition of local search ads will take Google mobile advertising to the next level. It’s noted that about a third of all mobile searches have “local intent,” meaning that businesses will need to focus on their local consumers in order to maintain a competitive advantage. However, what is the main reasoning behind local search advertising? The answer is the desire of local companies to bring in more foot traffic to their business. With foot traffic on the downfall due to an increased demand of online shopping, local advertising options will help local businesses get back on track.

5. Expanded Text Ads:

It’s finally here – the ad text limits have expanded! The launch of expanded text ads are essentially a response to an increase in mobile search traffic. Therefore, these text ads are constructed to increase mobile search performance with larger headlines and longer descriptions. There will now be a total of 140 characters of space to use, compared to the current 95 characters (25-35-35). Another important point to mention is the potential improvement of click through rates (CTR). Having a greater visibility of text ads will most likely lead to increased CTR, and therefore more conversions or leads will be generated.

The Latest From Google

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There were a few new features recently introduced at the 2017 Google Marketing Next keynote. Google is constantly trying to optimize the experience it provides for both its marketers as well as its consumers who conduct millions of searches every minute of every day through its site. They continue to innovate and create a better experience in the year of 2017, and recently unveiled the latest in search engine optimization.

Google Optimize:

There appears to be a bigger focus on landing pages this year as Google Optimize comes out of its beta stage. The program allows a user to test their ads side-by-side in order to directly compare one ad or landing page against the other. New reporting capabilities are also included in this updated application.

Google 360:

Google 360 is another innovation that will make this process easier. More than 10 million respondents per week can be reached through this new program, which provides greater insight into how consumers react to the differences between pages or ads, and which they would be more inclined to engage with.

AdWords Redesign:

In addition to the announcements made at the Google Marketing Next conference, there are other important happenings within the realm of Google. For the first time in 8 years the search engine giant decided to redesign the look of Google AdWords. The enhancements include a more easily navigable interface and more direct comparisons when generating advertisements.

The change is not going to be released all at once. Instead, advertisers will receive the update selectively over time. There is no real way to know exactly when you may receive the update as it is, “based on a number of factors”. However, Google representatives did say that all advertisers should receive the update by years end, so stay tuned!

Which is Better: Paid or Organic Search?

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Digital marketers have long debated these two search channels in an effort to once and for all prove one as the true victor when it comes to measurable results. However, this comparison is not as simple as it seems. Much like comparing apples to oranges, these two channels are incredibly different from one another.

Organic:

Organic search results typically have a much higher conversion rate, and higher key metrics in general, associated with them when compared to paid search results. Organic results are also 100% free, and who doesn’t love free advertising? At a glance, these well performing statistics may suggest that organic is a better channel than search, but that is not necessarily the case.

 

Paid:

The paid search channel is always the first listed when a consumer conducts a Google search. Google also continues to improve upon its search by providing an obvious preference to paid advertisements rather than organic listings. This was made clear last year when the search giant added a fourth paid advertisement listing in every query. Unfortunately, these prime positions come at a price.

 

Despite the cost associated with paid listings, many advertisers utilize them to gain the most recognition from a potential customer. This form of advertising is most helpful for companies that are trying to gain awareness of their brand.

 

Conclusion:

There is no clear and definite winner. Paid and organic search channels each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, but to only choose one of them in any marketing strategy is a weakness in itself. Digital marketers need to realize the full potential of every marketing opportunity and what they mean collectively for the company’s success.

 

If your business is limiting itself in its number of channels, then there is no doubt that it is also limiting itself in the number of potential customers it can reach. The key to the relationship between paid and organic search is that they are best when implemented together.

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Google rolls out similar audiences for Search and Shopping

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Now out of beta, similar audiences for Search enables advertisers to target users searching for the same kinds of things as recent site visitors. Read more