Tag Archive for: Google Ads

Marketers’ Top Google AdWords Mistakes

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Google AdWords is one of the most used digital marketing tools today. Even though its use is widespread, optimization is still difficult for some. Creating a successful AdWords campaign is time-consuming and takes detailed, exhaustive work. It may be demanding, but when carried out properly, these campaigns have the possibility to bring in a mass of sales and business opportunities. Not to mention the inverse can be scary for marketers: spending too much on an underperforming campaign. The average small business spends $9,000 and $10,000 on Google paid search campaigns. With marketers allocating so much budget to AdWords campaigns, it’s essential to know how to effectively use them, and to be aware of the mistakes to avoid. 

5 Most Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them: 

Irrelevant Keywords or Wrong Match Type 

Keywords irrelevant to your ad copy or that have low search volume can cause your ads to have low quality scores. Along with using irrelevant keywords, you might be using too many. While you want to try to show up in as many searches as possible, you want to make sure they’re relevant to your product or service. Bidding on too many or irrelevant keywords will immediately drain your ad spend and could leave you conversion-less, especially if you’re using broad-match type. This match type allows ads to be triggered on a broad range of variations of your keywords, such as synonyms, possible misspellings, plural and singular forms, related searches, etc. 

The match mistake is an easy fix, as you can quickly go into the campaign settings to change it. First you should do your research on which type would be best for your particular campaign and target audience, such as phrase or exact match. Choosing the right keyword set can be a tedious task. It takes a lot of analysis, as well as trial and error. It’s important to choose keywords that are also used on your landing page, as that will increase your quality score. But it’s even more important to be aware of what your customers are actually searching. Users are much more likely to click on ads that include words and phrases that match exactly the query they typed in. Getting your list of keywords as tight and relevant as possible will help to drive conversions at the lowest possible cost. 

Not Utilizing Negative Keywords

Even after you have a solid list of keywords, there’s still a possibility of your ads getting shown for irrelevant or even negative searches. For example, you’re selling Axe deodorant and you’re bidding on the word “axe.” Someone could search “tree axe,” and your ad could fire. So you would want to apply “tree” as a negative keyword to ensure Google doesn’t trigger your ad for any searches involving that word. AdWords automatically gives you a list of suggested negative keywords to get started, but you shouldn’t leave it at that. Consistently watch your search terms report. Consider adding any keywords that come in for irrelevant queries, as well as expensive CPCs. If there’s a keyword that’s costing you high clicks and isn’t converting, you may want to pull it. 

Minimal Use of Ad Extensions 

Most users of Google AdWords are aware of ad extensions, but not of the full plethora or impact they can have. Ad extensions allow you to get more space on the results page, include more valuable information to your ad copy, send users directly where you want, give them the option to call you directly, and more. They can even have a factor in your overall ad rank. Google reported that adding a new ad extension typically increases click-through rates by 10-15%. Finding the right combination of relevant ad extensions can increase click through rates, lower cost per click, and improve positioning. Consider these popular extensions and their benefits: 

  • Callouts: Allow you to include specific attributes about your business, products, and services. This is an area where you can include more keywords and pitch-heavy content.
  • Sitelinks: These can build the content of your ad by offering additional information and links to more specific pages on your site, allowing users to get directly where they need to.
  • Structured Snippets: Allow your ad to highlight specific aspects of your products and services. The layout is a mix between a callout and a sitelink. Each snippet contains a header and list of features you choose to highlight. This extension can hurt your click-through rates if your content isn’t carefully thought out, because the design can be complicated and hard to read.

Not Using Landing Pages

Sending PPC traffic to a homepage is a huge mistake that some marketers are still unaware of. Most people that are performing searches are looking for an immediate solution to a problem. Sending them to your homepage means they will have to spend even more time searching through your site for what they actually want. If they don’t immediately find it, they’ll likely bounce and search elsewhere. If a user already went as far as clicking on your ad, make it easy as possible for them to actually convert. With that being said, you also need to make sure they’re being directed to appropriate landing pages. If you can, try to create a designated landing page for each keyword set that answer the same user intent, and make sure there is a clear call-to-action on each. You can learn more about creating high converting landing pages here. 

Not Testing Ads or AdCopy 

Testing is widely underutilized when it comes to AdWords campaigns. It is often dismissed as time-consuming and unnecessary, but you really don’t know how an ad is performing unless you can compare it to another. Create ads with various headings, keywords, body copy, placements, landing pages, etc. To get the best results from A/B testing remember to:

  • Only change one factor per test.
  • Have a clear hypothesis. 
  • Perform the test long enough to gain accurate results. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Every marketer makes mistakes, but being proactive can help you to avoid the simple ones. All these mistakes are easy to make, but they’re also relatively quick fixes and easy to learn from. Running AdWords campaigns can be tedious, but when carried out correctly the results can be monumental. That’s why it can be beneficial to outsource for your paid search needs. At Onimod Global we are experts in SEM. As a Google Partner, we are a digital marketing company, trusted by Google to excel with their products. We are experts in paid search on major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as in social advertising across all platforms. We work as your own in-house digital marketing team. 

Learn more about what we do, or become a client today! 

 

YouTube’s New “Video Reach” Campaign Capabilities

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Earlier this week YouTube launched a new way to run video ad campaigns. Advertisers can now upload three different types of videos under one campaign, and it apparently cuts campaign costs by more than 20%. In the announcement, YouTube said they’re constantly working on better ways to help companies achieve their marketing goals—whether that’s to build awareness, shift perceptions, or drive a specific action. It should be a simpler and more effective way to drive reach while meeting target audiences in the places they’re watching.

 

Video Reach Campaigns 

Before, advertisers would have to make 3 separate campaigns for each video ad type. Now, they can use 6 second bumpers, skippable in-stream ads, and non-skippable in-stream ads in a single campaign. From there, Google’s machine learning will automatically serve the most efficient combination of these formats to help reach your audience at scale.

Bumper Ads: Non-skippable ads, 6 seconds or shorter that are shown before the video the user wishes to view. Bumper ads use target CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding. You pay each time your ad is shown 1,000 times.

Skippable In-Stream Ads: The ad plays before, during, or after other videos and viewers have the option to skip after 5 seconds. These can appear on YouTube watch pages, on videos on partner sites, and apps in the Display Network. You have two bidding options, CPV or CPM. With CPV you pay when a viewer watches 30 seconds of your video (or the duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with your video, whichever comes first. CPM bidding means you pay based on impressions. Skippable in-stream ads use CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) bidding, so you pay each time your ad is shown 1,000 times.

Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads: The non-skippable video ad is an ad format that may appear pre-, mid-, or post-roll while viewing partner content. They can be 15-20 seconds long and viewers must watch the ad before they’re able to watch the selected video. A smaller, 300 x 60-pixel ad may also be shown next to YouTube videos that show non-skippable video ads on desktop. They are sold on a CPM basis, and may generate higher CPMs than other ad formats on YouTube.

 

TrueView for Action Campaigns

For companies looking to build a full-funnel strategy, YouTube recommends using the video campaigns alongside a TrueView for action campaign. TrueView campaigns are built to drive leads and conversions by adding CTAs, headline text overlays, and an end screen to video ads. In the announcement, YouTube said that soon, TrueView for action ads will extend to the home feed, giving advertisers the opportunity to capture more high value leads. 

 

Masthead on TV Screens 

YouTube also announced it will be bringing mastheads to their fastest growing surface, the tv screen. According to YouTube, their daily watch time tops 250 million hours a day. It will be available as a reserved placement for advertisers to ensure brands can drive the visibility they need on the dates that matter most. They can be purchased on a CPM basis, with audience targeting capabilities, and cross-screen or single-screen Masthead buying options. YouTube believes the rich audio and visual experience brought by the TV screen will create an upper-funnel drive greater than ever before. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Some companies have already started adopting the new campaign strategies. Ford, being one of them, has reported strong results. In alpha tests, the automaker lowered their campaign cost over 20% compared to their past YouTube campaigns. These new capabilities take advertisers’ guesswork out of creating comprehensive campaigns that utilize a series of ads. YouTube is becoming a stronger and more strategic partner by focusing more on marketing objectives rather than media. 

 

More From Onimod Global 

To catch up on the latest digital marketing news and trends, click here. To find out more about who we are and what we do, click here!

Marketing Automation: Why It’s Essential and What to Avoid

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As more businesses shift away from traditional marketing tactics, agencies should follow suit. The times of one-time projects, lower value relationships, and thoughtless solutions with no unified reporting will lead to failure. The demand for full digital marketing services continues to increase, meaning agencies are taking on new clients while trying to keep existing ones happy. But with the rise for the need of digital services also comes the rise of resources available that makes providing those services easier. 

Some agencies have started using automated marketing systems to increase both sales revenue for both their company and their clients. These solutions allow repetitive tasks like email marketing, social postings, and ad campaigns to be automated, not only for efficiency, but to also create a more personalized experience for users. Not to mention, every step customers make can be triggered and tracked as they go through your marketing funnel. Allowing marketers to make appropriate adjustments to ads, campaigns, website, etc. 

Marketing automation is becoming a must have for agencies to stay relevant, but it can lead to failure if it’s not correctly implemented. 

 

Why You Should Use Marketing Automation 

 

Higher Value Relationships 

Marketing automation presents the ability to build and provide hyper personalized services for clients. This includes things like initial automation technology adoption and strategy, creation of email templates, nurture sequences, landing pages, as well as ongoing campaign assets, analytics, and optimization. Providing all these services ,in addition to the initial transition, makes it difficult for clients to change agencies. Not to mention it sets you apart from the competition, as many agencies have not yet integrated automation into their marketing strategy. 

Recurring Revenue 

Marketing automation is what can make an agency go from completing endless one-time projects, to being a consistent, must have resource for a number of companies. Marketing automation is necessary for almost any client and many companies struggle with technology. Many companies also struggle with knowing where exactly they need to personalize messages and where they shouldn’t. That’s where you should come in, and ultimately move towards a retainer-based relationship and consistent revenue. 

Proving Value 

Clients always want to know they’re getting the best ROI possible. When marketing automation is carried out correctly, there should be no issues presenting results. It gives you the ability to show measurable results with comprehensive lead-to-revenue reporting. Since it’s rooted in data, you’re provided the necessary numbers to help clients pinpoint what should be focused on and what should be tossed. Marketing automation also becomes more valuable and a better investment the longer it’s used. The more data there is, the more accurate the results will be, and can hopefully show month to month improvement. 

It’s Necessary to Stay Afloat 

According to Ad Age’s Agency Report 2018, U.S. agency growth is the slowest it’s been since 2010, except for those offering digital marketing services. With the need for digital services growing, marketing automation is basically becoming a must to stay in business. Companies need more data than ever to feel confident about their spending. Marketing automation can assist with all of these aspects when executed correctly. You can create new streams of revenue, attract new clients, provide real evidence of ROI and a service too complicated to take on in-house. 

 

Marketing Automation Mistakes 

A misconception has grown around automation that is can salve for any slowdown in marketing growth, including the need for generating new leads. This leaves many marketers with sophisticated tools automating the middle-of-the-funnel, but no real strategy or solution to generate new leads to nurture in the first place. This commonly results in marketers purchasing email lists to nurture instead of generating inbound leads. While this is a quick solution, it doesn’t work long term. This strategy fails to create a solid foundation for healthy, long-term customer relationships. Instead, it produces spammy content and incredibly low ROI. 

Another mistake is using marketing automation to force customers through a funnel with arbitrary touch points and irrelevant content. Marketers try to pass customers on to the sales department as quickly as possible, creating a disjointed customer experience. When marketing automation operates in a silo like this, points of friction are introduced that stall and strain what could have been productive, long-term customer relationships. Instead, there should be a contextual experience built on each customer’s individual needs. 

 

Final Thoughts 

Marketing automation can be a powerful and effective tool. To make it work it’s essential to understand all components and distinctions. Marketing automation should always be backed by an inbound strategy centered around the prospect, using all the information known about a person to inform the automation strategy. The ultimate goal is to deliver the information people need to make a purchase, when they need it, right where they’re looking for it. 

 

More From Onimod Global 

At Onimod Global we are experts in marketing automation and customer relationship management software. Our work is creating digital synergy and cross-channel digital marketing campaigns driven by machine learning analytics and human intelligence. Together ensuring your brand meets the consumer when and where they need them. Learn more about what we do, or become a client today. 

 

 

5 Steps to Creating a High Converting Landing Page

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Customers arrive on a landing page through social media posts, paid advertisements, and various other content. If your landing page is ineffective, all the ad dollars and resources put towards getting these customers there was essentially a waste.

A quality landing page has the potential to increase leads, sales, and gain valuable information on potential customers. Creating highly effective landing pages can seem like a difficult task, as there’s no one-size-fits-all template, but there are a variety of landing page best practices. These combined with understanding your target audience and dedicated effort, building a high converting landing page will be much easier. 

 

1. Focus on Responsive, Mobile-Friendly Designs 

In 2018, 52.2 percent of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones. No matter the industry, it’s smart to make mobile design a priority. This means using: optimized images, shorter sentences, bullet points, headings, and subheadings. Mobile-optimized landing pages include a lot of white space and can be easy to read at a quick glance. Performance is also important, as conversions won’t be likely if page speed is low or chew up data. 

Mobile-optimization also forces conciseness and high design focus. Screen space can’t be wasted on extra unimportant content or fluff. The message should be focused on the action you want the customer to take. The less-is-more design approach results in a more concise and engaging final project. 

 

2. Have One Clear Call-To-Action 

The call-to-action is the number one, most important element that should be included on every landing page, as it’s what turns visitors into real customers. 

What should be focused on first is the text. Powerful, direct, and urgent language is key. What makes you unique and would create an emotional drive in customers? If possible try to communicate one or more of the following: they are getting something for free, they are getting something exclusive, you are solving their problem, or they have limited time to act. 

Some other elements that increase the effectiveness of call-to-actions are contrasting colors, buttons instead of links, and ensuring its visibility. Most companies and sites have a set color scheme, which is great, but you don’t want your CTA to blend in. Make it stand out by using contrasting, yet visually appealing colors. It also doesn’t need to be at the bottom of the page. It should be placed where the user’s eye naturally goes. This is something that may require A/B testing. 

 

3. Use Visuals 

The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Meaning that visitors are immediately affected by the images on the landing page. As pictures are selected and placed, remember that they should be relevant to products and services, and high quality. 

If you’re selling a physical product, a high quality image should be displayed on the landing page. If you’re selling a service, the primary purpose of the image is to grab users’ attention and demonstrate relevance to them. 

And since the images are the first thing the user processes, you want that impression to be a good one. It has the potential to shape the visitor’s impression of your brand before they even make it to the ad copy. Which is why this isn’t a great place to use stock photos or quick photoshop jobs. Marketers have the opportunity to give potential customers a visual understanding of what they stand to gain with their product or service, and set themselves apart from the competition.

 

4. Have User and Search Engine Friendly Formatting 

Along with a mobile-friendly design and quality content, the page also needs to be formatted well, starting with a solid headline. It should compelling, something that will keep visitors reading. Touch on a main point that’s relevant to readers and hints that you have a solution to their problem. It’s also beneficial to use emotional power words. The most effective emotions to appeal to are anger, greed, and fear. “Stop getting ripped off!” “Free exclusive gift!” “Only 24 hours left!” are all possible headers appealing to these emotions. 

After you’ve established a heading that meets all the criteria, break the rest of the content of the landing page into segments. Each segment should have a subheading of its own that makes sense. This way if a reader is skimming the page they can skip to the section they’re looking for or read what is most relevant for them. Not only are headings and subheadings helpful for visitors, it helps search engines as well. Landing pages can be more easily indexed by Google and other search engines when they’re logically structured. 

 

5. Show You’re Reliable 

High converting landing pages always contain an element of trust. Include various pieces of evidence that show you can be trusted and are a reliable company, since you’re most likely asking visitors to give up some kind of sensitive information. There are five types of evidence best used to show trustworthiness.

The first is high quality landing page copy. There should be absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors. This makes visitors wary because it seems unprofessional, gives the sense that the website was thrown together, and thus unreliable. There are many tools that can help with spelling, grammar, and guides for clear landing page copy.

Proof of expertise and experience is also essential for reliability. Things such as: established in 1995, over 50,000 satisfied customers, licensed in 50 states, officially certified, member of the local Chamber of Commerce, etc, all communicate an important message. It reassures potential customers that your company is experienced, qualified, and have taken the prerequisites to earn and deserve your trust. 

Social proof, direct and indirect, is great evidence. Indirect includes social media follows, number of subscribers, likes, and shares. The more social engagement you have, the more trust you can earn. Indirect social proof can also be things like reported revenue, employee size, and other factors that bring your business clout. Direct social includes positive reviews, testimonials, and positive quotes from customers or influencers in your niche. It’s one person telling others “I had a good experience,” The simple truth is, trust begets trust.

Personal connection is next. Earn visitors trust by letting them get to know you and your business. This could be things such as a personal story, video, company bio, history, photos, etc. It helps when customers can put a name and face with who they’re doing business with. 

Lastly, evidence of security is very important. Most IT and security software vendors will give badges to their customers. You should place those on landing pages to indicate to customers that you have taken steps to ensure they’re information is protected, especially when it comes to personal or financial data. 

 

Contact Onimod Global 

Struggling to make your landing page convert or just need some digital marketing advice? Contact us! We are experts in all things digital marketing including SEM, Web Dev, Automation, Analytics, and much more. Learn more about what we do here, or keep up to date with all things digital marketing on our news page. 

 

 

The Best Post-Cookies Digital Marketing Strategies

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Marketers have been predicting the death of cookies since 2017, and yet it’s still holding on. Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies by default, and Google Chrome is soon getting the controls to follow. This has been regarded as the “nail in the coffin” for cookies, meaning the end is finally in sight. 

What exactly does this mean for digital marketers that have been relying heavily on cookies for so long? If that includes you, there’s no need to worry. Marketing as we know it will survive. There are a number of more effective data sources being developed, as well as plenty of tactics to break and replace the cookies habit. 

 

People-Based Marketing 

People-based marketing combines real-time behavioral data with first party brand data to create a cohesive marketing system, centered around the individual consumer. This behavioral marketing method does not rely on third-party cookies. Instead it allows brands to use a proactive approach, creating a marketing strategy that’s ready to meet the user wherever they choose to engage. 

A successful strategy includes three key elements: Identification, Data, and Automation. 

Identification: This is the process of identifying and connecting consumers and their devices, with the ultimate goal of ensuring persistent, cross-device recognition for a single view of the customer. This is necessary because most consumers do not spend time online on a single device. A typical consumer navigates through various devices – desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets, while looking at the same products. If the full customer journey is not tracked well, it could lead to incorrect assumptions about their behavior. These assumptions can cause inaccurate data, ultimately resulting in poorly designed marketing campaigns. 

Data: Brands have an abundance of data on each customer, from purchase data to email engagement to device information. Until recently it was impossible to actually put this data to use, due to limitation certain channels have put on it. With the identification-first approach, we can now tap into the dunes of dark data since it all ties back to the first identifying point – the email address. Now, brands can organize all their data the “people-based way,” attributing every piece of data to the single individual in question. And it’s not just historical data, brands can refer to real-time behavioral data like their device, their interaction with your website, their carts, as well as the products and categories they visited while browsing. Linking together these data points allows brands to get a singular view of the customer.

Automation: Instead of relying on cookie-based data, people-based marketing automation relies on first party-based targeting. Brands unlock a singular view of consumers, one that anchors all of the data discussed above to a single email address. As a result, brands can automate their marketing approach across all devices and all channels under a single cohesive marketing strategy. The power of people-based marketing stems from the fact that it looks at the business’ lowest common denominator, the consumer, as opposed to a specific channel or device.

 

Contextual Advertising 

In the simplest terms, contextual advertising is advertising on a website that is relevant to the page’s content. In traditional contextual advertising, automated systems display ads related to the content of your site based on keyword targeting. This is not a new strategy, but keyword contextual based advertising is one of the best options to cookies-based behavioral targeting. The downfall to behavioral targeting is that you may be getting shown ads for things you would never really buy as an everyday consumer. With contextual advertising you’re only shown ads based on the content you’re looking at, not your overall behavior profile. 

Google AdSense is the ideal platform for this type of advertising, giving you the ability to place, images, videos, or text ads on pages of participating sites. You can put dynamic content in front of people that weren’t necessarily searching for you, but were already interested in your field of industry. YouTube advertising, which is a part of the Google Ads System, is another contextual advertising opportunity. For example, you could show a brief video game ad right before a video game tutorial YouTube video. 

The move to contextual targeting will also mean a move back to focusing on producing and distributing relevant content. Extremely specific ads need to be created for equally specific keyword groups and site pages. User relevancy should be maximized, which in turn maximizes clicks, conversions, and ultimately ROI. 

 

Final Thoughts 

The disappearance of third-party tracking may be unsettling at first, but most marketers are starting to believe tracking cookies are no longer needed. Apple’s Safari and the GDPR made the method increasingly unattractive and the expectancy of stricter privacy regulations is why Google is planning on joining the “cookies ban” bandwagon. Moving forward it’s going to be all about exploring new technologies, innovation, and striking a balance between profit and privacy choices to avoid another wave of consumer backlash. Utilizing first-party data that you can get when people intentionally engage with your brand is the first step toward accomplishing this.

 

More From Onimod Global

While there’s no avoiding the changes to come, you don’t have to face these challenges alone. Onimod Global is here to help, with expertise in every area of digital marketing, including SEM, SEO, Social, Web Dev, Graphic Design, and more. Receive the highest-quality customer service, 24/7, at an affordable rate. Learn more about what we do, and start your project today. 

Branded vs Non-Branded Keywords: Which Should You Be Using?

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When it comes to branded versus non-branded search, it isn’t an either/or decision, both are critical for successful rankings. Businesses must have a strong understanding of the customer journey, to know when users are more likely to search for branded versus non-branded keywords. If you’re aware of what searches your potential customers are making, and are bidding on the right phrases, you can increase your chances of ranking in moments of the highest intent. 

 

Branded Keywords 

Branded keywords are exactly what they sound like, search words or phrases that include your brand name or a variation of it. Branded keywords are usually used by searchers that have heard of your business through marketing efforts or are a past customer. Some businesses feel that bidding on your own branded keywords is a waste, but this isn’t necessarily true. To help all users in their search journey it can still be beneficial to bid on branded keywords. Here are some reasons to think about. 

Controlling Your Message 

Organic listings are cheap but they don’t give you the chance to really tell users what you’re about. Paid advertising gives you the opportunity to get creative with your message to grab the user’s attention. Additionally, organic results may not take users to their ideal landing pages. With paid advertisements you have complete control of your message and where the user is linked to, increasing your chances of conversions. 

Competitor Bids 

Competitors may be invading your space. Many businesses across all industries bid on their competitors’ keywords with the intention of stealing business and traffic. Bidding on your own keywords reduces competitors’ opportunities to outrank your own results. 

Capture High-Quality Leads. 

People searching for your own brand are already familiar with your company. They’ve either heard good things from a friend or are a returning customer. Either way, they know you have what they’re searching for and are further along in the buying cycle than someone just doing broad searches. Chances are they’re very close to making a purchase. Being one of the top results ensures that they find what they’re looking for, and can follow through with that purchase, creating new or repeat business for you. 

Dominating Your Own Search Engine Results Page

They always say that two is better than one. Appearing both organically and by paid ads can show users that you’re a prominent player in that space. It works similarly to having multiple links in an email, increasing click-through rates, giving the users more opportunities to land on your page. 

 

Non-Branded Keywords 

Non-branded keywords are any search queries that do not specify any specific brands or business names. These include generic searches such as “happy hours in my area,” or “local car repair services.” These are often made by people that are either brand-agnostic, or new prospects not yet familiar with your brand. While ranking for branded terms is still important, strategizing how to rank for non-branded keywords should be a top priority. This is likely to be more expensive than branded keyword bidding, but it’s the best way to gain more visibility, traffic, and conversions. Non-branded searches are made at a much higher volume than branded terms, which is why it’s important to identify those that are most relevant to you. Here are some strategies to optimize non-branded search. 

Optimize for what Users are Searching 

It’s important to begin by putting yourself in the user’s perspective. What exactly would they be searching for to end up at your business? What products or services might they need? What entities are fundamental to your business? For example, if you do work on cars, customers are probably doing searches beyond just “car repair.” They may be looking for – oil changes, new brakes, new tires, etc. It’s important to not only have a clear understanding of what your customers are looking for, but how to optimize your non-branded searches to fit their needs. 

Manage Business Listings 

Make sure your business is listed accurately, everywhere. This way new customers making local searches find you in moments of high intent. Everything from address, hours, business category, etc. need to be correct and consistent. This is necessary for not only your own website, but for third party sites as well, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. To rank for non-branded searches, search engines must be able to identify that your business is near the user’s geolocation and your hours of operation. 

It’s important to emphasize both of these aspects because if search engines can’t find this information then neither will users. Overall, both types of searches work together. By optimizing online listings and your website for the products, locations, services, and other entities that you offer, you’re giving search engines the information they need to deliver structured, verified answers to specific questions customers are asking about your brand. 

Getting business today means you have to understand that customers have grown and know how to search for exactly what they want. Which is why it’s important to utilize and optimize your opportunities in all search areas. 

 

How We Can Help 

At Onimod Global we are experts in all areas of SEM. We are experienced in paid advertising across all platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and Bing. Our strategy is using cross-channel digital marketing campaigns driven by machine learning analytics and human intelligence. Together ensuring your brand meets the consumer when and where they need them. Read more about what we do here, or contact us today here. 

Measuring SEO Success

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Consistently measuring SEO results and success is crucial to maintaining an effective SEO strategy. But what exactly should you be basing your SEO success off of? With so many different measurement strategies, you need to make sure you’re choosing what’s relevant to your company. What small business consider successful for an SEO campaign, large corporations probably would not.

While all businesses are aware they should be focusing on SEO to generate website traffic, it can still be a struggle to create an effective and comprehensive campaign, especially when it comes to small businesses.

Standard Measurements of SEO Success

Website traffic and conversions are the top two ways businesses measure SEO success. While traffic is important, focusing on that alone puts businesses at risk of missing other crucial metrics. Conversions do often equal success, but it’s almost impossible for a company to have a 100% conversion rate. It also depends on what the company considers a conversion. If it’s an online retail store a conversion is probably a purchase. But often times conversion doesn’t equal new business. For example, an online loan company would consider a conversion someone submitting an application, but what if the application was denied because they didn’t meet the requirements?

The metrics chosen should be relevant and align with your company’s ultimate goals and objectives. The most important aspect to be tracked is overall traffic and conversion quality. Are those coming to your website or filling out forms turning into new and legitimate business opportunities?

Measuring Quality

Time on Page & Pages Per Visit

Depending on what your goal is when a visitor reaches your site, these two things may be beneficial to track. For example, you posted a new blog and you know it takes an average of 3 minutes to read, but the average time visitors spend on that page is only 10 seconds. That probably indicates people are not sticking around to read it. It’s the same with pages per visit. Is the goal to keep users engaged on one page, or is there a final step you want them to reach? If your site’s pages operate independently then this wouldn’t really matter, if not, this may be something you want to consistently track.

Bounce Rate

Bounced sessions indicate that a searcher visited the page and left without browsing your site any further. Bounce rate can determine not only traffic quality, but also quality of the site itself. A high bounce rate can sometimes indicate your website needs improvements. Making it more engaging by including links to other posts or pages is one strategy to keep visitors interested. Though a high bounce rate doesn’t always mean the website needs to be updated. This can also mean visitors are just quickly finding exactly what they needed, such as hours, menus, addresses, etc.

Scroll Depth

Scroll Depth determines how far visitors are scrolling through each individual web page. Are visitors regularly reaching your most important content or the call to action? If not, consider rearranging the content of the page, putting the more important information higher up. Consider the quality of the content as well. While keywords are important and should be included, you don’t want that to be the extent of your content. The information included on the page should be enticing and valuable. Put yourself in the user’s place, what would make you continue to scroll down the page?

Backlinks

Backlink quality is measured by the number of links from websites with high domain authority. While you can’t control all the links that come back to your site, you can target backlink quality by reaching out to other sites that provide domain authority and a new, but similar audience. Keep in mind relevance and novelty. Endorsements from new sites can have a greater impact than repeats. The more relevant the site is to your content, the better endorsement as well.

Putting Your Resources to Use

Google Analytics is a great way to track and measure all of this data in one place. If you already enacted an SEO campaign, you most likely have access to all these capabilities. Google gives you an extensive list of metrics to use, but it can be difficult to know where to start or exactly what the data means. A few places to start could be by tracking isolate organic traffic, page visits, campaign traffic, or click through rates.

How Onimod Global Can Help

As experts in SEO and Google Partners, we know exactly what you should be tracking, and how. As one of our core attributes, we can develop SEO campaigns across all major search engines that deliver increases in organic traffic and natural rankings. We are cross-channel digital marketing experts that work with companies of all sizes, all around the world. Read more about what we do here, or contact us with any questions here.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Ad Copy

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Google provides a lot of helpful data when it comes to certain aspects of search campaigns, except when it comes to ad copy. Ad copy can be one of the most crucial elements when it comes to paid search, no matter the platform. Finding the right combination of keywords and titles can be difficult, but when you’re spending a good chunk of budget on paid search, you want your ad copy to be something that’s generating traffic.

 

What is Ad Copy?

Ad copy is the main text or description of a clickable advertisement. The text is usually the second and third lines of the ads displayed on a search engine, in between the title and display URL. It’s generally used to describe what the advertisement is for, as well as inserting related keywords. While most people are aware of what ad copy is, there are still mistakes frequently made, even by experienced paid search marketers. Finding what works best for your particular paid ads can be difficult, but we’re going to discuss some general do’s and don’ts of writing ad copy.

 

Ad Copy Don’ts

Jacob Baadsgaard, founder and CEO of Disruptive Advertising, has identified the top 3 most common mistakes that keep businesses from paid search success, when it comes to ad copy.

Keyword Stuffing

Inserting as many keywords as possible into ads is no longer the secret to search success. The modern user has been trained to avoid any search results that look even slightly suspicious or point towards spam. Users now look for content that address problems and solutions. As consumers evolve, ad copy should follow. This does not mean keywords should no longer be included, they’re still very important. What it means is that they need to be appropriately and specifically selected and placed in the ad copy. The ad needs to incorporate them in a more meaningful way. Focus more on providing answers, rather than keywords, because that’s ultimately what users are looking for.

Focusing On The Wrong Problem

Users click on ads if they focus on a problem, pain point, or whatever triggered their need to search. The issue is many business misidentify the motivating factors behind customers’ searches. A common misconception is that a company’s target audience share the same needs, goals, and values. More often than not the customer doesn’t care, what they do care about is whether or not you can help fix their problem. If the ad doesn’t focus on a solution, customers probably won’t click on it. When the ad copy’s main focus is the need behind a user’s search, you’ll seem like the perfect solution.

Neglecting Ad Extension

While it is ultimately up to Google whether people see your ad extension or not, neglecting it is a huge mistake. It is important to focus on titles and descriptions, since that’s what everyone will see, but when your ad extension is shown, it needs to matter. “Google reports that adding a new ad extension typically increases click-through rates by 10-15%, so they’re well worth investing some time into.” Ad extensions are a way to incorporate callouts, sitelinks, and structured snippets.

Callout extensions allow you to include specific attributes about your business, products, and services. This is an area where you can include more keywords and pitch-heavy content.

Sitelinks are something that should definitely be taken advantage of if given the opportunity. They can build the content of your ad by offering additional information and links to more specific pages on your site, allowing users to get directly where they need to.

Structured snippet extensions allow your ad to highlight specific aspects of your products and services. The layout is a mix between a callout and a sitelink. Each snippet contains a header and list of features you choose to highlight. This extension can hurt your click-through rates if your content isn’t carefully thought out, because the design can be complicated and hard to read.

Ad Copy Do’s  

 

Include Emotional Triggers When Appropriate

Users don’t make decisions on logic alone. People are more often driven by emotions. If someone reads something that triggers a strong emotional reaction, negative or positive, they will be more inclined to click through. You do want to be careful to balance the reaction with the rest of your message because you don’t want your brand to be associated with negative emotions. The ad copy should ultimately focus on resolving the negative emotion. Positive and subtle triggers can be effective as well. It all depends on what exactly you’re advertising.

Create Keyword-Rich Display URLs

Sometimes advertisers may not be aware that the display URL and their actual destination URL can be different. The display URL can be something more interesting or relevant to your ads while including your top keywords. Even if your destination URL doesn’t contain your keywords, your ads can still appear in search results if your display URL includes them.

Be Benefit Focused, Not Features

It can be disappointing, but most customers don’t care about your actual company. As previously discussed, users want to know what you can ultimately do for them. Focus on how your brand can make their life easier, not about your actual brand. Using words like ‘you’ makes the ad more personal and can demonstrate how your service actually benefits the user. How much time or money users can save with your service are easy and effective things to include.

 

Conclusion

Writing ad copy can be tricky, and there is a lot of room for error. That’s why it’s always beneficial to outsource for your paid search needs. At Onimod Global we are experienced experts in SEM. As a Google Partner we are a digital marketing company, trusted by Google and excel with their products. Experts in paid advertising on platforms such as Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Not only are we experts in paid advertising, but also organic search engine optimization. Onimod Global works as your own in-house, cross-channel, digital marketing team.

You can view some of our featured work here, or contact us here.  

Updates To Google AdSense

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Google continues updating their advertising platform to create ways that benefit you, the users, in bigger and better ways. The latest update involves Google AdSense and how they will process monetizing new sites.

Overview of Google AdSense

AdSense is one of many ways you can earn money from the internet. You can choose to place Google’s contextual ads on your blog, website, or search engine. Google will then distribute a portion of that revenue to you, and this varies among the type of keywords your site is using to generate these ads.

Prior to now, AdSense users could add their AdSense code on a new site without having to set it up as a separate site in their AdSense account.

 

So What’s New?

Every new site in every AdSense account will go through a verification process to review the following:

  • Ownership of the domain OR have the ability to modify its content
  • Compliance with the AdSense policies

There will also be a slight name change within the AdSense interface. The MySites tab will be renamed to Sites, and this tab will be much more prominent on the interface allowing for easier navigation.

These changes apply to all new and existing AdSense accounts.

 

How It Affects You

Frankly, this is an update that shockingly is just now coming into existence. Google has been working to make their Ads platform and supplemental application better protected, so this verification process is not at all surprising.

Most users won’t have to take any action, it will mostly be on Google’s end to verify the listed email is matched to the correct AdSense code.

According to MarketingLand, publishers are advised to stay tuned for several more updates from the AdSense team.

 

More From Onimod Global

For more information regarding digital marketing expertise, trends and insights, visit the Onimod Global Website. We provide weekly news updates on the latest in the world of digital marketing. Enjoy!

 

Image credit to: MarketingLand

How To Stop Wasting Your Ad Budget

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Google Ads is a phenomenal tool to help promote your business and generate visibility and leads for your company. Google, in addition to other search engines, is filled with competition where one small mistake could potentially cost you wasting loads of your ad budget. For example, your company may be bidding for several broad match keywords and potentially targeting the entire world when you’re only located in the U.S. As trusted Google Partners here at Onimod Global, all of our account managers are experts in working with ad budgets and have learned how to use ad dollar as efficiently as possible. Time to get smart with your spending, so we have a list of three simple tips to get the best bang for your advertising buck.

    1. Bid Higher On Profitable Locations

      As simple as this may seem, a lot of people don’t realize that they are targeting based on the default Google Ads target location, which is actually the entire world. If you have an e-commerce site that only ships within the U.S., and your ads are showing up to people in Italy and China, who are clicking on your ad and wasting your ad budget extremely fast. This is clearly frustrating, but the good news is that it’s also very avoidable.
      The work doesn’t stop there, you can also be prioritizing the areas where you’re sales are much higher. Say you are a retail e-commerce company that focuses on swimsuit sales, you may want to make bid adjustments to bid more on coastal areas like California and Florida vs. Iowa and other Midwestern states that swimsuit season is significantly shorter.

    2. Avoid Broad Match Keywords

      Broad match keywords are yet another common culprit of wasted ad budget. If you’re a shoe company bidding on the keyword ‘shoes’, you will eat up your budget and these types of keywords typically don’t perform well for advertisers. If you choose this method of advertising it will likely leave you with a lot of irrelevant, non-converting traffic.
      A solution to avoiding a lot of wasted ad budget is to take advantage of negative keywords. These will typically lead you to the most interested customers and will help you spend your ad budget much more efficiently. For example, if you offer pet services at your company but not grooming, you would add grooming as a negative keyword and that would eliminate people searching for pet grooming services to click on your business advertisement.

    3. Standard vs. Accelerated Ad Delivery

      Accelerated ad delivery is exactly how it sounds: spends your budget as fast as possible. If you ever use the accelerated method, it’s always in your best interest to monitor the campaign as closely as possible. If you have a campaign scheduled to run all day 24/7, and you’re also using the accelerated delivery method, that ad will start running at midnight and could potentially be out by 7 AM. Then you have no ad dollar left to spend on the rest of your day for consumers to click-through to your site. We recommend the standard ad delivery in almost all cases over the accelerated ad delivery method.

More From Onimod Global

We would love to work with you and help you optimize your ad budget and help you spend efficiently. To contact our experts or request a quote, please click here. We can’t wait to hear from you!