7 Outlandish Benefits of SEO Teamed Up with PPC

Chocolate is great on its own. But when you combine chocolate with peanut butter, you have a tasty revolution.

The same is true about SEO. In fact, there are benefits of SEO and PPC all on their own. But when you combine the two, you end up with a complete marketing strategy that leads to greater searchability for search engines and your customers to find your website.

We want you to create a marketing strategy this year that helps you succeed. With that in mind, we’re sharing with you what happens when you team up SEO with PPC.

The Benefits of SEO Include PPC

SEO (search engine optimization) is used to increase your site’s organic ranking on search engines. It’s done by using targeted keywords along with high-quality content.

There are several components that help create effective SEO. And when done correctly, PPC is a part of an SEO strategy.

Let’s take a look at the components that make up an effective SEO strategy.

On-Page Optimization

Your first step is on-page optimization. This strategy involves using specific keywords in your metadata and content which allow search engines to easily crawl your site.

External Links

External links are backlinks to your site from various sources. These external sources help add relevancy and authority to your site.

PPC

Finally, there’s PPC or pay-per-click. How does PPC work? It’s a strategy businesses use where they only pay for advertising when someone clicks on a link that takes them to a specific landing page the business has set up for marketing purposes.

However, PPC is only effective when the landing page consists of relevant information that converts people into taking a specific type of action that the business wants them to take.

When done correctly, PPC is cost-effective and helps in the conversion process.

How to Combine SEO and PPC Together

One easy strategy is to modify your organic keyword strategy in order to create and optimize new content. Doing so helps you rank higher within a specific geographic location.

You’re applying exact phrases that your niche market uses that will align with their intentions.

Combining SEO and PPC also helps you adjust your PPC budget so that you’re only running ads directed at your most popular markets and during the most effective time frames. This strategy helps you to enjoy maximum profits while paying the least amount of money.

And combining the two together helps you align your PPC ads with an offline marketing schedule to maximize on public awareness and conversions.

Now let’s look at the benefits.

1. Increased Visibility

When someone performs an online search it’s not uncommon for them to find thousands of results. But between 71% and 92% of consumers are searching beyond the first page of their results.

Even results found on the second page only yield 6% of all website clicks.

By combining SEO and PPC, it adds to your site’s overall exposure on search engine results pages (SERPS). The problem is that when it starts working effectively and their website begins to rank, clients often feel they can reduce their PPC efforts.

The Top Searches Are PPC Ads

But it’s also important to remember that the top two or three results on most SERPs are actually PPC ads.

When you use both strategies together, you’ll dominate not only organically but in paid search results. Your goal is to have your company featured at the top not only for PPC reasons but because your SEO campaign is also highly effective and you’ve ranked at the top organically as well.

Using them together greatly increases your online traffic.

It also gives the impression to potential customers that your business is an established presence in a particular market.

2. Shared Keyword Data

It cannot be stressed enough the importance of using the right keywords for your campaign. That’s just as true for SEO as it is for PPC.

Keywords are used in PPC to increase relationships with your consumers who are already at least partway down your conversion funnel.

In SEO, keywords are used to determine what information you share on your website and the content you add to it. Keywords help your audience find the most relevant content on your website.

When PPC and SEO Work Together

In both PPC and SEO keywords help you align with your core audience’s online behavior, drive qualified conversions, and project traffic growth.

By sharing keyword data, you can coordinate your messages to keep your brand on the top of your customers’ minds as well as soliciting qualified conversions.

3. Testing Your Keywords with PPC

It’s not always easy to determine which keywords are most effective for your marketing campaign. One way to easily test out keywords and phrases is to use them for your PPC ads.

This way, you get immediate feedback on how effective your organic keywords are. You can easily and quickly make changes to your strategy until you find a winning combination.

4. Shared Goals and Metrics

Make sure you know how to read and understand your stats from both your PPC and SEO strategies. It will help you to understand how well your campaigns are going and you can more quickly and easily pinpoint when and where you need to change or tweak a strategy.

But it does more than that. You can use that data to support your brand’s inbound marketing campaigns.

Your Metrics Help You Achieve All Your Goals

By knowing your bounce rates, pages per session, and average session duration, you can gain tremendous insight as to how your consumers are interacting with your ads and site. You can even figure out how they behave after they leave your site.

But not only can you apply the information and insights you’ve gained to your PPC and SEO strategies, but you can also apply them to other marketing channels such as email marketing, PR, and even social media.

Don’t Treat SEO PPC as Separate Entities

The information you gather from both your SEO and PPC efforts should be shared. If you have separate departments working on these two efforts, make sure your teams share the following:

Communication portals
Objectives
Reporting

Combining the two together helps increase internal awareness of key conversion opportunities.

5. Increased Social Media Visibility

$32 billion dollars were spent on social media marketing worldwide in 2017. By 2021, that figure is expected to grow to $48 billion. In 2016, the US alone spent $14.8 billion dollars alone.

Social media advertising has many advantages. For one, it’s affordable. Facebook allows you to create a marketing campaign for as little as $1 per day.

And it’s incredibly easy to create ads targeted to specific groups of people by using the social media site’s profile information of its users.

You can take that data from your campaigns to discover small details about your target audience that can help you refine and perfect your strategies.

6. Helps Negate Negative Publicity

No matter how great your products or services are not everyone will become a fan. At some point, it’s highly likely someone will say something negative about your company.

And you’ll need to do damage control. It’s a lot easier to ensure a positive outcome when you combine SEO with PPC.

That’s because you’re focusing on visibility. It’s a strategy that lets you guide the conversation effectively as you control the results from your SEO and PPC campaigns for a specific term.

Control Your Story No Matter How Bad the PR is

After the oil spill in the Gulf, BP had a lot of negative press to handle. BP paid for PPC ads that were linked to the keywords “oil spill.”

That PPC advertisement then led to a page on BP’s website that talked about the cleanup effort they were making. BP took control of where the conversation was heading.

More recently Wells Fargo dealt with a scandal involving fake accounts their employees set up to reach their quotas. Wells Fargo embarked on a huge campaign involving social media, email marketing, and PPC advertising.

It’s all focused on the messages of forgiveness and change.

Using a combination of PPC and SEO allows you to be in the driver’s seat no matter what happens.

7. Reach Previous Visitors By Remarketing Your Campaign

It’s not uncommon to have your website rank well thanks to SEO efforts. You might find your traffic numbers are high but there’s still a problem.

There are shoppers or potential leads who are taking their sweet time making up their minds. By combining SEO with a form of PPC called remarketing, you can bring back those visitors so they complete their purchase or make their conversion at a later date.

Say you sell women’s clothing on your website. Someone shops on your site and has a full cart but hasn’t yet made a purchase.

Remind Customers About Their Intended Purchase

You can then purchase ad space from a website in Google’s network. Your customers then see those ads for the same exact purchases they have in their cart at a later time.

It’s a way to remind your shoppers to come back to your site to complete their purchase. You can reach previous visitors to encourage them to finish their purchase or convert them into a lead rather than letting them forget about you and their full cart entirely.

Get Help

The benefits of SEO and PPC together are numerous. They act together as a powerful team to ensure you get and keep your customers coming back time and again.

It’s a great way to increase visibility and slay the competition. But it’s not easy to implement a strategy on your own.

We can help. Contact us and we’ll help you get started in the right direction.

Eric Ritter

Eric is the conductor of an orchestra here at Digital Neighbor. He knows how all the digital instruments should sound together. When he’s not solving marketing challenges for the neighborhood, Eric is also an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida, where he teaches Digital Media in the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications.

Previous Entry Next Entry

How to Write More Actionable Blog Content

When polled, 84% of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising

Content marketing is a strategy adopted by businesses to gain and retain customers. With content marketing, the business provides news and information that may be relevant to their customers.

When done right, the customers return for more information, purchase goods or services, and raise the SEO ranking of the website.

Discussed below are some tips for creating actionable content.

1. Gain Trust

Gaining trust in an online world can seem impossible. Business is all about relationships, so before you can write anything, your audience needs to trust you.

Your content should focus on meeting the needs of your audience and solving their problems, not tricking them into purchasing a product. Building trust with people always leads to organic rewards.

2. Share Your Story

Your story is the strongest message you will ever carry to your audience. People are looking for authenticity in a business. The power of a clear and compelling content will build trust faster than any list of features on your product.

Businesses often forget their audience has feelings. People want to connect with you in a personal way. Go ahead and share your struggles and how you got to where you are now.

3. Make Honest Promises

Everyone hates click-bait, so keep your titles enticing yet honest. Lying in any way to your audience will be detrimental to your business, and people can see right through false claims.

You should always be able to deliver on any claims that you make in your content. Exaggerated promises turn people off. They would rather have a step by step plan to improve their situation.

4. Plan For The Long-Term

When an author writes a book series, they get more sales from the older installments than they do from the new book.

The same sort of thing happens to businesses that use content marketing. Even if the new posts are popular, it’s your existing content that will give you more overall traffic.

If you don’t have a long-term plan for where you’re going, its time to figure that out.

5. Keep It Evergreen

Certain kinds of content have an expiration date. If you’re a movie critic or a book reviewer, you know the things you’re talking about are only going to be popular for a limited window of time.

However, even if you’re trying to keep up with current events, it’s important to focus on creating content that will remain viable.

While your review of the latest blockbuster won’t generate a lot of traffic once it’s out of theaters, a top 10 list of the best/worst films in a genre has staying power.

6. De-Clutter Your Content

Nothing turns people off faster than cluttered-looking content. You might have the greatest blog post on a topic or the most amazing video, but if your audience is getting interrupted every half-dozen seconds by an ad, they’re going to walk away.

Make sure your content is smooth and easy to digest, in addition to being good.

7. Analyze Your Existing Content

Analyze your content to see which topics are consistently used and which are not. Then try to determine which content converts the best among the historical posts.

Optimize towards those types of posts as they convert better.

Next, you should build a new type of post focused on calls to action. That could include signing up for an email list, downloading software, a white paper or other materials.

It could also be a call to direct call to buy the product. Then, using analytics, test to see which post does best and focus on those in the future.

8. Use Pop-Ups

Pop-ups that request the visitor enter contact information are effective for generating a lot of leads and a large mailing list. Those persons with mild interest will fill out the form. You can then store the information in an MySQL database for further data mining.

Additionally, you can ask visitors to provide additional information after they click out of the landing page. These pop-ups get valuable information from visitors that want to ensure that you recognize their needs.

Landing pages can even have more visible outreach in the forms of a human marketer using language, movement, and expression to sell the product or service.

You can implement this with a video that immediately runs on the page or an image that is inlaid into the HTML or Javascript on the page.

9. Search Engine Optimization

You can optimize your content for the exact keywords and search terms that are most likely to convert to sales. This effort takes trial and error.

A good clue is to see which search terms are the most expensive in their category. You can then write content emphasizing those concepts, keywords, and search terms.

Do your research when it comes to keywords.

It is important that you do your research to see what keywords people are using when they are searching online.

Not only should you use single word keywords, you should use longer keywords because that is how people search. They usually search for phrases instead of one basic keyword.

However, think about your topic, not just the keywords. Too many writers try to stuff as many keywords as possible into each blog. Not only can this make it hard to read, but it will turn off your readers. They will go to another blog that is easier to read.

The search engines will see that people are not staying on your website, so they will send them to other ones. They monitor how long people stay on your website because it is a sign about how good the information is.

10. Links Are Very Important

While you may not want to use links in case your readers decide to leave your website and not come back, the truth is that blogs with links rank higher on search engines.

When putting links in your blogs, make sure that you include both internal and external. With internal links, you should send readers to other blogs on your website that can give them more information.

External links are links to other websites. Make sure that you don’t send anyone to the website of your competition.

11. Power Up Your Headlines

Whether headlines catch people’s attention, entertain, or summarize, they are the first thing readers see before deciding whether to read articles.

Headlines are an important component in your search engine optimization efforts.

Here are some different ways you can make your headline more reader and search engine friendly:

Make sure your headlines aren’t too long or short. You probably want to keep your headlines within a sweet spot of approximately six words, with engaging words at the beginning and at the end.
Be clever. Here’s some good, basic advice: the most obvious headlines are probably already taken.
Think about different ways of explaining topics while still incorporating some good keywords into your headline.
Create action items. A headline for an article could tell people to do something. This could engage readers and invite them to find out more.
Ask questions. Pique the interest of your readers by asking a question in your headline.
What do readers want to find out, and what do they want to know? What are they searching for, and how does your article address their questions?
Define. Perhaps you are discussing a new topic that is constantly evolving. You may want to define an abstract topic in your headline to inform and to create a level of authority.
Be creative. If you can brainstorm, you can be creative. Think about various words and themes associated with your article topic. How can it be re-imagined, and how can your headline stand out from the rest?
Be direct. If you can manage to create a headline that is direct and different from the rest, then perhaps that is your best route.
Use parentheses, colons, dashes or numbers: People like to speed read with their tech devices. Luckily, grammar provides us with many ways to phrase something.

Create Actionable Content

Your uniqueness gives you the ability to say and create actionable content in a way that no one else can. Your content is the perfect place to let your personality shine through.

People love quirky personalities and strong opinions so don’t hide behind your computer. Your content should reflect your values and nature so your audience can relate and begin a long-term relationship with you.

Never be afraid to give away useful content for free, promote others or ask your audience questions. Building trust with your audience starts with being confident in yourself and your business.

For more digital marketing advice in Tampa, contact us.

Eric Ritter

Previous Entry Next Entry

What’s Changed in SEO in 2019

SEO is key to getting your website’s ranking up, without ranking you simply won’t be seen. Using SEO strategies on your blogs, social media and website, you could be missing out. Using SEO best practices 2019 is one of the most effective ways to make sure your customers can find you.

An SEO strategy should always be a part of your big picture marketing strategy. It’s important to remember that your SEO is ever changing. Your rankings can change from day to day, that’s why you need a strong long-term plan.

The best strategies are adjusted to make room for the new practices and algorithm updates. The new SEO practices aren’t rocket science, but if you follow these guidelines then it’ll be a piece of cake.

Make Your Website Mobile Friendly

It’s no secret that people are glued to their phones. Actually, around 60 percent of Google searches are done on a phone or tablet. It’s safe to say that number will probably only grow in the years to come.

That’s why Google is making phones the center of their algorithm. Moving forward, the mobile version on your website will be considered the default version.

This means that if you have content that’s hidden on your mobile site, it doesn’t exist to Googles crawlers anymore. Hidden content is anything that the user can’t see right away such as w read more drop down or a widget the only works on a desktop.

Your best bet is to make sure your page is completely responsive on a mobile device. If your webpage is built with a template, you might need to change it. Some templates just weren’t made to be mobile friendly. You might be able to see everything, but the site needs to also run smoothly.

Another change that’s been recently announced is that AdWords is now able to check the responsiveness or your mobile version.

Use Rich Snippets

The rich snippets, or the rich answer box, is the box that pops up what you ask search engines a question. Its called a rich snippet because it’s rich in information and context.

The best way to take advantage of this if to make sure that when you are building out a page that it contains the answer and a question.

For example, in an H tag, you would have “What is a rich Snippet?” then the text following the H tag would answer the question. The quickest way to get featured in the answer box it to make sure your website has all of the information a user would want.

You need to not only have all of the information that a user will need, but it needs to be structured. The more structured your site is the easier it will be for the search engine to crawl your website.

Optimize for Voice Search

The popularity of voice search is growing fast. Think about it with Alexa, Google Home and our phones we tend to ask virtual assistants a lot of questions. So much so that 40 percent of adults do a voice search at least once a day.

Since voice searches are done by verbally asking the question, they tend to be more in depth than a regular search. Think about it, when you type something into a search engine, you simplify it. However, when you verbally ask questions, your language is more conversational.

That changes one major thing, keywords. It’s no longer going to be keyword focused, context is going to be a lot more important.

While this is a new thing there are a few things that we know for sure about how voice search works. Google Home tends to use the rich snippets to find the answer to your questions.

That makes it even more important to have the question and the answers on your website. We suggest you make the answers on your website are as specific as possible.

Enhance Your Page Speed

No one wants to visit a slow website. Search engines understand that too and it’s becoming a bigger factor in your rankings.

If your webpage takes longer then 3 seconds to load 53 percent of people will find their information elsewhere. A slow website might mean that you have too many uncompressed files or images, your first step should be to compress what you can.

The people who visit your website want their information quickly, and the slower your site is the more annoyed your users are going to be.

User Experience Matters

While most of the SEO components are based on an algorithm, your website needs to built around the actual users. You need to keep in mind what the websites main focus is and make sure that the user can accomplish it easily.

Search engines are starting to take this into consideration. Google has RankBrain, it measures how people interact with the results from their searches.

For example, if you search for something, click the top result but the page loads slow or the information that you want isn’t there so you exit out of it. Then you go to the third result and stay on that page for a long time because the content is exactly what you wanted – the RankBrain algorithm will take that into consideration.

RankBrain takes a few things into consideration. How much time people spend on your site and the number of people who click on your website are just a couple of the factors.

RankBrain was already considered to be the Google’s third most important ranking factor, but they have announced that in 2019 it will become even more important.

Make Sure to Use Videos

Videos are starting to take over the internet. In fact, YouTube has become the world’s second largest search engine.

Around 55 percent of a Google searches have at least one video pop up. However, there are a lot of people who will skip Google or another search engine altogether and go right to YouTube.

What’s really great about using videos to help your search ranking is that almost no one is doing it yet. Most marketers don’t want to take the time to upload videos to YouTube. If you start optimizing your content this way, it will be relatively simple to get your videos seen and bring traffic to your website.

Don’t Forget About Links

Link building is hardly new to the world of SEO but in 2019 it is still going to be a part of the SEO best practices 2019. Without quality backlinks, you will never make it to the first page of any search engine.

A backlink is simply an outside website linking back to yours. You want to make sure it has a good domain authority, the better the DA is the more the link is worth to you.

These links are so important because this is how the algorithms figure out if your content is good and trustworthy. If no one is linking to your information, then the crawlers assume that your content or website is not reliable.

There is a direct correlation between having quality links and the amount of traffic your website will get.

Good, Long Form Content

Content is king.

In 2019 this will be even more so. The way people engage with your content will play an even bigger role in your SEO rankings. The algorithms are not looking not only at length of the content but its quality and context as well.

Keyword stuffing isn’t going to skyrocket you to the top of the rankings anymore. You need Quality longe form content that helps the reader in some way. The more in-depth your page can get the better it will be for your SEO.

You want to make sure that the reader has no reason to go anywhere else but your website, this ties back into RankBrain. To be able to cover everything that needs to be covered we suggest you publish content that’s 1,500 – 2,000 words.

Long-form content has proven to do better in search rankings than having shorter, even if you have more of the shorter content.

Know your target market and keep them in mind while curating the content. Who you are aiming to attract will affect the type of content you publish. Also, keep an eye out for user-driven content, this can help you understand what people are looking to read. That way you can create high ranking content easier.

Use SEO Best Practices 2019

The SEO best practices 2019 aren’t hard to implement but they will make a big difference in your visibility.

Remember content is king, and make sure your website is user-friendly. No one wants to with forever for a page to load, and forever in internet time is 3 seconds.

The search engines are tweaking their algorithms to be more in tune with what people actually want to see. So as a rule of thumb, keep your users happy.

If you have any other questions or need more specific advice contact us. We’re more than happy to help.

Eric Ritter

Previous Entry Next Entry

Lasting Impressions: 10 Hot Web Design Trends That Will Carry into 2019

What’s the strongest asset your business can have?

Some would argue a healthy company culture, while others would think proper funding and budgeting is key. Another answer that may come up is an impressive, well-optimized website.

Having a fully-functioning website that performs well on search is critical to your company’s success. This is how most customers discover you and it’s what many potential and current users alike use to learn more about your business.

You can’t afford to rush the web design process or create something subpar. You should be doing everything in your power to build an interesting website and make it easy for people to find.

This isn’t as complicated as you might think – and it’s actually pretty simple to do if you understand current web design trends. The following is an in-depth look at the top 10 design trends expected to dominate the internet in 2019.

1. Flat Design

Flat design is all about maintaining a site’s speed and mobile responsiveness without compromising its search performance or the overall user experience. It aims to create clean, engaging visuals while also boosting a site’s optimization performance.

This has become the go-to method for many web designers as the value of mobile-first design has increased. It can only be expected for flat design to continue growing in popularity as mobile search continues to gain popularity.

2. Asymmetrical Elements

Whether a website is displayed on a desktop or a smartphone, it has to be interesting. The use of asymmetrical elements allows designers to keep users on their toes and reel them in from the second they arrive on a landing page.

This is because it’s different than what most people expect. Asymmetrical elements aim to create texture on the screen and divide a page in untraditional ways. They focus on diagonal lines and abstract elements rather than playing it safe with centered, perfectly parallel images.

3. Natural Shapes

Natural shapes and asymmetrical elements go hand in hand. A natural shape is anything that is imperfect by nature; it’s not made of perfect lines and curves but rather a combination of different things to create something that users consider natural.

“Natural” in this sense doesn’t just refer to things found in the earth’s environment like trees, animals, and water. It can also apply to machines and tools. Basically, any shape that outlines a thing or object that people can recognize is a natural shape.

These can be used on homepages and throughout a website to create a more compelling and informative design.

4. Icon Libraries

The key to using natural shapes is to make them the main piece of content on a landing page. They’re meant to be big and kind of “in your face.”

When they’re small and simple, they’re best used as supporting details. One of the best design opportunities to use natural shapes as supporting details is with the creation of an icon library.

Instead of just listing your products/services, create a symbol that represents each of the things you do. Then, use this to represent your product and write a little blurb about it underneath the icon. This is the modern, innovative way to tell users a little more about what you do. It’s sure to catch their eye and create a higher level of interest as they browse through your website.

5. Micro-Animations

Up next on the list of hot web design trends are micro-animations. Think of the heart that pops up on the screen when you like an Instagram post or the way that Gmail’s mail icon loads as the screen is loading.

These are just a few of the many micro-animations you interact with every day. They keep you engaged while the screen is performing an action that you just commanded it to do. They make your user experience feel much more personal and memorable.

If you want to keep users coming back or figure out a more convincing way to make them opt-in, it’s time you start using micro-animations on your website.

6. Moving Backgrounds

There are micro-animations and then there are moving elements that take up an entire screen. Such is the case with moving backgrounds. These are basically videos that are being used to set the stage for a landing page.

Moving backgrounds are replacing single colors and flat images. They’re meant to tell a story from the second that a user lands on a page. These can be used to display all kinds of things including a company’s day to day operations, the way they source their materials, and even the customer experience when using a company’s product or services.

Either way, the point of a moving background is to share a piece of your company’s story. Whatever it is that you choose to share, make sure it’s easy to understand and that the video is short and sweet. As much as you want to get a user’s attention, you still want them to explore other aspects of your website beyond the moving background.

7. Bright Colors

This is a long-time favorite in web design, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. There’s something about bright colors that gets people excited. The use of bold elements is a fun way to express your company’s personality and to make sure you stand out amongst competitors, too.

It shows confidence, the ability to push boundaries, and the willingness to go against the grain. Such qualities are respected by consumers in all industries.

Plus, the use of bright colors can make a user’s experience more entertaining. This is especially helpful if you operate in a “dry” industry like legal services or insurance. Putting bright colors on your website will help users feel better as they research topics that are unfamiliar to them or that they find intimidating.

Be careful to not overdo the use of this web design tool, though.

8. Bold Type

Bold type and bright colors can either blend beautifully or they can be a total disaster. The trick is to find a combination of the two that is elegant and timeless.

Or, you might decide to take a bold approach with one and be more simple with the other. As far as bold type goes, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it still has to be legible. Try to stick to fonts that are made with crisp lines. Typically, the more freehanded and abstract a font gets, the harder it is to read.

9. Chatbots

Another web design trend that’s sure to dominate in 2019 is the use of chatbots. These are one of the newer trending elements, and arguably, one the more effective tools.

Chatbots completely transform your customer service. They help you better connect with users and resolve their issues in a faster, more efficient manner – and that’s just scratching the surface!

Chatbots can also help boost conversions and increase brand loyalty. They show users that you’re approachable and more importantly, that you care about their experience. You can also use chatbots for market research and as a marketing tool.

10. Minimalist Design

Last but not least, minimalist design.

Minimalist design refers to the use of a lot of white space and simple elements. It’s not meant to be in your face or over the top. But, it’s definitely made to impress.

The key to succeeding with a minimalist design is to create a beautiful, memorable website with as little different elements as possible. Every landing page should be simple and to the point, yet somehow have a “wow” factor to it.

Some of the best things that make a minimalist design pop are:

bright colors
asymmetrical layouts
icon libraries

Websites with a minimalist design may also incorporate micro-animations or use icon libraries. Some might even do all of this on a single page – another web design trend that’s gaining momentum as we head into 2019.

Master the Top Web Design Trends of 2019 Today

Why wait until 2019 to upgrade your website? The sooner you start putting these web design trends to use, the faster your website will begin to show better results.

Be careful not to use these design tools at random, though.

You still need to think strategically and plan everything out before you start making changes to your website. This will result in the best-looking, most put-together website possible. It means what you create now has the best chance of creating long-term success for your business.

For help turning all your web design ideas into impressive, high-performing results, click here.

Eric Ritter

Previous Entry Next Entry

How to Find Buyers: The Ultimate PPC Cheat Sheet

Organic traffic isn’t the only way to improve conversions.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to compete for organic ranking with larger industry and local leaders. If you can’t crack the first page, mainly the top three, then you’re not getting much organic search traffic.

Fortunately, you’ve got options. Take a few minutes and read through our pay-per-click (PPC) guide to discover how to attract your share of buyers.

You’ll find answers to these questions:

What is PPC advertising?
What are some common PPC terms?
Which sites offer PPC advertising?
What are search and display ads?
What is keyword research?
How do you use match types?
What is targeting?
What is PPC ad copy?
What is conversion rate optimization?
What is off-site remarketing and on-site retargeting?
Where can you find help?

What Is PPC?

Pay-per-click advertising is a highly-effective tool that attracts better-converting traffic to predetermined landing pages. PPC works best combined with conversion rate optimization (CRO) and strong copywriting skills.

PPC advertising involves keyword research and lead-targeting to generate search and display ads that deliver qualified traffic. A landing page, specially designed for these leads, finishes the job.

PPC advertising differs from more traditional advertising: there’s no cost for impressions. You only pay when views lead to a click.

Successful PPC campaigns:

Attract new customers
Contribute to the sales funnel
Improve conversion rates
Grow brand awareness

PPC Guide Common Terms

Some terms you should become familiar with include:

AdWords: Google’s free PPC campaign tool.
Bid: the amount that you’re willing to pay for a click from specific keywords or phrases.
Cost per click (CPC): Google calculates CPC using your bid and other factors like competition and landing-page quality. It’s the price you pay when searchers click your ad. It won’t exceed your bid.
Click through rate (CTR): the percentage of all viewers that click your ad.
Conversion Rate: describes the percentage of viewers that clicked your ad and also completed a predetermined action on your page. For example, making a purchase, downloading a white paper or completing a form.
Display network: a collection of over 2 million Google-trusted sites that host display ads.

Sites That Offer PPC

Google is the big dog when it comes to PPC, but other sites provide options, too.

Bing supports PPC advertising and includes Microsoft and Yahoo! sites in its advertising network. Even social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have PPC capabilities.

What Are The Two Main Types Of PPC Advertising?

There are two types of PPC advertising. You should familiarize yourself with both.

They are:

Search advertising
Display network advertising

Search Advertising

Search advertising targets users who enter specific search terms and fit a defined geographic and demographic profile.

For example, a Ford dealership in Tampa would be very interested in searches that include the words new Mustang Tampa. They’d also be interested in searches for 2018 Mustang MSRP if the searcher is within their area.

Search advertising allows a merchant to present predetermined, customized ads for different search possibilities. The ads lead to landing pages specifically designed to convert clicks into customers or leads.

Search ads typically look like organic search results at the top and bottom of the SERP. They have a small tag that identifies them as ads. You can create ads with extensions such as:

Call buttons
Additional page links
Extra text
Location information

Call buttons and location information are excellent tools for local businesses, particularly in the service sectors.

Search advertising results vary by industry, but, on average, produce a two or three percent CTR. When combined with a landing page that converts at least 10 percent of traffic, search ads become an impactful way to drive qualified leads into your sales funnel.

Display Ads And The Display Network

Google’s display network includes over 2 million trusted websites that reach approximately 90 percent of internet users. It includes sites like:

Gmail
Blogger
Google Finance
YouTube

Display ads allow you to reach potential buyers browsing relevant websites, whose profiles indicate that they’re within the buying journey.

Their CTR is lower than search ads, as is their cost. They aren’t as effective as search ads in conversion but hold a high value due to their ability to:

Grow brand awareness
Retarget traffic that has bounced off your page
Provide leads for the top of your sales funnel

Just like search ads, display ads won’t cost anything unless a viewer clicks and visits your landing page.

Keyword Research

Some things never change. Keyword research is still the heart and soul of a robust AdWords or PPC campaign. Keyword research is critical as it impacts:

Cost per click (CPC). If you cast a net too widely, your ad budget depletes with undesirable clicks.
Conversion Rate. Keyword research allows you to target high-converting leads while excluding searches that have a lower likelihood of conversion, helping to minimize bounce rate and remarketing costs.

The goal of any campaign is to maximize conversions while keeping the CPC low. Keyword research is one of the most powerful tools available for this purpose. The major PPC platforms include a keyword research tool.

For example, Google’s AdWords includes a Keyword Planner that provides detailed information about any search term including search volume, competition, cost factors and related keywords.

What Are Match Types And How Do You Use Them?

This is important. When bidding on keywords or phrases, you can select a match type. There are four, and they can drastically impact your performance.

Broad Match

This is the default match type, but be careful. Using broad match casts the largest net; triggering your ad for searches that include misspellings and similar words. Synonyms come into play and context of the search isn’t considered. You’ll attract more traffic with broad match, but your conversion rate will likely be low.

Modified Broad Match

Modifiers give better control by limiting Google’s ability to include searches that it deems to be relevant. Adding a plus sign in front of a keyword tells Google to trigger your ad for that specific word and its close variants, but not synonyms or relevant terms.

As an example, if your broad match keyword terms are transmission repair shop, your ad may trigger when a searcher enters automotive body shop. If this does not fit your advertising strategy, change your match type to modified broad match and place a plus sign in front of keywords: +transmission +repair shop.

With this match type, searches for automotive body shop or similar queries won’t trigger your ad. Google will only display your ad if the words transmission and repair, including their plural forms and common misspellings, are searched.

Modified broad match is a good place to start. It allows you to focus efforts on your business’s specific services while reducing low-converting clicks.

Phrase Match

Phrase match respects word order but allows for additional terms.

An ad mapped to the keywords transmission repair shop triggers when a user searches that exact phrase, but it also triggers if a searcher includes more information, such as transmission repair shop in Clearwater.

Be careful with phrase match. In this example, a searcher who enters transmission repair in Clearwater will not see your ad. Using phrase match with long-tailed keywords is a great way to target buyers in the latter stages of the buyer journey, but don’t make the phrases too long or complicated.

Exact Match

Exact match is very restrictive. Your ad only triggers if the search matches your keyword or phrase exactly, and includes no other words.

Use trial and error to determine the best keywords and match types to use with your campaigns. Become familiar with negative keywords to further refine your keyword groups.

Targeting: PPC Sharpshooting

There’s plenty of fish in the sea, but not all fish are equal. Targeting is a vital and valuable PPC skill.

Not only can you tell Google which types of search queries should trigger your ad, you can also include specific geographic, demographic and chronological parameters. It’s especially helpful for local businesses wanting to zero in on ideal customers.

A searcher that is 100 miles away is less likely to choose your business for their catering needs as one that is 5 miles up the road.
You wouldn’t want your ad clicked by a searcher looking for a tow truck at 3 a.m. if your service day ends at 5 p.m.

Effective targeting delivers better-qualified leads and reduces the risk that a bad lead clicks your ad.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?

It takes two to tango. Ineffective landing pages can derail even the best PPC campaigns.

Skilled PPC advertisers play a game of trial and error. Simple copy decisions, like whether to include the price, can have a sizeable effect on your conversion rate. If you’re confident that your PPC strategy is strong, take the time to analyze and adjust your landing page to increase your conversion rate.

CRO is the process of evaluating and optimizing your landing page to be most effective with your PPC strategy.

Off-Site Remarketing

With, on average, 90 percent of clicks leaving your page without converting, it’s a good idea to have a backup plan.

Off-site remarketing involves tracking your unconverted leads through the display network in an attempt to bring them back to your site. It’s a second-chance tactic that allows you to employ a different approach to regain the visitor and close the sale.

Remarketing is a powerful way to add a few percentage points to your conversion rate.

On-Site Retargeting

Ever move your cursor to close a webpage and notice a large popup appear? That’s on-site retargeting. Though not an inherent part of PPC, it’s a key component to improved conversions.

Using exit-intent technology, your page notices when a visitor is about to leave and employs a last-ditch effort to get a conversion.

Ad Copy

Don’t forget; this is still marketing. Merely putting your ad in front of the right eyes isn’t enough. There is limited character space to work with, especially in a search ad. Follow these best practices:

Identify your goals by starting with your call to action (CTA)
Research your competitor’s strategy and improve it
Determine and state why your product or service is unique
Create urgency
Make sure your copy is relevant to the search

Ask For Help

Digital Neighbor believes every business should know how to help themselves in today’s digital marketing world. This PPC guide should get you off on the right foot.

To tackle PPC advertising, practice:

Keyword research
Incrementally lowering CPC
Targeting
Copywriting
A/B testing
Analyzing data

Many businesses choose an external PPC specialist to start, so they can learn the ropes with professionals who create winning strategies. Others don’t have the time to manage the process themselves. We can help.

Whatever your situation, contact us to discuss PPC strategies today.

Eric Ritter

Previous Entry Next Entry

Want to learn even more?

Whether you have a simple SEO question or want to have a deep conversation about your digital strategy, we’re all ears. Contact us today for a chat or to learn how we can put our digital marketing expertise to good use for your business.