Want Your Paid Search Ads to Perform Better?

by Daniel Hadaway

In September, Google announced a new factor for landing page quality score that they will be considering when serving up paid search ads. This new factor is whether or not the website for the advertiser is mobile-optimized.

If your website is mobile-optimized, Google is more likely to show your ad higher up in the paid search listings. Google will be determining the quality of your site’s mobile experience based on several factors including: Read the rest of this entry »

How to Save Your Ads from Holiday Competition

by Marcus Snyder

As crazy as it may seem, the holiday season is almost here. Right now, advertisers everywhere are getting ready to blast consumers from every angle, including online search campaigns. So, what does this mean for us?

The Skinny: It means that now is the time to optimize our campaigns to make sure that our ads aren’t lost in the impending barrage of our competitor’s campaigns. What has traditionally worked well in the past may not be good enough to compete during the holiday madness as the cost of bids are driven up, which can potentially push an ad’s page position down.

The Fatty: Saving a campaign begins and ends with smart campaign management and optimization. Here are some things to watch out for as well as some possible resolutions:

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What Makes a Great Landing Page?

Landing pages are the bread and butter (or cheese and bacon, if you prefer) of most digital marketing campaigns. Virtually all other marketing efforts are moot if prospects aren’t converted into customers with a well-crafted landing page.

While efforts can be made to lead a prospect towards doing business with you via Paid Search, Display Advertising, Social Media, and Email Marketing- none of them are as directly responsible for obtaining new customers as a landing page.

So, what makes a great (effective) landing page? While definitely not exhaustive, here is a list of the Big 3 indicators of landing page success. Get these three items in place, and you’ll be well on your way to a land filled with unicorns, double rainbows, and most importantly: full pockets. Read the rest of this entry »

Generalization – The Conversion-Killing Landing Page Mistake

The number one conversion-killing mistake for any landing page is being too general.

If you’re an auto dealership looking to shine a spotlight on your hot new 2010 mid-size SUV lines, then why fill the limited real estate you have for content on your landing page with general information about your brand and dealership?

Because it’s too tempting (and often much easier for busy business owners) to simply re-use existing Website content to populate your landing page. After all, it’s all about driving traffic … right?

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Styling Web Links and How it Applies to You

Smashing Magazine has a great article on best practices for styling web links. It’s really a great read, so be sure to check it out.

After reading through the article, we realized that many of the principles driving these best practices are excellent principles for your business to follow in its online presence.

Here are a few of the best practices discussed and how they relate to an effective web presence:

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Make the Sale – 3 Tips for Maximizing Landing Pages

So you’ve got a killer online display and paid search campaign; or maybe you’re starting to gain traction with an email marketing campaign. Congratulations, you’ve managed to create interest in your product or service and motivate prospects to do something very difficult: take action!

Your next challenge is to motivate your prospects to actually buy into your product or service. If the links in your other marketing campaigns are directing customers to the home page of your website, chances are you aren’t seeing the results you’d like from your marketing campaign.

But don’t worry! You can get the results you want through the use of a well-crafted landing page…

Click here to continue reading – Read the rest of this entry »