Building Killer Keyword Campaigns

When building out your keyword lists, it’s best to think of keywords as questions. Does your product or service answer a given question or provide more information about it on your landing page? If the answer is no, then that keyword should not be utilized in your campaign. Once an extensive keyword list is compiled, it is time to strategize the structure of your paid search campaign. Structure refers to the organization of keyword buckets under campaigns in order to maximize the volume of qualified traffic. The structuring process creates a hierarchy based on performance (conversions), thereby making it easier for search marketers to find the most efficient mix of traffic and scale campaigns to maximize allocated budgets.

The key to planning an efficient paid search campaign is having a firm understanding of websites’ offerings, marketing goals, and campaign management experiences. The more firsthand knowledge paid search professionals have about a specific vertical or company, the more likely they will be able to predict successful strategies.

Spending adequate time planning a paid search campaign is crucial to driving qualified traffic. Doing so affords paid search professionals the ability to create scalable campaign structure, which makes future optimizations easy. It also makes account management more efficient when dealing with budget constraints (i.e., marketers forced to make cuts must be able to ensure the most qualified traffic is not lost). Secondly, campaign structure and keyword grouping are vital components when it comes to determining the quality score of an account. If quality scores are high, this will help costs-per-click (CPCs) and account costs decrease over time. This means, if everything else remains constant, you can maintain a consistent budget level while driving a larger volume of qualified traffic to your site.

A few simplified tactics of campaign structuring include segmenting by:

• Keyword stage in the conversion funnel
• Audience segments (i.e., experts vs. novices)
• Geo-targets, site structure, and available landing pages
• Product benefits or features
• Historical search trends and seasonal patterns.

There isn’t one standardized template for developing the right structure. The important thing is to maintain tightly focused keyword groups and a cohesive overall strategy. ~ Guest Post by: J Bannasch

I saw this on the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) blog this morning and liked the tips from Colonel Rudy Burwell, communications guru – and am glad to see that web marketing tools are really making an impact in every industry as we slowly learn what works and doesn’t work. Industries are achieving the growth and exposure they need through fantastic web marketing tools like AdWords, Google Analytics,  sophisticated retail store fronts, online merchant accounts, hosting and content management sites like WordPress. Never has the control been easier for a business owner, non-profit, university or the health care system.

Colonel Rudy Burwell, director of the Army Reserve Communications, began their foray into web marketing and  social media with a question: How can we better tell the story and put a face on the Army Reserves? Integrating web marketing, and social media elements into their traditional coverage gave reservists an outlet for their stories and a faces to the Army Reserve mission. Colonel Burwell shared this great advice on why web marketing and social media has worked for them – What Works (10 +1):

1. Real speech.
2. First person.
3. Make fan part of the story.
4. Relevance trumps frequency.
5. Great photo goes a long way.
6. Raw, real and messy video.
7. Don’t edit real life.
8. Monitor and acknowledge.
9. Robust rules of engagement on all platforms.
10. Segment if necessary.
11. If you are having fun, so will your fans.

What really came across in this session is the power of energy. Military is great for planning and processes, but to embrace and further social media, they had to engage fans on an individual level. Everyone has a story to share.

What is advanced visual data analysis?

Do you want to spot the Outliers and reveal trends? Heat maps allow us to add a whole new dimension to our analytics by showing information that would otherwise be hard to see by using traditional charts and graphs. A heat map is a graphical representation of data where the values taken by a variable in a two-dimensional map are represented in bright colors.  You can see areas where the most people clicked on your website. This tells you what’s hot and what’s not, so you can make changes that matter and  sell ad space on the most popular areas on your site.

These are great because they find out where people click based upon things like: Top 15 referrers, search terms, operating system and browser. Heat maps also give real time reporting that converts to your favorite spread sheet, shares results, even has the ability to let you block a specific persons click.

Slick!

I loved this  GREAT post today on Mashable so much that I decided to share it here. Now I’m not usually this lazy about posting but I couldn’t have said it better. Here’s a great explanation as to why companies may want to get on the social media stick now instead of “waiting to see if it works.”  One reader emailed me last week saying:

“ Companies today that don’t adopt social media in their overall integrated marketing strategies will not be able to compete tomorrow. For companies that have heard the benefits of social media but have not embraced it, it is wise for them to hire a social media expert to provide an introduction to social media, to speak about the benefits, the commitment requited (time and personnel), their demographics and where they should focus their efforts and then to implement the selected strategies. Putting all this on an employee who is interested but is already working 60 hrs/week is not only unfair, but it is a recipe for failure. Hire an expert who can help you understand the marketing shift and who can implement targeted strategies to expand your reach, branding, awareness and sales.”

This may be a harsh analogy but if was sick I wouldn’t wait to see if the same medicine worked for someone else before trying it on myself. So read below and let me know your thoughts-

Listening and responding is only as effective as its ability to inspire transformation, improvement, and adaptation from the inside out. Survival does not hinge solely on a company’s social media strategy. The social element is but one part of an overall integrated strategy. It’s how we learn and adapt that ensures our place within the evolution of our markets.

Social Media as embraced in the earlier stages is not scalable. The introduction of new roles will beget the restructuring of teams and workflow, which will ultimately necessitate organizational transformation to support effective engagement, production, and the ongoing evolution towards ensuring brand and product relevance.

Adaptation: In order to truly compete for the future, artful listening, community building, and advocacy must align with an organization’s ability to adapt and improve its products, services, and policies. In order for any team to collaborate well externally, it must first foster collaboration within. It is this interdepartmental cooperative exchange that provides a means for which to pursue sincere engagement over time.

Organizational Transformation: The internal reorganization of teams and processes to support a formal Social Customer Relationship Management (sCRM) program will become imperative. As social media chases ubiquity, we learn that influence isn’t relegated to one department or function within an organization. Any department affected by external activity will eventually socialize. Therefore, an integrated and interconnected network of brand ambassadors must work internally to ensure that the brand is responding to constructive instances, by department. However, at the departmental and brand level, successful social media marketing will require governance and accountability. Organizational transformation will gravitate towards a top-down hierarchy of policy, education, and empowerment across the entire organization.

In November, Denise Wakeman, (http://www.biztipsblog.com/) a wizard at all things social media – (follow her, no really – do it) did a 10 question social media use survey that grew out of  the success of  the Future of Social Media webinar she held in October. The most asked questions were regarding how to use social media successfully to build credibility and gain influence in your industry.The two areas participants asked about most were content creation and syndication. People seem to be wondering what kind of content, and how much content to produce, and then, also, how to distribute their content most efficiently across the social media platforms.

I have taught classes to groups of people, both individuals and for corporations  on this very thing. Social media takes a certain type of person to set it up, and another type of person to keep it going. This is the challenge, but how many people are missing out because they don’t utilize any sort of blogging? Blogging is the key to social media as it is a place to park your content and send it out. It’s your chance to be the expert, give ideas and tips away free.

Along with this, people had questions about growing their Facebook and Linkedin community, using remote blogging sites like Posterous, and how to set up their own content syndication streams.

A couple of shocking stats to note:

* 70% classified their use of social media as moderate to very high
* 63% indicated a desire to learn how to monetize social media
* 62% want to grow their email list

Most shocking of all…about 40% of respondents are NOT blogging at all. Considering this is one of the most powerful ways to syndicate content, build a list, and attract new clients, we were surprised.

More than 300 people responded to her survey, and you can get the results via opt-in/download. We’ll be using some of this info to build asocial media coaching program which we will launch in this January. Stay tuned.

Here’s the link to get the results:

http://www.mindsharecorp.com/go/socialmediause/

If you don’t understand how to blog or  set up a WordPress or similar content management system to blog from, now is the time to learn. If you don’t have the time or the savvy to post, hire someone who does. It takes time but is a “must do”. What other platforms are you going to use to get the word out?

Think of social media as your financial portfolio. You move around stocks and try different combination’s. Some preform better than others, but as a whole they do the job with power and if not you mix it up to hit on the right combination. And remember, it takes TIME.   Do you say to your broker, “If I don’t see a big  return in a month or two, I am pulling out 100%.” No. As long as you are not loosing a ton of money- stay put for the long haul and watch it ebb, flow and eventually grow.

Tips:

1. Think strategically, if this is for business or a cause. Ask yourself what you want your reader to do next. Try to write from that point of view.

1. Mix it up. Keep an editorial calendar and note what kinds of posts you’ve written lately. Thought posts? Lists? Interviews? Make sure you’re mixing up the type of post you’ve written lately.

And remember the number one rule in blog success -  consider your audience but write from your passion!!

Today I am going to give you some quick food for thought, then I am off to wrap nine million gifts laying on my living room floor along with dozens of naked undecorated cookies – frosting is over rated anyway. But first a  quick aside regarding the best “gift” you can give yourself for 2010. The good news is you can start January 3rd. No really, you can. That quick.

Solving the “I need to immediately implement  social media into my company, but I don’t know how/have time” problem, does take time and resources to figure out if you go at it alone. Education is going to play a major role because of how FAST the industry has changed.  Here’s the skinny. Bring in social media consultants to teach everyone, not just your interactive department, on how social media can improve their productivity and outputs. In order to expedite the learning curve, many companies are adding outsourced (and in-house) social media specialists.

Be it just a few days of in-house intense training and setup, or ongoing services like blogging, editing, and providing those nifty reports. By adding this to your web marketing and analytics budget for 2010, I guarantee you will SEE the jump in action immediately on your traffic reports, while your comments and email box will start to bulge. Since implementing the program at this company we saw our social media links as the direct and top referrer, with an increase in traffic of more than 300% in one month. Does a flier or other old fashioned traditional advertising bring that these days? Integrating social media into your marketing plan is the new black.

Here is a brief list of what businesses can do to integrate social media into their service offerings and disciplines:

1. Embrace client websites as an opportunity to engage and build relationships with customers
2. Make content portable so customers can consume it where they choose, even on mobile platforms
3. Prioritize search engine optimization. People start their web interactions with search the vast majority of the time.
4. Learn that well-done search advertising and web marketing campaigns have conversion rates that dwarf those of your ROI numbers on billboards and TV spots.
5. Outsource a Social Media Specialist and gather tools internally to collaborate on projects yourself.
6. Use those same tools to collaborate with your clients, extending the educational experience to them.
7. Read industry blogs. Comment on them!!
8. Bring in social media consultants to teach everyone, not just your interactive department, how social media can improve their productivity and outputs. (Do I hear an echo?)
9. Incorporate social and interactive experience into the hiring requirements for client services and creatives. This will be key moving on.
10. Watch what other brands are doing on the social web.
11. Embrace the enthusiasm of your resident social media advocates by having them teach you social while you teach them strategic thinking.
12. Understand that mass media still has better reach but use that reach to build communities around your brands, driving consumers to brand engagement points through social media.

Ok – wrap that up and give it some thought. Add some social savvy and be see as an industry Though Leader. Take the learning curve down to the “fun” level. You will be glad you did it.

So You Say You Want A Resolution?

Put on your party hat it’s that time of year! Each of us has the chance to make some bold changes for our 2010 marketing assault. I don’t know about you, but the recession knocked some proactive sense into my thick head this past year. One thing I want to be sure of – that my website is always updated and at the ready as my main revenue stream, sales person, and evangelist. We trust a lot into this little guy so now is the time to pull your website out of e-purgatory hell.

But where to start?

It seems as if everyday new tools  emerge to enhance website marketing. A plethora of fancy verbs that claim to integrate, simplify, automate, analyze, evangelize, affiliate, estimate, organize and solutionize. (Is that even a word?) Bottom line is that many organizations have a tough time sorting through it all and really know what to use. Here are four tools that are guaranteed to keep you sane and fuel your marketing plan for 2010 and beyond.

SYSTEMIZE

Interprise Suite is a great single application eCommerce system to run a web store and the entire back office with real-time operations. A savvy web pro can install this for you and make your life so much easier.

SPY

Check the competition! (Remember high school?)  Many sites allow you to actually visualize your visitors and enhance your analytics with funky visuals and actionable data, legally, I swear. Spy and find out where people click based upon  top  Referrers. Some also offers  blocking, (this is particularity good for stalkers and ex’s) heat maps (very cool, don’t ask, go look ) search terms, operating system, browsers, ..well, you get the idea.

BE SEEN

Calling all control freaks! (I say type A..it makes me sound better and less crazy) Build your brand AND grow it with Google AdWords, which allows you to control and customize web ads for your business. These ads are placed on Googles advertising network – set your budget and you’ll only pay when people click your ads. This is called Pay Per Click advertising. AdWords ads cleverly pop up along with search results when someone searches Google using one of your keywords. You will be advertising to an audience that’s already interested in your business. Imagine that? A build in audience! As a result, your site may rank higher on search engines (SEO marketing) attracting more customers.Plus you get to play with words.

ANALYZE

How can you organize, compare and perform without the numbers behind it all? Google Analytics monitors your site even while you sleep, do the dishes or floss. All while pushing out nifty custom reports that will blow your mind and make you appear way smarter than you really are. Keep track of social media hits in one stop. This does everything but walk the dog . Really it does.

With these  strategies in place you should be able to keep these new years resolutions past Valentines Day for the first time ever. Don’t even go there with me about the gym…

You always hear people say, “It’s not the number that matters.” Well I disagreed. Call me downright shallow, but here is my dirty little secret. I don’t care only how I “feel” in my clothes; I still weigh myself to see the number. I have found more often then not, people who proudly boast that they have “thrown away the scale,” are the ones who secretly weigh themselves in other people’s bathrooms at a dinner party. Ok, maybe not everyone does this, but in a business setting knowing the numbers is a must. Measuring can apply to so many areas to be utilized as a future indicator for change, growth, strategies, eliminations and new additions, yet you would be surprised at the number of companies that don’t use analytics and just shoot in the dark.

For example, most people in business will proudly say they own a website. But start to ask them about what’s really going on in there and they will be as quiet as a box of hair. It completely boggles my mind that many businesses just stop there. They know they are “required” to have a website in order to have an online presence, but usually don’t have any idea what their analytics are or how to use the results as a powerful marketing tool. Think of a website and blog as a GPS, giving off loads of information for your marketing strategies showing you the way.

Ask yourself this -do you know how to get leads? Sales? When or from where? Any clue what key-words perform best or how your site is ranking? What is it really costing you and what areas need to be strengthened? How’s your internal search working?  How are traffic and conversions locally, nationally, or over the big pond?  Are people doing what you want them to do when they come to your website? (Buying your stuff, not wandering off to make a sandwich)  Are they finding the products they want? How are your SEO and PPC campaigns doing these days? What are SEO and PPC anyway?

This is akin to joining a gym, faithfully going in everyday and sitting on the lobby floor.

“Well” you say –“I joined the gym didn’t I? Look, everyone can see I am here” then scratch your head and wonder, “now what do I do and how do I gain improvement, increase my strength, and what is this costing me? How do I get in shape? Lose weight? Heck, I don’t even know what I weighed in the beginning.”

We’ve all heard preaching on the subject of ROI (return on investment) until we are blue in the face. Businesses are understandably looking for an excellent return on their advertising dollars; and many may even be going to marketing hell for ditching some of the traditional marketing and  jumping onto the internet marketing band wagon. But without a true understanding on how to read and manipulate the “what’s going on in there” part, you are right back to where you started. You’re still sitting on the gym floor and everyone else is passing you by, and rolling up their sleeves ready to do the work that gets the results.

According to one study’s projections for 2009 – 2014, money spent on web marketing will climb to a mind boggling $55 billion. That’s nothing to shake a stick at unless you own oil. A full 70% of those surveyed said they will be adding analytics, online video, mobile marketing and social media to their budgets. You will need a way to analyze and keep track of all of these efforts.

Digital advertising is no longer a hazy mystery, but the core of a powerful marketing approach. This combined with a strong analytic strategy can pack a powerful punch into your campaign, while potentially changing the entire face of your company. Companies all over the world are already treading water just to keep up with the technology and expertise in this new arena.  We now see a shift in businesses utilizing outside experts for online marketing and analytic strategies, seeing them as an extension of their own staff.

Using a web marketing expert shouldn’t be an option, but be an essential part of all marketing budgets. Although not a silver bullet, we can’t ignore web marketing’s value anymore, and can’t afford to do it incorrectly. It takes skill, experience and a keen eye to provide innovative internet marketing while leveraging sharp in-depth analytics to recognize strategies that work effectively for true growth and brand awareness.

See you at the gym.

Lisa’s Web Analytics To-Do List

• what marketing efforts or parts of the site have challenges
• what  needs to be improved
• what areas need to be tested

• what efforts should be reduced
• what efforts should be increased

Then, prioritize based on the answers above based on what will specifically impact objectives. The data is there, waiting for you to turn it into valuable information to help your business succeed with your web strategy.  Take the time to make business decisions that are supported by facts.

A Word on Social Media Conduct and Caution

If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world with a population of over 300 million users, and is the fastest growing demographic for the over 35 crowd. LinkedIn, at 7.7 million joiners a month, or a new person joining every second, is exploding with the economic downturn and business people looking to connect. Whether you are a savvy networker, senior executive, late adopter (from that pressure from pesky friends) or just exploring your options (6.1 million are perusers) it’s time to be aware of some rules and warnings.

With this level of exposure, and the potential for each of us who jump on the social media band wagon, we cannot get too comfortable behind the safety of our keyboards. There is a certain decorum and mindfulness we should follow; just as if we were meeting new people at a party.

(Well, in this case, one really big cocktail party with a few jerks who crash it.)

Although studies show that most people connect with those they already know, the web is still a place to be mindful of our personal and company reputation. There are strategies to apply in order to be seen as a connection of value to the communities you deal with. There are also rules of etiquette to follow in order to reap the benefits derived from the many hours we spent building our networks. Think of this as your social media R.O.I (Return on investment.)

Do Your Homework

Before you sign up for anything, listen. Go to the popular sites and read others posts, articles, comments, tweets (http://search.twitter.com/) and profiles. It will quickly be glaringly obvious between the “polished and the poor.” Below are the basic “webonalities,” annoyances and suggestions to give you good game once you decide which groups you are going to connect and build with.

The Snip: Some personalities can be completely misunderstood in the digital format, sounding curt and impatient. (I mean how many smiley faces can we add anyway?) Also, avoid the one line emails. Use a greeting and always sign off.

Mr. No introduction: Would you just start dumping your information into a person you just met face-to-face without introducing yourself? Talk and promote yourself without regard for those around you? Ask for favors? We have all met one of these and it’s no fun. Don’t be that person.

The Mute: Comment back to people who leave comments for you. Would you stand there ignoring someone who was talking to you in the company break room?

The One Side Guy: Explore other people’s blogs, posts, articles, who explore yours.  Take an interest in others and who knows – you might just learn something or connect with a new friend. Promote yourself, but help promote others too. This is the 60/40 rule. Mix it up. Don’t have time?  then do a quick click. If it looks interesting bookmark it for later.

Check Me Out: No one wants to see a photo of you kneeling with a beer, your dog and your shirt off. Ever. Google images will find these. They will not go away. Post with your reputation in mind.

The Free Info Sucker: This is my personal biggest pet- peeve. People who ask for “advice” (AKA – free consulting on how to do exactly what you do) and somewhere in your snake brain you give them a nugget and you never hear back. A week later they have all your “advice” on their website. It is OK to help others with recommendations and support, or even give some secrets away – but be careful.

The Slick Spammer – Don’t disguise your spam as an email saying “I think we have some “synergies” – please let me know the best time to call you.”  Don’t be sneaky – tell people what you’re intentions are. Also, don’t post simply “great post” in someone’s comment box and then add 1000 random links hoping for search optimization.

The Rager – There are always one of these on a comment stream, the angry guy with a huge chip on his shoulder looking for a fight. If you don’t like the direction of a chat, either be constructive or walk away. Don’t write terrible things on someone’s Facebook wall for all 45, 098 of their “friends” to see, then block them either. Send a private note or cool off.

The User: If you are blogging or posting about someone else, email them asking if it is OK, and tell where they will be featured and add a link to their site. Also, if you like an article you read, it only takes a split second to click an icon and send it on. Use StumbleUpon, Delicious, Google Reader Shared Items, or Friendfeed, to name a few. This is when re-gifting is nice.

Anonymous Shy Guy: Use an avatar or picture. It lets people know you’re perhaps human.

The Hipster: Even though you may understand that social media is valuable because it’s genuine and spontaneous, be mindful of older generations. My “over 60” friend blames her age and says people of her generation are not familiar or necessarily comfortable engaging in online fragmented discussions.

The Micro: Do not email like you are texting. No one wants to see “C U 2NT” in an email. Different environments equal different actions. This is akin to pulling out an egg salad sandwich on an airplane. You are not in the kitchen. They sort of have one, but it is not yours.

The Foreword Guy: How did those emails I sent to my ex end up in my entire friends and family’s in box? I rest my case.

One word; be careful.

Whether we want to admit it or not, the rules of advertising, branding and marketing have changed. Advertising used to rely on interrupting people to get them to notice the message. It was one-way, all about selling and based on limited life campaigns. But there are new rules now, new delivery systems, tools,  and  new segmented audiences as we are not speaking to the masses anymore.  Uploading company information onto YouTube and sharing information on numerous social media sites is almost effortless once you build content. With the click of an icon your brand can now be launched on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, as a RSS feed or any number of iPhones, blogs or bookmarking sites. With a bit of time and some professional help, anyone can create a quality video for marketing a message quickly and to a large number of potential new customers.

What we are seeing through the new social media is a shift toward transparency and humanness with the web transforming the rules. People are responding to videos with humor, instruction, tips, news, DIY, interviews, caught-on-tape bits, music, documentation and education- all with the ability to interface with a corporation with a real face. A company video is a great social media tool that simply breaks down the barriers between consumer and brand.

Survey Says

CNN.com released a new survey announcing that video noticeably increases the popularity of any company. With the introduction of video marketing, it has been vital to have web video in order to remain competitive. Companies are just now accepting the truth -  from small operations to large, that the online video ad is the backbone of sales. A report entitled “Frames of Reference: Online Video Advertising?” was recently published by the Online Publishers Association (OPA). This report revealed an astounding 80% jump in video viewership. Also visitors who viewed the online video, around 46% took some action. According to the same report, around 22% of viewers visited the related website, 26% searched for more information, 15% visited the company and 12% purchased that specific product. Look at it this way, without this – your sales would be down 12%.

Going Viral

Your company video on viral steroids is everyone’s gold standard, however I believe you need a dash of creativity and a simple clever edge to make it big. This is clearly superseding stuffy self promoting ads and sales pitches.Take the viral YouTube smash hit (pun intended) “Will It Blend” as an example of simple authenticity and quirkiness. That video has received over 3.8 million views since its online inception in 2006. Now the company has created over 90 “Will it Blend” videos, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OmpnfL5PCw) receiving tens of millions of views. Their most popular video is where a new iPhone is blended into a pile of dust.  All to show in a clever yet simple way, how strong that gosh darn blender really is. From marbles to golf balls and soda cans, Utah-based Blendtec has blended the seemingly impossible.  (Plus it’s cool because this is something we would be in trouble for doing as kids.) The company, which makes blenders for consumer and commercial use, has increased its sales into the millions while gaining brand recognition that’s really priceless.

It’s a Wrap

It’s not cheating to look at the successes of those who came before you along with tips on what makes a good company video. Here are a few.

•      Hire a professional for high quality digital footage, lighting and audio.
•      Don’t be long long-winded, get to the point
•      Be CREATIVE. Use a story board.
•      BRANDING. What will your viewer remember about the video?
•      Express what problems your business solves.
•      Avoid “Cookie-Cutter” style video
•      Tell it to sell it in a 10 second or less.
•      Have your company president star in the video. People buy people.
•      Reveal who you are, what you’ve created and how it works.

Keep in mind, visual walk-throughs and Q& A panels can be a great advantage for customer service. Videos of your company at trade show events, snippets of public presentations at conferences, receiving awards in the community or engaging with the media can quickly establish your company’s reputation and build value. And don’t forget the effectiveness of private videos for use in management and new employee training, in store promotion, lobby TV, and as links in news releases and case studies.

These video marketing ideas are the “work-hard-and-save” stories with happy endings in a new shift going into the digital world. Will it be you? How do you plan to use social media in 2010?

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