Get ready everyone because having a +1 is no longer just for party RSVP’s.  Recently, Google launched their new +1 button on Google search to allow users who are fans of your business to click to recommend your paid ads for all of their friends and contacts to see.  This feature, which to me is their attempt to one-up Facebook’s like button, has already started popping up, and will continue to increase in visibility over the next few weeks.  In order to see the +1’s attached to the organic listings and paid ads, you must be signed-in to Google and not using IE7 or any earlier version of IE.

This popularity feature is the next step that Google is taking to help their searchers see more relevant results, while helping businesses continue to gain better qualified traffic.  And, it doesn’t end with paid ads because soon you will have the option to include these +1 buttons to your website’s pages to make it even easier for people to approve and validate your content.  This personal annotation of “+1’ing” something is the next step since Google opening admitted to using data from social services, such as Twitter and Flickr, as signals in organic search rankings.

So far, Google says that quality score and ad rankings will not be impacted by the +1’s.  Hopefully the buttons will contribute to better click-through rate for paid ads since the personal annotations will increase user confidence to click on the ads if their friends, family, and colleagues already approve.  You will also be able to track the number of +1’s your campaigns are getting within the Adwords interface.

To sign up for email updates with more information about this button go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1button.

Is your company currently engaging in paid display ads throughout a content network in Google or MSN?  For most of you, the answer should be yes if you are trying to increase revenue and your brand awareness.

How many of you are currently running display ads on mobile devices?  My assumptions is that not many of you are- but you all should be.  Did you know that 93% of the 307 million people within the US have mobile devices, and that 40% of these people have smart-phones, mobile internet devices or mobile-web-enabled feature phones? Mobile users range in age, gender, and income level as can be seen below.

Below are some reasons why you should begin to think about the option to display pieces of rich media or banner ads on mobile devices through Google’s Admob Network.

1. Campaigns are set up similar to other display content campaigns and Google is the king of simplicity within their user interfaces
2. Working with Admob you gain the experience they have as they help you manage the complexities that might scare you concerning the wide world of mobile, making it easy for you to target and serve ads to the complete mobile audience
3. You have the ability to target as broadly as possible given your campaign goals. You can even target by OS and have an ad serves specifically to Android users.

Click on the link below to see all the cool stuff you can do within Google’s Admob Team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV5-w1OgoeM&feature=channel

If you sell multiple products on your website remember that visitors of the different product types are in fact different, and what works on one page might not work on another to create a conversion.  Always A/B test first to find the layout that works, then begin multivariate testing to focus on the details. Once you discover which layout is the best match for you to display information that your visitors like, your next step should be to determine the best headers, images, and call out buttons on each page.  Clear marketing messages, little visual distractions, and an obvious call to action will increase your conversions.  Listed below is a breakout of tips to help you optimize your landing pages for higher conversions.

1) The structure of the page has an effect.

a.      The less distractions the better for pages conversion pages.

b.      If you remove a visible navigation or several quick links form the page, you will reduce the number of engagements you have on a page (less distractions) which could ultimately help increase your conversions.

2) Each page should have 1 goal with a centralized focus point.

a.      If you want to increase sales for socks, focus on the socks for your socks page, and leave the advertising of the other products to a minimum.

b.      If you want to sell socks have an obvious conversion point such as a call to action “buy socks” button in the content section of the page.

3) Each Page should have a specific marketing message for each product you sell.

a.      On every conversion triggering landing page you should have a message that not only tells why people need the product you sell, but also tells them why they should buy this product from you.  This will give them the boost they need to convert.

4) Images and buttons do play a role in the conversion process.

a.      Make sure to conduct multivariate testing for images used on your page to determine whether it’s better to have images with people or not.  Sometimes visitors want to be engaged by people they have something in common with, but other times it might not be best if your website visitors have a big range in age, sex, or nationality.

b.      Test your buttons to see if your buttons are too aggressive, or not aggressive enough.  A softer conversion call out such as “get started” might get more visitors into the checkout funnel than the “buy now” button you have been using.

5) Use social media to help increase your brand and product awareness.

a.      I recommend using the facebook ‘like’ button and the twitter ‘tweet’ button on your product pages to help your message spread virally.  These buttons are great because they automatically are kicked to their profiles/accounts without causing your visitors to leave the page.  The best places for these small links are in the actual content section of the page so that they can share, after they have reviewed the page.

Many approaches with pay-per-click advertising used today were first applied towards the beginning of the last century by advertising pioneer, Claude C. Hopkins.

In 1923, he published the classic “Scientific Advertising” emphasizing testing and measuring ad campaigns.

Below are some excerpts from his 1927 follow-up book, “My Life in Advertising“.

On Potential Customers:

People are seeking happiness, safety, beauty and contentment. Then show them the way.

All are seeking advantages, improvements, new ways to satisfy desires.

On Calls to Action:

People are dilatory. They defer action, then forget. Many an advertiser loses in that way most of his half-made converts. One cannot afford that.

Aim to get action.

Limited offers of every sort. Something to induce prompt action, to avoid procrastination, is always an important factor.

On Ad Headlines:

Another thing is to learn exactly what sort of headline most appeals. Again and again I multiplied results from an ad by eight or ten by a simple change in headline.

On Ad Content:

Give actual figures, state definite facts. Indefinite claims leave indefinite impressions, and most of them are weak

I have seen many an ad killed by a single unfortunate phrase, indicating ulterior desires which repel. Phrases like “Insist on this brand,” “Avoid imitations,” ”Look out for substitution.” Such appeals have no good effect, and they indicate a motive which buyers cannot sympathize.

Anything which suggests an effort to sell on lines other than merit and service is fatal.

On Capitalization:

Many put their (ad) display lines in all caps. They think they look more prominent. But all our reading is done in upper-and-lower case type. We are accustomed to that.

On Superlatives:

To say that something is “The best in the world” makes no impression whatever. That is an expected claim. The reader may not blame us for exaggeration, but we lose much of his respect. He naturally minimizes whatever else we may say.

On Image Ads:

I am prepared to believe that on some lines, like fruit and desserts, colored pictures may prove profitable. But I know of no line as yet where, on traced returns, they have warranted their extra costs.

On Coupons:

Countless tests have proved that coupons multiply returns. I have seen many tests made by mail-order houses, offering catalogs. Some ads had coupons; some did not. The difference in returns was enormous.

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I certainly recommend perusing the free online editions and gleaning helpful tips for your own advertising pay-per-click campaigns.

Google Remarketing is such a great concept because it lets you serve ads to visitors that came to your site but didn’t convert right in the Adwords Interface.

How It Works:

1. Figure out what visitor segments you want to target and then create lists to fit them into with specific cookie time lengths.  Create specific display and text ads for each of your lists, and activate it.
2. When a customer comes and visits your website a cookie is set on their computer if they meet certain triggers you set within your list.  An example trigger would be that they came to your website, but failed to purchase one of your products.
3. Because of the cookie you set, these customers are now recognized across the Google Display Network (GDN) once they left your site, so anytime time they visit another website within the GDN your ads will ‘follow’ them around.

Different List Strategies:

1. Basic List Strategy: Just create one list and simply tag all visitors that land on your homepage.  This will help you to easily reach all of your website visitors.
2. More Advanced List Strategy: Create lists throughout each section of your website to market certain products to certain visitors.  If they were browsing your website for couches, show they couches, and if they were browsing for coffee tables, show them coffee tables.
3. Shopping Cart List Strategy: Create a list for visitors that engaged in your cart feature but never completed the transaction.  You would do this by putting a requirement in your list that the visitor must touch one of the cart pages, but never landed on the ‘thank you confirmation page.’  I would recommend serving these list members a more aggressive offer to help tip the scales in your favor.

Tips to Increase your Conversion Rates with Remarketing:

1. Use different creative pieces for each of your lists and time segments to keep customers aware of your graphics without them blending in.
2. If you are displaying an image to visitors that went to the shoes section of your website shoe images, and show visitors that went to the purse section of your website purses if you created separate lists for them.
3. Remember to hint about the added value of your products if they abandoned your cart.  This is your change to help give them a reason to say OK in their minds and return to your website to make that purchase!

Good luck from the Beacon Team!

For those of you who are already familiar with this information, consider it review! There are four options from which to choose when adding a new keyword to your paid campaigns: broad match, broad match modifier, phrase match, and exact match.  Below is an example using the keyword “singing lessons,” and if you were to ask my better, he would definitely admit that I need them because I can’t carry a tune in a bucket!

YES means your ad will appear. NO means it will not appear.

Broad Match: Your ad will appear if the query includes the keywords “singing” or “lessons.”
“singing lessons”
a) singing lessons instruction – YES
b) singing the blues – YES
c) skiing lessons – YES

Modified Broad Match: Your ad will only appear if the query includes the keyword (or a close variation of – e.g. plural, same root, etc.), so “singing” and a term that is closely related to lessons.
“+singing lessons”
a) singing lesson – YES
b) skiing lessons- NO
c) in home singing lessons – YES

Modified Broad Match (+before all words within the keyword): Your ad will only appear if the query includes the keywords (or a close variation of – e.g. plural, same root, etc.), so “singing” and “lessons.”
“+singing +lessons”
a) sing lessons – NO
b) singing lesson – YES
c) in home singing lessons – YES

Phrase Match: Your ad will only appear if the query includes the keywords “singing lessons” in the given order.
“singing lessons”
a) lessons singing – NO
b) singing lesson – NO
c) in home singing lessons – Yes

Exact Match: Your ad will only appear if the query includes the exact keywords in the exact order.
“[singing lessons]”
a) lessons singing – NO
b) singing lesson – NO
c) singing lessons – YES

People enjoy the feelings of being treated as special and receiving bargains.  This thrill of the hunt is a financial benefit to both the customer for cost-saving purposes and to the vendor for moving inventory.  Those businesses that carry e-commerce sites but do not currently post coupons are definitely neglecting opportunities for making more money.

For readers thinking, “But Nicole, my margins are just too tight to support coupons,” there is a simple response:  Try raising prices in combination with an intensive coupon offer.  Listed below are some tips to initiate the process:

• Always use expiration dates.
• When using a code, use one that is easy to remember like “December10,” “GROUPON2010,” or BEACON_ROCKS.”   A code like “TX24586L” just does not have a ring to it and is difficult to remember.
• If the item is less than $100, use a dollar-off amount.  If it is more than $100, offer a certain percentage off.
• If there is a wide selection of merchandise, make the coupon more generic by offering money off of the cart.  By only offering a discount on a particular item, new visitors to the site will not spend as much time browsing all of the products actually have available.
• Create unique offers for different sites to make members have a feeling of exclusivity.  Besides, many sites, such as Foursquare, require a unique offer.
• Always push free shipping.  If shipping is $5.99, it is better to charge $16 for an item and provide free shipping than to charge $10 and require shipping.  While the price is identical, offering free shipping evokes more appeal.
• Allow coupons to be stackable.  The goal is to move as much product as possible, so be open to the possibility, and let customers believe they are getting an advantage.

When working with several affiliates, Tracking 202 helps manage it all.  It is free of charge and even helps with maintaining general PPC stats!

Some are more expensive than others, but all are wickedly awesome.

• Hitwise.com (assesses consumer behavior data and lets you rank by audience)
• comScore.com (their marketer service assessing online marketing performances)
• Trellian’s Competitive Intelligence (pulls lots and lots of internet usage stats)
• Spyfu.com (their Kombat feature is quick, easy, and provides a great visual)
• Compete.com (easily lets you get top line stats on you and two competitors)
• SEMrush (no introduction necessary)
• KeyCompete (to learn more about their competitors keywords and adwords accounts)
• Keyword Spy (they work hard to make sure that their real time tracking is on the mark)
• Ad GooRoo (great customer service and easy to follow training sessions provided)
• PostRank (helps you discover the best blogs at engaging their readers)
• Google Trends (as my six year old daughter would say, “well duh mom”)
• SocialMention (provides real-time social media search and analysis right to your email)

Beacon attended the Internet Summit earlier this week. Overall, it was a terrific event. It has shown strong growth in an economy that is killing attendance at similar conventions. There were some very accomplished speakers and we heard a number of interesting ideas on where the net and web marketing industry will be going in the future.

Given my role with Beacon, I tended to hang around the SEO/Social Media/PPC management related segments. One of my favorite takeaways was where our company stands in the industry. If the convention’s speakers were an accurate representation of where the web marketing industry is currently focused (and I believe they were, visit the site above to see their credentials) – then Beacon Technologies is operating well ahead of the curve. Most of the advice regarding tactics and tools were items that Beacon has been using since I arrived roughly 18 months ago.

Highlights from the Convention:

• Warren Adelman’s keynote speech during lunch on the second day – Definitely the highlight of the Convention. Warren is the president and COO of GoDaddy.com who had to step in for CEO Bob Parsons at the last second. Warren gave an informative and entertaining speech on the formation of GoDaddy.com and the principles that have made the company successful. Yes, the Superbowl ad was talked about extensively.
• Marty Taylor Collins – Marty is the leader of the Emerging Media team at Microsoft. She gave a solid outline of how the technology giant has tackled social media marketing and evaluates the effectiveness of their efforts. Fear not small businesses, Bill Gates’ company has many of the same issues that you do.
• Dana Todd – The CMO of Newsforce gave an outline for where she saw the SEO industry heading (i.e. Application SEO, Sponsored news, Out-of-Home Search, TV Search, et al). I didn’t necessarily agree with all of her conclusions, but I still give credit because it is not overly common for entrenched members of our industry to make strong predictions. It is too easy to check back later and be called out for bull excrement.
• Shocktop Beer – Your standard convention contains the following beer lineup during cocktail hour: Budweiser, Miller Light, Heineken. That’s it. When facing the choice of American mediocrity or Dutch mediocrity, sobriety becomes a more likely option.  Here, we actually had my second favorite wheat beer (#1 being Boulevard – shamefully unavailable in North Carolina), so big time appreciation for that.

Less Impressive Items:

• Playboy Presentation – When Playboy is schedule for a featured marketing spotlight session, there is an expectation of an appearance by Bunnies. Am I wrong? *Crickets* *Crickets*
• Irrelevant SEO Advice – I received advice from an individual representing a PR 8 news site to chase the latest short tail trending phrases. That might be effective when you are representing a site that is already recognized as an authority by Google, but absolutely terrible for most websites looking to build their brand and traffic efficiently on fixed time/budget.
• Buzzword DSP – Demand Side Platform. This is not exactly a brand new concept, but I have never heard the phrase thrown around as much as I did in this convention. It seemed every speaker was trying to work it into their presentation, with varying degrees of actual relevance.

Tip for next year: Cocktail hour should include Maker’s Mark.

- EW

Twitter: @ejwestksu

We sometimes become so lost in colors, buttons, navigations, keywords, and KPI’s that we forget for whom we are building optimized landing pages.  Let’s return to the basics of Website Making 101.  For starters, the websites we make and optimize are not for us; they are for our customers.  They serve as the tools the end users utilize to learn and engage with our clients and ourselves, so they need to meet their needs and appear in a way they like. When entering a website, visitors want to feel comfortable; therefore, we need to provide them information in a clear and easy way that will make them happy and confident enough to spread the word.

All landing pages, which for the record are any pages someone lands on—organic, paid, or whatever, should have the following:

1)      A call to action or focus of the page

2)      Information for the user

3)      Images to draw their eyes

4)      Contact information for support; you must be available with nothing to hide.

When you have a larger website, it can often be an overwhelming challenge; nevertheless, you should always be testing.   To make sense of the chaos, I recommend you do the following:

1)      Data mine for pages to focus on that are non-converting, high-traffic pages. Research their current conversion performance metrics as a benchmark.  You need to know your base conversion rate before you try to improve it.  This way the numbers speak for themselves.

2)      Learn about how current visitors react to these pages.  We eat, sleep, and breathe Crazy Egg to see where they are clicking to know what they deem important to them and better evaluate the real estate of the pages.  If you or your clients don’t mind some constructive criticism, I also recommend utilizing a survey on your website to understand what its visitors are thinking.  Also, if you are thinking about rolling out a brand new site, it is very important to be invasive with your visitors to gain a clear understanding of what they are looking for so your changes will be for the better.  If you don’t want to bother them during the user- experience session, you should consider doing a follow-up survey to all email captures you receive.

3)      Test out new options in an attempt to improve the KPI’s you have chosen.  Old school GWO is still awesome and free.  If you need a quicker fix and are not so great with code, I have used both Unbounce and Optimizely, which are great, except for the fees they charge!

4)      Roll out the optimized changes and begin again.  Once you optimize a page, it doesn’t end there.  Take some time away from it, but remember to return to it again for revision.  Making improvements should be a continual process.

5)      Last on the list, the step that everyone usually forgets to complete is the results report —good or bad—to your clients or bosses.  If a test turned sour, it is not a problem; it is an opportunity from which to learn.  Communication is key for steady improvements to take place.