PPC Advertising
2010 Retail Marketing Expo – Ride The Winning Wave
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 | Internet Marketing, Local Search, NetSearch Direct News, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Networking Sites | No Comments
On August 3rd, our team of SEO experts set up shop at the 2010 Retail Marketing Expo for the day to introduce our company and our unique concept to local businesses. The theme of the 2010 Retail Marketing Expo was “Ride the Winning Wave.” The day focused on finding opportunities to ride out the recession into the new waves of the future. A must-attend event for retail and business professionals for over six years, NetSearch Direct was proud to be part of the event.
At the Retail Marketing Expo, we talked to people about what NetSearch Direct does. Specializing in search engine optimization, we offer the following services to your business:
Pay-Per-Click
Local Paid Search
Local Business Directory
Call Tracking
Website Design/ Landing Page Design
Social Media / New Media
Custom Blog Setup
Blog Writing
To all the people we met over the course of the day, thank you for allowing us to introduce our team and our proven SEO program to you. Let’s talk again soon.
Ride the Winning Wave with NetSearch Direct
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Look Before Your Customer Leaps
Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments
Your website is more than just an internet presence with some words wrapped around a few product or service-themed pictures. Think of your website as business’ virtual storefront. Just the same as you would focus on a brick-and-mortar storefront, consider applying the same eye for detail to your website.
When a potential customer visits your website, its more likely than not that they’re visiting via a search engine query. You can guarantee that by the time that potential customer has sorted through the links that have presented themselves on the page and clicked on a particular link, they want to see information that serves their original purpose. It’s your job to look before your customer leaps to that particular page.
Each page of your website should be the best possible representation of your business. Although there’s no winning formula for landing page success, NetSearch Direct customers know that they can depend on the following 5 elements to come together and leave a lasting impression on the visitor:
1) Relevant content stated as concisely as possible.
2) Graphics and videos demonstrating products.
3) Contact information prominently displayed.
4) Fast-loading pages.
5) Put the most important information above the fold.
Although using these tips alone won’t guarantee you extra sales, they certainly will improve the user’s experience when visiting your page. In the end, if your customer can easily read your information, locate what they are looking for, and smoothly navigate your site to checkout or pick up the phone for more information – then it’s a job well done for you.
When you look at your website from your customer’s perspective, the same way you would your storefront, it shows. Review your landing pages to make sure that relevant, up-to-date information is prominently displayed. Your customers will thank you with their wallets.
Yahoo Search Results Page tries on some Fancy Pants
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Local Search, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engines | No Comments
Yesterday, I opened up the Yahoo Search Page and typed in “home siding Richmond” and was pleasantly surprised. Yahoo has revamped their Search Results page and while it looks very similar to Bing’s and Google’s Results Page, ‘Imitation is the best form of flatter’ isn’t it? Its much cleaner and the additional search results on the left side panel that includes top sites with news and info is pretty sweet. The placement and new design of the sponsored search ads are much easier to read and they have increased their character limit.. Local search maps are also now more evident on search queries. Yay Yahoo! Shout out to my homie Dar, Yahoo Rep from the West Coast…
FAQ PPC Questions :Why cant I find my Paid Search Ad on Google?
Friday, August 28th, 2009 | Local Search, PPC Advertising, Search Engines | No Comments
Both Business Owners and Account Managers, like myself, ask this question often. Before panicking, wondering where all your marketing dollars are going, there are a few reasons why one can miss seeing their ad on search engines. Here’s a list of a few common answers:
1. You are searching too much. Google, Yahoo and MSN log your IP address, which is like your computers ID, and stops showing paid search ads to you after so many searches. If you search “cheesecake richmond” 10 times in a row and never click on any links, search engines will assume you are not a valid searchers or even a robot. Why? Its to prevent click fraud and inconsistent search data. Try using Google’s ad preview tool; https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool. It lets you see ads as customers would while not affecting your adwords data.
2. Your Budget is set too low. Sure, we are all trying to pinch pennies here and there and unfortunately marketing dollars are usually the first to go. If your budget is too low, your ads will show sparingly throughout the day. Search engines will your ad once in every 10 searches by customers. Not good, this means only 10% of your customers will actually see your ad. Lets put it this way, its like if you were advertising in a magazine and 9 out of every 10 magazines had their pages ripped out with your ad on it. What can you do besides increasing your budget? Lots of things, but thats why you hired us right?
3. Your ad is not running or has a low quality score. Quality score is a tricky secret formula probably locked up in Mr Crab’s safe next to the Crabby Patty recipe. We do know that your text and display ads need to match your keyword relevancy and have a successful landing page. If your ads aren’t running, give us a call (804.228.4422) and we can help you.
SEO Success: Written in the Stars?
Monday, August 24th, 2009 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | 1 Comment
When we’re asked by businesses what they should look out for when choosing a search engine marketing agency, we usually resort to a few hard, fast rules like research the agency you’re considering, get referrals, etc…
But in all our earnest efforts, we seem to have overlooked an more ominous omen important to selecting the right agency. Luckily we came across an article from SearchEnginePeople.com that gave valuable insight into internet marketers, and the astrology signs that make them up. Prompting us to ask each other questions that made our HR department a little uncomfortable like: Hey…I see you’re getting your fifth cup of coffee today and I couldn’t help but wonder…what’s your sign?
After some discussion, we matched the NetSearch Direct team with the article’s SEM astrology profiles. See if you can guess who’s who:
Cancer
At the heart of a Search Marketing company can probably be found a Cancer or two. Fantastic HR experts and account managers, they will always tell you how they feel about your account. They really do care about how you feel and have empathy for your point of view, but when you’re wrong, they will not hesitate to tell you so.
Leo
Friendly Leo is a social star. They belong in the spotlight, and they know it! These friendly and opinionated people are among the best people to lead and motivate others. Consider putting them in charge of any endeavour that demands networking with people or being on stage.
Virgo
Friendly and down to earch Virgos will always be able to tell you exactly what you can do to improve your campaign. Full of creative ideas and always able to keep an eye on the profit margin, these friendly folk are in it for the long run.
Sagittarius
Your Sagittarius account manager understands your issues and knows what you’re trying to achieve. They will happily sit and listen to your plan and give you the big picture context you need to put everything into place. They tend to be friendly and talkative and are easy to get along with.
Capricorn
Patient and organized, a Capricorn always sees the long-term strategy, and sticks to the plan to make sure it gets done. Although quiet and a bit reserved, you will always profit by having a Capricorn on your team, long after others have fallen by the wayside. Capricorn has bright ideas but explaining them can be difficult so just nod and trust you’re in capable hands, because you are.
Aquarius
If Cancer is the heart of your SEO business, then Aquarius is the soul. No, scratch that, because Aquarius could almost never bring themselves to stay long in a corporate environment. Your Aquarius consultant is filled with some of the craziest ideas you’ve ever heard but you have a feeling there’s something brilliant going on there you can’t quite understand.
Pisces
Always willing to lend a helping hand, your Pisces SEO will always celebrate your wins with you. They will take the time to figure out your exact issues while their investigative and analytical skills ensure that your campaign will be run well.
When you’ve got your nose to the grindstone it’s easy to forget to look up and take notice of the bigger things around you, things like constellations and the celestial lights that make them up twinkling away in the night sky. Turns out, these stars are more than just pretty lights – they may actually predict the success of your SEM. Dubious? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely. So, reader, we couldn’t help but notice that you’re still reading….what’s your sign?
Another Google Test – Search Engine Image Ads
Friday, August 14th, 2009 | PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engines | No Comments
Google has Search Network Text ads, they have Content Network Image ads, but Search Network Image Ads?
Rumors have been floating around, that Google is testing images placed on the paid search results space with text ads. Tests show (and you know we all believe in tests), that images placed next to paid search ads are more effective than plain text ads. Check out Facebook’s paid search ads who are all over this;
Now check it out without an image…
Makes all the difference. One things for sure, this is one blogger that’s excited to test the feature, if it ever goes public.
Three Things I Learned About My Business from PPC
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments
Featured in the August 2009 NetSearch Direct newsletter, “Three Things I Learned About My Business from PPC“, is a daring, compelling article featuring exclusive information gained from our current clients.
Okay, maybe it’s not daring, or really even compelling, but three businesses sat down with us and shared the top business life lessons they have learned from advertising with PPC. These are lessons learned the old-fashioned way – through hard-earned experience.
Your PPC campaign is painting a bigger picture than metrics, data, and ROI. Taken from the article, your PPC campaign can give you a whole new understanding of what you thought you had a grasp on previously. Specifically, you’ll learn how PPC can teach you about:
1) Your target customer.
2) Your biggest competitor.
3) How to craft your website to reflect your company personality and still get sales.
If you haven’t read the article, check it out now. It’s a fast read and even though your business may not have provided us the insight for the article, we’re sure you can still learn something about your business from reading it.
Happy selling!
Friends Don’t Let Friends Choose Bad SEM
Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | Internet Marketing, Local Search, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments
Just read a terrific article with MediaPost Publication which summarizes ten reasons clients don’t pick the right SEM company: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=101432
This article is about prevention. A warning to companies to choose and choose wisely, because in SEM mistakes are costly, and in today’s economy nobody has time or money for mistakes. To save you from reading the entire article (although it’s a worthy read for businesses) we’ll summarize a few key points:
1.Don’t fall for the magic act. We’re talking about the wining and dining and 1-2-3-Presto! presentations that don’t really say anything and make unreal promises. No company worth its salt should guarantee you immediate results, and those that do will either resort to industry-termed “black hat” tactics which can get your site barred from advertising on the most important search engines.
2. Ask for references, and then actually check up on them. If your advertising doesn’t have a clean Carfax-like report, don’t bother. Take the time to talk to provided references and get a feel for the SEM agency’s handle on their business, their vertical, and their long-term relationship together.
3. Rockbottom prices mean rockbottom results. Yes, the economic cash crunch is being felt by everyone, but when it comes to your business nothing can be more damage than an off-the-shelf, cheap solution that will have you shelling out big bucks to repair later. We don’t think you should get swindled, but the cheapest guy in town is cheap for a reason.
4. Spend some QT together. The SEM agency you hand your baby, erm, business over to should be one that you enjoy an open dialogue with, and someone who you can see yourself growing your business with for the next 3, 5, even 10 years. Your SEM agency is not a vendor, like the article points out; it’s a relationship, and is only as effective as the lines of communication.
At NetSearch we do our fair share of repairing damaged goods. As a business, it breaks our heart to patch up companies suffering in the aftermath of a poorly constructed search engine marketing effort. It’s also frustrating because, much like a healing heart after love relationship has ended, these business owners build walls around their company hearts and are afraid to reach out to try new things. We’ve been up against those companies who wine and dine their potential clients and promise them the moon – sometimes clients recognize the song and dance early but we’ve also lost a few good potentials to the magic act. It happens. We just don’t want it to happen to you.
Is RICO being Added to the Google Adsense for Domain Typosquatting Case?
Thursday, April 17th, 2008 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments
Vulcan Golf now wishes to add a RICO 18 U.S.C. §1962(a) charge.
“The plaintiffs now seek to file a second amended
complaint repleading certain of their previously dismissed claims and adding a RICO count under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a).”
I believe Google using its power and organization to engage in illegal activity. The illegality trademark infringement, profiting by trading on trademarks owned by other via typosquatting, and of course the organization is the Google the registrars and the Domain holders. But my reading of RICO tells me that there must be a vilolent act to qualify under RICO. Can anybody help clarify that?
Google Sued over TypoSquatting on Domain Names can go forward
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 | Internet Marketing, PPC Advertising | No Comments
Judge Blanche Manning of the Northern District Federal Court in Illinois ruled that there was sufficient cause to move forward in the case brought by Vulcan Golf. For anyone that follows my thoughts on this they might remember that I believe that Google profits from, enables and in part created the typosquatting problem. Google:
“pays registrants for its use of the purportedly deceptive domain names … uses semantics technology to analyze the meaning of domain names and select revenue maximizing advertisements and controls and maintains that advertising”
What was not said is that Google profits from this action.
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