Another exciting week of internet marketing news has zoomed by. Last week we saw: some great SEO analogies; how to create actionable titles; how Facebook’s IPO will impact the social network; different ways to increase your PPC click through rate; and a drop in average AdWords cost per click.

This Week in Internet Marketing 2012 02 06

3 Analogies to Help Determine the Value of SEO

SEO is not a turnkey solution, it takes time. This article offers several analogies that help explain the varying nature of SEO performance. Rankings are in constant flux, results aren’t always a reflection of controllable on-site factors. SEO requires a lot of tweaking: developing new content, creating landing pages, and identifying new off-page opportunities are just a few of the factors that drive the need for adjusting budgets.

How to Create a Title that Screams “Click Me!”

The pressure’s on to create a clickable title for this post! This article from the whiz-kids at SEOmoz talks about essential elements for creating titles. Titles that demonstrate curiosity, benefit, emotion, appearance and expectation are just some of the tips offered in the article. In the newspaper business the writer doesn’t write the headlines, it’s an art and it often goes overlooked on the internet.

Speculating on How Facebook’s IPO Could Impact its Services

Mid-last week Facebook announced that it would be going public later this year. Estimates put Facebook’s value at $75-100 Billion. Speculation on how Facebook may change has begun to spring up on the internet. This article talks about the possibility of a premium service, better mobile experience and more visible ads. It will be interesting to see how Facebook can further monetize their platform.

Strategies to Increase Your PPC Click Through Rate

This article provides some quick and easy PPC tips that we employ everyday. Tips like using extended headlines, sitelinks, harnessing your URLs as marketing copy, seasonal headlines, and constant testing will help to boost the click through rate of your pay per click ad. Conversion rate is whole other game, driving traffic by increasing CTR is only the first step!

Average Cost Per Click in AdWords Drops by 8%

This article talks about Google’s reported figure of an 8% decrease in CPC for AdWords ads. We’re sceptical about this stat because average CPC is a very generic figure. Where the cost for competitive keywords continues to grow, new players enter the AdWords space in segments  with relatively low competition – bringing the average CPC down.

More Internet Marketing Headlines

Google to Update to Top Search Queries Data

12 Steps To Optimize A Webpage For Organic Keywords

French Court Fines Google $660,000 Because Google Maps Is Free

Why The Winklevoss Twins Are Excited For Facebook’s IPO

Fake Facebook Stock Sold By Oshkosh Woman, Amidst IPO Filing

Google is touting its new privacy policy as “one policy, one Google experience” and it makes sense for Google to use all of your information to deliver the best and most relevant search results. Google’s new privacy policy will take effect March 1st.

What Information Will Google Collect?

Device Data

Across all of its services Google will collect device information, so whether you access a Google product via a Sony Vaio, iPad, or Android phone Google will know. In fact this has just recently taken effect in AdWords.

If you notice your organic traffic has a high percentage of mobile iOS traffic you may want to target your PPC ads to only those people. Take this example: the iPhone 5 is rumoured to be out next summer and you’re sitting on a bunch of iPhone 4 cases, what better way to inform people than to specifically target people using a iPhone 4. This is now possible!

Location Data

Google will also collect location data from both your wireless carrier and Wi-Fi access points and cellphone towers. This will take local advertising to a whole new level. Take a look at this ad that recently appeared on my iPhone.

This sponsored link popped up when I searched for directions. The ad occurred between my departure and destination point. It is likely that the ads relevance is a reflection on terms I’ve recently searched for or written about in Gmail. Google can demonstrate this relevance cross-app or even cross-device now!

Search Customization

Your organic search experience just got a whole lot more relevant.

Most of us know about the how Google+ will affect search results (both paid and organic), but now your usage across all Google products will factor into search results. Let’s take the example of someone who is a rabid boxing fan, they search for and read articles on the sport, they subscribe to boxing blogs on Google Reader, etc. Come next Christmas when this person searches for ”boxing” on their iPhone, they’re not likely to be returned results for boxing day,

Final Thoughts

I can see how those who are hesitant about handing over all their information to Google. You do have options, check out their FAQ page to get answers to (hopefully) all your questions. If you’re of the mind “do what you may Google, I trust you” then the new direction Google hopes to pave for itself will lead to a better more relevant search experience, that ultimately gives you the information you want, faster.

This Week in Internet Marketing 2012 01 30

3 Ways Local Businesses Can Use Pay Per Click Marketing

This article stresses the importance of PPC’s role in local marketing including ads, maps, and local listings. Elements like a captivating headline paired with a strong Google Places listing can pay dividends for local businesses. Other tips like hyper geographic targeting that allows you to bid on short-tail keywords like “dentist,” or “plastic surgeon” make this article a must read.

Enhancing Your B2B SEO Strategy

With everyone setting their budgets this time of year, it’s the perfect time to determine your SEO focus. SEO is not all off-page work, though it’s a vital component, re-examining your website structure and design can also pay huge dividends. Strategies mentioned in the article include a content strategy that includes more imagery and less text, as B2B often requires some explanation the use of visuals can often help out and help create valuable links to your content.

Analyzing Google AdWords Ads

This article was written on behalf of WordStream a paid PPC software that we use to better analyze the competition and optimize our clients’ campaigns. The article also acts as an introduction to analyzing the Google AdWords interface and offers more in-depth tips such as creating filters based on performance data. If you’re new to AdWords this article provides a great starting point.

How to Increase Your Content’s “Virality”

The experts at SEOmoz are back at again this week and this time they’re talking about how to make your content more spreadable i.e. how to give it a better chance at going viral. Tips like abandoning your traditional layout in favour of a more streamlined look geared towards showcasing your content makes this video a must watch. Simple and effective tips; bookmark this one!

Are Google+ Connections the New Backlink?

If you read our blog, you probably already know that the backlink is what set Google apart. The author of this Search Engine Land article argues that Google +1’s are the new backlinks and that local SMBs will begin to campaign aggressively for +1’s as they begin to influence local search results both paid and organic. Do you have a +1 button on your website? If not, give us a call!

More Internet Marketing Headlines

What The Holidays Tell Search Marketers

Valentine’s Day Search Trends: Love at first Search

Facebook Accounts For 80% Social Media Traffic World-wide

Google AdWords Rep Too Honest In Forums?

Facebook Post With One Million Comments Set To Break Guinness World Record

First a Bit of Background

We had an unnamed client who came to us with a largely ineffective Facebook marketing campaign. Their ads had a low CTR and they weren’t spending their budget because no one was clicking on them.

In an effort to boost their Facebook presence we designed a Facebook landing page with a before and after gallery, a video, some copy and a contact form. This was all well and good, but what about getting conversions? In our case the contact form.

We encouraged the client to have us create a Facebook advertising campaign, but instead of driving the traffic solely to their website we decided to send visitors to our freshly designed Facebook Fanpage.

For experimentation and proof of concept created two duplicate ads: one directed to the Fanpage while the other directed to the site.

Methodology

• We targeted both ads to the same group of men over the age of 35, who lived within 50 miles of Toronto and Scarborough Ontario. This amounted to around 710,000 people.
• We set our bid price to $0.81 per click for both ads
• We set our daily budget to $7/day (for this experimental phase)
• We let the ads run for 2 weeks

Creating the Facebook Ads

Same HEADLINE, same TEXT, same PICTURE!

Ad #1 Directed to the Fanpage                Ad #2 Directed to the Website

You can see that the only difference between the two ads is that example #1 includes the Like count and #2 includes the website’s URL.

Other than that, the two ads were identical, same headline, text and picture.

The Statistics

Have a look at the Dashboard for this campaign:

Reach

You can see that Reach for ad #1 is nearly double that of ad #2. Reach is defined as “the number of individual people who saw this Sponsored Story of ad during the dates selected. This is different than impressions, which includes people seeing them multiple times.”

Frequency

We saw over a half point jump in frequency for ad #1. This is due to the increased Reach of ad #1. Frequency in these terms is defined as “the average number of times each person who saw your Sponsored Story or ad.”

Social Reach

Social Reach only applies to ad #2, so it’s no surprise that it beat out ad #1 by a landslide. Social Reach is defined as “people who saw your Sponsored Story or ad with the names of their friends who like the Page, RSVPed to your event, or used your app. If you’re not using Sponsored Stories or advertising a Page, event, or app, you won’t have social reach.”

Connections

Again, connections won’t apply to ad #2, but they were definitely nice to see given the sensitive (undisclosed) subject matter of the business we created these ads for. Connections are “the number of people who liked your Facebook Page, RSVPed to your event, or installed your app within 24 hours of seeing this Sponsored Story of ad. If you’re no promoting a Page, event, or app, you won’t see Connections data.”

Clicks

This is where our hypothesis really started to manifest. You can see that the clicks on Ad #1 were 87 compared to just 45 on ad #2 that drove to the site. In Facebook terms clicks are defined as “The number of clicks your Sponsored Story or ad has received. Clicks also include Page likes, event RSVPs, or app installs directly from the Sponsored Story or ad.

CTR (Click Through Rate)

We were pretty much dead even with only 0.001% difference. In the early stages of monitoring this experiment we saw quite a large gap in favour of the Fanpage ad, but over time these have evened out. CTR for Facebook ads is defined as “the number of clicks your Sponsored Story or ad received divided by the number of times it was shown on the site.”

Conclusion: Fanpage Ads Offer Better Value

Facebook would rather you click on an ad that directs people to another page in Facebook; that way you remain in the Facebook environment and are more likely to click on another ad.

If you have a Fanpage that offers a way for customers to contact you then go for it, try driving your Facebook ads to a Fanpage. If not, then directing people to your wall probably won’t pay off. Try creating a Fangate, show the visitor some value. Creating a Fanpage is definitely topic for an entire blog post.

For now I hope I’ve encouraged you to do your own A/B test, please feel free share your results with us!

Google’s gradual ascent over the past 6 months was dealt a severe blow in December 2011 falling to 78.7% of desktop search engine market share. Yahoo! and Bing remained relatively steady staying nearly within a half percentage point of their last month’s total. Chinese search engine Baidu was the biggest winner accounting for 10.46% of overall search share according to Net Market Share.

Google Drops Nearly 6% Since Last Year

Remaining steady in the mid-to-low 80% market leader Google dipped to its lowest share of the year at 78.70%. This coincides with their decline in China.

Bing and Yahoo! Dip Slightly

Yahoo! lost just over a half percent Bing dropped just under a half percent. These are still significant portions of their user base considering the two held just 9.02% market share collectively last month.

Baidu Takes a Big Bite Out of China

Chinese search engine Baidu made significant gains climbing to a whopping 10.46% market share from only 4.41% one month prior. It’s speculated that their gains were Google’s losses.

The Top 10 Benefits of Guest Blogging

1.) Get Relevant Backlinks That Boost Your SEO!

If you’re in internet marketing, you know the value of a quality backlink. On our blog you get a follow link back to your blog, site, social media page anything so long as it’s relevant to internet marketing. We’ve got the juice to boost your site’s SEO and all the internet marketing content we have will only add fuel to the fire.

2.) Get Your Link on a Highly Trafficked Blog

We get upwards of 10,000 unique page views per month during peak seasons, with top blogs seeing hundreds of page views monthly. The sky’s the limit. Blogging on emerging stories generate serious traffic.

3.) We Promote Your Blog to Our Growing Social Network

We’ll post your blog to our 3500+ Facebook fans and tweet to our nearly 30,000 Twitter followers. Our following continues to expand and networking with other bloggers can only help it grow!

4.) Cross Promotion

We may reside in different cities, countries, continents or even hemispheres, but that doesn’t mean we can work together. We’ll include your byline with a picture, link, and brief copy highlighting who you are and what you do.

5.) Get Exposure on a Blog That Consistently Ranks in Google

Try searching for getting Google Places reviews on Google.ca, we rank second behind googleplacesreview.com or try searching Facebook precise interests, our TechWyse blog ranks fifth… behind four URLs from Facebook.com! This may vary based on your location and social influence factors, but this is the result we found, signed-out from Toronto Canada.

6.) We’ll Return the Favour

When you submit a quality blog post that makes it to Rise to the Top, we will return the favour and provide you with an original article written about one of our specialties: SEO, PPC, Social Media and Analytics.

7.) Editorial Free Reign

We want you to write about your passion. As long as it’s not “How to Build an Awesome Tree House” (i.e. irrelevant), then wow us with your take on emerging internet marketing trends. You can provide your own image or let one of our designers create one for you.

8.) Exposure to Industry Professionals and New Markets

The internet marketing community is huge and your message can only spread so far. There’s always an untapped audience online. We’ll send your blog to our 2000+ newsletter subscribers, helping you reach new readers, subscribers and even potential customers!

9.) Hook Up With the Elite

We’ll hold your blog up to high standards, but if you make the cut your name will and site will now be connected to one of Canada’s oldest and most highly regarded internet marketing agencies. We’re 10+ years and counting.

10.) Jump On One of the Hottest Link Building Trends

Not only will you be networked with our sphere of influence, but you’ll also gain likes, +1’s, retweets and social shares that are continue to play an increasingly important role in social SEO. Get your company commenting, too. Our comment links are follow, so if you have other sites, or even specific posts you want to plug, then feel free to comment away!

Do We Have Your Attention?

If you’re interested please email guestblog@techwyse.com with the following information:

• Your original blog entry (all posts will be Copyscaped)
• Full name
• Your website URL
• Company/Site name
• Picture or logo (optional)
• Byline highlighting who you are and what you do
• Tell us whether you’d be interested in having us write for your blog

This Week in Internet Marketing 2012 01 16

10 Examples of Awesome Link Bait

Most of us know that high quality links can boost your search engine rank, so how do websites get people to link to them? One way is by creating link bait. Link bait can be anything from a controversial blog, a useful tutorial to a well done infographic. The geniuses at SEOmoz have put together a list with comprehensive stats on each example, inspiring!

Outsmarting Your PPC Competitors on High-Stakes Keywords

This article outlines some very clever strategies that work well when you have a few players bidding on expensive keywords. Tips like exploiting the AdWords scheduler and discovering when your competitors lower their bid prices throughout the day can work really well. Other strategies like capitalizing on advertisers who’ve spent their daily budget after running the accelerated delivery method (where their ads are shown every time until the budget is spent). There’s a lot of cutting edge tips in this article, highly recommended if you’re running high-cost PPC in a niche space.

Google Gives Twitter’s @ Symbol the Cold Shoulder

Twitter is crying foul over Google’s refusal to index the @ symbol. So when people search e.g. @WWE The WWE’s Twitter page ranks below WWE’s Google+ page. Whereas the + operator turns up results for WWE’s Google+ page. Google argues that they haven’t been given access to Twitter’s private pages. Conversely, WWE’s Twitter page ranks higher in Bing, Yahoo and AOL’s results.

Facebook Users Click on Links Twice as Much as Twitter and Google+ Users

A study from data analytics company Chitika found that the click through rate on Facebook links were twice the rate than that of Twitter or Google Plus. My own personal speculation would be that the lack of image and character limit hurts Twitter in this respect and the infancy of Google+ just doesn’t create enough content to click on, while Facebook’s wealth of content and image previews for links creates a higher CTR.

How to Streamline Your Keyword Research

Tips such as listening to your customer, asking them what they do and encouraging them to speak in their natural vernacular will help you to discover areas they may need to address when describing their products online. The theme of the article (it has proven true with our own clients) is: listen to your clients and use your expertise to add variations and modifiers that will match the keywords people are searching for.

More Internet Marketing Headlines

Facebook’s Buggiest Page Was Created on Purpose

Best Practices For Mobile Site SEO

5 Proven Ways to Generate Revenue From Facebook

Google vs. Facebook: The “Search Plus Your World” Saga Continues

Better Page Titles in Search Results

Social is the New Word of Mouth

Facebook’s “talking about this” metric is a nod to what social media really is: a massive network for word of mouth recommendations. You don’t have to share your status to let others know what you’re doing anymore. Facebook is moving in the direction of publishing more than just your like and comment activity. By installing apps like the Washington Post Social Reader, your friends can now see that you’ve read an article, not simply that you’ve liked, shared or commented on it.

The Fracturing of Search Results

Search results are now highly geared towards a user’s location and social network. Browsing habits still play a major factor. All of this leads to fractured search results, where some sites may rank, while others don’t depending on who the searcher is.

Other key shifts will include:

• The inclusion of socially relevant posts
• The rise of PPC as the core strategy for online marketing
• New challenges for SEO
• Fresh Content will become ever more important, if you don’t have a blog, get on it. Use this guide to help you.
• Local search and reviews, Google Places and Yelp will continue to influence buying decisions.
• Mobile search will be influenced by location, companies with mobile websites will see better conversions from organic and paid traffic.

Google Quality Continues to Get Better

• The quality of referring links will need to be high. Google will not give credence to poor quality backlinks, link farms and link wheels are a thing of the past. Quality will outweigh quantity.
• Search results will contain high quality, fresh content that’s been shared.
• Sites with great user experiences may rank higher, Google can analyze this if the site has Google Analytics installed.
• Websites with high CTRs, low bounce rates and original content will have an edge
• An integrated strategy will be needed in order to rank organically – UI, Social, PPC, SEO, Content Strategy.

Referring Sites Will Continue to Proliferate

• Sites like portals, destination guides and niche resources will be a valuable source of traffic. Don’t be surprised if these sites pop up overnight, as social media is now a primary springboard for many start-up sites looking for traffic.
• Referring sites are growing more quickly than your competitors, actively research them and get linked to.
• Consumers will continue to research in more places, and these sites will increase in importance as they provide links, rank for related terms and influence buying decisions.
• Search engines will continue to reward sites that are present on highly trafficked, socially connected sites.

That’s a wrap! Authentic, original content, is key to your online marketing success in 2012 and moving forward. Produce original content and spread it through social networks. Google’s algorithm will reward you for hard work e.g. consistent content creation, social updates, networking with referring sites and building organic links. Sprinkle in a little PPC and you’ve got a recipe for success!

This Week in Internet Marketing 2012 01 09

ComScore Reports more Using Apps over Mobile Browser

ComScore, a leader in measuring the digital marketplace has just released the results of their latest data-driven research, which identifies the rise in popularity of mobile apps. Smartphone users are downloading and using apps more than ever before. In an age where buying products and services are completed while waiting for the traffic light to change, more businesses should consider mobile application development a priority in their 2012 strategy.

Waging War against Mobile Apps? How Physical Retail Locations can Fight Back

While online sales for holiday shopping are expected to grow 15%, physical retail locations are predicted to see a minimal 3% rise in revenue. The brick and mortar shop has been put on the defensive and needs to defend against the convenience and prices that online stores offer. This is particularly true for competing with online giants such as Amazon, and their offer to further discount products, through their mobile app. This has to be accomplished without cutting into profit margins and this article will tell you how.

The Future of Facebook for 2012

Facebook’s IPO (initial public offering) will be the biggest public offering of 2012. The company is rumored to have a $100 billion valuation, which places the social networking giant in the top three American IPOs for highest amount raised.

We are the Internet

First the web was human driven then it was programmed by algorithms. With social media becoming such a prominent component of what propels the web the information that makes the internet, algorithms and search engines smarter, is powered by people. This fascinating article explains how the Internet makes us smarter, and we feed the Internet, therefore contributing to its intelligence. We may not have robots to do our chores but we have them to fuel our knowledge.

Social Trends for 2012

To highlight the ever-growing importance of social media, this article offers five 2012 trends in the social world. This includes the increasing prominence of social media and how it has begun to impact Google’s algorithm.  Also included is how customers and employees are becoming an extended part of every company’s marketing team and Daily Deal services receiving preference in the Google engine.

More Internet Marketing Headlines

10 Search & Website Usability New Year Resolutions for 2012

Facebook Launches In-App Currency

How Much Is A Click Really Worth?

No More World Wide Web in Iran?

Steve Jobs Doll Can Be Sold After All

Unfortunately, some companies become so obsessed with being number one in the search engines, that by the time they outrank their competitors, their site’s content looks terrible!

With Google’s updated algorithm, content is becoming more critical than ever before and not just any content; it has to be relevant, well-written and most of important of all, it has to keep the customer engaged.

Making a Website for the Search Engine AND Your Customers

Don’t Turn Customers Away with your Keywords

Even with the knowledge that businesses try to use commonly misspelled words and repeat keywords to rank higher, it is very off-putting to see a website with misspelled headings, words without spaces and underlined keywords:

• See your website through your customer’s eyes. Imagine that they don’t even know what SEO or SEM is and the fact of the matter is they probably don’t. Picture being this customer who has come to your website and thinks that you have spelled “equipment” as “equiptment” and then you have used this misspelled word in every heading and paragraph on your site, and have highlighted or underlined it as well. The only outcome to this scenario is a bounce.

Be a Resource but Strike the Balance

Some businesses find out that Google likes content, and websites such as Wikipedia have become so prominent in the engines because they are informative sources, and generate backlinks. It makes perfect sense that businesses want to provide information to their customers through well-written content. This is great and it’s encouraged but don’t lose focus:

• Your website should always come across as a detailed and even interactive advertisement or brochure. While there should be helpful articles and a blog, providing too much will take the attention away from what you are selling. The last thing you want is a customer that spends an hour on your site reading articles, and completely forgets that they were originally attracted to the site because they wanted to buy what you are selling.

Consider a Content Rewrite

A copywriter can look at the bigger picture and rewrite website content that will appeal to the customer and Google without upsetting the balance between the search engine and the site’s usability. For businesses that want to improve their own content the most valuable tip is to imagine that you are one of your customers:

• What do you need to see first to stay on the site?
• What information do you need before you buy?
• Have you included features, advantages and benefits?
• Are purchasing options and information easy to get to?
• Have you used your most successful keywords and search terms sparingly throughout the site?

Ranking high in Google is of utmost importance but don’t forget about your customers. Google isn’t buying what you have to offer, they’re just bringing you the leads. It’s up to your SEO content to make sure that it holds the attention of the customer, gains their trust, and makes the conversion.