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What is PPC and Why Should I Consider It?

PAY PER CLICK in block letters with a white iPhone and a white Apple keyboard. Image from https://launchpresso.com

Whether you own a mom and pop store or a large scale business, running online marketing campaigns is one of the best ways to gain more exposure. While some of these marketing methodologies require some time to build momentum, pay per click (PPC) is known for delivering quick and robust results. 

Due to its viable return on investment (ROI) and promise to reach otherwise inaccessible audiences, pay per click is a sought after marketing method for many organizations. From renowned brands to obscure startups, every business that wants to expand its horizons uses this advertising avenue in one way or another.

To help you understand exactly what is pay per click, why you should use it, and how to set it up, here is all you need to know about this marketing method. 

What is Pay Per Click Advertising?

As its name suggests, pay per click advertising uses a paid marketing methodology. To elaborate, it requires you to pay for each click made on your advertisement. This amount directly goes to the platform that is running these advertisements for you. 

These platforms include but are not limited to: 

– Google AdWords
– Facebook Ads
– LinkedIn Ads
– YouTube Ads

Whenever you run a pay per click advertisement, these platforms show your ad to your target audience through various methodologies. Once anyone shows an interest in your ad and clicks on it, you get charged for it. Some niche advertisements also charge you on the amount of impressions or views garnered by your ad.

Pay per click ads can come in many forms, including text ads, image ads, and even video ads. This is why platforms ranging from Google to YouTube offer pay per click advertisement. 

The most common types of pay per click advertising include the following.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This refers to displaying your text ads on search engines. These ads display whenever someone makes a search query using your targeted keyword or phrase. These text ads appear on top of search engine results, which enhances your exposure and increases your chance of bringing in search engine traffic. Examples include Google AdWords and Bing Ads.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)
This includes the display of pay per click ads on social media platforms. These ads are shown to your targeted demographics in the form of text, image, or video posts. Those who are interested click on your ad and land on a designated website page that is set up and controlled by you. Examples include Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Ads.

Retargeting/Remarketing
There are times when someone on your website signs off without making an inquiry or a purchase. In order to remind these visitors about your website, you can set up retargeting ads. 

These ads work by ethically using browsing data through cookies on a visitors’ web browser. They are then shown to your target visitors in the form of image or banner ads on third-party websites. Examples of retargeting programs include Google Display Network and AdRoll.

Why Should You Use Pay Per Click Advertisement?

As mentioned above, PPC ads provide you with quick results and help you gain access to your target audience on an immediate basis. The minute you initiate a pay per click campaign, your ads start displaying over the web. In comparison to search engine optimization (SEO), which takes considerable time to show results, this feature makes pay per click stand out in a positive way.

Pay per click advertisement is also more efficacious than other advertisement methods such as email marketing. Most email marketing campaigns end up in the recipients’ junk or spam folder. Whereas, pay per click advertisements show up prominently on the websites visited by your target audience.

Using pay per click in search advertising brings yet another advantage to the table. Since your ads are being shown to people who are actively searching for information they need, it is easier to bring in traffic and score conversions through this audience.

All of these advantages come together to provide you with a higher ROI than many other advertising avenues, which makes pay per click advertising such a prominent marketing tool.

How Do You Set It Up?

Setting up PPC depends greatly on the platform that you are using for this advertising methodology. 

If you are using Google AdWords or Bing Ads, you will need to set targeted keywords or phrases that would trigger your ads to show up. You will also need to place a “bid” to snag the top ad spot from competitors. This bid is often justifiable by demand, but can be immensely high for some terms. 

On the other hand, using platforms such as Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads or YouTube Ads requires you to target certain demographics. This allows you to show your posts or media ads to an audience that’s more likely to respond to your offerings and improve your ROI. 

Retargeting ads take a different approach to the set up. You can enroll into these programs through providers such as Google Display Network or AdRoll. Since these ads typically display your ads through banner images, you need to submit a few image ads that could fulfill this purpose. 

How to Make the Most Out of Pay Per Click Advertisement?

Setting up pay per click advertisement can be incredibly complex, especially if you are opting for search advertising. But you can still learn the process by dedicating some time to it. If you are unsure of the procedure or want it to be handled professionally, you can easily reach out to a credible pay per click advertising expert to manage it for you.

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What are Social Media Metrics and Which Ones are Important to Monitor?

computer screen with monitoring information

Just like your ads are important to your business and you monitor them daily, the same is true for your social media profiles. The effectiveness of social media is without question crucial to your success. It’s time to decide the fate of your business and get involved so you can go toe-to-toe with your competition and keep up with your customer base.  

Data gathered from social media monitoring need to show what matters. The results of your social media campaign efforts show up in the numbers and should reflect a positive impact on the business.  

Social Media Metrics Defined
Depending on the level of in-depth reporting your business requires, four major categories representing each step of the customer journey contain metrics, or assessments that show specific information.  Awareness is related to your brand that shows your current and potential, future audience.  Engagement informs how well your audience interacts with your content.  Conversions provides insight into how well your content converts, or to say it another way, how many people respond to your call-to-action in a positive way.  Customer metrics reflects the value of your brand based on customer testimonials. Each of the categories within social media metrics below has its own set of metrics containing the most important ones you should closely monitor to maximize your marketing efforts.  

Awareness
Brand awareness measures how much social media attention your brand receives in a specific period based on your requirements. It expresses data in likes, mentions, shares, links, or impressions. For accurate measurements over time, consistency in monitoring is key.  

Audience Growth Rate
An interesting metric is learning how fast your brand’s awareness grows and the increase in the number of followers. These numbers will continue growing as Internet access becomes available to more people worldwide as they, too, get involved in social media.  

Potential Reach
This is a theoretical figure representing how many people might see your post during an assigned period. When you understand your potential reach, you can now base decisions from this number. 

Social Media Share of Voice (SOV)
This is a competition metric that tells you the number of people on social media mentioning your brand, either directly or indirectly, compared to your competitors. This metric helps you determine how important your brand is within the market. Analytics tools for social media streamline the process to make it easier and faster.  

Engagement
The data in this crucial metric provide insight into how your readers interact with your content. 

Applause Rate
As you know, when your reader appreciates the content so much, they acknowledge its value awarding a like or a favorite. This is the percentage of people responding in this way that provides the information about the value of your content and helps determine your plans for future content creation.  

Average Engagement Rate
High engagement with your readers means they find your content valuable and increased likes, shares, and comments follow. This benchmark differs for each social media platform. Facebook and Twitter both have lower engagement rates in the 0.5 to 1 percent range. Instagram has a higher engagement rate of approximately 3 – 6 percent.  

Boost Rate
The boost rate shows the speed at which your followers share your content, and a higher rate means they trust your brand and show a willingness to associate with your brand.  

Circulation (Virality) Rate
The circulation rate shows how many people shared, not just liked, your post in relation to the total impressions the post had during an assigned time period. 

Conversion
Conversion metrics show how well your social media engagement is working. The conversion rate shows the percentage of people who act relative to the number of visitors interacting with your post.  

The higher the conversion rate, the more people have agreed that your content satisfies what they’re looking for such as answers to questions, or they agreed to subscribe to your newsletter, to name a few. Valuable content in social media that converts well proves it was relevant and interesting. 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The Click-Through-Rate or CTR is a percentage of your readers who engage with your content or offering by clicking on a call-to-action link that takes them to other content that requires action on their part. 

Remember, don’t associate CTR with likes, comments, or shares. A higher CTR means your readers find your content valuable and worthy of their attention.  

Bounce Rate
The bounce rate shows the percentage of your readers who click a link within your post but leave soon after arriving and do not take action of any kind. You can measure and compare the bounce rate from say a Facebook post versus traffic arriving from a Google search.

A lower bounce rate from your social media campaigns than your other sources proves your content is relevant and driving valuable traffic. One of the best tools to measure bounce rate is Google Analytics. 

Cost-Per-Click (CPC)
Cost-Per-Click or CPC is the amount of money you pay for each click on your post or ad.  

Pay close attention to this metric because it’s a good indicator of whether your investment is working for you, or if you’re wasting money needlessly. 

If you advertise on various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, focus on CPC more than on your total spend because it provides a better picture of how well your money works for you. 

Customer
Customer testimonials remain a strong and reliable means by which to judge a product or service. They result from happy customers and most times will gladly share their pleasurable experiences with your brand. 

Social media loves meaningful and honest testimonials. They’re a testament to your brand that boost your credibility and trust. Encourage your happy customers to leave a review, but don’t offer a compensation of any kind. You want honest, from-the-heart comments and praises that you earned. 

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
These surveys yield results that rate your brand on a scale of 1 to 10 or Great, Good, Fair, or Poor. They’re easy to create and reveal what people think and how they feel about your brand. 

Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score or NPS predicts customer loyalty based on the answer to only one question on a scale of one to ten. A typical question might ask the respondent if they would recommend your product or service to a friend.

For effective and timely results from your social media campaigns, always pay attention to details and learn how to interpret your findings. You can make excellent decisions based on the numbers within the metrics, so use them to your advantage. If all this information on social media metrics scares you though, there are many social media specialists out in the market today who can help you make sense of the numbers.

Privacy: It is NOT About You

Airplane door switch with sign that states "please lock door"

Privacy is a hot topic these days and still many people make it too technical or think that privacy is a thing they do not have to worry about. Yes you should worry about your own privacy and yes you should be paying attention to what privacy standards you put into place on your website.

First, lets talk about your own privacy. I hear all the time “I am not worried about my privacy because I have nothing to keep hidden.” Okay that is great, however, does the entire world need to know everything there is to know about you. Also, even those who say they are an open book I bet would rather not have their debit card information to fall into the wrong hands after you entered your information into a website to buy something. I personally would like to know before I buy from a website if they are collecting and saving my payment information.

However, let’s not confuse privacy and security. Security is taking measures to ensure your information is safe from hackers. Security is simply making sure the bad guys don’t get in. Privacy is the ability to control what information of yours is being shared, how it is being shared, and for how long it is being shared. Privacy is the ability to know what exactly you are signing up for when you are signing up. Internet privacy scammers equate to the long distance telephone callers of the late 90’s. They like to bait and switch you before you see what is going on.

The data that online privacy protects both personal and sensitive personal data. Personal data includes name, location, identification numbers (like your driver’s license), IP address, cookie data, and RFID tags. Sensitive personal data include health information, genetic and biometric data, race, ethnicity, political opinions, and sexual orientation. You can lump it up into anything that one can write down that makes you, you.

I want to now go back to the worry of privacy. Most of the world does not have any information that the government bodies or anyone of “importance” would want to know. It is true but no matter how great or boring your information is, you should want to keep it secure. You should want to know why the form is asking for that particular information for you and what they are going to do with it.

There is an website that was giving out something I was interested in and I have heard countless people speak about their services, so I signed up for their “free product” (first rule of privacy is nothing is ever free as you will be put on a mailing list) and I knew I was going to go on some list for emails. Eh that was cool as usually they are only 1-3 a week. Not this place! I was getting multiple emails daily from them and spamming my inbox. It did not take me long to start reporting them for spam and I had to remove myself at least 5 times to get them to stop.

No one should have to click unsubscribe to remove themselves from one site that they filled out one form for. This is why privacy should be important to you for your readers and customers.

Here are some things you should consider for privacy standards on your website.

Opt-out instead of Opt-In.

The checkboxes may not mean anything. Make sure the reader has to check that box to show they acknowledge what they are signing up for. Having the box checked by default can look slightly spammy and some people may not notice it.

Announce how often you plan to email them when they sign up for anything on your site.

Like my story above getting bombarded with emails, make sure the reader knows what they are getting into. If they are getting your free guide AND being put on your mailing list that will send them an email in the morning and at dinner every day, let them know.

Double Opt-In for Mailing Lists

If you are into using mailing lists to connect with people, turn on the double opt-in. People tend to use fake email addresses or other people’s emails to get the free item they are signing up for. Having the double opt-in ensures that everyone on that mailing list wants to be there.

Have a cookies notice on your site

Cookies are bits of your website saved on the reader’s browser to make it so the site will load quicker the next time they come to your site. There are a number of different styles of cookies that provide personalized user experiences or displaying ads. It is good practice to have a banner notifying the reader that yes your site does use cookies and what you do with the cookies.

Make sure to get parental consent if working with minors online

Always get parental consent when dealing with minors who are not your own. Online and offline. There are so many rules and regulations protecting children’s rights that this is one road you do not want to go down. If you gear anything to a child, have it set up so parents have to sign off on it first.

Have a Privacy Policy Page on your site that is easy to find

Have a Privacy Policy and make sure that it covers everything. Add in all the information you collect, how long you keep it stored, what you do with that information, if you use any third party services, and anything else you may do with information on your site.

If you are not sure how to write a Privacy Policy, there are some WordPress plugins that can assist you to draft one or you can find templates that you can manipulate for your own use.

Have a way for readers to be able to check and/or delete their information off your website.

This is imperative that you setup if your site does anything in the European Union up to and including being able to be accessed while in the European Union. (With the option of VPNs that means every external online website on the planet.

WordPress has made it easy now that they have that information setup in the Tools category in the Admin Dashboard if your website has a basic setup. They have a great tutorial on WordPress Support. You may have to use a GDPR plugin if you are using more specific information gathering functionality on your site.

If you do find yourself in a security breach, announce it.

By GDPR law you have 72 hours from the moment you find out you have had a security breach to disclose it. Plus it is good practice to be transparent with your readers and customers.

If I am not in the European Union, should I even care about GDPR?

Spoiler alert. Yes you should! Personally, I suggest that everyone follows the GDPR standards even if it is not the law where they are or where their site is hosted for a number of reasons.

  1. Even if you are in the states, people from the European Union may still be utilizing your site.
  2. You will be ahead of the curve once these laws start migrating into your own country’s laws.
  3. Showing that you care about your readers and customers private information will set you apart from your competitors who do not.
  4. Like taking security measures seriously, it is just a good idea.

The bottom line is to ensure that anything that your reader may do on your site, they know exactly what they are signing up for. It is all about having empathy for your site visitors on making their private information important to you.

In the European Union they already have the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the state of California is putting more privacy policies into law. It will be probably no time before these types of rule are global.

If you feel you are not qualified to set up your own privacy standards for your business, shop around for a local Data Protection Officer. They will help you get everything set correctly and be in your corner if ever you do need them.

Customer Reviews and How to Get Them

black and white handshake

A key aspect of marketing your business that so many business owners often overlook is generating positive customer feedback. Even one review will help bring attention to your product or service, and thusly, your business and the services you offer. Some business owners are not even sure how to go about asking a customer to write a review. However, getting customer’s feedback and honest opinions on products and services will help promote your business. Today more than ever, having those reviews online and easily available can help make or break a business in comparison to its competitors.

The Importance of the Customer Review

Business owners often do not realize just how important feedback from their customers really is. There are several different reasons that customer testimonials are able to make or break your business. Reasons that you should want a customer to post a review for your product or services include, but are not limited to: 

  • Business promotion – The more feedback potential customers can find on what your business offers, the more likely they are to invest in it. Customers trust products and services that have a positive reputation, as it allows them to feel more secure in their choices. 
  • Marketing purposes – A review can function in a variety of marketing ways. Business owners can decide to use reviews in ads for promotions. Additionally, these posts may appear for items when a customer is searching for a specific item. 
  • Better visibility – Products with more feedback are more likely to appear higher in searches online. It’s a great way to improve your online visibility. 

Overall, having a customer post a review for your business is a great way to help gain additional visibility and promote your business. A review is a free way to generate marketing content, as you often do not have to pay for a customer to post one. You may have the ability to offer promotions, discounts, or other rewards for positive posts, but it is not mandatory. Simply encouraging clients to provide feedback is a great way to start. 

Use Review Platforms to Build a Reputation

If a potential customer has never heard of your business, and don’t know anyone who knows of your business, they will need a foundation of trust. Buyers are often suspicious of the unknown. Their distrust has only increased over the years, as online scams have become more and more frequent. 

Customer testimonials provide individuals who have recently learned about your business or services with a sense of security, as other people have provided honest feedback about their experience with your company. Effectively, review platforms are the virtual form of word of mouth reviews. It’s certainly not fool-proof, and some customers will not trust a review posted online either. But research has suggested that businesses and products that have even one review are more likely to be trusted. 

Understanding how even one review can impact your business is important. Additionally, review platforms help you appear higher on search results. You’re able to market yourself to potential customers and improve your overall visibility. 

Asking for A Review

The thing that holds many owners back from additional posts is the uncertainty of how to go about it. Some feel that asking for a review may make them seem fraudulent. But many businesses do this, and many customers more than willing to give their feedback. Additionally, offering discounts on future products or services in exchange for a review is a great way to encourage customers to publicly post their feedback. You can also utilize this method as a way to encourage customer referrals as well, making it a win-win situation for your business. 

Not every customer will be willing to post a review. However, a great many of them will, if you or your representatives are willing to request it. Even something as simple as a star rating promotes the sense of security and trust customers are looking for in order to secure their purchases. Additionally, having a place to post opinions on products available by your business promotes an open line of communication between clients and your business. This is a vital step you can take to ensure that customers trust your company and feel secure in investing in your products. 

Getting a customer to review your products is one of the best ways to unintentionally market and promote your business. Without a review platform online, potential customers are less likely to trust your business and the services you offer. Finding a way to ask customers to provide feedback is the best way to ensure new customers find you and are more likely to invest in what you have to offer. 

If you struggle to get feedback at first, keep in mind that that is perfectly normal. It can take time to build up a client base that is invested in your product. As you begin to grow as a business, generating feedback online will become a critical part of your marketing foundation. Take time to carefully develop your communication platform with clients and get the feedback you need to thrive.

Does your business website need a blog?

Spoiler alert: IT DOES!

Blogs have been around for years because they’re a dependable source of new traffic and becoming more popular every day. Since website owners are always looking for more ways to generate leads, many must decide whether to add blogging to their growing list of marketing tactics.

Unleash the Power of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Blogs built on WordPress do a fantastic job of helping gain search engine traffic. Most blogs run on the popular WordPress platform. It is an industry-standard CMS with a number reliable SEO plugins that can help you out. That means the blogger can focus on keyword research and creating compelling content without spending too much time on SEO.

The backend of the site, is taken care of by the WordPress core files and gives you an easier opportunity to be able to modify the blog and add to it. This standard system works well for tens of millions of bloggers and is the primary reason the platform maintains its position at the top. At this time, 35% of all websites are ran on WordPress.

With WordPress, there are few barriers to preventing communication. The format is easy to use for new bloggers, but the plugin system has all the advanced functionality that even a large enterprise would be able to use. Such power enables the company to create specific pages that drive traffic and revenues.

Blogs allow for custom content creation and a human aspect.

Custom content creation is powerful because it helps businesses tailor specific messages for customers and prospects. Blogs are all about fresh posts, and these should aim directly at solving customer’s needs and answering prospect’s questions.

The blog will also contribute tot he human aspect of the company. It can showcase the people working for the company and also its customers. Blogs can also showcase what the company is doing in terms of community service, growth, and changes.

A Blog is an excellent tool as it lets the company shine a spotlight on its principles and values. Blogging offers any business to break down their marketing in a digestible format that appeals to modern web users.

Grow Your Audience

Many companies attempt to communicate with the public but fall short if not all venues are utilized. A blog gives an extra way for all levels of customers from potential, to current, to prior an option to interact with the company.

You can also utilize calls to action and mailing lists with your blog and blog posts. This can also help you to grow your audience by keeping then engaged with email engagement later down the road. Give your blog readers an opportunity to have your new posts go straight to their inbox.

Blog posts are an excellent source of social media shares. It is a big circle of engagement between social media and the blog on your website. As you make new blog posts, share them on social media. Those social media posts drive the readers back to your website. Those visiting your website because of social media are more inclined to convert to customers. Consistent, high-quality content is always in-demand, mainly when it contains a unique viewpoint.

Consider the Benefits of a blog

Businesses that successfully and consistently blog on their website, share it on social media, and engage with its readers can see great benefits.

  • Custom-tuned SEO. A blog built on WordPress provides ample opportunities for practicing advanced SEO. You’ll never have to settle for less than stellar results.
  • Appeal to a broad audience. A static website doesn’t provide many opportunities to gain traffic, except for the primary keyword concepts. Blogs open up the potential to new content and are a source of fresh inspiration.
  • Produce fresh and engaging content for shares. Social network sharing requires sending the audience back to your business website. Without high-quality content on social media which includes your blog posts, it’s nearly impossible to get consistent shares, likes, and retweets.
  • Grow your website traffic and website revenue. Ultimately, people use WordPress blogs to drive tons of people to their sites. Once there, they purchase products or services and become customers.
  • Establish expertise and authority. Blogs help businesses stand out from their competitors. They allow you to use your unique voice and to become credible experts in your market.

The Best Time to Start Is Now

It’s never too late to add a blog to your website. Starting one now will expand your engagement and visits to your site significantly. Even if you’re concerned about being a rookie, begin! It’s only with practice that you’ll gain experience and proficiency. Remember the old saying, “In thirty days, you will thank me.”

WordPress is extremely affordable website option and is simple enough to maintain a blog on it as well. You’re able to update on your schedule, so feel free to make as many, or as few, posts as you deem necessary. (Just remember to have backups on your site before making any changes.) Businesses often follow an editorial calendar that keeps them on pace to churn out a steady stream of content. It can be as fancy as one of the content software programs or as simple as a. Google Sheet. You will probably want to get input from your marketing department or look to a third party to help develop a proper keyword strategy. There are many SEO options out there to help you get started.

You Have Options

Even if you do not have a business website at all, one of the best things about WordPress is that it’s powerful and flexible. You can start small with essential features and then work your way up to a glorious website. The ecosystem of developers is active, and there are solutions for every possible business problem. If you do hit the point you need help finding WordPress experts, you’ll find it’s never an issue. Find a company that understands what you’re hoping to accomplish and assist you in leveraging the power of the platform. Rest assured, no matter what your ambitions or level of knowledge, they’re achievable with WordPress and a little help.

It’s also worth pointing out that WordPress is a robust CMS that will also host static pages if that’s what you want. It may be worthwhile to migrate your current site to WordPress if you are not already using it, especially if you want a better design, more robust SEO, and easier to edit. Add in the ability to post consistently, and you see why so many businesses go this route everyday.

Start your blog today for your leads will have something to read tomorrow, so they will become customers the next day.