Keyword Targeted and Run of Network Campaigns Explained

If you’re getting ready to kick­off your first advertising campaign, you may have already come

across two main campaign options: keyword targeted and run of network (RON). Deciding

between these two types of campaigns will go a long way in defining the success of your

advertising efforts; the decision will also greatly affect the required investment in time and money.

We’ll explain the key differences between each.

For starters, some brief definitions: Keyword­targeted campaigns place your advertisements in

front of consumers only when specific keywords appear in the Web content or search box. (You

can also filter out negative keywords.) RON campaigns display ads across an advertisement

placement agency’s network of sites, which may be broadly categorized by topic or demographic.

Do You Want to Extend Your Reach or Narrow Your Focus?

RON campaigns are great for low­cost, high­ visibility campaigns. If you’re launching a new

product or service, this can make a RON campaign a sensible choice. You’ll lower your financial

investment and generate a large number of impressions and click throughs to grow awareness.

Similarly, if your company already enjoys a strong brand presence, the impression ­heavy effect of

RON campaigns—compared to conversion­ focused, keyword ­targeted campaigns—can have

benefits. A third effective use of RON campaigns is if your product is of interest to a wide

audience, something anyone, not just a niche demographic, may be interested in, like dish

detergent or plumbing services.

However, while you’ll be able to extend your reach, you won’t have control over where your

advertisement appears. A RON campaign purchases advertisement space throughout an

advertisement placement agency’s network. You may be able to specify a subset of that network by

category or demographic—say, household products or men ages 24 to 35—but you will not be able

to choose specific sites or placement on pages. This is because advertisement placement agencies

provide lower rates in exchange for obtaining paid advertisements for lower­demand site inventory

and placements.

Keyword­targeted campaigns, on the other hand, are ideal for creating niche offers designed to

convert. With keyword­targeted campaigns, you’re paying only for a small subset of users to see

your advertisements. If you’ve performed good keyword research and designed compelling

advertisements, keyword­targeted campaigns are almost always the better choice to generate

conversions and revenue. Finding effective long­tail keywords is critical to avoiding the more

competitive and costly head and body keywords. Overall, you will generate less traffic, but it will

be better traffic—quality over quantity.

Are You Looking to Scale Back or Are You Ready to Grow Your

Investment?

One of the benefits of RON campaigns is not just their lower cost but lower time investment

required. Because you’re deploying the same advertisement to a wide network, campaign

management is far simpler. You’re not required to develop several—perhaps dozens—of unique

ads designed to draw the attention of many narrow audiences. If you’re just getting started or

attempting to scale back your online advertisement investment, RON can be a good solution.

Conversely, keyword ­targeted campaigns are a great choice when you’re getting more serious

about your online advertisement efforts. They provide you with an opportunity to design tailored

offers that will appeal to specific portions of your clientele, increasing the chances of conversion.

Generally speaking, smaller subsets and increasingly targeted advertisements will yield continually

higher click­through rates and conversions (to a point). Keyword­ targeted advertising approaches

the “one­to­one” marketing concept predominant in modern marketing theory.

Remember: Many of the decision points between a keyword ­targeted and RON campaign come

down to the specific needs and goals of your business, regardless of what advertising gurus may

tell you. Consider your budget, in both money and time, and your goals—broad brand awareness

to a wide audience or conversion focused advertisements to your niche demographic. And it’s also

worth noting that you can’t get truly great advice until your campaign has been running for some

time. That’s when you’ll get to look at the metrics to see whether the return on investment is

meeting your expectations.

BlueLink Marketing’s Declan Carney on Smart Technology and Consumers

Check out our co-founder & chairman ,Declan Carney, on smart technology, consumers,  and its potential effects for Hyundai. To read the article via MobileMarketer.com , click here.

To learn more about Declan Carney, click here.

Our CTO – Founder, Gerald Owens, on Growth, Expansion, and More

Gerald Owens, CTO – Founder of BlueLink Marketing, discusses how the company was founded, growth, expansion, and more. Check out the video on YouTube by clicking here or watching it below.

 

 

Penguin 3.0 Update Released – What It Means to You

Google’s Penguin 1.0 update appeared on April 24, 2012. It was the first in a series of updates that continued into 2014 with Penguin 3.0—the sixth Penguin update—which released on Friday, October 17, and continued to roll out over the next several weeks. All Penguin updates have targeted spammy aspects of sites, focusing primarily on sites with weak backlink profiles. Understanding the Penguin updates is critical to maintaining your presence on the world’s most popular search engine.

The Power of Backlinks

Penguin 1.0 affected about 3.1 percent of all English-language search queries, the most of any Penguin update. Estimated to affect about 1 percent of all queries, Penguin 3.0 has had a surprisingly small impact compared to expectations. Penguin 3.0 appeared a full year after the previous update, Penguin 2.1. The waiting period between the two most recent updates proved particularly arduous for webmasters hit hard during Penguin 2.1—only after the release of Penguin 3.0 could they begin to judge the effectiveness of their improvement efforts following Penguin 2.1.

Because Penguin focuses on backlinks, updates are rolled out simultaneously in all versions of Google. Language does not play a major role in backlink assessment, so any site, regardless of country of origin or primary language, should have seen the effects, if any, from the release of Penguin 3.0. (Panda updates focus more on site content and other language-dependent aspects.)

A Penguin Refresh

According to Google, the Penguin 3.0 update was a “refresh.” In their definition, a refresh means that the algorithm was simply rerun, not altered with the addition of new signals or other changes. The refresh should improve rankings for sites that have performed effective link audits between Penguin updates and also punish sites that may have slipped through the cracks on previous occasions. The Penguin algorithm, Google has stated, is not part of the regular refresh of Google search results. The entire Google algorithm, including the separate Penguin component, must be rerun in order to refresh Penguin elements.

Some webmasters may see an indirect impact from the Penguin update. This can occur if your backlink structure depends on other sites that may have been hit by Penguin. In other words, if a formerly high-quality site that links to your own is penalized, you could end up the unintended casualty as your backlinks are devalued. The quality of your backlink community matters: No site is an island.

Link Auditing and the Threat of Black-Hat SEO

The best way to protect your site is to perform a comprehensive link audit on a regular basis, even if you haven’t noticed any significant negative effects from previous Penguin updates. The Penguin Penalty Checker Tool (http://reconsideration.org/) can compare fluctuations in your Google ranking alongside updates to Penguin—any correlation may suggest a potential problem. A thorough link audit is also important because of the growing potential for negative SEO. Negative SEO is the black-hat practice of intentionally creating weak backlink structures for your site, which can, without your knowledge, damage the reputation of your site.

To start the process of assessing Penguin 3.0’s impact on your site, first check to see if your site has changed in Google SERPs. If you’re affected, the most likely cause is a weak backlink structure. A full backlink audit, whether or not your site was affected, is the best regular check-up to make sure you avoid any direct penalties from Penguin releases. Once you’ve corrected any potential issues, you’ll have to wait until the next update or refresh to find out whether your efforts had a positive impact.

 

BlueLink Marketing Office Redesign

Our office redesign is finally complete! Thanks to our friends at Homepolish for providing us with a great setting to continue providing our clients with great work.

 

 

To learn more about Homepolish, click here.

We’ve Gone Social at BlueLink Marketing

We’ve gone social! Thanks to everyone who has already liked and followed our pages.  If you haven’t already, make sure that you follow, like, and share us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. Don’t forget to read our blog at https://www.bluelinkmarketing.com/blog/ .

 

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Tips on Writing Ad Copy that Converts

Tell me if you haven’t imagined this before: a Google user, sitting at her desktop, her finger hovering over the mouse button, the pointer resting on your link. But the finger, for some reason, won’t descend. The pointer scurries away; the page scrolls down. And like that, your lead is gone. The tension-filled space between the finger and mouse button isn’t air—it’s great copy. And here are a few tips for writing ad copy that converts.

Value Clarity above All

The winning answer for most ad copy decisions is clarity. You want the words in your ad to match as closely as possible to the keywords of your searcher. That’s why, in a Google AdWords campaign, the top keywords should appear in your 25-character headline, 70-character body, and display URL. This is no time for synonyms, especially since keywords in your description will receive complementary bold-face type. Using dynamic keyword insertion takes this tactic to its furthest end but is not without drawbacks.

If someone searches for “Indestructible Dog Toys” and your headline is “Pet Products for All Creatures,” your conversion rate will suffer. This is also why you should write unique ads for every ad group. Integration between user keywords and text in your ad is paramount.

Tap into the Subconscious

Part of that integration is understanding not just the product your consumer wants, but why they want it. In addition to providing clear information about your product or service, promote its benefits—the pain it alleviates. To do this, you’ll have to step back and think about your client’s needs. What are their reasons to accept your offer? What are their reasons to reject it? What information will provide the answers they need to say yes?

Noting added benefits can help. If you’re selling software, including an offer of 24/7 support might relieve their fear of learning a new program. If you’re in the clothing industry, a promise of free returns is an effective way to give buyers confidence. Removing barriers is just as important as creating incentives.

Give Them a Reason to Click…Now

A great call to action focuses on consumer benefits, reduces fears, and also inspires urgency. Conveying urgency can occur in many forms—a limited-time offer, limited quantity, exclusive savings. You want readers to know that your offer has an element of scarcity. “I can always come back and get it later,” has undone many near-conversions.

Test, Measure, Compare

Whatever tactics you choose, modern metrics save you from the burden of intuitive genius (if there is such a thing). Create several versions of copy for the same ad, then track performance. Measuring your results refines an individual campaign and can establish your best-practice guidelines.

And if you don’t know where to start or need new ideas, see how your competitors—the successful ones, anyway—structure their ads. You may learn what you can do to improve your own, or how to differentiate yourself in a positive way. After all, you want your customers to feel that your solution is the only one for them, and the one they need now.

How to Setup Google Event Tracking to Track CTR

Google Event Tracking serves two main purposes for your site: It allows you to track user interactions that do not cause a URL change—such as social media shares, content downloads, and video plays—and enables you to determine how a user arrived at another page on your site. For example, whether your blue or red button induced more conversions.

Setting up Event Tracking requires the insertion of a single line of code into any linked object, from a “Play” button for a video to a “Download” link for a white paper. There are three main steps. First, you’ll need to inventory your site. Next, plan your Event Tracking hierarchy and add code to each link. Finally, review how to track your work in Google Analytics.

 

Step #1 – Inventory Your Site

This first planning step aims to establish your Event Tracking framework so that it is sustainable and scalable. Taking an inventory of your site should include all the potential interactions a user might have, from forms they can submit to videos they can play, to content they can download.

Don’t worry about whether you plan to add Event Tracking to every object. Just note all the objects on your site and the actions a user may perform. Remember that for some objects, such as videos, a user may choose to “Play,” “Pause,” or “Stop.”

 

Step #2 – Map Your Event Tracking Hierarchy

Once you have your inventory of site objects and associated actions, you can begin to plan your Event Tracking structure. The line of code for Google Event Tracking has five elements: category, action, label, value, and noninteraction. The elements are hierarchical; only category and label are mandatory.

 

This is the line of code:

_trackEvent(category, action, opt_label, opt_value, opt_noninteraction)

 

And this is how it appears in a link:

<a href=“DOMAIN” onClick=“_gaq.push([‘_trackEvent’, ‘category’, ‘action’, ‘opt_label’, ‘opt_value’,‘opt_noninteraction’]);”>ANCHOR TEXT</a>

 

Category

Category reflects the “bucket” of objects you want to track. This may be “Videos” or “Forms.” You may have several objects that share categories but have different actions or labels. Remember that categories are specific—tagging a new video with the category “Videos” will make it appear separately from the “Video” category in Google Analytics. Likewise, changing a category name will not reprocess historical data for the old category name. This is why taking a thorough inventory of your site in advance is critical; changes or inconsistencies lessen the value of your data.

Action

Actions are what the user is doing: playing a video, downloading a white paper, completing a form. In Google Analytics, actions are lumped together by name but can be separated by category. If you name every action “click,” you will have to dig more deeply into your data to differentiate video play clicks from paper download clicks, etc. However, you do not need unique actions for every object. Your marketing goals should inform to what degree you separate or combine action metrics.

Label

Labels allow you to differentiate objects that may have the same category and action. If you host three videos, each containing information on, for instance, a different handyman service, you could label one “carpentry,” the next “plumbing,” and the third “electrical.” This allows you to take a broad view in Google Analytics—the total number of video events—and go deeper into the data to review “Plays” versus “Stops,” and the relative popularity of “carpentry” versus “plumbing.” If you’re using Event Tracking to test design elements, like the color of buttons, your label should include information such as “large blue button” or “round green button.”

Value

Values, which, like labels, are optional, give you the opportunity to track perceived dollar value. Rather than a string, the value is always an integer. If a video play is valued at $5 for your business, then you can add that into your code and get a total dollar value for different events. Values can also measure average load times for videos or download times for content.

Non-interaction

Non-interaction allows you to define the relationship between Event Tracking and bounce rate. A bounce is a user session with only one interaction hit—a single-page visit to your site. Because Event Tracking counts actions within a single URL, it can potentially decrease your bounce rate, even if the visitor never leaves the initial landing page. If you set the non-interaction Boolean to “true,” the event hit will not be used in your bounce-rate calculation. If Event Tracking is connected to an element that automatically executes on page load, your bounce rate will be zero.

Once you’ve defined all the elements for objects you want to track, simply add the defined snippet of code to each link on your site.

 

Step #3 – Track Your Results

Data from Event Tracking goes into the “Events” section of Google Analytics, which is located under “Behavior.” The “Overview” will give you a full report of events with a drill-down menu to further parse results by action and label. You’ll be able to see what users did on your site and compare which buttons or menu items were more effective for conversion. “Unique Events” weed out repetitive actions by a user, such as multiple starts and stops of a video, and instead provide the number of visitors who triggered an event. You can count certain events as conversions by adding categories or actions as goals in your Google Analytics profile.

 

Getting the Most Out of GA Event Tracking

To get the most out of your Event Tracking efforts, you must start with a clear understanding of your site and the elements targeting user interaction. With that knowledge, you can map a hierarchy of categories, actions, and labels to differentiate user interaction. The degree of granularity depends on your marketing goals. Then, it’s simply a matter of flipping over to your Google Analytics page to learn what users are doing—or not doing—on your site, and translating that information into a refined Web design that generates more conversions.

 

Using Negative Keywords in Your PPC Campaigns

Negative keywords are one more way to refine your PPC campaign, and an essential one to keep from wasting money on clients with no hope of conversion. Want a perfect and universal example for any online retailer? How about “free.” Any searcher adding “free” to their search string is almost certainly not the person whose attention you want to capture, especially at a cost. The best time to add negative keywords is at the outset of a campaign; the process should work hand-in-hand with your (positive) keyword planning.

How to Add Negative Keywords into your AdWords Campaign

In Google AdWords, you’ll find a “Negative Keywords” tab within each ad campaign and ad group. This allows you to exclude words like “free” across all your ad groups, while choosing product-specific negative keywords for others. (We’ll get to negative keyword selection in just a minute.) To add negative keywords, simply place the minus sign in front of the keyword and add it to the negative keyword list, then save your work.

Match types come into play with negative keywords. Most negative keywords will be more than one word. If you place the negative symbol in front of a keyword string, Google will require all keywords to be present—but in any order, with surrounding text—before excluding your ad from search results. If you enclose the keywords in quotations, Google will require an exact match of what appears within the quotations but still allow for additional text on either side. Enclosing your keywords in brackets requires an exact match.

You’ll want to consider carefully how thoroughly you want to exclude certain keywords. Using only exact match can be time consuming to include all possible variations, but it limits potential exclusion of legitimate prospects.

Choosing the Negative Keywords that Work for Your Business

One of the best ways to find negative keywords for an existing campaign is Google’s “Search Query Report.” There, you can view all the keywords that triggered your ad, including click-through rates. Sift through the results to find the queries that bring up your ad but have no hope for conversion.

If you have far too many queries to go through each one, sort them by highest number of impressions or highest cost to find the negative keywords that provide the best return on investment for you. You can select any negative keywords you find and choose “Add as Negative Keyword” to efficiently eradicate them from your campaign. If you’re just starting a campaign, Google’s Keyword Planner is a useful way to learn which keywords are associated with your pending ad rollout. Once again, sorting by the most common or expensive keywords is a good way to ensure you include the most costly negative keywords, if nothing else.

Beyond that, there are an infinite number of “universal” keyword lists available, which feature words such as “free” that no ad campaign likely seeks out. You may be tempted to copy and paste these lists into your campaign, but take the time to find out whether you should include each word. Common universal negative keywords target a variety of unwanted searches, such as those related to job seekers (hire, full-time, resume). And regarding your specific product, think about your business: Are you a discount retailer or a high-end store? The word “cheap” would be a keyword for one, a negative keyword for the other.

Negative keywords, like standard keywords, are words that refine the search audience you pay to reach. With Google AdWords, you can add keywords with real data from your campaign or across Google search. Assess which universal keywords are right for you, and supplement them with product-specific knowledge. Then, track your click-through rate to measure the return on investment.

How to Optimize Your Landing Page to Increase Conversion

How to Optimize Your Landing Page to Increase Conversions

If, after reading the title of this article, you asked yourself, “Do you mean my homepage?”—we have some work to do. That’s okay. We’re here to help. Your landing page (or, rather, pages) is a critical step in increasing the return on investment from your latest PPC, email marketing, or other click-through campaign. The goal of your landing pages is simple: conversion. Conversion could mean filling out a form, downloading a white paper, or, for some, purchasing your product.

Every component of your landing page should drive conversion. Think about it: How long did you spend researching keywords and creating targeted headlines on AdWords? How many man-hours went into segmenting your email list? Why would you redirect all of those carefully cultivated leads to a single landing page, or, worse still, your homepage?

Great landing pages are every bit as specific as your varied ads and emails. Let’s get started.

Make Your Landing Page Exactly What They’re Looking for

Few predominant themes in landing page design are as universally effective as integration. When a user clicks on your ad, they expect to go to a page that mirrors that advertisement. This is why each ad you create should have its own landing page. If you have a targeted offer for thirty-two-inch LED televisions, your landing page should focus on that same, singular offer. If you’re advertising your white paper on dietary supplements, your landing page should link only to that white paper—not your full catalog of publications.

Especially in the case of PPC campaigns, your landing page is often your potential customer’s first experience with your company. You haven’t established much credibility, and any surprises will ask your lead to reevaluate their decision. The best first impression is one that reinforces the same reasons they clicked on your ad, to learn more about an enticing offer.

Keeping integration in mind as you translate your offer into words and design builds trust and increases conversions.

Make Your Copy Count

Two pieces of copy are most important for your landing page: headline and call to action. Headline writing is made easier by your existing PPC campaign or email marketing piece: Headlines should match those in your ad. If users clicked your ad because you offered “Best Price on Twenty Gallon Aquariums,” your landing page should read “Best Price on Twenty Gallon Aquariums.” When in doubt, choose clarity over cleverness. (There are plenty of A/B tests to back up this one.)

And if you’re not already tied to headlines in existing campaigns, try writing a headline creates an emotional connection by addressing a potential pain point: “Never Worry about Retirement Savings Again.” On your landing page, you can take a second, smaller line below to add some explanation: “Choose an investment company that puts your needs first.”

Remember that your headline should guide your visitor toward the call to action. Your call to action should also be clear and concise: “Download our must-read investment guide,” or “Stay up to date with our weekly market-watch emails.” Go a step further by personalizing the call to action, bringing your reader into the frame: “Download your must-read investment guide,” or “Stay up to date with your weekly market-watchemails.”

Organize and Focus Your Page Design

If your landing page is stuffed with links to every part of your site, your copy won’t matter much. No call to action can stand out in a sea of links and offers. The average homepage has forty links. Every landing page should have one conversion goal. Get as close as you can to a one-to-one ratio of links and goals. (You can always redirect visitors to the rest of your site after they convert.)

But great landing page design is more than just a focused, one-link effort. Apple has long flown the banner of minimalist marketing, and stripping down your landing page to words that support only your call to action is a good exercise. This is also no time to put negative thoughts in visitors’ minds. (“We will never share your personal information with another company.”)

Whatever colors you choose are just fine. However, make sure that you choose contrasting colors to help your headline and call to action stand out. Contrast should make visitors’ eyes go from your headline to, say, the form you want them to fill out (which, by the way, should balance informational demands with the value of your offer).

Progress Is Progress

If you’re reading this as a marketing department of one (and a customer service department of one, and an accounting department of one…),

remember that you don’t need to implement every strategy at once. Every choice you make to improve your landing pages increases your return on investment. It’s an ongoing process. Just start somewhere, and start today. They’re your leads. They’re on your landing page. Don’t let them get away.