Right On - No Bull on LinkedIn Follow Right On - No Bull on Twitter Become a Facebook Fan of Right On - No Bull Right On - No Bull on MySpace

Archive for the ‘Internet Advertising’ Category

Free Webinar – Creating Killer PPC Ads for Search & Display

Monday, January 18th, 2010

This Wednesday at 4:00pm EST, 1:00pm PST, join us for a free webinar where you will learn how to create PPC ads that produce great results for your search campaigns.

Find out how to develop display ads for content network that grab people’s attention and bring them to your site.   This whirlwind tour will cover creative, technical and practical tips you can use right away.

This Wednesday at 4:00 PM Eastern, 1:00 PM Pacific Matt Van Wagner, President of Find Me Faster, will be discussing “Creating Killer PPC Ads for Search & Display: 2010 Edition” on the Right On – No Bull Marketing Best Practices Webcast Channel.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn how to write exciting ads and earn great quality scores!

Register to attend the webinar now.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Internet Advertising, RONB News, RONB Stuff | No Comments »

Marketing Agencies: Finding Someone to Trust

Monday, July 13th, 2009

How to choose the right marketing agency to represent your company.

Marketing Agency You Can Trust

One of the most common questions listeners ask of our radio show is how to hire a marketing agency they can trust.  If you are looking for an internet marketing agency, what should you consider?  We’ve compiled our most common listener questions with our responses.

Are references a good way to tell if a marketing agency is any good?

They are basically worthless.  No one is going to give you a bad reference.  There is no central place you can go for professional certifications or performance records.  And don’t be fooled by what appear to be impressive client lists…many go through multiple vendors over time like groupies after rock stars.  We recommend asking for actual client statements with the names blanked out.  Ask for 5-7 accounts to look at and to get them within 3 days – this avoids the possibility of fictitious results.  Finally get results from people like you, maybe not in your industry but definitely of your size and scale.

How can I evaluate the performance of a marketing agency?

Look at the statements you receive.  Compare them at different points and time and look at what has changed.  If you see the type changes you are looking for, especially over established periods of time, you have a good indicator into the marketing agency.

Should you hire a marketing advisor recommended by friends?

Do your own research.  Family and friends rarely know how to determine the quality of marketing companies and their ability to help you.  Remember, Bernie Madoff added clients to his Ponzi scheme recommended by their family and friends.

What if the marketing agency just opened or is a one person shop?

With downsizing and worker disenchantment with corporations, this is a common option.  Make sure the agency or person is involved in industry trade organizations as membership is a reflection of professional commitment.  Find out what happens if they can’t complete the work for any reason.  As with any agency, proceed with care as your biggest risks are bad or unethical advice.

How do you know if you can trust the marketing agency?

A great way to reduce your risk is to determine the agency’s involvement in the marketing industry.  The stronger the agency’s involvement with trade organizations, industry events and speaking, the more likely it is to be committed to trustworthy interactions.  Check their record with trade associations and local and state agencies.

How can I find a marketing agency that good in a bad economy?

This is one of my favorite questions as many marketing companies out there today have never produced results for clients in depressed industries or trying economic times.  Look at how the agency interacts with you.  Do they express an interest in your return-on-investment, including their fees, in the calculations?  Are they interested in providing programs for growth and strong cash flow?  Finally, do they work with you to sell more to existing customers, as existing customers are the place to turn to first for revenue in trying times.

Anything else to be considered?

Find out exactly who will be doing the work on your account.  At many agencies it won’t be the person selling you, and it may be some low priced kid right out of college.  Find out about how they gained their expertise, the associations they belong to and any of their professional certifications.  All of these things reflect a commitment to the profession and are a good indicator of professional ethics and qualifications.

Tags: ,
Posted in Internet Advertising, Offline Selling | No Comments »

How Online Testing Can Make Your Company Earn Like Google

Friday, June 19th, 2009

How you can follow Google’s testing strategy to make your company prosper.

Key to success

Wouldn’t it stink to be in the home sales business right now?

A friend of mine used to drive by a billboard every day that said “New Home FINANCE Center.”

Not a good thing in this down cycle but with the change of just a few letters this company ensured their survival in a down economy.

The billboard now says “New Home RELIEF Center.”

This is smart marketing and smart marketing always stems from a complete reality check.

That’s why Google is so dominant.

By adopting a “we don’t know it all, let’s test it attitude,” Google did the near impossible.

In less than 8 years they grew from nothing to the world’s most valued company.  They became more important than IBM…a bigger media player than all the TV networks COMBINED and put Microsoft back on its heels so far Bill Gates devoted his life to charity.

Through it all Google stays REALITY based.

They test every new business idea.  They test and re-test all aspects of their marketing to make sure they get maximum impact from all of their sales and marketing processes.

The first thing most small and mid-size service and retail companies should do is correctly set up an online advertising campaign on Yahoo or Google and then test it with your website (or special landing pages) to find out what converts traffic to sales in profitable fashions.

Take your time when doing this and do it correctly.  Every part of the process teaches you what works and what doesn’t and it’s this trial and error that will ultimately lead you to marketing success.

Why should you use search engines for this testing rather than other media?  There are lots of reasons but my favorites are as follows:

 

  1. Search engines deliver a consistent, somewhat predictable flow of traffic

 

  1. We can totally control how much we spend

 

  1. We get more marketing and customer data from this source than any other option

 

  1. We have more control of the testing process

 

THEN and only when it is working on our Google or Yahoo test do we break it out to our other marketing channels, in this preferred order:

 

  1. Search Engine Test (Google or Yahoo)

 

  1. Search Engine Optimization of Website

 

  1. Other Search Engine Advertising

 

  1. Email Promotions and Newsletters

 

  1. Blog tagging, podcasting, videocasting and other online channels

 

  1. Affiliates

 

  1. Press Releases

 

  1. Direct Mail

 

  1. Print Advertising

 

  1.  Other Media, if used

 

We test on search engines first because we can best control the conditions of our efforts while minimizing the expense.  Get it right there FIRST and then carry the messages forward to other lead generation channels.  Don’t let other more expensive channels offering less information be your test dummy.  If it works on the search engine, it most likely will work everywhere else.

Using this technique has the same effect water has in growing grass.  For a very small percentage of your ad budget you are getting valuable information from people that are your potential customers.  When you are ready to move to items 2-10, you’re doing so with valuable information that will explode your revenues, oftentimes 5-40 times as much as those not using such practices.

I want you to have a consistent recipe for generating traffic that converts into your desired business actions.  I want you to be able to use this recipe at will and have it do what you want at very minimal risk.  All the time, every time.

Test and make great things happen.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Advertising, Planning, SEO | No Comments »

Top Online Tips for Local and Regional Small Businesses

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Here are the top 7 things you can do to help your local and/or regional business thrive:

Add Locations to Web Page Titles

Local Search

Make it obvious to search engines and search engine users where you are. Use geo-qualifying search terms with your main search term phrase (i.e. “tire stores” vs. “Springfield tire stores”). Make sure these location references are in the META title section on each of your web pages. This also allows your location to be prominently displayed on the search engine results page, something that does wonders for local businesses in driving traffic to their website. You have a good chance of earning a searcher’s click to your website if you provide what they are looking for near their location.

Claim Your Free Local Listings

Secure your local listings in Google Maps, Yahoo Local and MSN Live Local. This helps you in many ways:

  • You’ll get a boost in confidence from the search engines, which may increase your natural search engine rankings
  • Your customers will have more ways to find you
  • You’ll stop competitors from hacking or hijacking your information

Improve Your Local Listings

Include anything you can that will help shoppers choose you over your competitors. Especially important are business hours and locations, brands and products you carry, areas you service, credit cards you take, your guarantees and special offers. Use photos and videos if you can as graphics often draw more searchers.

Display Location and Hours on Each Page of Your Website

Make it easy for online traffic to find and shop from your offline store. Prominently display customer service options. A unique way to distinguish your business in the internet era is to prominently display your telephone number in case a website visitor would like to speak with a human being.

Get Local Inbound Links to Your Website

Inbound links from relevant local and regional sites help Google validate your location. You should strive for links from local chambers of commerce, local charities, local government sites and relevant local business. Couple those links with inbound links from general authority (news sites, Yahoo, DMOZ) and industry related authorities (trade organizations, industry related sites, niche publications, blogs, etc.) and you’ll be well on your way to page one rankings.

Buy Domain Names That Use Geo-Qualifying Search Terms

There are a few marketing approaches you can take with this recommendation. The most important one is to buy domain names that contain geographical search terms people will use to find your product or service.

Domain names are viewed by search engines kind of like business names. Using geo-qualifying references within the domain name make it easier for search engines to know your location, and thus rank you more highly for geographic related search queries.

As an example, you want to own terms like http://www.springfieldaftermarketparts.com/ or www.Springfieldcarparts.com. These tell search engines where you are plus they mirror the search terms used by your customers and prospects. You can own as many of these geo-related domain names as you would like and re-direct them all to your main website or create micro-sites for even more impact.

Monitor Your Reputation Online

People want to share information in the internet era and reviews are a way in which they do so. By posting reviews online, people can now share their opinions with anyone who may be interested in reading their opinions. Reviews posted on practically any website can be incorporated in postings appearing on other sites and may impact search engine results.

Because of this, it’s critical to monitor what’s being said about your business on the web. This allows you to quickly become aware of trends and problems and allows you to take actions to address them. Google offers a free service that does a good job of doing this for you. Use Google Alerts for your name, names of key executives and key employees, and common variations of them. Once you have set up an alert, anytime Google crawls the web and finds mention of these terms, they’ll send you an email (or an RSS feed) that lets you know what was found. It’s quick, simple and easy. You’ll find Google Alerts to be an invaluable resource.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Advertising, SEO | No Comments »

Drive Local Traffic to Your Offline Store for Free!

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

How Google local business ads can drive traffic to your brick and mortar store.

Just like with websites, the ability to attract visitors to your physical storefront is a vital part of making your business profitable. Since 2006, savvy marketers have been using the power of Google local business ads to attract customers into their stores. Last week, Google announced a massive change to the local business system which provides far greater options for companies looking to entice people in their local market.

When a Google user types a query in Google Maps, they are automatically shown a list of businesses which relate to that search and their location on the map. For instance, if you were to type in “Subs in VA,” you would get a list of businesses related to subs that were around the Virginia area. For business owners, this is a great way to cheaply drive targeted local traffic into the store.

Previously, only the address, and website information was given for a site, but thanks to last week’s update, my search for subs allowed me the option to:

    Google Local Search

  • Get directions to the store

  • Search nearby locations

  • Save the address to my maps

  • Send the address to my email or cell phone

  • Get a street view (only in select locations)

Also, Google has announced that shortly, there will be the option for advertisers to track how users interacted with their Google Maps results. This allows you to test and optimize listings to your heart’s content.

Google local business ads are a great way to get your business some extra foot traffic and with free listings, the price is right.
For more information about the new features visit Inside AdWords.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Internet Advertising, Lead Generation | No Comments »

12 Steps for Implementing a Successful New Business Development Strategy

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

1. Write down where you want to be. Set targets for customer growth, revenue, profits, sales to existing customers and employee attrition.

2. Take a factual look at where you are at in each of the areas listed in step number one.

3. Look at the gaps that exist from where you are at to where you want to be. Analyze the gaps the gaps using an adaptation of an old method developed by Dale Carnegie:

i. What is the gap?
ii. What are all the causes of the gap?
iii. What are all the possible solutions?
iv. What is are best solution(s)?

4. Clearly understand the impacts to the organization by closing the gaps that exist between desired outcomes and current results. Identify the benefits and measure impacts in terms of revenue and profit. Identify how desired results provide long term stability to the company and its employees.

5. Set short-term, intermediate and long-term goals and establish evaluative criteria and evaluation times. You must know what you want to hit, when you want to hit it.

6. Clearly establish inspection intervals for evaluation and corrective actions when needed. Know what key performance indicators you are going to measure and how you are going to measure it. Establish how you are going to evaluate company and individual performance and how often you are going to inspect results.

7. Write down all of the critical organizational actions necessary to achieve your business development objectives as outlined in step one.

8. Involve Employees. You must determine your initial program roll out and on-going progress communication methods and intervals to employees. Let them know what you are doing, why it is important to them (people are always more interested in how something impacts them) and how you are going to measure results. Discuss rewards to the business and its employees, if rewards are part of your program. Communicate consistently to employees at frequent intervals concerning program progress. Tie results to employee compensation and bonuses whenever possible.

9. Implement the program. Nothing happens without action. Usually things get worse with inactivity.

10. Monitor the progress of your program and adapt your practices based upon measurement and actionable analysis.

11. Communicate your results to critical stakeholders.

12. Ensure that new customer acquisition in profitable ways becomes an integral part of your business culture and practices. Make it a focal part of all new employee orientation. Include it as part of your regular management and employee meetings. Tie program objectives into employee compensation plans.

Posted in Customer Retention, Email Marketing, Internet Advertising, Joint Venture Marketing, Lead Generation, Online Conversions, Planning, RONB News, RONB Stuff, SEO, Search Engine News, Social Media, Social Networking, Training Programs, Uncategorized, Up-Selling | No Comments »

 
  
 

Claim Your FREE Guide to Marketing Success In A Tough Economy



We never share your information with anyone and hate SPAM as much as you do. Youll also get our monthly Right On, No Bull Marketing Bulletin and you can unsubscribe at any time.