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Mar

2010

Google gets a little Creepy in Quest for Ad Performance

Consumers don’t always buy something the minute they show interest in it. They may search for information, ask for recommendations, and browse around the web before making their decision to purchase. This is not that different either online or offline. It takes quite a few touchpoints with each customer before they actually buy from you. Since you’re not likely to buy something the first time you see an ad, Google is increasing the chances that you’ll click through on an ad by having those ads follow you around the web… which is a bit creepy.

If someone sees an ad on one site, Google can now show the same ad or a follow-up ad to just that person when they visit another site which shows Google ads. Since there are millions of sites in the Google Content Network, chances are Google will see them again. The program has been in beta since March, but it is now being rolled out to all AdWords customers. – Google Ads Will Now Follow You Across The Web (TechCrunch)

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Jan

2009

Marketing isn't just an Advertising Campaign

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising, Marketing, News & Notes, Strategy

2 Comments

bullseyeleeroy09481 I think a lot of companies get all bound up in the need to advertise, advertise, advertise, which is great, but successful companies understand that marketing is so much more than advertising. Marketing is intimately tied to business objectives, strategy, and customer relationships – how they inter-relate and how to tie them together to reach the business’ goals.

Take a look inside

The first step to good marketing is to take few minutes for some introspection. Who are you as a company? What do you do better than anyone else? What is your goal? By understanding exactly who you are as a company, you’ll be able to develop marketing that accurately depicts your corporate image and works towards your goal.

How do you want to get there?

There are many different strategies that may help you achieve your goal. How do you want your company to be perceived? What is important to you in terms of image and ethics? Are there certain strategies that you aren’t comfortable with or that don’t fit your ethics or image? Setting guidelines for what your company stands for will help you avoid missteps along the way.

What are you offering?

What benefits are you offering to your customers? Why should they choose your products? What type of relationship are you offering to them? Customers can be very selfish, especially at the beginning of a relationship, so you need to make sure you are accurately representing your product benefits to them.

Use advertising as one of many tools

Advertising can be a vital tool in your aresenal for reaching your business goal, but keep in mind that there are many steps before you start implementing tactics. Taking the time to work up to advertising will increase your return on investment by more accurately targeting your customers.

(photo by leeroy09481 @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing strategy, internet marketing, internet advertising, business, marketing

Jan

2009

Landing Pages are Key to Converting Sales

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising, Marketing, News & Notes

1 Comment

landingegmb757lover One of the most common problems we see with our clients is landing pages that are not converting website visitors into customers. Many clients will spend quite a bit of money on advertising, but fail to complete the transaction on their landing pages. Often visitors will be just directed to a home page, which is a bit like dropping your 5 year old off at the mall and expecting them to be able to buy their own tennis shoes.

When you’re designing your landing pages, you need to put yourself into your customer’s shoes. What information would you need to make a purchase decision? A landing page needs to have all the information that a customer would need to make a purchase decision – ideally it also lets them make a purchase right there.

If you have a wide range of products, you’ll need to have multiple landing pages which target each one. The same for multiple target audiences and advertising. Think of a landing page as a one page print ad – you really need to engage the customer, entice them with your offer, and get them to take action.

It may take a bit of time to get a landing page that you’re happy with. Make changes and then give them some time to work. Take a look at your statistics and see what’s working and what’s not. Good landing pages will be well worth the effort (with a side benefit of a bit of seo juice).

(photo by egmb757lover @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: landing page, seo, advertising, ads, marketing strategy, internet marketing, internet advertising, business, marketing

Jan

2009

Do you have Effective Advertising?

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising

Leave a Comment

advertisingskyworkmedia If you can spare some cash, a tight economy is actually a great time to do some advertising to expand your brand’s reach. Your competitors may be pulling back on advertising, which makes this a good time to steal some share from them. All of this is meaningless if you don’t have effective advertising.

I’ve seen many clients who have pretty good click-through rates for their ads (especially Google AdWords), but when you take a look at how much they’re paying for a conversion (usually a sale), it often is more than the product is selling for. Here are some tips to make your advertising more effective:

Tout benefits to the customer.
Be clear and to the point.
Make your brand stand out.
Don’t be obnoxious – avoid too much movement.
Ads should lead to an effective landing page.
Make information needed for purchasing clear and consistent.
Minimize clicks for whatever action you want people to take.
Target your ads to places that actually have potential customers.
Don’t try to trick your customers.
Be attractive – your ad and landing page (and website) need to look good.

What else makes for effective advertising? Please share any ideas in the comments below.

(photo by Skywork Media @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: advertising, ads, marketing strategy, internet marketing, internet advertising, business, marketing

Dec

2008

Best of 2008 – Advantages & Disadvantages of Rich Media Ads

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising, News & Notes

Leave a Comment

Rich media ads with which viewers can interact and may contain animation, audio and video. Rich media ads can be powerful way to convey your message, but these types of ads have some advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

Communicate more information – through different types of media (audio, video, interaction). Rich media ads can have video, audio, animation and even small applications or games.
Collect more information – either by programming in more sophisticated analytics or simply by asking for information.
More clicks - As annoying as these ads are, they are more likely to be clicked on because they catch people’s attention (please follow IAB guidelines), at least during the first week or so.
Powerful branding – Even if the ad isn’t clicked on, viewers are still more likely to see and remember the ad than traditional display advertising.

Disadvantages

May slow down a website – These ads tend to be larger in file size, which takes longer to download. Even with faster Internet connections being more prevalent, you should be aware of your audience and how many are on slower connections. Even with faster Internet connections, an overly large file or many rich media ads can still slow down a website. If your website is too slow, people will just go elsewhere.
May annoy – Since these ads tend to be more visible to viewers, they also can quickly become more annoying. So stick with the IAB guidelines and place ads for short time periods (no longer than a month) to maximize the effectiveness of the ad.
More expensive – They are more difficult to create and require a higher skillset. These types of ads are usually more expensive to place on a website as well (because of the larger file size and annoyance factor).
May be blocked – Although most people have the software installed necessary to view these ads, it is fairly easy to turn off this option in most browsers and in some ad blocking software. However, as more websites use the same technology to increase their interaction and functionality, viewers are less likely to block the ads.

If you are aware of these advantages and disadvantages, you can make an informed decision about purchasing these types of ads (or allowing them to be displayed on your website or blog).

If you found this post helpful, please consider signing up for our free newsletter or subscribing to Sazbean.com through our RSS feed or email.

Aug

2008

Pricing Online Ads

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising

Leave a Comment

Futuristic Play @Andrew Chen has an interesting read: Internet Advertising Bureau and Bain on pricing in online ad markets. One point for publishers stood out:

Need to better support the value of premium inventory – through more innovative offerings and/or reducing units available

Too often websites get greedy about making money and put ad placements all over their pages (what I like to call the “porn effect”). Putting too many ads on a page is detrimental to all the advertisers because they have to fight for share of voice (SOV) or attention. Visitors are more likely to ignore ads entirely if they are lumped together (they subconsciously know that area of the page is just “ads”). It may seem a bit non-intuitive but creating an ad inventory – or set amount of ads and ad spots can help you increase their value. As your traffic grows, more advertisers will be interested in advertising on your site. If you sell out of spots, you’ll be able to raise the prices of your ad spots. Selling out of spots also entices advertisers because it infers that your site is a valuable advertising placement.

If you have ads on your blog or website, what has been your experience with creating an ad inventory? What about on other websites that you visit – what are your thoughts about their advertising?

Technorati Tags: advertising, internet marketing, internet consulting

May

2008

Rich Media Ads – Advantages & Disadvantages

By Sarah Worsham | Internet Advertising

4 Comments

As discussed in Types of Online Advertising, rich media ads with which viewers can interact and may contain animation, audio and video. Rich media ads can be powerful way to convey your message, but these types of ads have some advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

Communicate more information – through different types of media (audio, video, interaction). Rich media ads can have video, audio, animation and even small applications or games.
Collect more information – either by programming in more sophisticated analytics or simply by asking for information.
More clicks - As annoying as these ads are, they are more likely to be clicked on because they catch people’s attention (please follow IAB guidelines), at least during the first week or so.
Powerful branding – Even if the ad isn’t clicked on, viewers are still more likely to see and remember the ad than traditional display advertising.

Disadvantages

May slow down a website – These ads tend to be larger in file size, which takes longer to download. Even with faster Internet connections being more prevalent, you should be aware of your audience and how many are on slower connections. Even with faster Internet connections, an overly large file or many rich media ads can still slow down a website. If your website is too slow, people will just go elsewhere.
May annoy – Since these ads tend to be more visible to viewers, they also can quickly become more annoying. So stick with the IAB guidelines and place ads for short time periods (no longer than a month) to maximize the effectiveness of the ad.
More expensive – They are more difficult to create and require a higher skillset. These types of ads are usually more expensive to place on a website as well (because of the larger file size and annoyance factor).
May be blocked – Although most people have the software installed necessary to view these ads, it is fairly easy to turn off this option in most browsers and in some ad blocking software. However, as more websites use the same technology to increase their interaction and functionality, viewers are less likely to block the ads.

If you are aware of these advantages and disadvantages, you can make an informed decision about purchasing these types of ads (or allowing them to be displayed on your website or blog).

If you found this post helpful, please consider signing up for our free newsletter or subscribing to Sazbean.com through our RSS feed or email.

Need Help with Rich Media Advertising or Internet Advertising? Get started with a free consultation or contact us for a quote.

Technorati Tags: advertising, ads, rich media ads, online advertising

Marketing isn't just an Advertising Campaign

Landing Pages are Key to Converting Sales

Do you have Effective Advertising?

Best of 2008 – Advantages & Disadvantages of Rich Media Ads

Pricing Online Ads

Rich Media Ads – Advantages & Disadvantages

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