Let’s back up a minute and consider that one of the biggest barriers for marketers when it comes to advertising on the mobile platform is the diverse operating systems used by the various cell phone carriers. Creating several different mobile versions of a website can be cumbersome and not always a profitable option for some advertisers. While this is still somewhat of a problem, the click-to-call feature has helped the customer skip over the website portion of the chain and get connected right to the company they are looking for. Sure, any local business can benefit from this new feature. The click-to-call feature makes it easier for people who are on the go to get connected with the closest source to what they need. But for a lead generation direct response marketing campaign, this is a fantastic bit of news.

Many lead generation campaigns are based on a cost-per-call metric. Many times there can be qualifiers within these calls, but the base data set that is analyzed is cost/calls. Now that Google has eliminated a step in the process of getting the phone to ring, a paid search campaign that is optimized for click-to-call advertising can provide many more leads to a direct response campaign. Also, according to Paul Feng, Google group product manager for Mobile Ads, clickthrough rates for these new search ads have seen increases up to 30%.

Google charges the same price for the click-to-call ads as it does its normal paid search ads. All bidding still takes places on an ad group level so a marketer’s current campaign can be optimized for click-to-call advertising in a few simple steps. While the volume may be low at first, this will obviously be an area of growth as smartphones continue to dominate the mobile phone market. Google has made it seamless to include click-to-call advertising in a marketing campaign. Advertisers are well-suited to jump on board now and take advantage of this new space.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Google’s Click-to-Call Mobile Ads: A Lead Generation Direct Response Marketer’s Dream

Affiliate Summit West, Mike Filsaime’s Affiliate Appreciation Conference, T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Domainer’s Conference, National Association of Television Producers and Executives (NATPE), and ASTDM. The last conference (ASTDM)? I never did find out what it stands for. But it was definitely the best, at least for me.

One great thing about conventions as far as journalists are concerned is the press pass. The New York Times does not buy a ticket to cover a Rolling Stones concert and Sports Illustrated doesn’t buy a ticket to the Super Bowl. Even though I write for a number of Internet publications, I still consider myself a fan. So the press pass is a definite perk, combining the two things I love most.

So many of the companies at the conventions all do one thing. Make thing better, faster, and cheaper. Isn’t that the natural way of evolution? The easiest, most efficient way always wins out, in nature and in business — unless restrained (temporarily) by entrenched interests.

A favorite I recently learned about is a company named One Shot (http://www.pushonevote.com/) that uses your cell phone to allow you to interact live in real time with webinars and presentations. For example, you can be attending a webinar learning how to do affiliate marketing, and the host of the webinar can send a question or poll to all the attendees that you receive on your phone. The group’s answers are immediately displayed live on the screen for all to see and can be used to determine the direction of the lesson based on the needs of the attendees.  Another (www.aklearning.com) has a slogan they told me they are actually scared to use that is, “better than a book,” and they are. They record a speaker in front of a “green screen” video that allows all types of backgrounds and powerpoints to be inserted on the fly. This is combined with a transcript to the left of the speaker and a forum underneath for users to interact.

Attending five conventions in five days is a little much, but if you don’t stay on top of this fast-changing industry, you will go the route of the horse and buggy.

Talk Soon, Mike Evans

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Can You Say Five Conventions In Five Days?

Here’s how it works. A consumer searches for something relevant to your business and they arrive at your website via a pay-per-click (PPC) ad. Then they choose, for any number of reasons, to not follow through with a conversion. Then they leave your site. Most often this would be considered as a wasted click and the story would be over. However, if the marketer drops a tracking cookie on the visitor’s computer, they can then offer up retargeted display ads to that person with the hopes of getting a conversion at a later date. Think of this in basketball terms. Your display campaign receives a pass from your search campaign, and scores a basket. Display gets the points and search gets the assist. The perfect Stockton-to-Malone pick and roll.

This process increases the chance for conversion from an otherwise abandoned click. It also means you can center most of your display ad budget on customers who, through their search activity, have proven to have interest in what you are selling. Not only does this aid your display campaign by spending more budget in that area, it also gives more viability to your search campaign as both a point of conversion and an initial touch point.

Ad agencies and ad networks all offer some sort of retargeting and the common reason for doing this is clear. Web users spend their time across the entire internet. Advertisers need to stay engaged with their customers across all channels. By keeping the conversation going from search to display, marketers will have the best chance of converting those so-called wasted clicks into proven conversions through a secondary channel.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Retargeting With Search And Display

The categories range across the board, but one category that many of us don’t spend enough time looking into is “Search Tech.” Why? Because many of us consider ourselves to be marketers, not techies. When faced with an article about information retrieval and heuristics, we feel the need for some Tylenol.

The cool thing about the finalists in the Search Tech field for the SEMMYs is that they are an easy way to dip your toes into the waters of technology without becoming overwhelmed by terminology.  Here are the finalists:

The SEO geeks guide to information retrieval - David Harry of Huomah – offers up an extensive list of resources of every aspect related to technology and search that you could imagine. Organized by area of interest, it’s a great place to catch up or get started.

URL Confusion and How To Fix It - Mark Fillmore of The Search Agents – great grid illustration of the general causes and solutions for URL confusion.

Google I/O: New Advances In The Searchability of JavaScript and Flash, But Is It Enough? – Vanessa Fox at Search Engine Land – catches us all up on the continuing saga of Google’s attempts to deal with indexing JavaScript and Flash content included on websites.

I’m off to place some votes, as I’ve been fitting in some time to read entries over the last week or so, and have a pretty good idea of which articles I think are the best of the year. We’ll see how many others agree with my choices!

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

SEMMY Finalists Make For Great Reading

First, here is a quick definition of split testing as regards PPC. With split testing, two or more items are tested side by side to determine which performs better at a specific metric. The importance of testing is critical to optimization. If you don’t test, you cannot improve your campaign. It is as simple as that. Most advertisers will find that the first couple of tests will have the most dramatic results, but it is important to continue testing various elements of your campaign at all times.

So what can you test when it comes to PPC? I think the most prominent — and therefore important — thing to test is ad copy. Testing multiple ads for every keyword you are bidding on is essential to PPC success. Testing new headlines, description lines, display URLs, and destination URLs are all important areas to test when it comes to ad copy split testing. The idea of testing multiple ad copy translates very well to the content network also. Rich media campaigns are probably on the forefront of split testing and, if they are a component of your PPC campaign, you need to make sure to test new creative all the time.

On ad copy level, split testing should run for a minimum of one week, but running for one month is ideal. Every day has different characteristics, and each week has variances (think about pay weeks). Ads should attain a minimum of 300 clicks, but 1,000 is ideal. You need to allow for enough data to accumulate for each ad before making any decisions regarding how effective it is. You also want to let every ad gather at least 15 conversions. Each advertiser will have a different set of results. This is simply a rough guideline.

Landing page testing is another very important aspect to test when it comes to any online marketing campaign, PPC included. Testing new layouts, copy, fonts, colors, forms, and shopping carts are just a few things to consider when split testing your landing pages. Knowing how much weight your landing page has in regards to quality score and conversion rates, you should spend amply time testing out countless versions throughout your campaign.

A few other things to make sure to split test are match type, ad position, max CPC, time of day, day of week, and month of year. Look at it this way, anything you have an option for should be tested. This also applies to testing elements. Clickthrough rate, conversion rate, total conversions, cost per conversion, page views per click, cost per click, and total cost are just a few outcomes that most PPC campaigns test.

Make sure you take that deep dive when it comes to split testing within your PPC campaign. It is a large ocean and even though surfing the waves may be appealing, you don’t want to miss out on what lies beneath the surface.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Are Your Maximizing Your PPC Split Testing Strategies?

1. Know Your Audience — You’ve hopefully been blogging for a while before deciding to introduce an affiliate element to your postings. The longer you’ve been blogging, the more likely it is that you have a good handle on your audience and what it is they expect to find when they stop by your page. You must consider these expectations before using your blog for affiliate marketing, as success will only be enjoyed when you hit upon exactly the right mix of products and services that resonate with your readership. In this sense, affiliate marketing is a lot like any other form of advertising – you need to know your market and where your likely buyers are to get the best return on product placement.

2. Consider Visitor Numbers – While not the most time-consuming of internet marketing activities, you will still need to set some man-hours aside in order to make any kind of return on your affiliate marketing. Before you even start recommending products for cash, ask yourself if your blog’s readership is large enough to make the endeavor viable. The more people seeing your product placement, the more clickthroughs will register, the more purchases there’ll be, and ultimately the more dollars you’ll earn, so visitor numbers are a crucial element for success. Continuing to work on your blog by building a relationship with your readers through informative, interesting content and thought-provoking debates will have a direct impact on how many purchases are made via your affiliate links. You may also want to work on some off-page link building to direct more relevant traffic through on a daily basis. While this will also require a considerable time investment, it will give you an increased likelihood of a cash return on your investment links by exposing them to a larger audience.

3. Pay Attention to Content, Context and Deep Linking – It’s not enough to simply place an affiliate link on your blog – be it in the form of a text link or image ad – and expect your visitors to do the rest. Simply dropping an advert onto your blog in this manner will devalue your postings. It also goes against all of the tried-and-true rules for online advertising success. Good blog-based affiliate marketing follows many of the same patterns as other forms of advertising – consider the content of your page and the context of your post before deciding how and where to insert an affiliate link. You must also ensure the link is deep-linked – so if you’re talking about your new iPod for example or reviewing a laptop, a text-based link to an electronics retailer or computer specialist is a good choice. Rather than linking through to the home page of the affiliate, try and link to the particular product or related accessories. You do not want to send your user of to a catalogue page where they are required to wade through dozens of other products to find the product type you’ve been discussing. They simply won’t waste their time. But, send them through to the exact landing page for that product and they’re more likely to buy.

4. Don’t Try To Fool Your Readers – You enjoy a good relationship with your blog’s readers – that’s what makes your blog such a good outlet for affiliate marketing. They know and trust your opinions and visit your site because they know they’ll find what they are looking for. Trying to fool your readers by not announcing your affiliate link is an easy way to turn the relationship sour. Transparency is vital in any affiliate campaign and the manner with which you announce your link can be tailored to suit your blog style and the volume of affiliate networks you’re involved with. If you plan to have just a few affiliate links on your blog, a note just before or just after the link to let readers know that it is an affiliate is feasible. If you have more than a handful of links, an individual notice per link will be counterproductive. Instead, you may want to consider a site-wide disclaimer, advising your readers that you do use affiliate links throughout your blog.

5. Combine With Other Forms of Promotion – The more eyeballs your affiliate links receive, the easier it is to make money. Therefore, you’ll need to give a high level of exposure to your affiliate programs without appearing spammy and annoying your core audience. One way to do that is to combine with other forms of promotion such as a Twitter feed you have linked to your blog, so that when you update your Twitter feed with details of a new blog post, tie that in to your most relevant affiliate link. If you’re keen on online PR and plan to release a news item fairly regularly, it may be worth including a relevant affiliate link where appropriate. Again, context, content and deep linking are key, just as they are on your own blog.

Keep these five tips in mind as you begin your foray into affiliate marketing via your blog, and you’ll be on the way to success.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

5 Tips To Blogging Your Way to Affiliate Success

The power of a link is very appealing. SEO specialists wave them around like victory flags, and rightfully so. This is why social sites are very attractive on the surface. You can gain links in a social setting with your potential customers taking part in the linking process. Sounds dreamy! Tweets, blogs, news articles, and Facebook pages are all indexed so we know there is some importance in them. Let’s stop wondering how much and take advantage of the social landscape. CMOs love to talk about social marketing, so take the time to talk with them about it. Become an expert on it. Start a blog about it. You get the idea.

Keeping the link in mind, URL shorteners are ever-present, especially on Twitter. While they are a great tool for shortening your URL link, they tend to corrode your anchor text and don’t always get indexed properly in the SERPs. While most URL shorteners are free, you should opt for the paid, custom URL shorteners. They are inexpensive and will provide you with more appropriate anchor text. Some of them also work very well with Google Analytics and report how they are spreading across the internet.

Get involved with different kinds of social networking sites. Anyone can set up a Facebook Fan Page, customize a MySpace account, and Tweet to the level of Ashton Kutcher, but to take true advantage from an SEO perspective, you have to also seek out, target, and become active in some of the hundreds (if not thousands) of more niche social sites. There are social sites based on just about ever topic and industry you can mention, and even some unmentionables!

Don’t give up on social marketing. It can take some time to build up your relationships and accounts, but in the end you will see the benefit, whether it comes from the SERPs or from the added security that your client feels when he sees all that you are doing for him in that space. Either way it is a big impact on your on-going SEO efforts.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Social Media – The True Impact On SEO

The SEMMYS, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the acronym, are awards presented to the writers of what are judged to be the best article or blog post from 18 categories of online-related topic, such as SEO, PPC, Social Media, Google, etc. The nominees and finalists are chosen by committee and winners are decided by online vote. This year there are 139 authors who have been nominated, many of them more than once or in more than one category.

In past years, I’ve waited until the finalists were announced and the awards were awarded and the congrats given out, and then read the pieces that received the most votes as the best article/blog post in its field in the past year. But this year I stopped by the site to look at all the nominations and, not surprisingly, have discovered enough fine reading to keep me occupied for some time. True, I’ve already read many of the nominated posts, enjoying them when they first came out through the year. But there are many, many other posts here that I don’t recall or only vaguely recall, making this an exceptional source indeed.

I suggest you head over to the site and, at a minimum, look at the articles nominated in your special field of interest. Read some if you have time or mark them for future reading. Then look at the articles nominated in areas you don’t spend a lot of time exploring — as some of the top posts in those areas in the last year, they are likely to be filled with exactly the kind of info you need to know. How can you resist? The titles range all the way from the pretty predictable “10 Steps To Advanced Keyword Research” (written by Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz) to the in-your-face “You Know What? F*** SEO” (written by Robert Garcia of Rumblepup) in the Rant category.

There’s lots of gold here. I’m looking forward to seeing who wins, but I’m also looking forward to taking a look at a lot more nominees this year than in past years and maybe deciding to add a few more blogs to my regular reading list.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

SEMMY-Super-Fantastic Reading

But it’s not about the money, really. When a working man like me hangs around these 20-to-30-year-old kids making all this money, it does change me. My goal now is to join the Mavericks within 12 months, and I’ll start my path there with the introduction dinner during the Marketers Cruise on the brand-new Carnival Dream Ship, currently docked in Cozumel, Mexico.

The organizer, Mike Filsaime, has convinced me in the last few days that it is possible for anyone to hit these numbers. Passion is the first requirement and follow through is next. But in the end, it all comes down to one thing in this business—relationships. The guys in the Mavericks Group, and the people on the Marketers Cruise in general, are here to help and form relationships that will make everyone achieve the goals they are seeking. They work together in one way or another, put together JVs (joint ventures), and sell each other’s products to each other’s lists.

The first day we all did a meet-and-greet session where each of the 500 of us got up and told the group what we have to offer and what we need to take our business to the next level. Lots of relationships were formed.

When the cruise hit Cozumel, I spent the first part of the day on a motorcycle tour with a bunch of successful Internet marketers. The local guy running the tour told me that he makes $6 a day leading Americans around the island on motorcycles. Then in the evening, a total turnaround – I listened to Mike Hill, Mike Geary, and Mike Filsaime (all Internet marketing superstars) tell me what got them motivated and giving tips on how I can make my second million. (I’ve given up on my first LOL.) The Internet makes this possible.

Just do it, they all seemed to be telling me. Then back to the relationships, “Get to know the right people and try to find out what they need for their business and see what you have to offer.”

For you, wherever you are, you can do the same thing. Look up the Internet marketing calendar in your area, attend some events, and get people’s names and follow up. Do that one simple thing and you will be well on your way to joining us next January for the Marketers Cruise and seeing me inducted into the Mavericks Group of successful Internet marketers.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

Relationships Are The Key To Affiliate Marketing Success

Fortunately, there are many keyword research and keyword suggestion tools available online to help. Use them periodically to select phrases for a new PPC ad group, check suitability of SEO words, and confirm that you’re not missing a trick with new search trends.

1. Tool: Google Sets

Good for: Compiling keywords for PPC adgroups

URL: http://labs.google.com/sets

A Google Labs innovation, Google Sets helps create lists of keywords based around a common theme. It gives you a choice of a small set (a list of 15 words or less) or a larger set. Simply type in a few terms, hit ‘Large Set’ or ‘Small Set,’ and the app will create a suggested set of other words to fill out your list.

2. Tool: Keyword Map

Good for: Discovering synonyms for SEO,  developing tag clouds for use in your social media efforts

URL: http://www.kwmap.net

Type in a single keyword and this useful tool will search the web to display a helix of related words and phrases. Keywords found are also displayed alphabetically and can be clicked on to generate even more keyword suggestions. The site is extremely easy to use and a great starting point if you need to fill out your keyword lists. You can also use the site to populate your PPC campaigns with synonyms that you may have missed.

3. Tool: Meta Glossary

Good for: Broadening SEO keyword lists, suggesting synonyms for use in optimized web content

URL: http://www.metaglossary.com

A virtual repository of information, MetaGlossary is dictionary and keyword finder in one. Type in a term and it will display a comprehensive selection of related terms and synonyms for your keyword lists. What’s more, a second tier displays concise, direct explanations for terms and phrases including technical jargon and slang, extracted from around the internet.

4. Tool: WordStream Keyword Niche Finder

Good for: Creating a deeper, more dynamic keyword structure for your PPC campaigns and SEO copy

URL: http://www.wordstream.com/keyword-niche-finder/

WordStream’s relatively new Keyword Niche Finder tool is an excellent asset for content writers, providing in-depth long tail keyword variations for any given word or phrase. The tool creates groups of tightly related niche groups of keywords, ideal for making longer tail additions to paid search campaigns. Keywords are organized into groups for ease of use, taking hours out of the campaign creation process.

5. Tool: WordTracker

Good for: Finding popular, low-cost keywords for PPC campaigns, finding longer tail search terms and synonyms for SEO

URL: http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com

WordTracker is the doyenne of keyword research tools. While it is primarily a subscription service, you can use the free version to generate lists of keywords restricted to 100 phrases. The full version combines the extensive search term database with useful tools for mining the data, but the free version is a great starting point and an ideal try-before-you-buy solution for skeptics. The trial allows you to find keywords that include your specified search term, so it’s a useful resource if your PPC budget is being used too quickly by expensive terms.

For more search marketing insights, visit Search Marketing Standard.

5 Free Keyword Research Tools To Try For SEO And PPC Success