Why would you use PPC or Display Ads?

If you are seeking to improve online visibility, there are several good options for accomplishing this with paid advertising.  Generally speaking, with paid advertising you are either paying for direct clicks, or paying for your ad to show up in front of interested parties.

PPC (Pay Per Click or Paid Search Advertising)

This type of ad is “pay for performance” meaning that you only incur an expense when someone clicks on your ad.  These ads are setup to bid on certain key words and phrases within a geographic area that you designate.  PPC is most often used with new websites that may be lagging behind competitors in terms of search engine optimization.

Sample PPC (Pay Per Click) Ad

Pros of PPC

• Immediate impact – usually visible within 2-3 days of campaign launch
• Pay for performance – you pay only for clicks, not impressions
• Placement control – you have control over which keywords you bid on as well as what search engines.  You can also control which landing pages visitors will land on.
• Branding – even though a user may not click on your ad, it will still be displayed in search results which increases the number of times a user may be exposed to your brand.

PPC Drawback – Because it is paid advertising, once your budget is exhausted your website may not be visible to users in the top results for your targeted words and phrases. That doesn’t mean your website is not accessible, it only means your site may not get as much traffic because of lower position in the searches.

Display Advertising

Where PPC ads show up on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, display ads show up on individual websites.  A key difference from PPC is that you pay per impression rather than click, which makes it harder to link display ads to direct results (clicks, actions, etc).

Sample Display Ad

Display advertising works on 2 important principles:

1. Contextual interest – your ads will generally be placed on websites with pages that have topics that are related to your topic.  In other words, a display ad for fishing might appear on most pages of a fishing related website, but could also appear on n individual page within a travel related website that was specifically related to fishing.
2. Geographic location – advertisers have the option to only have their display ads appear in front of users whose IP addresses identify them with a certain geographic location.  For instance, a web visitor to Yahoo.com from Florida might see a different set of ads than a user from California.  This technology is not perfect, as some users hide their IP addresses, and others show incorrectly.  However, it does prove to be reasonably accurate and successful.

Pros of Display Advertising:

• Pay for impressions – you pay for a block of impressions (usually by thousands) for your ad to show up in front of a targeted web visitor.
• More room for creative messaging – display ads are larger and allow for creative messaging, special offers, moving graphics, etc.
• Targeted interest – Display ads show up in front of users on individual websites that may or may not be using search engines like Google to read up on their topic of interest.

Drawbacks to Display Ads – because you pay per impression and not per click, demonstrating ROI from display ads can sometimes be difficult.  Display ads should be used as branding tools with expectations similar to other forms of display based advertising – that is to create awareness of your brand where it might have otherwise not been seen.

What can you learn from the Top 10 Most Popular Blog Sites?

It’s getting hard to agree on what makes something “cool” these days.  With so much information swirling around the internet, I would argue that it’s even harder today to be considered “cool” which makes it all the more impressive when  you look at the amount of hard work these sites have put in to get to the top of the list.

The following sites made our “Top 10” most popular list based on a combination of factors including their ranks on Technorati and Alexa, as well as their Google Page Rank (all are 8 or above!).  But the real test of “coolness” is whether or not millions of people follow and read your blog on a daily basis.  And making it to the top of that heap in today’s world is in fact very cool indeed!

Our Top 10 Coolest Sites on Earth:

1. Huggington Post – political news review & comments
2. TMZ - celebrity gossip
3. Engadget - all things tech but cool
4. Gizmodo - more tech stuff
5. Mashable - social media news & web tips
6. TechCrunch - yet more tech?
7. Gawker - political & celebrity gossib
8. lifehacker - tips & downloads for getting things done
9. BoingBoing – pop culture, weird news & fun stuff
10. The Daily Beast – political & news review & comments

What do they all have in common?

It may seem obvious as to what these sites all have in common, but making a list of what makes them great might inspire the rest of us to bigger and better things.  Each of these super cool sites offers:

• Ruthless devotion to being current & interesting
• Unique content you can’t find anywhere else
• Popular topics & subjects.  There are no blogs on boring subjects in the top 10.
• A good reason to follow along including providing:
  • Interesting or fun information
  • Insider gossip
  • News & political discussion
  • “How to” advice
  • Being the “first” to learn about a topic

Did we miss any?

I hope you enjoy our list.  If you think we missed a site that should be included leave it in the comments for others to see!

Don’t let these big trends pass you by

2010 marked a big year in the world of marketing, and the trends show a drastic shift in the allocation of marketing dollars from traditional outlets to the digital marketing world.  Among the notable milestones were:

• Spending on social media advertising is up around 30% from last year and is expected to top the $2 billion mark in 2011! Source: Mashable
• Spending for online advertising passed newspaper advertising.  Source: WSI
• Online advertising spending rose 13.9% for 2010 and is projected to pass the $25 billion mark in 2011. Source: EMarketer
• Mobile subscribers are estimated to surpass 5 billion in 2010 (that’s over 70 percent of the world population) and growing rapidly, led by China and India.  Source: MobiThinking

What does this mean for you?

In a nutshell, it means that if you’re concentrating your marketing efforts solely on things that worked in the past it’s probably time to re-consider that practice.  And while we would never suggest abandoning “tried and true” marketing practices that provide ROI for your business, I would strongly recommend beginning to allocate some resources toward digital marketing so that you can begin to gain a foothold.

Every business is different, so it’s hard to make blanket statements.  However, as we walk the streets and see just about everyone spending time on their web ready mobile devices, it doesn’t take a big thinker to realize that this trend towards the digitization of marketing is not slowing down anytime soon.

5 components of digital marketing strategy

The whole idea of “digital marketing” is evolving, but if you want to get a holistic view of the concept, there are 5 core components:

1. Web properties – such as your company website
2. Building traffic – helping people find your website
3. Social media – joining in the conversation with online users
4. Mobile marketing – text and location based marketing
5. Measuring / Analyzing – evaluating results to determine ROI

Creating a marketing plan for 2011

So back to our original headline and the desire to find a marketing plan that capitalizes on the opportunities available in 2011.  Generally speaking, if you haven’t embraced the digital marketing components mentioned above, than it’s time to do so.  How much you do depends on your resources and goals, but continuing to avoid them will eventually put you behind your competitors.

Specific actions you can take include:

• Take a hard look at the ROI from your past marketing efforts. If your marketing practices from the last couple of years aren’t producing satisfactory ROI, it’s time to re-tool.  Many people are expressing frustration with increasing costs and decreasing results from traditional marketing activities.
• Look at how you could use digital marketing in your business. Every business is unique, and not all of these digital marketing opportunities make sense to invest in.  However, if you look carefully, chances are you could find 2-3 of these opportunities in your business that would bring new opportunities in 2011.
• Be realistic. In this economy, businesses have to be smart with their budgets and showing ROI has never been more important.  So if your company has an outdated website and low monthly traffic, than trying to tackle social media may have to wait.  Our recommendation is to find the opportunities that would have the highest impact and focus on those in 2011 without trying to do them all just for the sake of doing them.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Chances are you’re plate is already full depending on what your role is in your company.  Implementing major changes to marketing plans takes time and sometimes a little advice from someone who is not too close to the situation.  Don’t be afraid to bring in someone to help you understand the digital marketing opportunities and make sense of them in terms of how they apply to your business.

More proof that kids always speak the truth

As a parent, each year that goes by brings lots of “wow” moments like those that happen when your kids say something that truly surprises you.  And this week, my 10 year old gave me one of those moments that really hit home with me in terms of the spread of technology into our lives.

You see my son is a huge Star Wars fan, and this Christmas he received several books about Star Wars.  The problem is that some of the books contained information about characters he had not yet seen in the movies.  My suggestion (made jokingly) that these characters would appear in the upcoming Star Wars movies Episode 7 caught him by surprise as he had never heard of new Star Wars movies coming up.

Now, my son is a big Star Wars fan, but he’s no fool.  And since he didn’t believe me that I had direct knowledge of new movies coming up, his response to me was:

“Prove it Dad – show it to me on Google!”

If a tree falls in the forest does Google hear it?

In a single brilliant sentence, my son summarized how the adoption of technology has led to changes in our thought processes.  I think many people would agree with the general statement that if something important can’t be found or validated on Google, than it doesn’t exist.  And while this is certainly not true in all cases, for the most part it’s a good indication of the change in how we reference things in our lives today.

As we start the New Year, I encourage you to compare my 10 year olds statement and compare it to how you perceive the internet and what it means to your business.  Of course, kids have different belief systems than adults who naturally become more suspicious with age.  But if the younger generation inherently believes that what Google gives them is the best they can find, what does that mean for how you position yourself in the coming years?

Will you be left behind?

I contend that as of right now, the internet will NEVER be less important than it was in 2010 – meaning that as time goes on, it will become more and more ingrained as part of our lives.  And by the time my 10 year old has buying power (he already knows how to use EBay), I can’t imagine what the process will be like.  And that’s just a mere 8 or so years away.