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News & analysis on digital marketing & analytics
If You Haven’t Tried Microsoft adCenter for Paid Search, Now Is the Time
Quite a few welcome changes have arrived from Microsoft adCenter lately, providing more control and flexibility when managing paid search accounts.
I recently sat in on a webinar from adCenter which highlighted these changes as well as a few announcements for more enhancements this coming quarter.
Change highlights from Q1:
- You can now target specific smartphones and devices.
- Ad description character limit from 70 to 71. Although this is small, this slight increase helps for an easier copy of ads from Google AdWords into adCenter.
- Improved geo-targeting options.
- Ad group keywords no longer override campaign-level negatives. This now aligns with AdWords, allowing for more general negatives to be applied across the account in addition to negative keywords that apply to only a few ad groups within a campaign.
Exciting management & advertising opportunities:
These are being rolled out (in some cases, slowly) over the next few months:
- The ability to more easily manage keywords by match type individually. Within the interface, you can see keywords by each match type individually to adjust status, assign bidding, params and destination URLs.
- The ability to use the “broad match modifier” match type. If you are not familiar with this in AdWords, you can add a “+” in front of all or a few keywords to give you more control, like “phrase match” with the flexibility of “broad.” The terms within the keyword with a “+” must be in the search query for your ad to be triggered. For example, if your keyword is +soccer shoes, your ad could show for soccer balls or shoes for soccer, but not for tennis shoes or shoes for prom.
- You will be able to include location extensions with your ads.
- For campaigns that use the new ad location extensions, you will also be able to use click-to-call.
- For exact-match brand terms only, you will be able to utilize rich ads on search.yahoo.com and bing.com. They will only show for ads in the first-page position. This is in beta right now, so if you have an account representative, you will need to reach out to them to apply.
For the past two months, adCenter has had about 29% of the US search market share, according to comScore’s recent reports. With all of the new marketing features that have been implemented and changes coming, now is the time to start advertising in adCenter and capturing that 29%!
Fathom Core Value Stories: April Edition
Every month at company meetings, a handful of Fathomers are recognized in front of the group for extraordinary manifestations of our four core values (“everyone a leader,” “be the consigliere,” “make order from chaos,” “reward sustainable results”). This space immortalizes their accomplishments for the world to see. I hereby present the 6th edition of Core Value Stories:
- Everyone a Leader, Joe Bencar –For bringing drive, organization and attention to detail on three newly inherited accounts. By taking the initiative to explore more keywords, reevaluate objectives and provide great insights and ideas, he has done an excellent job ensuring that we’re truly maximizing each client’s potential.
- Be the Consigliere, Matt Insley — For working with his team to focus more attention on billable rate, working more efficiently within designated project hours.
- Make Order from Chaos, Amanda Jerele (pictured, right) — For diving into the Marin platform and setting up bid rules on numerous clients. This has not only improved efficiencies, but client ROI as well. (Read the press release about Fathom’s Marin Software-certified status.)
- Reward Sustainable Results, Cliff Karlkin –For being instrumental in streamlining our keyword and content strategy processes, using a combination of tools, internal workflow and training programs. These updates get everyone on the same page with consistent deliverables that translate into results that matter.
To the victors go the spoils … huzzah!
Fathom’s Blog Wins PPC Hero’s Search Marketing Madness Contest
Thank you, readers! The voters have spoken, and they chose Fathom.
Yes, as the title of this post states, this very blog won a competition that encompassed several rounds of voting in a pool of 64 blogs. The contest was PPC Hero’s “Search Marketing Madness,” and Fathom outlasted uber-popular social-media blog Mashable (a great blog in its own right) in the championship match. Technically, the blog was entered in the “SEO” division, though it also covers the other divisions of PPC, blogging and social media.
Trophy acceptance speech
This contest serves as a reminder of what keeps this blog going: our great audience. On behalf of the many Fathom blog authors, I thank you again for reading our regular posts. We hope to maintain our high levels of frequency, quality and candor (not necessarily in that order!) well into the future. I’d also like to thank PPC Hero for giving the Fathom blog a great platform and give a “game ball” to our own contributor Noah Brooks for coaching Fathom through the tournament.
Why We CRO (Conversion Rate Optimize) for SEO
Long gone are the days of online marketing campaigns that strictly revolve around keyword rankings and organic traffic – with little to no focus on conversions. Keyword ranking reports and traffic are still important indicators of success, but as we have learned, there is so much more that goes into creating and managing a successful online marketing campaign.
SEO has changed a lot in the last few years, but it is still the cornerstone to a solid foundation that helps generate revenue on the Internet. A solid SEO foundation can add a lift in performance to all other forms of marketing (paid, email, social, video, and offline).
As Fathom has evolved our SEO product into one of the most comprehensive online marketing solutions in the market, we want to take time to get you up to speed on an area we feel very strongly about; Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO).
We Conversion Rate Optimize client websites (existing sites and re-designs) as part of our online marketing program that reflects our brand promise – Simple, Accountable, Results That Matter
Simple
Conversion Rate Optimization requires a full team of experts to plan and implement tests that provide a boost to conversions. Conversions are top of mind for our team which includes: Senior Account Executive, Online Marketing Specialist, Copywriter, Technical Marketing Specialist and Conversion Specialist. Trying to weave in CRO to your existing marketing team can be a daunting task – especially if there is no existing design, usability or technical background.
Our goal is to make this skillset simple for you, and let us do the homework and heavy lifting while proving why you partnered with us. We have proven conversion best practices and success stories in place and are constantly challenging ourselves to do more, and also utilize the best tools to help us along the way.
Our process starts with “Challenger Sale” type research and discovery. We aren’t afraid to share new insights about your business and industry as a result of our research. We then move on to developing user personas that guide our entire team with focus on increasing conversions tied to the problem-solving content, engaging social conversations, and relevant links and PR opportunities we pursue on your behalf. Our process then ends with improved conversions that affect your bottom line.
Accountable
Our monthly reporting includes your standard web stats and rankings dashboard, but more importantly includes reports on all of your conversion goals and key performance indicators. We work with our clients to establish accurate lead values and determine the Return on Investment (ROI) for our efforts. If we aren’t working towards generating a positive ROI that meets your business objectives, we aren’t satisfied.
We track conversions all the way down to the keyword level and are serious about the role keywords and high quality content (that is also persuasive) play in the conversion funnel. Bottom line – all of our tactical online marketing efforts have a purpose in generating traffic, which leads into the third part of our brand promise…
Results That Matter
After we have established the overarching business goals, lead values and other key performance indicators that hold us accountable – we build quarterly plans that focus on what matters to you (visibility and revenue). Our testing methodology looks to lift conversions for your existing traffic, and the new traffic we are driving to the website. When we optimize lead capture forms and conversion funnel flow, all other forms on online marketing can benefit.
Our conversion optimization isn’t a one and done process. We take an iterative approach to improving conversion rates over time by continual testing, reviewing analytics, generating heat maps, reviewing form analytics, coordinating user testing, eye-tracking simulations, and incorporating other site feedback tools.
Getting Started with Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
There are a variety of affordable testing tools to help you get serious about conversion rate optimization. A few of our favorites are Crazy Egg, Visual Website Optimizer, Google Website Optimizer, Attention Wizard, ClickTale, Userlytics, and Cacoo. Remember the tools are only as good as the operator experience behind them, and the analysis and action that spawns from their usage!
If your online marketing efforts are operated in silos by different teams that don’t have proper coordination or end results in mind, it might be worthwhile to determine what you can do better to holistically manage those efforts. Adopting a conversion and testing culture for your business takes resources, time and money. If it’s not something you can easily incorporate, look to the experts and start a dialogue on when and where conversion optimization makes sense.
Conversion Optimization Discussion
Fathom’s own Mike Perla, Director of Conversion Optimization & Creative, has coordinated a professional group dedicated to Conversion Rate Optimization. Please visit www.CROPA.net or the CROPA group on LinkedIn to learn more about the topic, join the ongoing discussion, and view archived webinars provided by industry professionals.
Comment: Feel free to share your thoughts.
Category: Conversion Optimization, Online Marketing, SEO, Usability
Take Me Out To the Ball Game (But Don’t Forget Your Mobile Device)
With America’s pastime, Major League Baseball, kicking off its 2012 season this week, you may want to take note of the results of a recent study released by Motricity: “79% of sports fans use mobile.”
Fans attending baseball games this summer will see the beautiful green grass on the field, hear the crack of the bat, smell the fresh popcorn, and taste the delicious hot dogs. The most important sense to consider is touch: That is the interaction by fans on their touchscreen smartphone with the professional sports franchises.
So many sports fans are using mobile, therefore, it’s important for teams to have a mobile marketing strategy in place to engage their loyal fan base, promote upcoming events, and sell merchandise. As an online marketing specialist with prior experience working in the sports industry, I’m pleased to share some great tips to help you develop a mobile marketing strategy.
Mobile Website
According to Neilsen, “66% of Americans ages 24-35 own a smartphone.” A mobile website should be a must-have in your mobile marketing strategy. A mobile website will allow your fans to easily access your game schedule, purchase tickets & merchandise, read team news, and lookup player statistics.
SMS Marketing
Sports teams, like any business, are always striving to build their list of subscribers, whether it’s for email newsletters or direct mail campaigns. Why not take advantage of the SMS marketing, since it has the highest open rate compared to any other permission-based marketing method. For example, you can build your list of subscribers by having a text-to-win contest or by simply inviting fans to sign-up for text alerts with the incentive being occasional discounts on tickets or merchandise.
QR Codes
These two-dimensional matrix barcodes are commonly used in mobile marketing strategies. Sports teams can use QR codes in their printed game programs to deliver even more content to fans. For example, a team includes a QR code, which leads to a video interview or highlight video, in an article about one of its star players.
Social Media
There’s no question that social media is mobile. Most people on Twitter send tweets directly from their smartphone and checking-in on Foursquare would not be possible without a GPS-enabled mobile device. For example, your team can engage fans at the game by running a Tweet Your Seat promotion. Then the promotional crew can bring a prize to the winning seat. Also, your team can incentivize check-ins on Foursquare by offering a special prize for the “Mayor.”
There’s an app for that!
Smartphone apps are great for increasing the engagement of your fan base, because you can offer interactive elements such as games, sortable stats, video highlights, audio highlights, and team news. App developers can also take advantage of the mobile device’s native features and implement APIs to connect to social media.
Now that you have some ideas for your mobile marketing strategy, why don’t you sit back, relax, and enjoy some peanuts and Cracker Jack, because it’s time to “Play Ball!”
Category: Mobile, Sports/Entertainment
