5 Digital Marketing Trends That Are Here to Stay in 2017

2016 is coming to a close and today we're looking ahead to 2017 and telling you what digital marketing trends you should lookout for throughout the year.

From all of us at Marketing Kings Blog, I want to wish you and your family a safe and happy New Year's celebration this weekend!

We're about to ring in the new year where people across the world will set their resolutions for 2017. Along with your personal resolution, why not make a resolution to guarantee that 2017 is the best year yet when it comes to your digital marketing?

In order to do that, you need to make sure you understand where digital marketing is headed throughout the year. That's why I've put together a list of the 5 biggest trends you're likely to see this coming year. 

1. Mobile search and advertising Mobile was huge in 2016, and that's not changing anytime soon. As of November 2016, Facebook reported that they have 1.055 billion users each month that only access their site on mobile. That's why 81% of Facebook's advertising revenue comes from mobile ads. And now that mobile search has officially surpassed desktop, Google's algorithm is influenced by the mobile optimization of a site. It's no longer enough to design your site for desktops, your site needs to be user friendly and functional for smartphones and tablets. So, if your site isn't optimized for mobile, it should become a top priority for 2017. 2. High Quality Content Content marketing has been called the "king" of digital marketing. And, if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. When people go online either to search for something or to scroll through social media feeds they have one of two goals -- to get information or to be entertained. The only way for these goals to be accomplished is through users engaging with high quality content. This is very important when looking at your company's content marketing throughout 2017. With huge amounts of content available these days, there is no point in wasting time and energy putting out mass quantities of low quality content. People simply won't read it when they can click to the next site and find something better. That's why you should focus on putting out high quality content, even if it means that you produce less quantity than in years past. Make sure the blog articles, images, and social media posts you're publishing show that you're a thought leader in your industry. This will help to get more attention, and convert more prospects than putting out fluff. 3. Video Advertising With mobile being huge and content being key, video may be the ticket to a solid marketing strategy in 2017. 92% of mobile video users say that they share videos with others and 90% say that product videos are helpful in making the decision to purchase. Videos are popular for both information consumption and for entertainment. This creates an opportunity for marketers both for video display ads, such as those that come up on a YouTube video, and organic videos that you create to engage your audience. Facebook live stream and other live video opportunities also became more popular in 2016 and are likely to grow in popularity in 2017. Bottom line, keep video on your radar because it's likely to become not only important, but highly valuable. 4. More specific measurement I can't stress enough how important it is to track your digital marketing. I highly recommend making sure that your Google Analytics is set up properly. Doing this will help you to see where your traffic is coming from and determine what traffic is converting into sales. You'll want to make sure to focus your marketing budget on what's working. Our Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics article can help you get started. Along with Analytics, 2017 is likely to see an increase in the amount of measurement and tracking resources available. Facebook and Twitter have had built-in analytics for some time, and Instagram recently added an Insights option for business accounts. At this point, the data from these sources don't tell the whole story, but that is likely to change going forward. I predict that in 2017 an increased focus will be placed on more accurate data reporting so that businesses can set clear objectives for each of their marketing platforms. 5. Social Media Influencer Marketing Social media marketing has become a staple in digital marketing over the last five years. That will definitely continue. However, it is also likely to evolve and open up more opportunities for creative marketing outlets. As social media popularity increases, the opportunity for "influencer marketing" will grow as well. For example, if there's a person in your industry that has thousands of followers on social media, this could present an opportunity to have them endorse your business or product and help you to gain more followers and a wider reach. The popularity of influential YouTubers also create opportunities to leverage video advertising as a way to support your business in a more "organic" way. Connecting with YouTube influencers to create original content or have your business or product mentioned in their original content will offer a creative way to reach more potential customers. You can think of this like Michael Jordan endorsing Nike, but for social media marketing.

How Google AdWords Is Like Santa Claus

In a lot of ways Google AdWords is like Santa Claus...

 

And since today is Christmas, it's only fitting that we take a closer look at the similarities.

 

 

To children, Santa represents presents.  On Christmas he travels around the world, shimmies down chimneys, and brings gifts for all the good little boys and girls.

 

To businesses, Google AdWords can also represent presents, but not in the form of a traditional wrapped gift.  AdWords can travel the world and instead of bringing toys, it brings gifts to the "good" businesses in the form of shiny new customers.

 

If you've ever woken up after running a successful AdWords campaign and found new customers, then you know that feels just like it did as a kid waking up to find all those gifts under the Christmas tree. :)

 

But as the story goes, Santa doesn't bring presents to everyone.  For the naughty boys and girls, he just leaves a dirty lump of coal...

Does AdWords Think You're Naughty Or Nice?

From the popular holiday song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, we know that Santa makes a list and checks it twice in order to find out "Who's naughty or nice."

 

Well, AdWords uses a similar system...

 

It's call the AdWords Quality Score.  And if your campaigns are naughty (aka have a low Quality Score), then you're more likely to find a lump of coal than new customers each morning when you check your account performance.

 

To find your Quality Scores and see if AdWords thinks your campaigns are naughty or nice, you need to click on the Keywords tab within your account. Then in the Status column click the white speech bubble icon to the right of any keyword to view the Quality Score.

 

AdWords will give you a score from 1-10 where 1-5 essentially means you're naughty and 6-10 means you're nice.  If you find some naughty keywords in your campaign, then don't worry.  There's still a chance you can turn them around...

 

How to Make a Naughty Keyword Nice

There are many factors that AdWords uses to calculate your Quality Score, but they all boil down into 3 core areas:

1. Click-Through Rate - This is by far the most important factor and it requires you to write compelling ads with strong offers.  Remember, Google only makes money when people click on the ads so it's in everyone's best interest to show the ads that get the highest click-through rate.
   
   
2. Ad Relevance - To make your ads more relevant make sure to incorporate your target keywords into the ad copy.
   
   
3. Landing Page Experience - After prospects click on your ads, then make sure they can easily find what you promised in your ad.  And with more and more people turning to tablets and mobile devices, your website needs to function properly on all devices.

When you're reviewing your Quality Scores, AdWords will highlight which of those 3 areas need the most work.  Focus on making incremental improvements to turn those pesky, naughty keywords around.

 

Marketing Lessons from the 2016 Presidential Election

The 2016 election has certainly been filled with controversy. But, one thing we can all agree on is that Trump’s marketing was extremely effective. That’s why in today’s article I’m going to tell you about the marketing lessons we can learn from this historic campaign.

 

And in today's Check This Out, register for next week’s LIVE training and discover How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan for 2017...

If you haven’t already, then now is the time to create your marketing plan for 2017.

 

This can be a daunting task, even for savvy marketers.  That’s why in this article I’m going to answer one of the most frequently asked questions about marketing plans, “What makes a great marketing plan?”

 

And to help answer that question, let’s take a closer look at the marketing plan behind arguably the most shocking underdog win of the year… Trump’s presidential race.  Whether you like it or not, there’s no denying the fact that Trump put together (and then implemented) a magnificent marketing plan to defeat Clinton.

 

So rather than bicker about the results, let’s learn from this historic event!

 

We’ll start with the most important step in the planning process…

 

Clearly Define Who Is & Who Is Not Your Audience

Trump did an amazing job laser-focusing his marketing on his ideal audience.  In fact, he took it a step further and was completely OK with alienating anyone that was not his ideal audience.

 

That’s a key takeaway that is worth writing down.

 

Some of the most successful companies in the world use this same strategy.  Look at Apple with its closed system that forces customers to only use other Apple products.  Or look at IKEA, which only sells furniture neatly packed in flat boxes that customers ultimately have to assemble (and if you’ve ever assembled an IKEA product you know it’s not easy or fast).

 

In all of these examples, Trump, Apple, and IKEA focus all of their marketing exclusively on their ideal audience and they ignore “the haters.”   They know what their customers want and they don’t try to cater to everyone.  As I’m sure you know, the kiss of death is trying to please everyone in your market because you’ll end up making no one happy.

 

So take the time to think through who is, and equally important, who is not your ideal customer.  Only after completing this step, can you truly create a great marketing plan because everything else depends on your target audience.

 

Next, it’s time to get inside the shoes of your audience…

 

 

Create a Great Offer That Solves Their Problem

Once you know who you’re targeting, then put yourself in their shoes.  What are the problems they are dealing with that your product or service solves?

 

For Trump, this was pretty straight forward…

 

Trump offered change.  Trump’s ideal audience was not happy with Obama’s 2 terms in office.  Therefore, their problems were tied to Obama’s policies.  Since Clinton’s policies were almost perfectly aligned with Obama’s policies, you can see how “change” was the perfect solution, or offer, in Trump’s campaign.

 

Now it’s your turn.  What are the problems that your ideal customers are dealing with?  Remember, we’re only talking about the audience you defined earlier.  Trump wasn’t worried about people who liked Obama’s policies because those were not his audience.

 

Once you know the problems, then it’s usually not too hard to come up with a great offer that positions your product or service as the best solution.

 

Ah, but how do your customers know it’s the “best” solution?  That brings us to the next step…

 

Differentiation

What other products or services could your customers use to solve their problem?

 

Don’t forget that there are many options outside of your industry, including the option of doing nothing.  In many businesses, the biggest hurdle is not a competitor; it’s procrastination.

 

For Trump, it wasn’t too hard to differentiate since he wasn’t a full-time politician.   And since he wasn’t a politician, then logically he couldn’t be a corrupt politician.  Regardless of your stance on Clinton, there have been so many political scandals since the founding of our country that we’ve come to accept that most politicians are susceptible to a little corruption.

 

In the business world, differentiation is synonymous with your unique selling proposition, or USP.  Why should your ideal customer choose your product or service over all the other options?

 

Once you’ve answered that question, then marketing and sales will be a heck of lot easier.

 

Finally, your marketing plan is not complete until you address what happens after the sale.  That’s right, marketing doesn’t stop when the sale is complete!

 

Fulfillment & Retention

Apple customers don’t love Apple because of their marketing.  They love Apple because of their products and their customer service.  In other words, if Apple didn’t deliver with easy-to-use and functional products, then customers would immediately have buyer’s remorse.   That would lead to refunds, negative reviews, and loss of market share to competitors.

 

At this point Trump’s fulfillment and retention plan is unclear.  It’ll take another year to see how things unfold, but if he doesn’t deliver on the promises made during the election, then we can be certain there will be buyer’s remorse across the country!

 

In business we call this the “customer experience.”  What happens immediately after a customer makes a purchase?  How could you improve the purchase experience?  How could you improve the product or service delivery experience?  What could you do to improve customer retention and referrals?

 

Those are just a few questions to get the ideas flowing.  But don’t just write down those ideas… Make sure you put them into action!

 

Local SEO Case Study: The Power of Press Releases

Until July 2013, press releases were a great tactic for building high quality links to your website.

And the process was simple.  Write a press release that includes links to your website, pay a press release distribution service like PRWeb, and then watch your search engine rankings improve as more and more legitimate websites posted the press release with links to your site.

Of course, that all changed in July 2013 when Google announced the death of press releases for search engine optimization (SEO).

But was it really the end of press releases as an SEO tactic?  No, and in this case study I'll prove there is still a lot of power in press releases (if you know how to use them correctly).

What Changed in July 2013?

In July 2013, Google announced they would now consider links in press releases as "paid links" and encouraged distribution services to use "nofollow" links in the releases.  This change makes sense since businesses were paying press release distribution sites in order to get high quality links to their websites.

In case you're not aware, Google does not count paid links or "no follow" links in their ranking algorithm.  Those types of links are ignored by the algorithm.  That means all of the links you get from the press release would not directly improve your search engine rankings.

Hence, the resounding cry that press releases were dead for SEO.

While it's true the links do not directly improve your rankings, there is another powerful SEO benefit of press releases.

The Key Benefit is Citations

A citation is a mention of your NAP (business Name, Address, and Phone number) on another website.  For example, if your business is listed in Yelp, then your profile on Yelp is a citation because it lists your NAP.

When drafting a press release, if you include your business NAP in the byline of the release, then when your release is published across the internet, each published page is a new citation for your business. You can see an example below: 

That means you could issue one press releases and within a day or two have dozens or even hundreds of new citations.

That sounds great, but why are citations important?

Citations Are Critical For Local Rankings

One of the biggest factors in ranking high in the local "map" results is the quantity and quality of your citations.  Sure, you can create accounts on business directories and build up a nice foundation of citations, but so can your competitors.

To gain a competitive advantage, you can use press releases to rank higher in the local results.  To prove this works, let's look at a case study...

How Our Client Jumped from #20 to #2

One of our dentist clients was stuck around #20 in the local "map" results.

We had already completed our website tune-up and set up all the relevant business directories, but the rankings would not improve beyond #20 for his top priority keywords, "Savannah dentist," "dentist Savannah," and "dentist in Savannah."  At this point we knew we had to take it to the next level to overtake the competitors ranking on the first page of Google.

Here's what we did...

Over a 4-month period, we issued 4 press releases for our client.  Of course, in the press release we included links to our client's website, but as you know those links were "nofollow" so they did not directly help for SEO.  The power was in the citations, or the mentions of our client's business name, address, and phone number.

As more and more websites published the press releases, our client began to jump up in the Google local rankings.  Eventually he was #2 on the first page of Google in the local results for his primary keywords.

As you can see from the screenshots above, the citations helped our client rank in the local "map" results on the first page of Google.  When Google determines the searcher is looking for a local business, then often Google displays a map with local businesses listed below.

To rank high in these local search results, you must have citations, and that's one of the reasons you should consider using press releases as part of your Local SEO strategy.

[Local SEO Tip] Spoonfeed Google Your Business Info

Local SEO Tip: How to Spoonfeed Google

Your Correct Business Information 

The simple days of static Google Places business pages are long gone.  They have been replaced by dynamic, social, and ever changing Google+ Local business pages.  Not only did Google overhaul the look and feel of their business pages, but they also changed the administrator dashboard and the algorithm that ranks all the pages.  In other words, just about everything has changed since the original Local SEO Formula!

With that said, the fundamentals have remained the same.  You must have accurate, consistent data across the internet if you want to rank high in the local results.

 

Why is Accurate & Consistent Data Important?

One of the most important ranking factors in local SEO is accurate and consistent data.  More specifically, I’m talking about business information like your name, address, and phone number.  This is often referred to as your NAP for short (Name, Address, Phone).

If you think about this from Google’s perspective, then it makes perfect sense. Google’s mission is to provide the best possible results for any given search.  In the case of local results, that means showing searchers reliable local business information.  If Google’s results were full of inaccurate business names, addresses, and phone numbers, then that’s a big problem.  Searchers would eventually lose faith in Google and turn to Yahoo, Bing, or another business directory like Yelp.  Ultimately, that would mean lost revenue for Google.

To mitigate that risk, Google scours the internet to confirm business information is accurate.  If they find your business name, address, and phone listed consistently across many websites, then there’s a pretty good chance that info is correct.  On the other hand, if Google finds inconsistent information, then they are less likely to display your business high in the results.

Makes sense right?

How to Spoonfeed Your Data to Google

Up until recently Google was on their own to find your accurate business name, address, and phone number on your website.  There are some obvious places to look like your contact page, but in some cases (like businesses with multiple offices) it’s not always easy for Google to determine the most authoritative Name, Address and Phone number for your business.

Plus, who wants to leave it up to a 3rd party? Shouldn’t the business provide this information first hand?

Well you’ll be happy to know you can do just that… Now you can spoonfeed Google this information.

Introducing Schema.org.  Before you click that link and get lost in a world of tech jargon, I’ll give you another handy tool called the Schema Creator.  Click that link and simply complete the form to generate the code your webmaster should add to your website.  It’s basically just HTML code that tells Google exactly what you want to use for your name and address.  Unfortunately that tool doesn’t include your phone number so you need to do a little hacking.

Feel free to copy our code below and then replace the information with your own.  Or ask your webmaster to view the source code on our Contact Page and she’ll be able to easily copy the code.

<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Organization”> 
<a itemprop=”url” href=”http://www.mainstreetroi.com”> 
<div itemprop=”name”>Main Street ROI</div> </a> 
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”> 
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>116 West 23rd Street, Suite #500</span> 
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>New York</span>, 
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>NY</span> <span itemprop=”postalCode”>10011</span> 
Phone: <span itemprop=”telephone”>(646) 470-3753</span> 
<span itemprop=”addressCountry”>United States</span></div>

Once the code is added to your website, then you’ll want to verify it’s set up properly using Google’s Data Verification Tool.  Simply copy/paste your website into that tool and Google will tell you if they have the correct information or if there are any errors.

Why "Negative Keywords" Are Critical to Google AdWords Success

Getting your AdWords campaigns seen by more prospects is a good thing, unless those prospects have very little chances of becoming customers.

That's where negative keywords can help.

Negative keywords instruct AdWords not to display your ads with specific search queries. They follow all the same rules of your standard keyword lists, meaning you can specify broad-, phrase- and exact-match negative keywords.
The only difference is you're filtering your audience rather than growing it.
If you're new to search advertising, you may be asking: "Don't more eyeballs on your ads eventually lead to more business on my website?"

Not always. Especially if you're showing your ads to the wrong people. Rather than get more conversions, you're likely to see a declining click-through rate and a rise in costs per click and end up paying more than you need to.

But fear not. By the end of this article, you'll understand the power of negative keywords and how to use them in your AdWords account. And more good news - you'll likely see an immediate boost in your conversion rate after implementing negative keywords.

What Exactly Are Negative Keywords?

Imagine you're launching an AdWords campaign for a hair salon. Your keyword list contains the phrase-match term "haircut" to make sure your ads are seen by folks searching for all kinds of haircut-related terms. But after a week of running ads, you realize a good portion of your clicks are from people searching for "dog haircuts," and not one of these people has visited the salon.

Clearly, this is a problem - but an easily fixable problem. Just go to your negative keyword list in AdWords and add the broad-match keyword "dog." Immediately, anyone searching for any variation of "dog haircuts" won't see your ads.

Then you can be proactive and take it a step further. Add "pet," "cat," "grooming" and other pet-related terms to your negative keyword list.  That will prevent your ads from showing for irrelevant search phrases.

How to Create Negative Keyword Lists

Building a negative keyword list is easy. You can do it at either the campaign or ad group level, and you'll end up using both options as you get more comfortable with using these keywords.

In scenarios like the "dog haircut" example above, a campaign-level negative keyword list would make more sense considering no part of the business caters to pet haircuts. If you're building campaigns for a multi-faceted business, then you may find ad-group level negative keyword lists to be more beneficial.

To create a negative keyword list, log into AdWords, click the Keywords tab and then click the Negative Keywords tab. Then simply add your negative keywords to either the "Ad group level" or "Campaign level" tables.

Benefits of Using Negative Keywords

Earlier in this article, we discussed why you need negative keywords for your campaigns to be successful. Now we'll go deeper into how negative keywords can help.

#1: Weed out shoppers looking for discount prices.

Online shoppers often search for discounts, coupons, free trials and other bargains. But what if your business doesn't offer discounts or coupons?
Bargain-hunters who click your ads are more likely to bounce if they don't find those deals.

If your business doesn't offer any discounts or coupons, you can eliminate this problem by adding "discounts," "coupons" and "free" to your campaign-level negative keyword list.

#2: Get the biggest bang from your ad budget.

Negative keywords filter out people who are most likely to click on your ads without becoming customers of your business. If you cut out those clicks, then you're instantly saving money! And if you don't trim your ad budgets, then you're essentially reinvesting that money to attract other prospects who are more likely to become customers. The result is more traffic with higher conversion rates, which means more profits without spending more money.

#3: Focus on buyer-oriented keywords.

Earlier, we mentioned how negative keywords can help prevent your ads from being shown to people who are doing research. This is important because folks who are researching goods and services are usually not ready to make purchases.

By adding keyword terms such as "compare," "what is" or "what are" to your negative keyword list, you'll immediately stop your ads from being shown to people who are most likely in research mode instead of shopper mode.

#4: Cut out non-consumers.

In addition to shoppers doing research before buying, some Web users who see your ads might not even be consumers at all. Consider again our hair salon example; in most cases, you wouldn't want your ads to be seen by unemployed hair stylists searching for "haircut jobs." Entering campaign-level negative keywords such as "jobs," "job openings," "careers," "part-time" and "internships" can keep your ads exclusive to consumers.

Conclusion

Negative keywords are often overlooked when you're just learning how to use AdWords. However, failing to use negative keywords can put a strain on your campaigns and drag down their performance, leading to frustration and unnecessary second-guessing. Always think carefully about negative keywords and use them with all of your new campaigns.

The good news is that even a few basic negative keywords can make a big difference. Just remember - success in AdWords isn't just about who sees your ads, but also who doesn't see your ads. Why waste money on clicks that don't convert? Fortunately, you don't have to.

3 SEO Lessons from the Presidential Election

As we approach the end of the presidential race, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve learned.  More specifically, what are the key takeaways that we can apply to our digital marketing?

 

That’s right, while you were watching the debates you were subconsciously learning about marketing. :)

 

In this article, I’ll walk through 3 of the SEO lessons you picked up along the way…

 

1. The Wisdom of the Crowd

We’re all familiar with how our presidents are elected in the United States.  On Election Day, we go to the polls and cast our vote.  Those votes are tallied up and the candidate with the most votes wins.

 

While this is not a perfect example, it does loosely follow the phenomenon known as the “wisdom of the crowd.”

 

Studies have shown that when you average the guesses, or votes, of a crowd you’ll end up very close to the correct answer.  The classic example is when a crowd of people try to guess the weight of a cow.  It turns out that the average of the weights guessed will be remarkably close to the actual weight.  You can learn more about this by reading The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

 

This is important to understand because Google uses this phenomenon to rank websites in their search engine.  Every time you use Google and click on the search results you’re casting a vote.  You’re either telling Google you like what you see on the first page or you don’t like what you see.  Over time, Google uses that data to ensure the best webpages show up at the top of the results.

 

Think about that for a minute.  You have the power to influence Google’s search results just like you have the power to influence the election!

 

2. The Skeletons In Your Closet

In politics, your past will certainly haunt you.  We’ve seen this time and time again during this election.  Every other day there’s a new audio recording of a candidate flip flopping on a key topic or a video revealing unsavory behavior.  I don’t even have to mention a specific example because we can all quickly think of a handful on our own.

 

Depending on the size of the skeleton in the closet, candidates can easily lose elections because of something they did or said in the past.

 

The same is true with SEO.  Just because you’re ranking well now doesn’t mean Google won’t eventually find a skeleton in your website’s closet.  For example, Google may discover that you paid for other websites to link to you.  Or maybe you created several websites that are using nearly identical website copy.  These tactics may go unnoticed for a while, but once Google finds out, your SEO candidacy can come to an end.

 

3. Reputation By Association

In politics, you need to be extra careful about who you hang out with and who you do business with.  Trump received a lot of backlash when he praised Putin and gave an impression that he and Putin were friends.  Then Hilary found herself under fire for receiving money from Morocco.

 

Both examples hurt the respective candidate’s reputation, and in turn, hurt their campaign.

 

Guess what, this can also happen with your SEO.  Google reviews the websites that are linking to you (and that you’re linking to) because those are your “online friends.”  If a lot of low quality (aka spammy) websites are linking to you, then that can hurt your website’s reputation, which in turn, will hurt your Google rankings!

7 AdWords Tips Google Doesn't Want You To Know

Paying more for the same service is never a good business practice.

 

Yet this happens all the time with Google AdWords. People who are new to AdWords set up campaigns and let them run, often with profitable results, but they don't realize they're massively overpaying for their clicks. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, they give up on campaigns that should be profitable when early results don't look good.

 

Either way, Google wins. The search giant makes more than $100 million from AdWords per day. And a good chunk of that cash is from advertisers who run inefficient campaigns.

 

Of course, you'd rather be increasing your profits rather than padding Google's pockets, and that's where we can help. Here we've compiled a list of tips that can help most advertisers optimize their campaigns and make better use of their budgets. Google probably wishes we'd keep these tips under wraps, but we won't lose any sleep over this - Google would do just fine without folks like you overpaying.

 

#1: Don't launch campaigns over the weekend

You can't properly optimize if you lack sufficient data. It's not only that you want to have lots of clicks to analyze, but you also need to have the right kinds of clicks in your campaigns.

 

For many businesses, most of your traffic will occur Monday through Friday, so you should launch new campaigns to get clicks on those days. That means you'd ideally want to start a campaign earlier in the week so you have time throughout the week to collect data. People behave differently when searching the Web on weekends, and you don't want these differences clouding your initial data.

 

#2: Spread the impressions around

In addition to collecting enough data, you also need to make sure your data is properly distributed among your ads. The temptation is to use the AdWords default option to "optimize for clicks," but doing this might cause more traffic to go to certain ads over others. In the first stages of optimizing, it's more important to spread out clicks so you give all ad variations a fair shot. Set ads in new campaigns to "rotate indefinitely."

 

#3:  Block bad Display Network placements

The Display Network is a great source of cheap, high-volume traffic. But if you're not careful, you'll end up paying for a ton of clicks that don't convert into leads and sales.

 

If your Display Network CTR is suffering, try running a Placement report in Google AdWords. This report will show which Display Network websites are showing your ads, as well as metrics such as impressions and conversions from each of those sites. Identify which websites don't send converting traffic and block them in your campaigns. Oftentimes, you'll find these websites have little to do with the goods and services you're marketing.

 

#4: Always split test new ads

A good online advertising strategy is always evolving. Riding the performance of a single high-performing ad is only a recipe for temporary success. Split testing at least two ads per ad group is essential for maintaining success and staying ahead of the curve.

 

Early on in your campaign, don't waste time split testing ads that are just slight variations of each other. Instead, write ads that employ different sales tactics. Try one ad that touts a benefit of what you're selling, then another that mentions your limited-time sale. You can also write ads that appeal to emotions using simple, powerful words such as "imagine" and "discover."

 

Don't instantly give up on ads that you're split testing. Go through your standard steps of optimization. That said, don't hesitate to shut down a struggling ad and replace it with something completely new.

 

#5: Check for landing page congruence

Do your ads make sense with your landing pages? If your ad makes a promise that isn't reflected by your landing page, then your conversion rate will certainly suffer. That's bad for ROI. Landing page congruence issues can become problematic if you've split testing numerous ads and drifted from your original concepts.

 

Landing page congruence is also important for design reasons, especially with campaigns for your mobile ads. Your landing page content could be perfect on desktops, but that doesn't matter if your targeting mobile devices and your mobile landing page isn't properly configured or designed.

 

#6: Create separate campaigns for your top keywords

Finding keywords that win big won't take long. These keywords are great for ROI, but bad for optimization as they'll dominate your clicks and your budget.

 

The solution? Run your proven keywords in their own separate campaigns. As you find more winners, move them over. You can pump up the budget for your winning keywords while spending less money on the rest (including new keywords you're testing).

 

#7: Check your Impression Share

Getting your ads seen can be difficult if you're marketing within a highly competitive niche. If you feel like your impressions are lower than they should be, then you can check your Impressions Share to learn how completely you're reaching your potential audience. Add this data to your AdWords account interface by clicking the Columns tab, then the "Customize columns" and "Competitive metrics" options.

 

To remedy a low impression share, either increase your bid or improve the quality of your campaign. Remember that low CTRs and landing page problems - usually either congruence or page load issues - can sink your campaigns' quality scores, resulting in more expensive costs and less-favorable ad placements.

 

Conclusion

Don't be too hasty when optimizing your campaigns. Take the time to dig into under-performing campaigns and find out exactly what's not working. In most cases, if you can isolate the problem, then you can also create a solution. However, don't be afraid to turn off under-performing ads and keywords. Run with what works while never stop looking for your next big winners.

The 6 Key Metrics to Track in Your Email Marketing

Email marketing can be powerful and far-reaching -- more people use email than Facebook and Twitter combined -- but you won't get far if you're going in blind.

Email marketing is like any other form of online marketing -- you'll only succeed if you optimize, and optimizing requires data. But which data should you track to learn the most about your campaigns?

The answer to that question depends on the goals of each of your email campaigns. If you're optimizing an email meant to generate sales, you'll look at different data than you would for an email meant to bring visitors to your blog. Keeping these goals in mind will eventually help you optimize more efficiently.

So where to begin?

In this post, I'll review 6 key metrics to track in your email marketing campaigns. I'll also explain how each metric can help to optimize emails with different goals.

Before Getting Started...

You can't collect the data you'll need until you create special tracking URLs through a Web analytics platform. I recommend Google Analytics, a powerful (and free) analytics tool.

In order to track traffic to your website from email campaigns, you'll need to use the URL Builder to create special tracking URLs.

With these tracking URLs installed, you'll see how email recipients react to your campaigns and interact with your website. Then you can really get your hands dirty.

Metric #1: Clickthrough Rate

Clickthrough rate, or CTR, is perhaps the most universally important metric worth tracking. Whether you're promoting a sale or registering subscribers for a webinar, you'll always want recipients to click on links or share buttons in your emails. Engaging email campaigns earn more clicks from recipients. If your CTR is unusually low, then you'll know your messaging needs work.

To calculate CTR, divide your total clicks by the number of emails that reached their destination. Then multiply the answer by 100.

Don't be surprised if your CTR seems low. A study by Hubspot.com found companies that send 16 to 30 emails per month see median clickthroughs of 6.5 percent (and that's twice the CTR of companies that launch just one or two email campaigns per month).

Metric #2: Conversion Rate

If CTR measures engagement, then conversions measure effectiveness.

If the goal of your campaign is to entice people to complete an action -- such as requesting a quote, downloading an e-book or making an online purchase -- then anyone who follows through counts as a conversion.  These actions can be tracked in Google Analytics by setting up Goals.

To calculate your conversion rate, divide the number of email recipients who completed their desired action by the total number of emails that reached their destination. Multiple the answer by 100.

Conversion rates will always be smaller than CTR. However, a strong CTR with a weak conversion rate usually means your offer or your landing page needs some TLC.

Metric 3: Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate

If the goal of your email campaign is to get people talking about your business, then you'll want to pay close attention to your email sharing and forwarding rate. This is a measurement of how many people click on "forward" or "share" buttons embedded in your email. Shares and forwards can help raise awareness of blogs and social media profiles, and they're great for organically advertising compelling services and sales.

To calculate this rate, divide the total number of clicks on share/forward buttons by the total number of emails you've delivered. Multiply the answer by 100.

Shares and forwards also usually bring new people to your email list. Also, this metric can help you understand which campaigns your customers find to be most compelling.

Metric #4: Bounce Rate

Are your emails reaching their intended targets? Although email marketing isn't as engaging as social media marketing, it's still powerful because emails reach their intended targets and have tremendous staying power.

Emails remain in inboxes until they're deleted, creating opportunities for reengagement.

Unless, of course, those emails bounce, meaning they can't be delivered to recipients' inboxes. These can be "soft" bounces -- temporary problems usually resulting from server problems -- or they can be "hard" bounces from email addresses no longer being valid. Too many hard bounces can cause your ISP to flag you as a spammer, which can harm your marketing efforts. Delete invalid email addresses from your lists as soon as you're made aware of them.

To calculate your bounce rate, divide the number of bounced emails by the total number of emails you've sent. Multiply the answer by 100.

Check your bounce rate if an email campaign surprisingly underperforms. You might find that a hardware issue, not a marketing issue, is impeding your efforts.

Metric #5: Growth Rate

Even with stellar CTRs and conversions, your efforts will eventually fizzle out if you're not adding new emails to your list. That's because your list will shrink over time as people get new email accounts, unsubscribe or flag your messages as spam. Your growth rate is the no-nonsense answer to whether you need to more urgently grow your list.

To calculate your growth rate, subtract the number of emails you've lost from your total new subscribers. Divide the answer by the total number of email addresses on your list, then multiply that answer by 100. Positive numbers are good; negative numbers, not so much.

Metric 6: ROI

Is your email marketing campaign profitable, or are you spinning your wheels? Calculating your ROI gives you the answer. You'll definitely need to outfit your emails with analytics tracking URLs in order to learn your overall ROI.

To calculate this metric, divide the amount of money earned by your campaign by the money you've invested in your campaign. Multiply the answer by 100 to get your return on investment. Don't expect all of your campaigns to be profitable right off the bat, especially if you don't have a sizeable email list. But keeping track of your ROI will help you stay within your email marketing budget.

Conclusion

Email marketing is powerful and effective, but only if you know how to optimize. The six metrics reviewed in this article are a great start. Become proficient in monitoring these metrics, and you can rest easier knowing whether your campaigns are hitting their targets.

Email Marketing Lessons from Trump & Clinton

With this year’s election, there sure is a lot to talk about.  It seems like every day we have some new gossip on Trump or Clinton.

But if you sift through all the noise, there’s actually a lot you can learn from this election - specifically with email marketing.  

In this article I’m going to dissect one email from each candidate so you can see what they’re doing right and where they could improve by incorporating email marketing best practices.

Neither candidate is perfect, but one is head and shoulders above the other from an email marketing perspective.  For both candidates, we’ll review a few of the most critical elements of email marketing:

• From name
• Subject line
• Personalization
• Call to action

Let’s start by reviewing an email from Clinton…

The Clinton Email Example

The From name for the Clinton emails is “Hillary Clinton” so the emails appear to be sent from Hillary herself.  This follows email marketing best practices because the email looks personal, which helps increase the open rate (number of people that open the email versus ignore it).

The Subject line for this particular email is “Let me know when your birthday is.”  This is a missed opportunity, which likely hurt the open rate for this email campaign.  There’s no benefit in the Subject line and no compelling reason to open the email.

A much more compelling Subject would have been “I want to send you a gift” since that’s ultimately what the email was about.  Who wouldn’t open an email from Hillary Clinton that said she wants to send you a gift?  Nobody is the answer.

Now on to personalization…  This is again where Clinton’s email falls short. The email is addressed to “Friend” so right away it smells like a generic, mass email (aka “junk mail”).  

Finally, the Call to Action is a button that says “Get a note.”  Since when is a “note” exciting?  It’s not and that’s why this is a weak Call to Action that likely did not get a high click-through rate.

Now let’s review the Trump email example...

The Trump Email Example

Again, the From name is the candidate’s name, in this case Donald J. Trump so it looks like a personal email from Mr. Trump himself.  

The Subject line in this example email is “Hilllary - I’m coming for you.”  In no way is this boring like the Hillary example above.  When you read this Subject you feel like you’re in the middle of a debate fight and you almost can’t resist the urge to open the email to read more.

In other words, Trump’s email creates curiosity which is one of the best ways to get more of your emails opened.

Once you open this email you’re instantly addressed by your first name, which makes it feel like Trump is speaking directly to you.  Plus, midway in the email Trump addresses you by name a second time.  Everyone loves to hear (or read) their name and repeating it throughout an email is a proven way to increase response rates.

Finally, Trump’s Call to Action is a button that says “Contribute $$$ to win.”  It doesn’t just say “Contribute $$$” which is the most obvious Call to Action. Instead, Trump added a benefit to the Call to Action to emphasize why it’s important to take action.  It’s not about contributing, which benefits Trump; it’s about being a part of the winning team.

What Did We Learn?

By reviewing each candidate's email we learned that Trump’s marketing team has done a better job with email marketing compared to Clinton’s marketing team.  

However, with just a few tweaks Clinton’s team can dramatically improve their email performance.  They need to use compelling Subject lines that encourage more opens, include personalization throughout the emails, and highlight the benefit in the Call to Action.  

Remember these examples when you’re drafting your next email campaign. Small edits to each of the key elements highlighted above can make a huge difference in the success of your email marketing.