new_conversion_chasers

3 Ways Pinterest Can Maximize Brand Exposure!

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 23:48:34 GMT

Pinterest is one of the most effective image-based marketing platforms to use for brand exposure. If you're interested in exploring how Pinterest can help you attract new customers, keep reading to learn more!

#1 - Pinterest Growth Rate

The first way Pinterest can be used to maximize your brand exposure is by leveraging the platforms substantial amount of growth in new users. The reason for the massive growth is due to Pinterest not only being a social media platform, but also a trusted and world wide based community for users to find new products and discover new brands.

Pinterest is referred to as a "visual search engine" which has attracted over 320 millio n monthly new users to the the platform and has been around since 2010 and has reached 10 million monthly users within the first two years of starting the platform. Pinterest is a traffic gold-mine when it comes to finding users, getting brand exposure, and has many opportunities to grow your traffic to any of your social media platforms through 'pins'. A pin is the content that you're sharing in the form of photos or videos. Users can follow you, they can comment on your pin, they can save a pin to their board, they can share your pin and they can click on the link associated with the pin which drives automatic traffic to your website, YouTube channel, landing page, etc.

Image from Unsplash.com

Pinterest is the only social media platform that has visual search . By having picture options through pins, users can save your pins to their boards.

Furthermore, Pinterest audiences, known as "pinners" are not just looking at your pins, but they are also able to save your pin into their profile to go to. If the pin is informational and draws enough interest to the user, they will click that pin. This pin can store a link that leads consumers to your website, products, YouTube channel, social media platforms, or even landing pages. This helps users discover inspiration content and will save ideas to their boards and visit your website to read more info about the topic that the pin invited them to learn about/interested them about. This leaves room for organic growth by other people following that user and having your pin show up on their pin-feed. In fact, 84% of pinners use Pinterest as a way to help them with their purchasing decisions, and follow others who have similar interests.

Pinterest is a good search engine platform that you want to take advantage of and invest your time for long-term success . Each pin you save on the platform can be found on Pinterest years after you publish the pin which can build momentum and continue to fill your pipeline up with organic traffic growth.

Pinterest monthly active users is continuing to rise with over 442 million monthly active users . Pinterest can be used as an advantage to get your business or brand more visibility by leveraging pins to not only grow your Pinterest channel growth, but also lead traffic to your other channels mentioned above.

In fact, according to Social SnapShot down below, Pinterest monthly active users is continuing to rise showing a clear trend in new users adopting the platform.

"SearchEngineLand.com"

I have used Pinterest to leverage traffic for my personal brand to my blogs. Down below is an example of one of my pins I created to drive traffic to a specific blog on my website.

I also drive organic traffic through 'video pins' on Pinterest that directly link to my YouTube channel. Users are able to still stay on the Pinterest platform while watching your video pin which is a great benefit for easy browsing.

I gained 100+ followers within the first month I started Pinterest and am still seeing strong growth continue daily. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest if you are interested in learning more about freelancing, making money online, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle freedom. Or even if you are needing some pin inspiration for your business.

Any niche can leverage this visual search engine platform such as: Online marketers, stay at home moms, freelancers, copywriters, food bloggers, and more!

The goal on Pinterest is to attract people to your content/product. You can also organize your pins by creating a board for different types of targeted users. By being able to create different types of boards, you can gain and leverage more traffic by attracting a wider audience. That’s why I recommend Pinterest for growing your brand and gaining exposure.

#2 - Pinterest Is A Diverse Search Engine Platform

Pinterest has attracted a worldwide diverse audience base which makes it an attractive choice for brands who want more exposure. More than two-thirds of Pinterest’s user base are women, and 8 out of 10 moms are pinners . There are also more than 20% of men who make up Pinterest’s ad audience.

In fact Pinterest quoted:

"We aspire to build a product that the entire world can use. No matter where you live or what your background is, we want you to be able to discover the inspiration you need for your life."

Pinterest roled out a New Update on their Employee Diversity. They wanted their employees to be a more diverse and inclusive variety of people within their company, and the impacts that those efforts have had on all their product decisions. Quoted by Pinterest :

"We’re creating a company that includes all people, and building a product that reflects our diverse population of 440+ million Pinners."

Pinterest has also released a gender transition guide here . Pinterest quotes:

"Making Pinterest’s employee culture safe and supportive for people who are transitioning is an important part of living our values. We are deeply committed to creating and sustaining a work environment where everyone - regardless of sex, gender or gender identity - feels valued."

See how Pinterest is building a more diverse platform here .

Pinterest efforts to make this a more friendlier and diverse platform has also helped the search results for specific types and cultural product needs which helps get your brand in front of the right type of audience.

Image from Pinterest diversity article

This diverse platform also has no limits and is a promotion friendly platform meaning you can post as multiple different pins everyday to generate more exposure for your brand.

In fact, with Pinterest it is actually encouraged that you post a lot of pins. According to pro marketing online “The maximum pin frequency should be about 25 pins per day.“ Pinterest is not limiting when it comes to brand exposure and posting.

Another important thing to know with Pinterest is this platform extends "pins shelf life." This means your content is never limited, where as with Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter your content is limited exposure to maybe showing up a few days , even a few hours before it becomes lost in the sea of other content. However, In Pinterest your content doesn’t get lost, it actually gets refreshed and repurposed . Your pins can be found years later.

Pinterest is the third largest social media network in the United States. You’ll even see when you go to search something on google, many times you’ll see Pinterest be one of the very top results, and gives users the chance to discover your pinterest board and to follow you, to comment on your pin, share your pin.

Users on Pinterest also have the ability to search using the search engine bar on top.

If you make the title of your pin SEO friendly along with using hashtags and a keyword rich description, your pin will be found organically as well. On top of that, you can be found throughout all of the internet through searched links. Pinterest ranks #1 with pins on top of most search engine searches with products, and quotes.

If you’re not using Pinterest's search engine platform to boost your brand exposure to its fullest extent, then you are missing out on a lot of organic reach worldwide.

#3 - Pinterest Advertising

In addition to posting pins that users can find organically through search and discovery, you can also run paid ads on the platform as well. Ads show up on users' feeds and searches in the same format as a regular Pin. This presents a large potential reach when you create ads tailored specifically to individual Pinterest audiences.

Down below I listed the different ways you can advertise on Pinterest through the form of Pins, Carousels, Video Pins and Promoted App Pins. Also read each definition to identify which form of Ad type you want to leverage on Pinterest for your business.

Pins - According to Google "Pins are bookmarks that people use to save ideas they love on Pinterest. People can search them, save the ones they like and click on a Pin to learn more. As a business, you can create Pins to exhibit your products and ideas, and you can link them back to your website."

Carousels- According to Google: " A carousel is a Pin with multiple images. Carousels are a great way to showcase different features of a product, advertise multiple products at once, or tell your brand story in chapters. People see the carousel in their home feed just like any other Pin."

Video Pins- According to Google: "Video ads play when they come into view in a person's home feed. Viewers can tap on the video to play it in a larger view, replay it, or play it with audio. Video ads are available for brand awareness, video views, consideration, and conversions campaign objectives."

Promoted App Pins- According to Google: "Pinterest's advertisements are known as Promoted Pins, which are image-based posts that users can save to their boards like any other pin. 61 percent of Pinterest users say that they've found new brands and products via Promoted Pins, and half of them say that a Promoted Pin inspired them to make a purchase."

Pinterest Advertising Is Booming - As the continued trend of advertisers are boycotting Facebook and Instagram, this leaves marketers looking for alternative platforms to advertise on. Companies are starting to discover Pinterest as being a very beneficial brand exposure platform that is known for being "brand-safe". An increasingly more important issue.

“There are now 335 million people who use Pinterest every month. That’s huge, but for comparison, Facebook has nearly 2.5 billion monthly active users “

(- H ootsuite pinterest stats )

Pinterest offers a more fresh platform where advertisers can get more brand exposure, and feel like their ad money is actually going to gain traction and eventually turn into revenue. In fact, your dream customers are people who use Pinterest because they use this platform with intent to shop. Pinterest is a platform where people get inspired and buy stuff, hence the name P- interest. This channel is built for buyers to explore and get visually attracted to pins to check out the product displayed.

Pinterest users spend 27% more per click - meaning your Pinterest ads or Promoted Pins are being shown to a responsive audience . Implementing a paid advertising strategy for Pinterest can help improve brand recognition as well as encourage direct action from customers.

According to H ootsuite stats “Some 84% of weekly users use Pinterest to help decide what to buy. Another stat states that over 55% of Pinners are specifically looking for products. And 83% of weekly users have made a purchase based on content they see from brands on Pinterest.”

All of the benefits described above is why Pinterest is becoming the best alternative platform to run paid ads on. It’s never been a better time to try a new platform for advertising and gaining additional brand exposure.

Pinterest offers plenty of unique opportunities for businesses and brands to generate new opportunities through advertising promoted pins. If you don’t have a business account and are not running any Pinterest Ads yet, I encourage you to try it out for your business and see what it can do for you!

In Conclusion

Pinterest has millions of users from all over the world. The best part is that many of them use Pinterest specifically to buy something or to discover new products. This is an excellent platform for niche brands that can help you reach out to the right audience at the right time (when they are making decisions and looking for inspiration).

Pinterest users are dedicated shoppers, so the right marketing strategy has the ability to increase your sales and bring you recurring monthly customers. You can also use Pinterest to inspire your audience in their daily lives through your pin content and establish a strong brand image in the online community.

Now that you know how much Pinterest can maximize your brand exposure, it’s time to set up your business account, start to pin away, and watch traffic begin to flood in.

Why Content Creation is Vital for Businesses Moving Forward

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 18:31:41 GMT

There has been a major shift in people’s lives with the advancement of technology.

This change is being leveraged by businesses as well. Every single day, more business owners are going online and adapting to these new changes digitally.

Keep reading down to uncover ways you can use content creation to get your business more traffic and leads.

Content creation is most powerful when combined with social media platforms. This makes businesses more compelling, valuable, and relevant to their targeted audience.

That's exactly why creating content should be a top priority in order to increase the amount of traffic coming to your website and build credibility.

What is Content Creation?

"Content creation is the contribution of information to any media and most especially to digital media for an end-user/audience in specific contexts." Wikipedia

When done well, content creation is an effective way to generate leads, increase revenue, and maximize brand awareness in the marketplace.

Content is meant to provide attention grabbing value to your target audience at no cost.

By providing free content, this helps businesses build trust and authority within their niche so leads can turn into customers down the line.

In order to build more trust you need to ensure your brand is getting in front of your potential customers by posting different forms of content on all the popular platforms where they are hanging out.

In addition to the reasons listed above, content creation is also important because:

“The market is majoritized by millennials and Gen-Z who make up the most amount of today’s purchasers.” SFGATE.com

The younger demographic enjoys content in the form of photos, videos, podcasts, memes, gifs, quotes, etc, so it's important to remember this when creating your content.

Once a piece of content is created, the next step is to distribute it across all channels and mediums that make sense for your business, including:

Emails
Blogs
Facebook
Linked In
YouTube
Instagram
Twitter
Snapchat
And more

All of these platforms and channels require you to post consistently in order to maximize your exposure and get into a good position with their algorithm.

Once you show the algorithm you are consistent and are getting engagement, you will be able to get in front of more potential customers.

Why Content Creation Is More Important Now Than Ever Before

Businesses should be using content creation now more than ever because it is the ultimate inbound marketing practice.

When businesses create engaging content, they are providing free and useful information to their audience, attracting potential customers to their website, and are able to retain existing customers through ongoing touch points.

Since everyone has had more time in-doors this year, internet usage has skyrocketed, but the amount of foot traffic to physical stores has decreased.

People now have the option to order from their computer instead of going to the store.

People buy from brands and companies they know, like, and trust.

One popular way to stay on top of your customers minds and build trust, is to re-purpose content for different platforms.

This can be accomplished by using the same main message and creating different formats to be shared on every medium possible. This is the best way to be omni-present and build up an online reputation.

For example, if you have a 10 minute long YouTube video, you can post a 30 second long clip on FB, a photo on Instagram, and a link in your email by re-purposing the same piece of content!

With all the competition in the marketplace, it's the businesses that commit to creating quality content on a consistent basis that will not only survive, but thrive.

The Power of Content Creation

Content creation is the most efficient and impactful way to connect with both your potential and existing customers.

People are using the internet to:

Interact with each other
Learn
Search content
Share information
Be entertained
Buy Stuff

Having easy to find content on social media gives you a huge advantage over the competition.

Once you have proven your free content is valuable to your audience, a percent of those people will start to land on your website and be willing to pay for your products and services.

In Conclusion

There’s no better way to connect with people than by using content creation and content marketing.

Even with everything going on this year, one thing still remains...

The internet’s power to connect people.

You can use this to your advantage and to get your message out there.

The more your message and vision reaches people, the more success you will start to see in whichever business venture you are working on.

Why Call Tracking Is So Important For Businesses

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 16:37:50 GMT

In this blog we are going to be breaking down the 5 W’s of Call Tracking.

W ho? - Who Can Benefit From Using Call Tracking?
What? - What Is Call Tracking Software?
Where? - Where Can I Use Call Tracking?
When? - When Can I Use Call Tracking?
Why? - Why Should I Use Call Tracking?

Who Can Benefit From Using Call Tracking?

A wide array of businesses can benefit from tracking where phone calls originated from, including:

Marketing Agencies
Service Companies
Small Businesses
Online Lead Driven Businesses

The days of offline advertising that you can’t track (billboards or TV commercials) are gone! As the shift to digital advertising continues, more companies are realizing one of the biggest advantages is the power to track their exact return on investment.

With the correct analytics, conversion tracking, and call tracking software set up, any business with a phone number can now track exactly where every phone call came from. Whether that was a direct visit to the website, an organic search, or from a paid ad campaign.

By discovering how your most qualified leads are finding your business, you can then tailor your marketing efforts and budget accordingly. Call tracking is changing the way companies track and attribute success to both their organic and paid campaigns because it goes a step further than ever before.

Without call tracking software enabled, if someone clicks on your ad and then dials in from the phone number on your website, that would not have counted as a conversion. However, with call tracking set up, you can track the entire customer journey and ensure you have all the data needed to properly optimize your campaigns.

Implementing this powerful attribution software into your data stack will allow you to accurately track the performance from all mediums, including:

Your Social Media Campaigns
Your Email Campaigns
Your Online Advertising Campaigns
And much more

For fellow marketers it allows you to demonstrate the amazing results that your ad campaigns generate. If you are running a business that relies on phone calls and you are not tracking them properly, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to improve.

By understanding whether a call came from:

An Organic Search
A Social Media Referral
A Specific Paid Keyword
An Email Marketing Campaign

You can then make informed optimizations on where to focus your efforts as well as investments. Without proper attribution setup, you will always be shooting in the dark and hoping you spend your time, energy, and money in the right places.

In addition, call tracking software has the ability to record each phone call so you can qualify each lead as well as help train your sales team based on live recordings. Many platforms are now implementing machine learning AI which can transcribe the calls and automatically tell if it was a quality lead or not.

What Is Call Tracking Software?

S o what exactly is call tracking software and how does it work? For this example, let’s go with our preferred call tracking partner, CallRail.

It’s a really simple tool that is installed by simply adding a piece of code to your website. This piece of code swaps out your phone number with a range of tracking numbers which route back to your businesses actual phone number.

When a lead dials the new tracking number, CallRail forwards the call to your real phone number and you answer your main phone as you would normally do. This allows you to track where every single call originated from as well as record each call for quality control.

CallRail gathers statistics in real-time so you can check your results online whenever you need which helps you be able to make more optimized and faster marketing decisions.

When testing out a new campaign, you can see the performance and quality of each phone call which enables you to make informed changes to your:

Budget
Targeting
And keywords in less time

CallRail also provides essential information about what medium your leads are coming from, what geographic area they are in, their name, as well as the length and recording of each call.

Listening to the recordings of every call also gives you the ability to listen back on conversations which helps you improve your skills on the phone. On the other hand, if you manage a team it will provide a clear path for training purposes to help improve your closing rates.

Where Can You Use Call Tracking?

You can use call tracking ANYWHERE . Not only can CallRail be used on your website, but it can also be used on:

Your Website
Your Ad Extensions
Your Email Campaigns
Your Google Business Listing
Your Offline Campaigns
And more!

This means that you can track calls from anywhere you display your company phone number. For example, if you run an email marketing campaign you can use a specific CallRail tracking number to directly measure and track the results and performance from that campaign.

It’s truly astonishing how many companies spend their hard-earned money and invest their precious time into building very well thought out campaigns but don’t set up the tracking to measure their results!

When Can I Use Call Tracking?

If you own a business or work for one that relies on phone calls then it is highly encouraged that you use call tracking software such as CallRail RIGHT NOW! You can start tracking and getting leads with local and toll-free numbers immediately with thousands of tracking phone numbers spread throughout the U.S & Canada.

It doesn’t matter if you are driving traffic to your website through content creation, search engine optimization, paid advertising, or social media marketing.

What matters is that you have the tools in place to measure your results properly so you can analyze your data accurately and then make informed decisions.

Why Should I Use CallRail?

CallRail is one of the fastest growing private companies because it gives businesses the power to harness accurate data which is vital in today’s online marketplace.

Another reason why CallRail is the best choice for your call tracking needs is because they have different plans available based on what you need to track. For example, if your business also relies on website form submissions, they give a way to track those leads as well.

No matter what type of business you are in, it’s important to be able to track and see:

What Is Capturing The Attention Of Leads And Getting Them To Convert
How Leads From Different Mediums Are Behaving
The Quality Of Leads Coming From Organic & Paid Advertising Campaigns

According to Element IQ:

“Call tracking provides you with data that shows which marketing efforts are driving calls to your business. If you don't track calls, you might not be tracking up to 80% of your conversions.”

By using CallRail you will have access to accurate data which allows you to better understand your consumers on a deeper level. Knowledge is power.

With the right knowledge of how your campaigns are performing you can drive more conversions and ultimately help your business expand to the next level.

Need help getting started with CallRail? Schedule time to talk today!

How to Profit Using YouTube Ads

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 19:22:28 GMT

YouTube is one of the Most Underrated Platforms to Advertise On!

With over 1.5 billion active users, YouTube is a powerful and effective way to get your business to grow and gain clients fast and cost-efficiently. Not only is it an affordable alternative to television ads, but you can also reach a much more targeted audience.

The way the world consumes content is rapidly evolving with more people accessing Youtube on all their devices as opposed to cable. This means they are ready to come across your advertisement!

Youtube ads are often much cheaper than any other paid traffic channel. In-stream video views typically cost under five cents a view which makes it a great fit for building brand awareness at an extremely cost-effective price. If you are a business owner looking to get your company known, Youtube ads are the way to go!

Build Your Personal Brand

Another way to leverage YouTube ads is by building your personal brand. Personal branding is a marketing practice that promotes you and your skills as a brand, which you can then use to increase your exposure.

YouTube has several different advertising formats you can use such as TrueView in-stream ads and bumper ads. In-stream ads are skippable video advertisements that occur either before a video has begun or during the video. They run off of a cost per view model where you get charged per each qualified view.

Bumper ads are a non-skippable ad format that occurs before a video and are charged by CPM (cost per thousand people reached) rather than per individual view.

Once you begin to dig into the details, its obvious that YouTube is a very powerful way to communicate your personal brand to a mass audience because they can get a sense of who you are. Gaining a sense of relatability through your videos will help you build trust with your audience and can also give viewers a more in-depth look into what you offer and why you are unique.

Leverage The New Way to Watch TV

If you are an advertiser looking for the newest method to reach a mass audience, YouTube is one of the biggest advertising platforms in the world. Studies show that people are consuming more content than ever, however, how they do so is evolving.

Rather than flicking on traditional cable, people are now accessing YouTube on their mobile phones, tablets, and television sets through video game consoles.

To stay relevant, advertisers need to stay on the most popular platform to deliver the best content and reach the most people consistently. YouTube is the best way to accomplish that moving into 2020.

Reach Your Target Audience Using YouTube Ads

Demographics

YouTube gives advertisers the ability to show relevant ads to your targeted audience. There are many different types of ways to reach your audience, with the most common and well-known being through demographic targeting. Using demographic targeting allows you to target or exclude:

Age Ranges
Genders
Household Income
Parental Status

To get even more specific, you can use combinations of the above demographics to show ads to the people most likely to take action and purchase.

Topics, Placements, & Keywords

Contrary to demographic targeting where you show ads to specific sets of people on YouTube, a way to control what content your ads show on is through topics, placements, and keyword targeting. By selecting specific topics and keywords that are relevant to your users as well as specific YouTube channels you can control where your ads show on YouTube.

Think of it as showing ads during a television program. You want to show ads on channels and topics where your customers are likely to be spending time online. This method of targeting is a sniper approach to YouTube advertising. When using topics and placement targeting, costs are dependent on what channels you advertise on and the popularity of that placement. For example, to show ads on top channels that have millions of subscribers you will be spending more compared to smaller less popular channels.

Audiences

Using audiences to target users on YouTube harnesses the power of machine learning and demographics to show ads to very specific groups of potential customers. When using audience targeting, there are many different ways to create groups of people you want to advertise to, including:

Retargeting & Similar Audiences
In-Market & Custom Intent Audiences
Affinity & Custom Affinity Audiences

Creating Effective YouTube Ads Has Never Been Easier!

Working with a digital marketing team that understands how to properly set up and manage YouTube ads can get your business in front of your local market and dramatically increase exposure.

Filming and launching a YouTube ad campaign doesn't have to be a difficult process. Unlike filming a TV commercial, a YouTube ad can be filmed in a few hours with the help of a local videographer. From there, video editing and campaign creation are all handled for you while you focus on your business.

Need help getting started with YouTube ads? Schedule time to talk today!

4 Reasons To Diversify Your Marketing Channels

Wed, 26 Jun 2019 16:48:01 GMT

#1 Reach Your Target Market

One of the best ways that can help you grow your business and online presence is through diversification of your marketing channels. By marketing your business on multiple channels and tailoring your message for each, you are able to reach your customers where they hang out online along the entire buyer's journey.

Pinpointing what audience you’re trying to reach is the first important step towards creating a buyer persona so you can market accordingly. Now that you know who your target audience is for your marketing channels, the next questions is how to best reach them and spark engagement?

It’s imperative to know where your targeted audience is consuming their content so you can enhance your brand presence. This will allow you to save time and avoid wasteful spending by just reaching your audience on the right platforms and not wasting money on irrelevant eyeballs.

Secondly, Your advertisements need to speak to your customer and their specific needs. Your potential buyers need to know what you can do for them and how it’ll make their lives better and simpler by having your product or service in their life.

Advertising your company with the proper creative images, videos, copywriting and tone will help establish brand awareness and later on help develop trust and credibility. It is essential to do this for your future success and growth by expanding your reach to diversify your marketing channels.

A good advertising strategy incorporates the right graphics, phrases, pictures, and call to action can help you expand your reach and stand out in today's crowded marketplace. By correctly implementing a diversified digital marketing plan you can expand your business and secure your future growth regardless of industry changes.

#2 Tailor & Test Your Content Across Each Platform

The next reason you should diversify your marketing channels is to ensure you are getting the best ROI possible. Whether that be your return on ad spend, or return on time making content. Either way it's important to consistently test your content across all platforms to discover where you see the best success.

Facebook - By expanding your reach to different platforms like Facebook, you can accumulate more notices and shares for your business. Split testing allows advertisers to easily build multiple ad sets to test their performance and see which one works better. You can also broadcast live stream on Facebook to get more engagement and foster an emotional connection with your audience. Facebook is also a good platform to reach your audience because it has two billion active users daily giving you more opportunity for notice and getting their foot in the door with your business. Believe it or not, according to Facebook they have 1.3 billion monthly users and 2 billion messages are sent between businesses on messenger each month. Although Facebook has evolved into aa densely populated marketplace and certain targeting options are now more difficult, it's no question you need to be using Facebook to reach your potential customers where they spend their time.

Facebook is great for social interaction, personalization, building trust, and video ads to best reach more of your targeted audience.

YouTube - Technically the world's second biggest search engine, the YouTube platform can help your brand grab the attention of your targeted audience. Videos have been proven to provide increased engagement compared to text or photos alone. This is also confirmed by every social media platform adjusting their algorithms to enhance video content. It makes sense because TV views have been declining massively and Youtube is skyrocketing. By creating engaging videos you can best reach your audience and demonstrate what you can do for them and what your business has to offer.

Youtube Advertising is another extremely cost effective way to reach your target market through demographic, custom affinity, geographic, and in market targeting. A great YouTube ad will grab the attention of your customer, provide perceived value, and get them to take action. YouTube is one of the most underused mediums which makes it a great place to begin when you diversify your marketing channels.

YouTube is a powerful tool for brand awareness and building an emotional connection with your audience.

Instagram - Instagram is another top channel to promote your brand and increase visibility. You can easily reach your target audience by sharing photos with eye-catching captions and using relevant hashtags. Instagram is also a powerful platform to create partnerships with influencers and collaborate with other brands. Instagram should be used as a tool for strategic communication to promote your products or services and strengthen the relationship with your customers. Instagram stories are also another good strategy to reach the masses. By using these 24 hour stories you have the opportunity to interact more deeply with your audience, spark greater engagement and be able to stay on the top of their newsfeed.

Instagram is useful to promote creative content and collaborate with others in your industry.

Google Ads - The Google Ads platform is an extremely powerful tool that allows you the most targeted way to reach your intended audience. It consists of the Google Search Network which is the sponsored desktop and mobile search engine results. The Google Shopping Network which are the products you see when searching on Google. The Google Display Network which is the image and text ads commonly used for retargeting you will see across the web, and the YouTube Ads platform which serves video ads before and during videos. To get the best results it's vital to use the above networks with a well thought out marketing strategy, call to action, offer, and landing page designed for conversions. The best place to start is by conducting market research to discover what others in your industry or niche are doing and what is your best path towards reaching success. Remember, Google Ads is not a set it and forget it type of platform. To create the maximum return on your investment you or your digital marketing agency must be constantly monitoring and optimizing each campaign.

No matter which network you advertise on, using Google Ads is a great PPC platform because it delivers a measurable ROI and grants you multiple ways to diversify your marketing channels all within a single robust platform.

#3 Get The Edge On Your Competition

Leveraging multiple marketing channels allows you to see where you get the best results and get a leg up on your competition. When you advertise and put yourself out there you are reaching more potential customers and constantly putting your brand in front of targeted eyes. If you notice their is a platform that your competition doesn’t utilize that could be a great opportunity to diversify and gain market share.

Be confident with your content and what you can bring to the table for your customers.

You will not get results if you don’t leverage multiple platforms and set realistic goals for your business to achieve. It is normal to fear your business will go unnoticed, which is why it's imperative to rise out of obscurity and be successful. Every business owner has to deal with obscurity, especially in the early stages of their business.

When creating content and promoting across different channels, think of how your product or service provides value to your customers. Highlight your competitive advantages and promote what sets you apart from others in your business space.

When it comes to creating content it often falls on the bottom rungs of the to do list. Don’t hesitate, just take action! You are not only hurting yourself if you hold back on marketing your business, but you are also hurting your potential customers that missed out and can’t gain value from your business! There are many different ways to market your business and get the word out. Find out which platforms work best for you and start promoting today.

#4 Diversify Now to Avoid Disasters Later!

Lastly, if disaster strikes, all your eggs won't be in one basket!

What works now might not work later. You should have multiple income flows and backups. By putting all your eggs in one basket you are at risk by being overly reliant on a single income on one channel that could be shut down within the next year. You’ll also be selling yourself short by only promoting your business on a single marketing channel.

If you’ve made videos for Facebook, repurpose them for Youtube, embed them into a blog, or blast them through an email campaign. This will help you reach your target audience across their entire user journey on multiple platforms. It will also allow you to be in the right place at the right time when customers are ready to take action and make a purchase.

Ever hear the saying change is the only constant? It applies especially in the digital marketing world. That’s why it is important to diversify your marketing channels to avoid disaster and enhance your life and business!

The Importance of Using Negative Keywords

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 19:48:10 GMT

Discover the power negative keywords have on your PPC campaigns

Why Use Negative Keywords?

If you are running (or planning on running) PPC ads on the Google Search or Bing Search networks, adding negative keywords is a crucial step in ongoing management. For campaigns containing phrase match, broad match modified, or broad match keywords, there is a large possibility that you are wasting money on unrelated clicks. These keyword match types can still prove to be a valuable tool for you to reach a wider audience that's still related if you follow the tips below.

You can benefit from determining which types of words and search terms are irrelevant to your company and don't add value. From there, begin to compile these into an ongoing negative keyword list which you can apply to specific ad groups, or the campaign as a whole. Some of the most common negative keywords to add right from the start can be added to a shared keyword list which can be applied across your account.

However, that is just the beginning. Consistency is the name of the game here and by adding irrelevant and unrelated keywords you will ensure you only spend on terms that are most likely to lead to a conversion.

Monitor & Analyze Search Terms

The search terms tab is an extremely important place to monitor and analyze on a regular basis. Here, you can see the exact search terms which triggered each ad to show as it relates to the keywords in their respective campaign. As you begin to sort through these on a regular basis, you might be surprised that you are literally throwing money in the garbage for searches that add zero value to your brand or company.

One of the major money wasters is people searching for unrelated locations.

For example, let's say you run a car wash in Tampa, FL. You are running a Google Search campaign with phrase match keywords such as "car wash" targeting people within a 5 mile radius. If John lives in Tampa but works in Saint Pete, he might end up conducting a Google Search from home because he wants to get a car wash after work.

If he happens to search "car wash saint pete" and click on your ad that comes up you just wasted money on that click. This can be resolved by adding 'saint pete' and all its variations as negative keywords in the campaign. Put yourself in the users perspective when building out your keyword and negative keyword lists to be sure you cover all the bases.

Negative Keyword Match Types

Just like with normal keywords, negative keywords also play by the rules of "match types". It is crucial that you completely understand the impact each different match type has.

Avoid Wasted PPC Spend at All Costs!

One of the most common things we see when auditing PPC accounts is wasted spend due to lack of negatives. You may be targeting awesome keywords, but if you are not staying on top of your search terms serious money could be getting spent on unrelated searches.

Even more important than the money lost is the opportunity cost. Instead of spending on irrelevant clicks, that money could have been allocated towards what ACTUALLY IS working in the campaign.

Often times a campaign has a handful of top performers and a plethora of underperforming ones. By identifying the strategy that adds the most value to your business and placing the focus on that, the more success you will achieve.

Are You Leaving Money On The Table?

3 Ways To Optimize The User Journey

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 18:00:28 GMT

Use These Simple Tactics To Increase Your Conversion Rates!

The user journey is the steps a person takes once they have come in contact with your brand and ends when they have completed the valuable call to action you are providing. Since consumers have more options than every before and endless information at their finger tips, it's imperative to define a clear user journey and design your marketing campaigns and website to be congruent with it.

Below we will outline the top 3 tips you can use today to optimize your specific user journey.

#1 - Communicate Your Brand's Story

A successful marketing strategy successfully communicates your brand's compelling story to the correct target audience. This begins from the first touch point a potential customer has with your business, and ends when a user gets to your website and converts. Along that timeframe users will have multiple touch points as they decide if your product or service is a good fit for them . By keeping a consistent storyline across all of your advertisements and on your website, users will begin to associate your brand as solving a specific problem of theirs.

After identifying the problem you solve and how it differs from the competition, the last step is to instill trust. Customer testimonials are awesome at building a human connection and adding a tangible layer of reliability. Words and photo's are a great start, but nothing beats a customer filmed testimonial video. Don't have fancy camera equipment? No worries! The smartphone in your pocket today has an incredible camera you should be capitalizing on; which leads us to our next point...

#2 - Use Video Along The Customer Journey!

It's no secret, people prefer to consume video content more than they prefer to read. Video's also helps by building subconscious human connection which results in building TRUST and CREDIBILITY. It does so by creating a relatable and emotional connection on both the conscious and subconscious level. Our brains are designed to recognize faces which immediately personalizes your user journey, whether they recognize it happening or not.

According to Hubspot's "The State of Video Marketing in 2018"

" Consumers love video.

It's probably unsurprising, but video seems to add tremendous value to our experience as customers, too ...

Where both video and text are available on the same page, 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service."

If you'd like to learn more about the rise of video, check out our "Video Advertising for YouTube & Beyond" blog post.

#3 - Have Crystal Clear CTA's (Call To Action)

Users need to be guided in the right direction on their journey. Tell them what to do by presenting their options simply. Websites that are not structured properly and have no clear path for someone to take often lead to a high bounce rate. Don't fall victim! Fix that by implementing multiple CLEAR call to actions along the entire customer journey.

Some are ready to convert right away, you should let them (ex: have them call you), while others are looking for more trust building and take more time to nurture. Gently push them along the user journey by building trust (such as through reviews & videos as mentioned above) and then at the end, be sure to have a clear call to action for them to take.

There should be no question on the users part what the next step for them is. Having a main CTA and a secondary CTA is also an effective strategy worth exploring depending on your business. For example, if you run a local business your main CTA can be "Get Directions", while your secondary CTA can be "Call Now". This way you are defining a clear journey for a user to take by giving them concrete options to take.

Need help optimizing your user journey?

Conversion Chasers Digital Marketing can help. One of the best ways to begin optimizing is to install a heat mapping software (such as Hotjar ) onto your website to analyze how users are currently behaving. Combine that with Google Analytics user data and we can formulate a strategy to enhance the user journey to ultimately increase your conversion rates.

Schedule Your Free Consultation Today

Harness The Power of Audience Targeting in Google Ads

Thu, 18 Oct 2018 16:19:13 GMT

If You're Not Using Audience Targeting You're Leaving Money On The Table!

When it comes to your advertising reach with Google Ads there's an array of different audience targeting methods you can capitalize on to refine your approach. You can use these methods to optimize your campaigns as well as segment your performance data for proper analyzation. One of the most common audience targeting methods is ' remarketing audiences', which targets users who have been on your website before. In addition, there are also a good amount of less well known audience targeting methods which we will outline below. When implemented correctly, every single kind of Google Ad campaign you are running whether that be search, display, shopping, or even YouTube can benefit.

Unfortunately, reports show that a significant percent of advertisers budget is wasted on serving ads to people who are unlikely to convert. By planning and implementing a diverse audience targeting strategy you can be sure every dollar invested is being maximized. Below we will outline the most useful audience targeting methods you can apply to your Google Ads campaigns TODAY to get better results.

Demographic Audience Targeting

Demographic audience targeting is an essential for every business. There are a number of different targeting options with demographics with the most common being:

Age
Gender
Household Income

Demographic targeting is typically not broken out into its own campaign but rather optimized according the target audience of each campaign. In certain circumstances it makes sense to exclude certain age groups all together. In others, it might make sense to implement negative and positive bid adjustments to gear your ads towards the demographics that are most likely to convert.

An important note to keep in mind with this audience targeting method is that not all user data is passed along. Certain browsers don't pass along demographic info due to new privacy policies so be sure to take that into account when it comes to demographic targeting.

Remarketing Audience Targeting

Targeting users that have already been on your site is pretty much the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to digital marketing audience targeting. You can go about remarketing in a number of different ways. One of those includes adding them to your existing campaigns with a positive bid adjustment. On the other hand, you may opt to build a an entirely separate campaign targeted directly towards people who are on your remarketing list. Depending on what your goals are, you should choose the method that makes the most sense for the specific business model you are in.

For example, if you have a longer sales cycle and want to entice users to revisit your ads and site, it makes sense to go with the bid adjustment method. However, if you have a shorter more competitive sales cycle you may opt to run a promotion campaign targeting your remarketing audience. In todays world customers have so many different touch points and interactions with businesses. By running remarketing campaigns you are able to capitalize on every micro moment and be in the right place at the right time.

Similar Audience Targeting

Similar audiences are another powerful and extremely under utilized audience targeting method within Google Ads. Similar audiences let you choose a data set and reach users who match similar characteristics, such as 'Similar To Remarketing audience'. What this does is it allows you to embrace machine learning and let Google show your ads to users who are similar to that data set you have selected.

For example, if you run an e-commerce store selling dog toys and you create a 'Similar To Converters', Google will then add users who show similar behavior to people who have previously bought a dog toy on your site. That allows you to expand your advertising reach while still remaining as targeted as possible to drive the most conversions. Google collects information on every user to record specific types of behavior and purchasing patterns. It uses this information to let advertisers reach their target market. This is how companies like Google & Facebook make the bulk of their revenue and is the reason they are able to offer their services for "free".

Custom Intent & In Market Audience Targeting

Custom Intent and In Market audiences are another extremely powerful targeting method which can be applied to your Google Ads. One powerful benefit of 'Custom' and 'In Market' audiences is that they provide a layer of flexibility you can use to target your users based on your products and services. One way to accomplish building a targeted custom intent audience is to use your competitors URLs combined with a selection of your top keywords.

As for 'In Market Audiences', there are a variety of different options to chose from which can be selected using the new Google Ads platform. An 'In Market' audience is just as it sounds. It helps you reach new users that are likely in the same market of the product or service you sell. Many advertisers are seeing great results applying targeted audience groups to their Google Ad campaigns and we encourage you to do the same!

If you have any questions about audience targeting or need help with your Google Ads please feel free to schedule a free consultation here.

Video Advertising for YouTube & Beyond!

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 18:55:32 GMT

Video is the most underrated form of advertising that you can capitalize on!

Full article posted here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/video-advertising-youtube-beyond-paul-mendes/

Massive Changes Coming to Google AdWords

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 16:41:57 GMT

Old Interface Is Disappearing! Google Ditches "AdWords Branding"

Google launched AdWords over 18 years ago when they saw an opportunity to monetize the ability to serve people the relevant information they were searching for, in the form of sponsored links. Over this time a lot has changed. The frequency of Google searches continued to sky rocket, year after year. As mobile was introduced it only added fuel to the fire and forever changed the way consumers access and use information.

To keep up with the adaption in data consumption, Google has continued to update and introduce new features to their advertising lineup. Last week, Google posted on their blog about updates and changes that are on the way. Below we will break down what we find most notable.

'Google AdWords' will now be 'Google Ads'

One of the biggest changes announced was that Google is completely ditching the 'AdWords' brand and replacing it with "Google Ads". This includes a consolidation of Googles products into a new Google Ad Manager, Google Ads, and Google Marketing Platform.

Which only makes sense because AdWords has evolved immensely from the time it was solely based on keywords and searches. Their range of advertising products now encompass video, search, shopping, and the display network likely prompted the branding change.

In addition to a new brand feel and logo, Google also announced the launch of Smart Campaigns, which are targeted towards small businesses and new advertisers. They claim it will combine machine learning and data based on the users business to help assist in the campaign creation process. Google hopes to attract and encourage more advertisers to use Google Ads by making campaign setup as easy as possible.

Previous AdWords Experience is Disappearing

The new Google AdWords interface (or as Google calls it: Experience) has raised much controversy since Google began rolling it out over a year ago. While the new interface is designed to be quicker and more user friendly, for many experienced advertisers it causes much frustration. Many features have been missing from the new interface causing you to jump back and forth between the previous version and the new to accomplish your daily optimization tasks.

Up until recently, those who weren't a fan of the new experience were able to use the previous version with no issues. However, the day has come when Google recently began displaying the following message across every account:

"The previous AdWords experience is going away - The previous AdWords experience is going away soon. After it does, you'll access your account in the new AdWords experience. Learn more "

As times change and advertising evolves, us marketers must adapt and embrace the changes in the industry. While the new platform has some kinks to be worked out and a definite learning curve, we are confident that as long as Google gives us full control of our campaigns, having more functionality and options is a good thing. Stay tuned for more in depth reviews on new features to come to Google Ads.

More Updates On The Way

If you would like to stay up to date with everything mentioned above as well as additional updates we encourage you to sign up to watch Google Marketing Live stream below:

"We’ll be sharing more about these changes—and many other new Ads, Analytics and Platforms solutions designed to help you grow your business—at Google Marketing Live. Register now to watch live on July 10, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET."

Leveraging Mobile To Grow Your Brand

Tue, 29 May 2018 16:26:01 GMT

Embracing mobile design & advertising is key to growing a brand in 2018

There's no denying that the world has transitioned to a largely mobile dominant society. People constantly turn to the smartphone in their pocket for dozens of different tasks. The introduction of the smartphone has combined the functionality of the telephone, calculator, GPS, digital camera, scanner, notebook, voice recorder, MP3, and computer all in the palm of your hand.

With so much of the populations time being spent on mobile devices, it's no wonder that brands who capitalize on this opportunity are being rewarded graciously. Every time people pull out there phone to make a search on Google or check their Facebook or Instagram feed, you have a chance to connect with them.

"American's check their phones 80 times a day" - New York Post

Smartphones play such a large role in peoples daily lives that some even report experiencing "phone separation anxiety" when they can't access their phones for extended periods of time. With the immense rise in mobile usage, leveraging mobile website design as well as targeted mobile advertising can help you rise above your competition. This doesn't mean that you need to scrap your existing desktop advertising, however it does require you to adapt your efforts.

The average consumer now has many options when it comes to most services and products. They also have an arsenal of information they use to make decisions during the entire buying process. Its imperative to reach your customers throughout the entire journey, from phone, to computer, to purchase.

Responsive Website Design

Having a website that looks great and performs well on devices of all sizes is a must. A responsive website is one that adapts to the size of screen its being viewed on. The advantage of having a responsive site is that you can ensure no matter which device or screen size is looking at your site, you know you are giving them the best user experience possible.

Another advantage of having a mobile optimized site is that potential customers are able to contact your right then and there. A great mobile website makes it easy for people to:

Call Your Business via a CALL NOW button or clickable phone #
Email You Directly via a form fill where you capture all important information points
Get Directions via a GET DIRECTIONS button or clickable Google Maps link

When designing your responsive website to display best on mobile, it's important to always keep the user experience in mind. A mobile website doesn't necessarily need to display all the aspects that are on your desktop site. Making it as easy to contact your business as possible while still telling your brands story is key to a successful mobile website design.

"Eliminating anything that might not be as valuable on your mobile site will help you reduce bounce rate and ultimately help increase your conversion rates"

Targeted Mobile Advertising

Once you have a responsive website that performs perfectly on all devices, the next step is to drive as much relevant traffic as you can to the site. Every business in todays marketplace that takes a targeted approach to mobile advertising can reach people at the right time, in the right place. With so many touch points, it creates countless opportunities to interact with potential customers when they are in need of information during the entire buyers journey.

Google calls every one of these opportunities a "micro moment". The most notable micro moments are:

"I-want-to-know moments" - When someone is researching but not yet in purchase mode
"I-want-to-go moments" - When someone is looking for a local business or is considering buying a product from a store near them
"I-want-to-do moments" - When someone needs help completing a task or wants directions for trying something new
"I-want-to-buy moments" When someone is ready to make a purchase and may need help deciding what to buy or where to buy

These concepts can be applied to all types of mobile advertising mediums such as Facebook ads, Google ads, Bing ads, LinkedIn ads, and much more. When creating mobile advertising campaigns, its imperative to keep the users intent in mind. Users have different desires based on the platform they are on and your mobile campaigns need to cater to them.

For example, on Google people are actively searching for products and services, so you need to target the right keywords to show in the right places at the best moments. Whereas on Facebook, users aren't searching for good and services. Rather, they are entertaining themselves by browsing their news feeds, so your mobile ads need to demand attention and make them take action.

All Comes Down To Conversions

At the end of the day, all mobile ads and websites should have a main goal that they are trying to accomplish, whether that be an online sale, a phone call, a form fill, or a get directions button click. Mobile advertising is a great way to capture users attention while rising out of obscurity. Once you capture their attention, use your website to send the user through a journey ending with an opportunity for them to convert.

By tailoring your entire website and advertising campaigns to drive the actions that add real value to your business, it allows the opportunity to turn your website into a LEAD GENERATING MACHINE!

Google Confirms Mobile-First Indexing Has Begun

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 17:46:43 GMT

Don't Get Left Behind! Discover The Importance Of A Mobile Optimized Website

Google has finally announced that mobile-first indexing has begun. On March 26th they released a post on the official Google Webmaster Blog stating: "Today we’re announcing that after a year and a half of careful experimentation and testing, we’ve started migrating sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first indexing." This is huge news for the entire digital landscape as we know it. It stresses the increasing importance of having a mobile optimized website as it can impact SEO & Search Rankings dramatically moving into the future.

The Full Mobile-First Indexing Blog Can Be Found Here: https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/03/rolling-out-mobile-first-indexing.html

What is Mobile-First Indexing?

Let's read exactly how Google describes it:

"To recap, our crawling, indexing, and ranking systems have typically used the desktop version of a page's content, which may cause issues for mobile searchers when that version is vastly different from the mobile version. Mobile-first indexing means that we'll use the mobile version of the page for indexing and ranking, to better help our – primarily mobile – users find what they're looking for.

We continue to have one single index that we use for serving search results. We do not have a “mobile-first index” that’s separate from our main index. Historically, the desktop version was indexed, but increasingly, we will be using the mobile versions of content."

This means that Google is now crawling the mobile version of many websites vs. the desktop version. Due to the increasing number of searches from mobile devices, it makes sense that Google is moving in this direction. Mobile web traffic and Google searches continue to increase each year as phones improve and internet gets quicker. Many reports suggest that mobile traffic counts for over 50% of all traffic on the web today.

What Does That Mean For Your Website?

Having a mobile optimized website is imperative if you want to see success with SEO and rankings in the long term. Moving into the remainder of 2018 & beyond having a responsive website that looks good on all devices, loads content fast, and is user friendly is the new expectation. Users are expecting a website to load immediately and be optimized for their smartphones & tablets. Research shows if they get to a website which doesn't follow these best practices they will simply bounce and find a website that does.

What if your website is not optimized for mobile? Google says not to panic and that this roll out won't impact rankings drastically, but they then go on to state:

"Having said that, we continue to encourage webmasters to make their content mobile-friendly. We do evaluate all content in our index -- whether it is desktop or mobile -- to determine how mobile-friendly it is. Since 2015 , this measure can help mobile-friendly content perform better for those who are searching on mobile. Related, we recently announced that beginning in July 2018, content that is slow-loading may perform less well for both desktop and mobile searchers."

So all this might sound pretty scary if you do not have a mobile optimized site yet. But the good news is that you are not totally out luck. Google has stated that it will still index your desktop site in these circumstances, however, you will be putting yourself at a disadvantage and potentially missing customers if you continue to put it off.

How Do You Know When This Change Will Occur?

Luckily, Google will be informing users when the mobile-first indexing switch takes place via a Google Search Console Message. You will see the following message below if the mobile version of your website is now being used for indexing by Google.

When Will The Mobile-First Index Be Fully Rolled Out?

In short, no one is certain of an exact date this indexing update will be fully implemented. This large scale roll out is still considered in it's "testing phase" by Google. That means if it goes well they could choose to accelerate the program, or if they run into issues they could push it back further. Either way, this is a fundamental change of how websites are crawled and indexed by the worlds largest search engine.

This is why millions of businesses are investing in a Responsive Website design which automatically adapts to each device and screen size it is being viewed on. Don't get left behind. Now is the time to ensure your website puts you in the best position for continued success.

Interested In Discussing A Website Design Project? Click Here To Schedule A Call Today!

Google AdWords vs. Facebook Advertising

Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:52:50 GMT

When comparing Google AdWords with Facebook Ads it's important to understand the fundamental differences that each platform has. This primarily lies within how users actually use and interact with each and what their intentions are while using them. Explore the strengths of each platform and how to use them as tools to grow your business below.

Google AdWords = Demand Fulfillment

Let's face it, Google has mastered the art of demand fulfillment. Every single day over 3.5 billion searches are completed on Google which translates to over 40,000 every single second! The reason so many people rely on Google is because of it's ability to organize and serves us the most relevant information when we need it. People can get an answer to anything in a matter of seconds from the palm of their hand. Google has done a great job to display top quality content that is most relevant to the users search queries.

The way Google monetizes their ability to organize and serve information is by selling "real estate" on every search results page in the form of sponsored links. These are served above the organic results of every single Google search. This presents an amazing opportunity for businesses to reach potential customers in their area who are already searching for their product or service. With a properly executed keyword strategy backed by research and consistent optimization, businesses can see a healthy ROI by using Google AdWords. However, many business owners don't have the time or experience it takes to create & optimize campaigns daily, which is where a Google Partner can come into help.

Google AdWords has continued be a great medium for advertisers because users are interacting with businesses and Google more and more. Every touch point a consumer has with a business is called a "micro interaction" or "micro moment". People are searching on their smart phones in the store, on their tablet from the couch, and on their desktop from their office. With campaigns tailored to your target market with the right ad copy you can reach those potential customers in the right moments, all throughout the buyers journey until they convert.

Facebook = Demand Generation

With over 2 billion users Facebook Ads are undoubtably a great way to reach your target market. But as opposed to Google, when users are on Facebook or Instagram they aren't necessarily searching for anything in particular. This means they are less likely to click on ads and leave the platform. However, just because it is more difficult to get people to leave doesn't mean it doesn't work. If your Facebook campaigns are designed to reach the right consumer with the offer they often will react positively and convert into a qualified lead or better yet, a sale.

The most common mistake beginners make with Facebook Ads is targeting the wrong audience for their business. Using custom audiences is the best way to start out with FB ad campaigns. A custom audience can be built from a number of different channels including your website visitors, website purchasers, FB Page fans, email lists, etc. These custom audiences and look alike audiences are created by installing the "Facebook Pixel" onto your website so it can add users to those lists for you automatically. Once you have custom audiences built you can create campaigns to reach those users who have already shown interest in your business with a great offer. This is where the demand generation comes into play. Even if you reach your target consumer on Facebook, if your ad sucks and doesn't encourage them to take action you just missed out on a potential sale.

So Which Digital Advertising Platform Wins?

BOTH! Each platform has unique advantages and proven abilities to provide a positive ROI with proper campaign execution and management. At Conversion Chasers we prefer to begin with Google AdWords Search Ads first because you can generate almost immediate results with a small investment. Once we begin to drive that extremely relevant traffic to the businesses site we can then begin to build those custom Facebook audiences we mentioned above. With a fine tuned Google AdWords & Facebook Ad Strategy you will always have new leads and sales coming in, which is the goal right?

Interested in learning how Google AdWords or Facebook Ads can help you grow? Contact us today

*Facebook™ is a trademark of Facebook, Inc. and is in no way related to this website.

Ads Added By AdWords Program - What You Need To Know

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 21:41:07 GMT

What Is The 'Ads Created By AdWords' Program?

Google has announced a new pilot program titled "Ads Added By Adwords" which gives them the power to create new ads and automatically have them begin running in your account. This pilot program only applies to a segment of advertisers who were picked by Google. If you are a part of this program you or one of your colleagues would have received an email from Google alerting you of the update. Beware, if you are one of the chosen accounts and you do not opt out you will begin seeing new ads in your account beginning February 9th 2018.

The ads added by AdWords will be created using a variety of different information including your current ad copy, your landing pages, your keywords and more. Google has stated that they estimate these ads will show a 5% - 15% increase in performance.

Do Advertisers Lose Control?

Immediately after this announcement there was outrage on all social media channels. For many advertisers and PPC agencies this is a major concern because they feel it causes a loss of control in their accounts. There are many moving parts in every AdWords campaign and business alike that Google does not know about. Adding new ads without review or approval from the account manager poses multiple risks. Below we outline some of the major concerns that the PPC community expressed over the new 'Ads Added By AdWords' Program:

Loss Of Control
Irrelevant Ad Copy / Brand Image
Interruption Of Current A / B testing (Ad Copy, Landing Page, etc.)
Incorrect Optimization (How Will Google Measures Success? Click Through Rate vs. Conversion Rate?)

These are some of the direct concerns regarding the new Adwords program, however, this brings up an even bigger topic sparking questions such as:

"How much power should Google have over each advertisers account?".

And "Is there a system in place to ensure they don't abuse that power?"

What Are Your Options?

Your first step is to double check if you have received an email from Google notifying you of the program. If you find that email and would like to opt out, respond in writing that you would like to be removed from the program immediately. This way you can be sure not to have Google automatically create ads in your account.

To double check if you are in the program, open your AdWords account and navigate to your Ads tab. Be sure you toggle the 'Labels' column on and check to see if there are any ads labeled "Added by AdWords". If there are, you can either pause or delete them. Unfortunately, AdWords is preventing you from modifying these ads, most likely so it doesn't interfere with their testing.

For PPC agencies or accounts with hundreds of ads, former Google employee Frederik Vaerye has writted a script which will identify any automtically added ads. You can access that by script by clicking here.

Your other option is to let the program run and see what Google comes up with. If you decide to go this route we strongly suggest keeping a close eye on all new ads and their future performance. Make sure that all ad copy is relevant to your business and promoting the correct products and services you offer to avoid any wasted spend.

What Does The Future Of PPC Advertising Hold?

These types of updates from Google AdWords force us to view the landscape of the PPC industry from a macro view and look towards where the future is taking us. There is no doubt that machine learning and automation will play a larger role in all parts of our lives including PPC, however it is our job to make sure we still maintain our power of control as advertisers.

What are your thoughts on the future of PPC? Comment Below.

Google Updates AdWords App ... Finally!

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 20:43:58 GMT

Advertisers now have more control on the go to make changes they need

The Google AdWords mobile app is great to check your account performance when you are not in front of your computer, however it has always been a lackluster application for making detailed changes. Google has announced that with the new update, advertisers can now make changes to keywords directly from the AdWords app. That includes adding, editing, or removing keywords from any campaign right from your mobile device.

This is a great improvement from the previous functions which seemed to only let you pause and enable campaigns & ad groups but the recent keyword functionality is definitely a step in the right direction for the app. The more control we have as advertisers, the more power we have to make the right decisions at the right moment in time.

The new keyword editing abilities are super simple to use which makes this update even more of a breath of fresh air. To add keywords you can use the + icon and to delete, simply click the keyword and then the trash icon. You can also edit the keyword itself and change its match type directly from that keyword screen. Lastly, advertisers can now also manually set bids for each specific keyword directly from the AdWords app!

Learn more about these updates from Google themselves here.

2018 AdWords Hack - The PPC Buyer's Journey

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 03:44:36 GMT

Target The Entire Buyer's Journey To Maximize Your AdWords Reach

Billions of dollars are spent on Google AdWords every single month to drive foot traffic to local businesses. One of the greatest benefits of PPC advertising is the ability to reach people searching for your product or service, in the moment that they are ready to convert into a customer.

Let's take a local yoga studio in San Diego as an example to examine the PPC buyer's journey and how we can expand our Adwords reach by looking at the bigger picture.

Bottom Of The PPC Buyer's Funnel

While building local yoga studio PPC campaigns, the initial and most obvious keywords to target first are “yoga studios near me”, “best yoga studio san diego”, and “yoga classes near me”. While these are all amazing keyword choices and will be able to capture potential customers at the end of the funnel, there are many reasons to broaden your approach and constantly assess where users are in their buyer’s journey.

In the example above, one campaign could be dedicated to all local based searches for yoga studios in San Diego. Ad Copy and Landing Page content can be geared towards people ready to take action and sign up for a class today. This could include a CTA (Call To Action) which could be an exclusive promotion such as ‘1st class free’ or ‘Get $10 Off Today” to encourage searchers to take action.

Top Of The PPC Buyer's Funnel

The campaign above is an excellent strategy to increase your yoga class enrollment, however, the time will come when you need to expand your PPC reach. When this occurs, focusing on earlier stages of the potential customers buyers journey is a massive opportunity that can give you an edge over the competition. The earlier stages of the buyer's cycle begins with awareness and education, serving as the first touch points a user has with your brand or business. Before people are ready to make a purchase they search the internet using different keywords vs. when they are near the end of the buyer's journey. A rule of thumb is the larger purchase, the longer and more intensive the education stage is of their buyer's journey.

Incorporating a campaign focused on the earlier stages of yoga classes could entail targeting keywords searched in San Diego such as “health benefits of yoga” or “how to get started with yoga”. In this example the ad copy and landing page would reflect an educational standpoint with a different call to action than above. Since we know these users aren’t quite ready to convert a great strategy is to give the user some value here.

Offering Valuable Content For Your Audience

In order to get, you must give first. For this yoga studio they could focus their early stage call to action an infographic / downloadable PDF or sign up to a future webinar. Both of these examples would feature a “give” which is the educational content on the benefits of yoga. Your “get” is their name and email address. This is very valuable because you will then be able to add them to your contact list to send newsletters & promotions as they move further down the sales cycle.

Implementing Remarketing Campaigns Into The Buyers Journey

Now is the time to tie it all together. Add all of the users that landed on your education based landing page to a remarketing list ands then run ads from our first campaign and target those users. By doing this you are able to comfortably bid higher because you know these users are warm leads that have already showed interest by visiting your website. You could also implement a Google Display Remarketing Campaign to retarget these users as they browse the internet for other yoga related content.

In the world we live in today users have many micro interactions with a brand before pulling the trigger and converting. By promoting your brand throughout the entire buyer’s journey you are able to maximize your exposure and ultimately improve your ROI with PPC.

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3 Ways Pinterest Can Maximize Brand Exposure!

Pinterest is one of the most effective image-based marketing platforms to use for brand exposure. If you're interested in exploring how Pinterest can help you attract new customers, keep reading to learn more!

﻿ #1 - Pinterest Growth Rate

#2 - Pinterest Is A Diverse Search Engine Platform

﻿ #3 - Pinterest Advertising

In Conclusion

Why Content Creation is Vital for Businesses Moving Forward

What is Content Creation?

Why Content Creation Is More Important Now Than Ever Before

The Power of Content Creation

In Conclusion

Why Call Tracking Is So Important For Businesses

In this blog we are going to be breaking down the 5 W’s of Call Tracking.

Who Can Benefit From Using Call Tracking?

What Is Call Tracking Software?

Where Can You Use Call Tracking?

When Can I Use Call Tracking?

Why Should I Use CallRail?

How to Profit Using YouTube Ads

YouTube is one of the Most Underrated Platforms to Advertise On!

Build Your Personal Brand

Leverage The New Way to Watch TV

Reach Your Target Audience Using YouTube Ads

Creating Effective YouTube Ads Has Never Been Easier!

4 Reasons To Diversify Your Marketing Channels

#1 Reach Your Target Market

#2 Tailor & Test Your Content Across Each Platform

#3 Get The Edge On Your Competition

#4 Diversify Now to Avoid Disasters Later!

The Importance of Using Negative Keywords

Discover the power negative keywords have on your PPC campaigns

Why Use Negative Keywords?

Monitor & Analyze Search Terms

Negative Keyword Match Types

Avoid Wasted PPC Spend at All Costs!

Are You Leaving Money On The Table?

3 Ways To Optimize The User Journey

Use These Simple Tactics To Increase Your Conversion Rates!

#1 - Communicate Your Brand's Story

#2 - Use Video Along The Customer Journey!

#3 - Have Crystal Clear CTA's (Call To Action)

Need help optimizing your user journey?

Harness The Power of Audience Targeting in Google Ads

If You're Not Using Audience Targeting You're Leaving Money On The Table!

Demographic Audience Targeting

Remarketing Audience Targeting

Similar Audience Targeting

Custom Intent & In Market Audience Targeting

Video Advertising for YouTube & Beyond!

Video is the most underrated form of advertising that you can capitalize on!

Massive Changes Coming to Google AdWords

Old Interface Is Disappearing! Google Ditches "AdWords Branding"

'Google AdWords' will now be 'Google Ads'

Previous AdWords Experience is Disappearing

More Updates On The Way

Leveraging Mobile To Grow Your Brand

Embracing mobile design & advertising is key to growing a brand in 2018

"American's check their phones 80 times a day" - New York Post

Responsive Website Design

"Eliminating anything that might not be as valuable on your mobile site will help you reduce bounce rate and ultimately help increase your conversion rates"

Targeted Mobile Advertising

All Comes Down To Conversions

By tailoring your entire website and advertising campaigns to drive the actions that add real value to your business, it allows the opportunity to turn your website into a LEAD GENERATING MACHINE!

Google Confirms Mobile-First Indexing Has Begun

Don't Get Left Behind! Discover The Importance Of A Mobile Optimized Website

What is Mobile-First Indexing?

What Does That Mean For Your Website?

How Do You Know When This Change Will Occur?

When Will The Mobile-First Index Be Fully Rolled Out?

Google AdWords vs. Facebook Advertising

Google AdWords = Demand Fulfillment

Facebook = Demand Generation

So Which Digital Advertising Platform Wins?

Ads Added By AdWords Program - What You Need To Know

What Is The 'Ads Created By AdWords' Program?

Do Advertisers Lose Control?

What Are Your Options?

What Does The Future Of PPC Advertising Hold?

What are your thoughts on the future of PPC? Comment Below.

#1 - Pinterest Growth Rate

#3 - Pinterest Advertising