Atilus Internet Marketing & Web Development

It’s Sunday morning and you’re in the “library” flipping through the newspaper sales ads. Joe’s Furniture Store (Art Van where I’m from) has a full color circular in the mix every week. Why? They’re hoping to catch the attention of someone who might be in the market for a recliner.

It’s the end of April and the temperature is starting to rise. Now’s the time window & siding people come sniffing around. How? Door to door, if you can believe it! This is incredibly intrusive and annoying.

Mail arrives daily with offers from credit card companies hoping I’ll spread some of my debt to them. Like I need help increasing my debt!

What about the phone calls at dinner time? TV ads that aren’t watched because we’ve all got DVR? Radio ads we tune out, billboards we don’t notice anymore… The list goes on.

What do these marketing methods have in common? They’re not targeted. They waste a lot of money on consumers who won’t or aren’t ready to consume. They’re fishing for sales rather than strategically positioning themselves where those searching for their product can find it. This is where search engine marketing (SEM) comes in. If the goal is to sell a recliner, money should be spent wooing people who are in the market for cushy seating. Consumers are savvy. They’re online researching products, suppliers and prices. SEM nails them when they’re most interested. Benefits include, but are not limited to; low cost, measurable, and easy to change. Cost is low because you’re only spending money on consumers who are interested in your product. Results can be measured on a number of variables such as click through rate, conversions (did they do what you wanted them to), and at what point shoppers abandon your site. Campaigns are easy to change if they’re not producing desired results. Testing can be done on multiple campaigns simultaneously and results are available in real time. Can’t say that about print ads.

I’m not saying the other methods don’t have merit. If used in conjunction with one another they can be effective, especially if personalization is included. BUT, nothing is as cost effective or has as great a return on investment as SEM. With SEM you don’t have to hope that the consumer seeing your ad might be looking for your product – they came looking for you, they want it. And that is the furthest from annoying.

For more information on how Atilus can help with your SEM, please contact us at www.atilus.com

07 May | Post by Meaghan McCann. Filed under Internet Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Optimization.

I love PPC. I also love music. Put them together and what do you get? Beats and Rhymes by Chuck Lewis - The Poetic Prophet. Scott first found this, but he only discussed SEO! This talented musician breaks down internet marketing especially PPC into basic segments. You can check him out on You Tube where he’s known as the SEO Rapper.

I came across this gifted project coordinator/marketing specialist, singer/songwriter in a marketing e-mail. He has a number of videos that inform and entertain covering topics such as Design Coding, Link Building, Conversion Closing even Social Media Addiction. I especially like Paid Search 101, “Check the cpc, that’s the cost per click. Make a judgement call, is it worth that hit? If it is then keep it, if it’s not then delete it. Stay within your budget, that’s not a big secret. Track your results, reporting is critical and set your goals right, be Google Analytical.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c96LTLlaXew.

The SEO Rapper takes complex concepts and tells a story. Set in a format anyone can understand, PPC is not so overwhelming. It’s fun, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.

22 Apr | Post by Meaghan McCann. Filed under AdWords, Pay Per Click.

I was a Sims addict for about two years. I built neighborhoods, created families, even downloaded Sims of my favorite celebrities. I cried with joy when babies were born, cried with sorrow when my favorite characters died and laughed like a lunatic when people were stolen away by aliens or haunted by ghosts.

I’ve been away from Sims for some time, but now I’m learning about virtual world applications. “Games” like Second Life, Moove, There, and Active Worlds are very popular and while I’m not interested in roll playing, I am interested to learn if there are opportunities for business.

• Can real world products be advertised on billboards?
• Can graffiti display a brand name?
• Are there advertisements?

I mean, can real life commerce take place in virtual worlds? It is social networking after all.

I don’t have time to play games these days, but if I thought I could enhance a customer’s business or drum up a few clients with these applications, I’d jump in in a flash. It’s great when work is fun and this kind of game is addictive. I knew I was in trouble when a window on Sims popped up and said, “Wow, you’ve played this game for 1000 hours. You must really like it.” If I could have been paid for that 1000 hours I’d have a fancy new car!

15 Apr | Post by Meaghan McCann. Filed under Internet Marketing.

The body is a wonderland! I mean the body of social networking sites available for so many applications. There’s Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space, Classmates, Flickr, and even Amazon. You can share files, pictures, stories and information. You can buy and sell things. You can talk about what you’ve bought or sold. I am a prime example that you are never too old or too late to join in the game.

After spending years in customer service and sales I realized - I really didn’t like people - in that context anyway. So, I jumped ship and decided to spend time with my computer and I’ve actually started to like people again. It’s a different relationship, one where I’m not a punching bag and I don’t have to smile all the time. Social media is a complex and intimidating game, like trying D&D for the first time (that’s Dungeons and Dragons). I log into a site and have to swim around to figure out which way’s up. And I’m a relatively seasoned internet user. The issue these days is if you’re not involved in at least three of the social networking vehicles then you’re really missing the boat. These are a great means to staying connected to friends and colleagues or re-kindling relationships with old contacts i.e., people I like. Not to mention the job opportunities that can come from the incredible networking. If you’re in sales this is a fantastic medium to find warm leads. Forget cold calling, that always gave me the heebie geebies. Love a product you bought for your kids? Post a comment to start a discussion. Hate a product? Do the same thing.

So far I’m into Facebook for my personal use and LinkedIn for professional use. I can’t bring myself to Twitter because I don’t think I’m that interesting, but I think that’s next.

The body of social media is a never ending Wonderland. Whether you blog about your area of interest, swap pics of your kids, refer a friend for a job opening or just stand back and observe how it all works, you’ll always be connected to someone somewhere about something.

07 Apr | Post by Meaghan McCann. Filed under social media.

The Upper Left Corner

Without fail, in my efforts to stay professionally developed, there is always an A-ha moment where I bonk myself on the forehead with the heel of my hand and wonder how I forgot what I’d just re-learned.

The most recent moment came while attending a webinar on paid search. The speaker, David Szetela of Clix Marketing, was discussing the importance of quickly getting the message to the visitor that your site is where they need to be. The best way to do this is to reiterate search terms (key words) on the landing page.

The best position in which to do this is the upper left corner. Eureka! There it is.

Most of us are targeting left-to-right readers. We don’t start reading in the middle of the page, so why do we insist on putting headlines front and center? It looks pretty. Well, pretty don’t pay the bills. We typically have less than ten seconds to capture attention and persuade prospects to take the next step.

The same principal that applies to the lot upon which your home is built also applies to virtual real estate; location, location, location. Next is content. Internet marketers can greatly increase their click-through-rate and in turn conversion rates if the first thing searchers see (location) is material relevant to their search (content). To maximize the probability that the visitor will read a whole headline and act on it, include search terms. If a visitor sees what was searched for immediately then he’ll be more likely to spend time exploring your site and purchase your product or service.

Which is the whole point.

A-ha.

31 Mar | Post by Meaghan McCann. Filed under AdWords, Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click.