Denver Internet Marketing Blog

Are You on Google Places?

FrankSalvatore — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:15:00 -0600

Google Places is a completely free way to promote your business on Google. The consequences of not claiming and maintaining your listing can be very bad for your business.

If you're a small or medium-sized business owner in Denver metro, you need to take advantage of Google Places. Google Places listings exist for most businesses, yet less than 1/3 of all business owners have claimed their free listing. Your business is likely already listed in Google Places and may even have reviews (positive, negative, or even fabricated) for all to see.

Why Should You Care About Google Places?

Google is giving more and more priority to locally based search. If I type a location combined with a business category or service, it is highly likely that I'll see Google Places listings. As you can see in the screen shot below, I have entered "Denver Greek Food". You can see that there are many listings with pins and an associated map.

Website Searchers can click on each business, see their reviews, and see the location of the business.

These Google Places results usually appear above the traditional search engine results and are of very high importance to businesses who primarily serve their local area.

If you serve local customers and you want your business to appear in the Google search results, the first step is to claim your Google Places listing.

What is Google Places?

Google Places is a free online home for your business provided by Google. Within Google Places you can enter a ton of information about your business. Items you can enter include:

Videos
Photos
Directions
Coupons and special Offers

Google shows the listings for local searches. There's a good chance that many of your competitors are already using Google Places

Tips for a Good Google Places Listing

First - see if your business is already in Google Places and claim your listing. There's a good chance that Google has already found your business in another directory (like a business directory or a phone directory) and entered you in Google Places as an unclaimed listing. It is even possible that you have reviews on your Google Places page. It is very important that you know about Google Places for the reviews alone - you need to know what people are saying about your business.

See if you're listed by looking for your business and signing up here: Google Places Signup

And Now the Tips for a Good Google Places Listing....

Complete your Listing - The more information that you submit with your Google Places listing, the more likely it is that you'll rank well.
Have a Real Website - Google Places provides plenty of information for local searches, but it helps to back up your Google Places listing with your main business website which you can link to from Google Places.
Get Listed in Other Directories - In addition to Google Places, get listed in other local directories like citysearch.com, merchantcircle.com, and yelp.com. Getting listed in other directories can actually help boost your Google Places ranking. Make sure your business information in each directory is EXACTLY the same. Even slight differences in address can affect how well you rank with Google Places.
Reviews - Encourage customers to give honest reviews on your directory sites - including Google Places. The more current and objective the reviews appear to be, the more likely it is that visitors to your Google Places page will find them credible and get a good feel for how you do business.

How Does this Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

I frequently write about Google Places for the Denver Small Business owner, because getting signed up and claiming your listing is a mandatory step for all Denver small business onwers. It is a free listing, you can heavily promote your business on the page, and Google ranks Places pages very highly. Plus, your business may already appear in Google Places with many reviews (good or bad). You need to know what others are saying about your business so you can improve your business and address their concerns. Google Places is the first step towards getting your online marketing presence in order.

Google Instant and AdWords: Another Analysis

FrankSalvatore — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:15:00 -0600

Last week, I posted a blog post about the impact of Google Instant on Google AdWords. My conclusion was that thus far, there weren't any real major changes for my clients. Impressions, clicks, and CTR seemed to reflect seasonal norms.

This morning, I was over on Search Engine Land reading an article by George Michie - "Google Instant: The Impact on Paid Search". It was a well written article, and George came to essentially the same conclusion that I did. While it still bears watching, the Google Instant effect on AdWords has thus far been minimal.

Michie's Findings

Michie mentions that his customer base is primarily retail - whereas my customers are mostly service providers. Yet the results were very similar. He notes that there was a slight jump in impressions and clicks immediately after the introduction of Google Instant on September 8th - but that both settled down to anticipated norms shortly thereafter. Another interesting finding is that conversion rates may have actually improved with the introduction of Google Instant.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Unless your Denver small businesses is getting all of the high quality referrals it can handle, you should probably be advertising online using Google AdWords. You need to at least explore it as an option to add to your marketing aresenal.

The problem with utilizing a powerful tool like Google AdWords is that you need to be aware of any changes (which seem to arrive almost daily) and adjust your advertising campaign accordingly. The introduction of Google Instant had the potential to have a major impact on Google AdWords - and as a Denver small business owner who advertises using AdWords. So far, Google Instant doesn't seem to have drastically changed how AdWords campaigns need to be structured.

Local Online Ad Spending Increases

FrankSalvatore — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:28:00 -0600

A recent article from Tech Crunch mentions that Online Local Advertising was estimated to grow 26 percent this year - reaching $20B. This is in contrast to total online advertising which will only grow at a pace of 2 percent this year. The article cites a study that was done by BIA/Kelsey. The article mentions that four of the key advertising channels for these local ads are:

Google Places
Yelp
Craigslist
Foursquare

Basically all Denver small businesses should establish and maintain a presence on Google Places and Yelp. I have discussed Google Places in depth on this blog - along with how Yelp can help drive clients to your business - especially for restaurants. It is actually free to get listed through either of these website services.

While those sources are essential towards getting a free listing out there - and Yelp offers advertising services as well - Denver small business owners will want to concentrate their actual advertising budgets on Google AdWords.

Google AdWords shows ads for your business on the Google search engine whenever someone searches for goods or services that your business offers. Approximately 70% of all U.S. web searches are performed using Google AdWords - so you'll be reaching your largest possible target audience. You'll also be able to custom tailor your advertising message as well as the landing page that a visitor will be directed to when clicking on your ad.

One Surprise from the Study

I was actually quite shocked that while local online advertising is increasing, it makes up just 15 percent of the total local advertising spend. Considering that the cost per lead acquisition according to a study done Piper Jaffray is just $.29 for search engine advertising vs. $1.18 for the yellow pages and $9.94 for direct mail - it is shocking that more Denver small businesses aren't advertising online. It is still a largely untapped advertising opportunity.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

There isn't going to be a better time than right now to get your Denver small business participating in online advertising. While the percentage of total local advertising budget is starting to gradually shift towards online marketing, there is still relatively little competition and lower cost than more traditional forms of advertising. Local online advertising also provides the best return on investment - by far - for your advertising dollars. If you're still getting solid returns using traditional marketing methods, by all means stick with them - but you should also explore online marketing with search engine ad platforms like Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter.

Microsoft AdCenter Fall Upgrade

FrankSalvatore — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:54:00 -0600

In a recent post on the adCenter Blog, Microsoft discussed it's upcoming AdCenter upgrade. Features to be included in the AdCenter fall upgrade include:

Improved Budgeting Options
Negative Keyword List Expansion
Campaign Analytics
Search Network Distribution and Website Exclusion

As with most things related to search engine, Google leads the way with the more advanced search engine ad platform. Google AdWords is a much easier ad platform to use and is the innovator when it comes to introducing worthwhile features their search engine advertising platform. It is good to see Microsoft continually trying to improve AdCenter - especially given the fact that they'll be taking over Yahoo search ads in the very near future. They really need to make AdCenter as easy to use as AdWords.

I recently put together a a more detailed analysis of Google vs. Bing and AdWords vs. AdCenter. It describes what Denver small busienss owners need to know when it comes to marketing their business online in the Denver metro area. You'll want to make use of both search engine advertising platforms to effectively promote your business.

Negative Keyword Use is Essential

The most important change in my eyes is being able to add thousands of negative keywords at the campaign and adgroup levels within AdCenter. This functionality has been present in Google - yet missing in AdCenter - for quite some time. The use of negative keywords is essential to prevent worthless clicks and impressions. It will save you money in the long run.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

When first working with a Denver small business owner on an existing account, one of the biggest issues I usually identify is the lack of the effective use of negative keywords. I typically will run a search query report to determine what the actual search phrases were that triggered ads to appear for the AdWords campaign. Typically, the Denver small business owner will be receiving a lot of worthless clicks - there ads are showing for search phrases completely unrelated to the products or services that they offer. The effective use of negative keywords will prevent these ads from showing for unrelated or unwanted search phrases.

Google Instant's Impact on AdWords Campaigns

FrankSalvatore — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:21:00 -0600

I was a bit nervous with the introduction of Google Instant. It appeared that there was a major shift in the way that AdWords was going to work. Often times with major shifts, there is opportunity - but I wasn't particularly excited about this opportunity as all of my AdWords campaigns were performing quite well. Fortunately, it has turned out thus far not to be such a major shift after all.

How Google Instant Works

Before Google Instant, you would have to hit the "Google Search" button in order to get results from Google. With Google Instant, search results are displayed as you type. The results change with each keystroke. This has obvious implications for AdWords advertisers. It would seem that your ads would be showing more frequently - possibly for unrelated keywords. Your impressions would almost certainly rise.

Google Instant changes the behavior of Google. In the screenshot above, I have typed just three letters "COL" - as you can see where the number 1 is located. Notice in this area that Google has "guessed" what I was going to type. The greyed out letters are Google's guess based on what I have typed so far. Google is guessing (based on historical data and my location) that I am about to type in "Colorado Rockies".

Google takes this Colorado Rockeis "guess" at what I was going to type based on the letters "COL" - and provides organic search results as well as ads (number 2) based on "Colorado Rockies". This is fine - unless you are running AdWords ads for Colorado Rockies tickets. This means that your ads will be showing for every single query that starts with COL after people type that third keystroke. (note that the search results will vary by user and region)

Taking this example of you running ads for Colorado Rockies Tickets, if someone searched for "Coloring Books" you may receive wasted impressions as they typed in the "COL"- or perhaps even worse - worthless, poorly qualified impulse clicks.

So there is the problem - your ads may show for searches completely unrelated to the actual user's intended search query. Fortunately, I have found this potential negative effect on user campaigns to be quite minimal as described below.

Google Instant Impact on AdWords Campaigns

I have found the impact on AdWords ad campaigns to be minimal thus far. This could in part be because Google has made an attempt to prevent impressions from getting out of control. According to Google, Impressions are only counted with Google Instant in one of the three following cases:

The user begins to type a query on Google and clicks anywhere on the page (a search result, an ad, a spell correction, a related search).
The user chooses a particular query by clicking the Search button, pressing Enter, or selecting one of the predicted queries.
The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of three seconds.

Why Such a Small Impact on Ad Campaigns

I'm not exactly sure why, but results for my clients have not really changed much since the introduction of Google Instant. Here are a couple of theories.

1) Search Location

It could be that many people don't actually conduct searches from the Google home page. Many probably just have a Google Toolbar and do there searching from the toolbar. The Toolbar doesn't feature Google Instant results - at least not yet.

2) User Behavioral Change

Users may be so used to typing out their complete query that they're ignoring the Google Instant results. Despite Google's best efforts to make search easier (and quicker) it may be that the users haven't noticed it or are already set in their ways of searching. It may take a while for Google Instant to catch on if this is the case.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

It is very difficult for Denver small business owners to keep track of all of the changes and products that Google is constantly introducing with the search engine and with AdWords. Google actually just introduced a new website - "Google New" - that attempts to consolidate the dizzying volume of new products and product updates in one place. You can rest assured that this website will be updated multiple times each day. There is so much to keep track of.

Denver small business owners who have the time and aptitude to keep up with search engine and ad platform changes in technology would be wise to use a resource like Google New. However, I would guess that most Denver small business owners likely have too many responsibilities and would be wise to consider outsourcing online marketing activities to someone who makes it their job to keep up with the constant changes.

Search Shares Hold Steady

FrankSalvatore — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:54:00 -0600

According to a recent report by Hitwise, searches on the major search engines basically held steady. Google stayed at 71%, Yahoo at 14%, and Microsoft Bing at just under 10%.

This isn't particularly good news for Bing which had been rising steadily since its inception. While the Yahoo/Microsoft search partnership will soon be taking effect - with Microsoft Bing powering Yahoo search results - this will still represent somewhere between 20% and 30% of total searches. Google still gets nearly three times the amount of search that this new partnership will bring to the table.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

Despite the large difference in the reach within the world of search, it will still be worth it for Denver advertisers to have advertising campaigns established with Microsoft AdCenter. While it won't quite have the reach of Google AdWords, AdCenter does have some benefits that I highlighted in a previous blog post. Denver small businesses should first invest time and effort in AdWords to learn about the Search Engine Marketing process as well as their customer behavior online. Once you have a fairly mature, well optimized campaign - take the AdWords campaign and port it over to Microsoft AdCenter.

AdWords Becomes even More Important

FrankSalvatore — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:16:00 -0600

Recently, Google has undergone on algorithm change which has made life much more difficult for those who engage in SEO for products associated with popular brands. The good news is that the algorithm change could be beneficial for those search engine marketers who advertise with AdWords.

The official Google webmaster central blog mentions that a change has been made in the ranking algorithm:

"...Today we've launched a change to our ranking algorithm that will make it much easier for users to find a large number of results from a single site.. ..."

That's bad news if it isn't your site - and it probably isn't. The result is a huge shift in rankings. As an example - let's say that someone entered a search for "Microsoft Office". As shown below, Google now shows 8 results from the microsoft.com domain on the home page. 80% of the first page results go to microsoft.com.

If you're a retailer who sells Microsoft Office - and you've spent a lot of time and money to develop content that will get your domain high up in the search engine results - this is a disaster. Even compelling, legitimate content which performs well for SEO purposes can be completely wasted in the blink of an eye when Google makes an algorithm change.

What about PPC with AdWords?

Google is always changing its ranking algorithm for organic search results and sometimes these changes really shuffle the rankings. This algorithm change had no real affect on PPC for the search term. As you can see below, only one of the paid search terms resolves to a Microsoft site. It is built into AdWords that a domain can appear only once for each search engine results page (in the paid results). So, if you're a retailer looking to compete on "Microsoft Office", and you want to appear on the first page of search results, it is time to invest in PPC with Google AdWords.

Advertising with AdWords isn't foolproof, and your ad position within AdWords isn't completely insulated from outside influences. You need to make sure your website is well constructed with a terms of use and privacy policy. You need to make sure that your website has compelling, relevant content. You also need to make sure that your properly construct your ad campaign with solid keywords and good ad copy. Even then, competition can enter the picture and make life more difficult for you.

The really nice thing about AdWords though is that an algorithm change isn't likely to come along and turn your world upside down.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

As a Denver small business owner, you need to be exploring advertising online using Google AdWords and Microsoft AdCenter. It provides you with a very quick, usually very effective way to generate leads for your Denver business. It also is much more insulated from algorithm changes than SEO methods.

If you are engaging heavily in SEO practices, be aware that your hard work can be undermined with a single algorithm change. Investigate AdWords as an alternative way of promoting your business rather than leaving all of your eggs in the SEO basket.

AdCenter vs. AdWords: pros and cons

FrankSalvatore — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:44:00 -0600

Entrepreneur Magazine recently did an article which discusses the pros and cons of investing your marketing dollars in Bing vs. Google. I don't want to ruin the whole article, and I encourage you to read it at the link above. I've highlighted two of the most important reasons to try Bing - as well as one that I have a slight issue with:

Search traffic is about to grow - With the pending partnership with Yahoo, ad coverage provided by Bing will likely triple. Bing traditionally has covered around 10% of the search market, with Yahoo around 20%. This means that ads served by Microsoft AdCenter will now reach around 30% of all searches.
You Should Diversify - I absolutely agree with this point. It allows you to show your ads in numerous places - your results on one platform may be slightly better than the other. What you learn in one campaign, you may be able to apply to the other. Now that AdCenter ads will be serving approximately 30% of all searches, it makes it worth your time to diversify.
You can Import AdWords Campaigns into AdCenter - This is not a compelling reason to move to Bing in my opinion. I've gone through this process numerous times, and it is not easy - to say the least. I come from a database background, so I feel comfortable moving data from one format or system to another. Still - it isn't easy getting Google campaigns into AdCenter. I have it down to a system where time is minimized, but it is by no means a push button process - and Microsoft AdCenter could do a much better job with illustrative exapmles of how to successfully perform this action. A novice PPC marketer would likely have great difficulty porting AdWords campaigns into AdCenter using the AdCenter import process.

Should my Denver Small Business Advertise on Bing?

Absolutely - as long as you've tried AdWords first. Get your campaigns set up on AdWords - get your campaign optimized - and then move on to a search engine like Bing. Local businesses need more volume to learn about their markets - and Google's AdWords is the place where you can learn the most and then apply it to other search engine ad platforms.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

As a Denver small business owner, you need to be aware of the various online advertising options that are available to you. The overriding factor is to make sure that you're getting a good return on your investment on the search engine ad platform that you choose. I would advise that Denver small business owners start with Google AdWords, learn what you can. Get the campaign optimized to the point that you're getting a good return on investment.

Once you've been able to achieve success with AdWords - port the ad campaigns to Microsoft AdCenter. You'll reach a large audience. My experience with Bing is that search volume has been low, but conversion rates have been good. Surprisingly though, in my experience, ad spend isn't that much less than AdWords for similar keywords.

New AdWords Requirements Denver Small Business Owners Need to Know

FrankSalvatore — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:11:00 -0600

I'm a Google Qualified AdWords Qualified Individual, and my business appears on Google's partner search. Google has recently revamped the way that they expect their third party AdWords partners to provide information to their clients. The new requirement means that AdWords providers (like me) need to provide the client the following information:

Ad spend on AdWords advertising
Number of Impressions
Number of Clicks

This change will be incorporated into the legal terms and agreements in February 2011

Why the Change in Requirements

Brad Geddes over at Search engine land recently posted an article with his theories as to why Google is forcing partners to become more transparent with their AdWords reporting. His reasoning was essentially that some advertisers may come to the conclusion that advertising with Google AdWords doesn't work if their AdWords manager is taking too much of the management fee and putting it in their own pocket. The theory is that the transparency will allow advertisers to more accurately assess whether a lack of return on investment is due to AdWords or due to the ad agency. An advertiser with failed ad campaigns may be inclined to work with another agency as opposed to abandoning Google AdWords altogether.

My Opinion on the New AdWords Transparency

The way that I do business won't be affected by this change in policy. All of my current clients have access to all of this data required by Google in various formats:

All advertisers have their own accounts in their name. I manage this account, but they have access to all of the data
My monthly reports to clients provide a summary on page 1 of the report with all of this newly required data by Google

Even though I already comply with Google's requirements, I don't think that these new transparency rules should be necessary. If an advertiser is getting solid ROI on their advertising investment - then great. If they aren't, they need to find other channels for their ad budgets. Although I supply spend, impression, and click data, at least half of my clients only care about spend - and how much revenue they were able to achieve from the ad spend. My clients are too busy running their businesses to dive deep into the numbers. Many of my clients would find it overwhelming to deal with all of the data - which is why they have outsourced a significant part of their advertising effort to me.

I'm also completely transparent with my fee structure. My fees for AdWords Management start at $750/month and these fees are posted on my website. I should note that the services provided aren't limited strictly to AdWords management. To have an efective AdWords campaign, you need to have effective conversion-oriented landing pages. I construct websites, microsites, and landing pages that are completely in tune with the AdWords advertising campaigns to increase conversion rates and help to assure my clients are achieving a high ROI.

Another reason I don't think that the new rules should be required is that I'm already completely transparent with the data. It serves as a great differentiator for me versus other AdWords providers. My clients have access to all of the data, and I meet with each of them in person monthly to discuss the performance of the advertising campaigns.

Why I Provide Clients Access to All Data

There are large companies out there who conduct online marketing using a "black box" approach. Clients pay for their services but don't really know what their AdWords provider is doing. I have multiple clients who have worked with larger companies for their AdWords needs - become disillusioned with their approach, and are now working with me.

I provide clients access to all AdWords data as well as monthly reports so that they can see the value that I provide. It helps to illustrate for clients my activities, the numbers that reflect the result of my activities in AdWords - along with the associated revenue they have received from my efforts. It just makes sense to be open and show the value that I provide on a monthly basis. The openness, face to face meetings, and monthly reporting affirms each month that my clients made the right choice to work with me. Outsourcing complex tasks like AdWords and landing page management makes sense for small business owners - who need to be focused on the daily operations of their business.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

If you're looking to hire an Agency to manage your AdWords advertising, you need to be able to measure the value that the agency is providing. Online marketing provides the best method available for marketers to accurately quantitatively measure the results of their advertising campaigns. Most importantly, you need to ensure that you're getting a good return on investment for your advertising dollars. You need to have tracking methods in place to determine the actual value that is provided from your ag agency. At the very least, you need to be sure that you have Google Analytics and Google AdWords conversion tracking implemented on your website.

Less importantly, you need to make sure that the ad agency is complying with Google's requirements. The agency must provide you with ad spend data, along with the amount of clicks and impressions.

Real Estate PPC Ads and Keywords

FrankSalvatore — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:08:00 -0600

A couple of months ago, there was an interesting post on the Microsoft adCenter blog that real estate professionals should find very vaulable. In the post, Tina Kelleher of Microsoft provided tips for real estate professionals as the market was moving into the summer. All good tips of course - but the most valuable resource provided in the post was a list of keywords and ads for online real estate campaigns.

I downloaded the spreasheet - which can be downloaded from here. There are over 900 keywords - some of which are very good from what I've seen. There are also over 20 ads - which I thought were somewhat useful, but not as useful as the great keyword list. If you're a real estate professional participating in online marketing, you'll want to check out these keywords to see if you can add any of them to your campaign.

How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?

This particular resource will only help your business if you're a Denver real estate agent participating in PPC (or SEO) activities. I guess businesses that support real estate agents may also receive a benefit from this list. Obviously, although this list was provided by the AdCenter blog, the keywords and ads would apply to AdWords as well. Be sure to consider adding location qualifiers to the keywords when you use them (e.g. Denver, 80234, Highlands Ranch, etc.).