In the World of Internet Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) sometimes seems like the red-headed stepchild of the industry. Organic Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, CPM/Display, Video, and Social Web are all incredibly useful, but like any marketing tool, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. In today’s post, I’ve taken it upon myself to make a case for Pay Per Click when used alone and as part of an integrated digital initiative.
1. On and Off, then On Again! While an email blast is great for driving large spikes of traffic in a relatively short timeframe, no other Internet medium can match Pay Per Click’s ability to be strategically turned on and off. The ability to pause traffic for things like stock-outs, technical issues, and other hiccups can be a good way to earn traffic for dynamic Web presences that might not have the time or resources to otherwise build traffic.
2. Micro-targeting. In addition to allowing advertisers to turn traffic on and off by things like location, time of day, language preferences, interests, and age/sex demographics, the major search engines allow automated ad bids to be set up for any conceivable combination of these user qualifications. This level of sophistication allows PPC advertisers to adjust ad spend based on the relative profitability of any number of market segments, maximizing budget and eliminating waste.
3. Conversion Tracking Data. Pay Per Click Web analytics allow account managers to track user activity to the specific keyword and advertisement that caused an action. While a similar level of granularity is usually available with Organic Search and Email, only PPC allows advertisers and agencies to react with real-time changes. This level of flexibility is perhaps one if its greatest assets.
4. Flexibility. Launching a new SEO effort? Start owning key search terms in the short run with PPC and bid them down as you gain traction. Running CPM/Display advertisements? Take advantage of the increased awareness and search traffic you are earning by owning long-tailed key terms in the engine with PPC. PPC is flexible and effective enough to be the mortar strengthening the gaps of any digital marketing plan.
5. Accountability. The ability to capture performance data for Pay Per Click is all but built into the various advertising platforms. This technological fact allows ad dollars to be fully accountable to business results. While it is true that Internet marketing is a very measurable medium, in this space no other marketing vehicle speaks the language of ‘return on investment’ or ‘return on advertising spend’ so completely as PPC.
If you were unfamiliar or unimpressed with Pay Per Click, I hope to have generated some interest. If you’re a PPC pro, I hope you have a new perspective or a new appreciation for my favorite form of Internet marketing. As always, when building a marketing plan, particularly a multi-lateral online marketing plan, use the available tools that best meet business goals. If you think your company could benefit from starting a Pay Per Click program, or another form of Internet marketing, don’t hesitate to contact Fathom for a product demonstration or for an audit of your existing integrated online marketing.
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If you asked me six months ago what SEO stood for, I don’t know what I would have said, but I can promise it would not have been Search Engine Optimization. Being a senior in college, I thought I was prepared with everything I needed to land my first job in copywriting. My first day interning at Fathom SEO made me realize how wrong I was.
I had the key components needed to write captivating messages, but I had no idea how much actually went into developing content. I never learned about title tags, meta descriptions, breadcrumb navigation or interlinking pages in any of my classes.
But I met the challenge that Fathom faced me with head on, and I can now proudly say as a full-time employee, that I have learned so much.
Since starting here in January, I learned how to write web content recommendations, optimized press releases, email messages for clients, video scripts, and optimized articles. I am not going to pretend to be an expert, but every day I’m here I also grow slightly more proficient in SEO. Some of the useful things I have learned so far include:
• Google Analytics – I am not an expert in the least, but I now know how to research a client and access relevant information on their website that I can utilize to write content and focus on keywords.
• Keyword Placement – Throughout my internship I learned how to successfully integrate keywords into my writing to create optimized content for a website.
• <h> Tags – Before my internship I didn’t even know <h> tags existed, but now I use them all day, everyday.
• Interlinking Pages – By working with different clients and different websites, I have learned how to promote traffic using relevant key phrases to create a “train track” that runs through a website, creating smooth navigation for visitors.
• Breadcrumb Navigation – I now know that breadcrumb navigation is a really great way to integrate keyphrases, and can help visitors navigate through a website.
While I don’t entirely have the search engine marketing lingo mastered, I am excited to utilize all I learned during my internship at Fathom SEO, and I am sure I will continue to learn something new every single day as a full-time employee. For example, today I learned how to write my very first blog post.
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Let’s face it – Twitter can be a bit overwhelming.
If you’re a business owner, you want to keep up with all the comments about your products and services and respond appropriately to consumers looking for feedback. If you’re trying to use Twitter as a form of reputation monitoring, staying on top of the conversation becomes doubly important.
Thankfully, HootSuite announced Tuesday that they’ve added important new features to help users – specifically small and medium-sized business owners – learn more about their Twitter followers and determine whose comments have the most influence.
Users and their replies can be filtered by keyword or by an influence metric known as the Klout Score. Both are great ways to help business owners clearly identify the most helpful tweets and work toward finding potential customers within the stream of real-time updates.
The Klout Score – a nifty zero to 100 ranking that estimates each user’s degree of impact within Twitter – is based on an influence scoring algorithm developed by Klout. This ranking has a variety of determining factors including a user’s number of active followers, their engagement with other users, their links clicked and more. Hootsuite also allows you to filter out users over time using an adjustable baseline score. To better understand this innovative influence metric, click here
In addition to keyword and Klout score filtering, HootSuite also added an important new layer of information about each user. This new tab entitled “Insight” displays each user’s age, gender, profile images, and updated list of public social profiles being used. This information can be extremely helpful to business owners who want to gain a deeper understanding of their potential customers and determine the most effective ways to connect with them.
With these new features, HootSuite is providing important insight for professionals who want to harness the power of Twitter to learn more about the customers who keep them in business.
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome. »Repurpose Your Blog Post for Maximum Impact
Most people think their blogs will be successful if they add posts to it on a daily or weekly basis. That simple formula just might work for some, but definitely not for all. For example, if your blog is about bobby pins, your readership might be very limited. Your blog will probably be read by bobby pin enthusiasts and a few salon professionals.
Top 3 Reasons to Use Call Mining
Call Mining is cutting-edge technology that tracks your customer calls while improving their profitability. This is achieved by analyzing speech recognition capabilities and data-mining tools. It can run keyword- or phrase-specific queries through your recorded messages such as scanning for a certain product or competitor mention. It can even tell the difference between a male and female caller based on the voice frequency.
A Simple Test to Optimize ‘Send’ Frequency
In email marketing there are numerous aspects of a campaign that require careful planning. One element that can easily be determined without much consideration is the send frequency. It is a delicate balance: send too often and you can easily overwhelm your audience; allow too much time in between sends and your audience can lose interest. Finding the right send schedule is extremely important to ensuring the long-term success of your campaign.
Video: Get. Convert. Measure.
The Fathom SEO organic Search Engine Optimization Program (SERV) is designed to get potential clients to your website when they’re ready to buy. These visitors are then converted into leads and revenue for your business.
Optimizing Online Videos is Crucial & Easy
Everyone loves creating online videos. Some of them are cool, funny and viral, while others might be dry and boring. Regardless of the content of the video, you still need to make sure it is well optimized.
After years of operation, we have decided to shut down the Fathom SEO Forum. We noticed the forum participation was dwindling down and unfortunately it was getting bombarded with SPAM. Forums can definitely can serve a purpose on the web, but we feel the Blog and social accounts continue to be our best outlets to showcase our expertise and answer questions on timely online marketing related topics.
We would like to thank everyone that participated in the threads on any and every topic related to online marketing, specifically with search engine marketing… but don’t stop the momentum! We encourage the forum users to continue participating via the Blog and our Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts.
So, again a big thank you to all the forum contributors! Please join us in saying farewell to the Fathom SEO Forum, and feel free to leave a comment below with your favorite memories.
Googler, now is the chance to reveal yourself… or the mystery of your identity will be left for the ages!
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