These marketing insights span social media, search engine optimization, email marketing, mobile and more. We’ve tried to compile only the most recent and relevant facts available!

Social Media Customer Insights & Statistics

• 46% of US small businesses feel they are being “sold to” instead of “spoken to” by other businesses. (Consumer Insight Group)
• 27% of total U.S. internet time is spent on social networking sites. (Experian)
• 85% of fans of brands on Facebook recommend brands to others, compared to 60% of average users. (Syncapse)
• Women are more likely than men to regularly check out a brand’s social page. (Ipsos)
• 51% of global internet users signed in to Facebook in the first quarter of 2013. (GlobalWebIndex)
• Globally, 46% of consumers with a digital device used social media to help make purchase decisions. (Nielsen)
• Social accounts for 1.9% of traffic to websites, compared to 41% for organic search. (eConsultancy)
• Twitter traffic achieves a higher conversion rate (2.17%) than the average for all channels combined (1.6%) including organic and paid search. (eConsultancy)
• Using Twitter during fundraising events can result in 10 times more money raised online. (MDG Advertising)
• 71% of internet users are more likely to purchase from a brand that they are following on a social networking site such as Twitter or Facebook. (MediaBistro)

Content Marketing & Storytelling Facts & Figures

• 56% of those that support nonprofits on the social web confirm that compelling storytelling is what motivates them to take action on behalf of nonprofits. (Waggener Edstrom)
• Per dollar, content marketing produces roughly three times as many leads. (Kapost/Eloqua)
• People are most likely to interact with branded content on social media sites that contains pictures (44%), status updates (40%) and video (37%). (Performics)
• 61% of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content and are also more likely to buy from that company. (Custom Content Council)
• Interesting content is a top 3 reason people follow brands on social media. (Content+)
• 90% of consumers find custom content useful and 78% believe that organizations providing custom content are interested in building good relationships with them. (Custom Content Council)
• Twenty percent of users’ time is spent surfing the Internet on content-led websites. (Content Marketing Association)
• 60% of consumers are more likely to be on the lookout for products when looking at content marketing. (Content Marketing Association)
• 70% of consumers say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company. (Content Marketing Institute)

Online Advertising Statistics

• Participants in an eye-tracking study spent more time looking at the top sponsored results area on Google (2.8 seconds per search task, on average) than on Bing (1.9 seconds). (UserCentric)
• 59% of consumers are influenced by online ads. (InMobi)
• 72% of in-stream online video ads are watched to their completion. (Google)
• 46% of smartphone owners have viewed a mobile ad and 64% of those have made a purchase as a result. (Hipcricket)
• Brands using paid media on Facebook in addition to organic publishing efforts reach an average audience 5.3 times larger than with organic efforts alone. (Facebook)
• Americans use an average of three screen combinations a day. (Google)
• 1% of all US advertising spending is on mobile platforms, compared to 43% for TV and 29% for print. (BusinessInsider)
• 88% of online display advertisers plan to buy in real-time in the future. (Google)
• Twitter sees engagement rates from 1 to 3% on Promoted Tweets, with higher rates on mobile. (Twitter/ClickZ)

Email Marketing Insights

• Email shows high engagement rates with an average of 3.75 pageviews per visit, and achieves the highest comparative conversion rate at 2.9%. (eConsultancy)
• Spam averaged between 71 and 80% of all emails sent globally during the fourth quarter of 2012. (Commtouch)
• The top reason US email users unsubscribe from a business or non-profit email subscription is that they receive too many emails. (Chadwick Martin Bailey)
• For every 1,000 e-newsletter subscribers, nonprofits have 149 Facebook Fans. (M+R and NTEN)
• 80% of daily deal email subscribers have purchased at least one deal in the last six months. (Constant Contact & Chadwick Martin Bailey)
• Triggered email messages get 119% higher CTRs than “business as usual” messages. (Epsilon)
• 91% of US online senior citizens use email. (Forrester Research)

Organic Search from the Consumer Perspective

• Organic search drives 41% of traffic to B2B sites, of which Google accounts for 90%, while social contributes an average of only 5% of all traffic and leads. (eConsultancy)
• 70-80% of users ignore paid ads on search engine results pages, focusing instead on organic results. (UserCentric)
• In an eye-tracking study, the average time spent viewing organic results was much longer on Google (14.7 seconds) than it was on Bing (10.7 seconds). (UserCentric)
• The rate of ‘not provided’ search terms has increased by 171% since its introduction and as of January 2013, accounted for one of every 2.5 visits from organic search. (eConsultancy)
• 70% of customers pay under $1,000 per month for SEO services. (BrightLocal)
• i in 2 consumers who visit Amazon in a month conduct an onsite search and are exposed to a search results page. (Compete)
• $2.2 billion will be spent on search engine optimization in 2016. (BrightEdge)
• 80% of searches on smartphones are spontaneous, and 44% of these are goal-oriented. (Google)
• 53% of mobile searches on Bing have local intent. (Microsoft)
• Searches with local intent account for about25% of all Google searches. (Chitika)
• 20% of US online adults find Google most helpful when researching products or services, followed by 19% for Amazon. (Forrester Research)

Online Shopping & Customer Service Statistics

• Six of every ten global respondents used the Internet for grocery shopping research. (Nielsen)
• 83% of social media customer service users have walked away from a purchase after a bad experience. (Consumer Insight Group)
• 37% of consumers who purchase online and pick them up in-store make further purchases in the store. (Forrester Research)
• 46% of online customers expect brands to provide customer service on Facebook, yet only 23% provide it. (BufferApp)
• Tablet owners are twice as likely as smartphone owners to purchase goods or services on their devices (38% vs. 19%). (comScore)
• 44% of consumers always research products online before purchasing in-store. (eConsultancy)
• 18% of consumers consult a shopping list maintained online or on a mobile device while shopping for groceries. (The Hartman Group)
• 65% of mothers said when they find a product or brand they like, they are loyal to it. (Loyalty360)
• 28% of US tablet owners and 56% of smartphone owners use their devices while shopping. (IAB)
• 22% of consumers learned about the last product they purchased via the internet. (Forrester Research)
• Urban consumers aged 18-34 with household incomes exceeding $150,000 spend twice as much online as the average US consumer. (Boston Consulting Group)
• eCommerce accounted for 10.6% of US discretionary spending in Q1 2013, the highest share of any quarter on record. (comScore)

Have you seen a helpful or amazing online marketing insight lately? Share yours in the comments!

Image from Shutterstock.com.

Sometimes, online marketing campaigns are dazzling, magnificent in scope and incredibly complicated. Thankfully, there are also great gains to be made by getting back to basics and ensuring best practices are followed across your site and web presence.

A company website is a living, breathing representation of the brand on the web. Over a site’s lifetime, content is added and taken away. Copy changes. Pages may be redirected. Landing pages come and go. Menus and navigation change.

Each of these changes over the site’s life (hopefully) served its purpose and helped the site become more productive for the company and helpful for customers. However, it can also leave the site disjointed, riddled with errors, and underperforming.

Ongoing Site Audits Point to Opportunities

Brands need to step back often and perform a full site audit, either in-house or with the help of an agency. Optimization is an ongoing process and it’s critical to understand where your opportunities lie at any given time. Sometimes, seemingly insignificant changes to bring your site in line with best practices can produce surprising results.

Recently, the TopRank Online Marketing team had an opportunity to increase traffic to a consultation-booking page and improve conversion on a client website. This particular client operates a large service-oriented business in the healthcare industry; increased discovery and conversion by prospective patients was a major lead generation goal for their website.

It is a fact that sites will lose a percentage of converting visitors with each additional field in a form. This is increasingly relevant as consumers search and browse on mobile devices, where filling in forms may be more cumbersome than it was with a QWERTY keyboard. Though companies may be tempted to gather as much information as possible, only that which is necessary to contact the customer or otherwise take action on the lead should be included in the form.

In this case, our client’s goal was to increase targeted, qualified leads. Their existing page offered prospects a free consultation and contained seven form fields.

In the new version, the number of form fields are reduced by just one, to six. This is accomplished by combining the first and last name fields to one for “Name.” This one small change shortens the length of the form, while still allowing the client to collect the same amount of pertinent information.

In addition, the client implemented on-site optimization best practices, including a more descriptive title tag and rewritten meta description, to attract and engage the right type of traffic in search engine results pages.

Page and Form Optimization = 101% Increase in Pageviews, Conversion Improves by 8%

The TopRank team ran the optimized version of this lead generation page against the existing version for a period of one month in an A/B test and observed:

• An increase in pageviews by 101%
• Conversion increased 8%

The combined effect of additional targeted traffic and uptick in the percent of those visitors who opted in to the program resulted in a substantial improvement in qualified leads for the client.

Often, it is these small improvements, founded in a great understanding of the customer journey, that yield the most significant results.

If you’d like to improve the quantity and quality of traffic to your site, while improving your lead generation program, contact TopRank Online Marketing today to get started.

Top image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Did you know, TopRank Online Marketing started out as a public relations firm in 2001 called Misukanis & Rodgers? That’s right, we’ve evolved in many ways since then, but we’ve also been involved in many ways with the worlds of marketing and public relations – for a very long time.

It may have seemed an anomaly in 2001 to combine marketing tactics with media relations engagements, but today it is that convergence that is helping to define the future of modern digital communications roles.  We live in an age where brands and consumers are both publishers and participants in the always on and ever evolving web of information that drives business.

News travels at the speed of Twitter from  the people on the ground to the people on the web, bypassing traditional media and communications completely. At the same time savvy publications are increasing online readership and finding new ways to monetize content.   Many companies have realized that, “To get in the media, you need to become the media”.  Those investments in news and content create direct connections to publics, communities, customers, investors, employees and the media.

Communications channels are converging and so should we. The very same channels that spread unfiltered news and information to the insatiable social web are also the platforms brands are using to connect with consumers.  There’s a convergence of disciplines occurring with Marketing and Public Relations and as our agency began to evolve over 10 years ago into an integrated and converged model, so too must communicators that wish to capitalize on the emerging consumer trend and innovations in social technology. 

How do we do that? How do we get marketing and PR in the same room and working together?  Well, that’s the topic I’ll be discussing during a luncheon keynote at the Communicators Conference in Portland Oregon next week.  This event is a joint venture between the IABC and the PRSA and boasts being the largest communications event in the Pacific Northwest.

Here are the details of my presentation:

May 8, 2013 – 12:15 pm

Digital Convergence – The Integration of Marketing & PR
The trend towards convergence of marketing and public relations is upon us. With combined strategies, marketers can deliver more meaningful marketing performance in a social and content centric world. PR and communications professionals can embrace the measurable impact delivered by marketing best practices for achieving influence and brand visibility. This presentation will offer attendees a peek into the converged world of marketing and PR, who’s doing it right and a model for making the transition to deliver more powerful business results.

If you’re in the area, be sure to check out the event (unless it’s sold out).

Content is hot in any industry you look, so look no further for the best B2B content marketing advice than the Content2Conversion conference in New York.

Featuring an all-star lineup of B2B Marketing speakers including: Ardath Albee, Ann Handley, Joe Pulizzi, Michael Brenner, Rob Yoegel and senior marketing executives from Aberdeen Group, Adobe, Avaya, Compendium, Curata, Eloqua, Kapost and more means all bases will be covered.

TopRank CEO Lee Odden will be doing his part to contribute to the B2B content marketing brain trust by presenting on an integrated approach to search, social media and content. Essentially, how to optimize your inbound marketing to drive demand for products and services.

He’ll be sharing the Attract, Engage, Convert model for content marketing optimization that has been instrumental for numerous Fortune 1000 companies as clients of TopRank Online Marketing.

This is a 2 day event right on Times Square.  Here are the formal details of Lee’s presentation.  If you’re in the big Apple, you can miss this event.

April 23rd, 11:45am
Content Optimization: How to Integrate Search, Social and Inbound to Drive Demand

Join author and consultant Lee Odden as he explains how to optimize inbound marketing campaign investments for better performance. Through an Attract, Engage, and Convert framework Lee will share case studies that illustrate how leading marketers are reaping rewards from integrating content marketing, social media and SEO.

Here are the details on the entire conference agenda and registration information.

To answer the question of “What’s the Future of Content for Marketers“, TopRank CEO Lee Odden will give an hour long presentation in Minneapolis, hosted by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association at Solera on Wednesday April 17.

Lee will present on what content really means, how content teams are structured and what technology and consumer trends are emerging. 

With over 15 years of digital marketing consulting experience with companies including BT Syntegra, HP, McKesson, Randstad, Marketo, Radian6 and many others – Lee will provide his perspectives on the future of content for marketers.

By understanding the relationship between customers and how they discover, consume and act on information, attendees will gain a compelling understanding of what’s next, how companies are structuring their teams for a content rich future and ways to optimize content planning and performance.

Several TopRank team members will also be in attendance and we’d love to meet you.

Get more information about the presentation, location and other details on the MIMA website.

Lee Odden presents at Social Media Marketing World

On Tuesday April 9th, TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden will be presenting at the innaugural Social Media Marketing World conference with over 1,000 registered attendees.  On it’s first go, SMMW is already one of the largest social media conferences in the world.

As companies invest more marketing budgets into social media and blogging, many are still struggling to elevate their effectiveness. Social Media Marketing World has brought together some of the top social media thought leaders and brand practitioners in the world to help companies elevate their social media smarts.

Featured speakers include:

• Guy Kawasaki
• Mari Smith
• Chris Brogan
• Jay Baer
• Mitch Joel
• Sally Hogshead
• Amy Porterfield
• Dave Kerpen
• Michael Stelzner
• John Jantsch
• Viveka von Rosen
• Joe Pulizzi
• Mark Schaefer
• Marcus Sheridan
• Ekatarina Walter
• Michael Brito
• Lee Odden

For our part, TopRank will be helping attendees understand how to integrate brand blogging efforts with an overall content strategy that can best influence measurable results.

Fans, Friends, Followers, Comments and Page Views are not enough to prove ROI on corporate blogging.  With over 9 years and 1.2 million words of business blogging experience in combination with being a trusted advisor on corporate blogging to numerous Fortune 1000 brands, Lee will present best and worst business blogging practices, plus actionable advice that can be used immediately.

Here’s the full session description:

April 9th (Tuesday)
How to Integrate Blogging With Content Marketing that Inspires Action
Blogs provide an incredible content marketing platform for connecting directly with prospects, the media, customers, investors and the industry at large. During this presentation, Lee Odden (author of Optimize) will reveal a powerful yet simple 3-step process for developing blog content that attracts the right readers, engages them and inspires them to take action. You’ll walk away with ideas to help move readers to subscribe, interact, request more information or become customers.
11:45am – 12:30pm PT - Room A

Social Media Marketing World takes place in beautiful San Diego, California on April 7, 8 and 9, 2013 at the bayfront San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina. We hope to see you there!

Be sure to find out more about Social Media Marketing World conference and register today.   If you’re already registered, make sure you add “How to Integrate Blogging With Content Marketing that Inspires Action” to your calendar and get there early!

Lee will be giving away copies of “Optimize” to the best livetweets during his presentation. Use the hashtag #blogaction when you tweet the session.

From SEO to Content Marketing and Email Marketing to Analytics, this industry bellwether delivers the best in digital marketing year after year. Attendees will hear big brands discuss everything from enterprise level strategy to mobile marketing on a large scale. Outstanding marketing agencies will provide key tactics and takeaways you can implement on your own online marketing plan after you leave.

TopRank Online Marketing CEO, Lee Odden (@leeodden), will deliver a solo presentation entitled “Creative Content Marketing – Winning Hearts, Minds and Wallets” which will give attendees a framework for producing a creative content strategy in the most efficient way possible.

Lee’s presentation will feature recent research into content marketing as well as several creative content examples from favorite brands. He’ll also showcase clever content sourcing tactics that generated substantial results.

In addition, Miranda Miller, TopRank’s Content Marketing Manager, will moderate a session entitled, “Maximizing Twitter and Facebook Ads for Lead Gen, Engagement & ROI.”

See TopRank at SES New York

Lee Odden
Creative Content Marketing – Winning Hearts, Minds and Wallets
Solo Session

Date: March 28, 2013
Time: 9:30am-10:30am

Investments in content marketing are on the rise, but few companies have fully realized what the best practices are for creating high quality content over a long period of time. Developing ideas for effective marketing can be a challenge and this session will help delegates to:

• Develop a framework for creative and efficient content creation
• Find resources and ideas where others cannot
• Leverage a mix of evergreen, repurposed, curated and co-created content for better marketing results
• Apply SEO and social media optimization principles to amplify content reach and engagement

Miranda Miller
Maximizing Twitter and Facebook Ads for Lead Gen, Engagement & ROI
Moderator

Date: March 26, 2013
Time: 11:45am-12:45pm

With more than 1 billion users on Facebook alone, brands are constantly on the lookout for better ways to reach their customers via Facebook and Twitter. This deep dive session will show attendees how they can optimize their Twitter and Facebook Ads spend for lead generation and customer acquisition. In this session you will learn:

• Actionable tactics such as the planning process to ensure a successful output: defining goals and KPIs, content and offer alignment, seamless user flow that leads to the end goal and ensuring sales is attributed to the social media efforts.
• Practical information brands of all sizes and with all budgets can use immediately.
• How to align content, ad copy and targeting to achieve the best results.
• When, why, and how to use the four types of Twitter Ads products depending on the goal of the campaign.
• Best practices for brands running on FBX and how the exchange differs from other Facebook ads.

Lastly, you’ll see examples and results of high- and poor performing types of Twitter ad content, ad copy and targeting as well as Case study data from financial service and automotive brands currently running on the Facebook Exchange.

Conference Details

SES New York
March 25-28, 2013

Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

More info and register

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming SES Conference in New York. Be sure to follow the online buzz on Twitter. Just search #SESNY. Lee Odden (@LeeOdden) and Miranda Miller (@MirandaM_EComm) also will be interacting and tweeting at the event so keep an eye out for their tweets. Also, be sure to check out @TopRank for those of you who do not already follow us.

Image via Shutterstock.

No matter where you are on the social media spectrum, this webinar will help you decide which networks are most useful for your business, and so much more.  Do you want to know the best part?  This webinar is complimentary!

Join The Social Media Revolution with TopRank CEO Lee Odden

Social Media 2013: What Sites Are Most Important to Marketers This Year
Speaker: Lee Odden

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013
2:00pm-3:00pm (EST)

This educational webinar will take some of the mystery out of social media marketing for businesses of any size.  Not only will you receive guidance into which sites are best for your brand, but how social media fits into a larger integrated online marketing program.  Additionally attendees will learn:

• After the social media shakeout in 2012, which networks still matter? Where are marketers finding ROI and how?
• How social media can bridge the gap between what consumers want and what marketers can do to solve their problems—and make money doing it!
• How to integrate social media into the overall marketing mix.
• Tips on listening on social media, and how to apply insights in a creative, rather than creepy, way in your messaging.

Social media participation is no longer an option but a necessity.  Don’t miss your chance to gain insight from some of the industries leading social media professionals, so that you too can begin squashing the competition and improving social media engagement!

Attendees will hear applicable tips, tricks, and tactics from some of the region’s top digital marketers as well as several from abroad, that can be applied to their individual marketing strategies.

TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden (@leeodden) will be giving a solo presentation titled “Creative Content Marketing – Winning Hearts, Minds and Wallets” which will provide attendees a framework for producing content efficiently and creatively.

Lee’s presentation will feature recent research into content marketing in the UK as well as several creative content examples from favourite UK brands.  Case studies of clever content sourcing tactics that generated substantial results will also be presented.

Along with the solo presentation, Lee will also moderate two sessions titled “Content-Driven SEO on a Shoestring” and “Integrated Marketing: What Does That Really Mean?”

See TopRank at SES London

Creative Content Marketing – Winning Hearts, Minds and Wallets
Speaker: Lee Odden

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
11:45am – 12:45pm

Investments in content marketing are on the rise, but few companies have fully realized what the best practices are for creating high quality content over a long period of time.  Developing ideas for effective marketing can be a challenge and this session will help delegates to:

• Develop a framework for creative and efficient content creation
• Find resources and ideas where others cannot
• Leverage a mix of evergreen, repurposed, curated and co-created content for better marketing results
• Apply SEO and social media optimization principles to amplify content reach and engagement

Event Details

SES London
February 18-21, 2013

Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre
Broad Sanctuary
London SW1P 3EE

Register

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming SES London conference.  Be sure to follow the conference buzz on Twitter under the hashtag: #SESLON

London image provided by Shutterstock.

Company Background:
Leather Bound is an online and in store retailer of leather motorcycle apparel and accessories. Leather Bound Online has been engaged with TopRank since 2010, with the objective of increasing traffic and online sales via their website, leatherboundonline.com.

Current Situation:
Leather Bound Online retained TopRank Online Marketing to strategize and implement a Search Engine Optimization and Content Marketing program which tactics include:

• Content Marketing
• Content Optimization
• Link Building
• Conversion Optimization

With TopRank’s help, the site rapidly gained traction and traffic rose steadily.  In 2012 (the third year of Leather Bound’s SEO program) the site has averaged 30% year over year gains.

Online Marketing Program Results:
In addition to an increase in web traffic, Leather Bound also noted an increase in foot traffic due to TopRank’s SEO and content creation efforts.  Leather Bound reports many new, local customers are finding their store via search engines.  In fact:

• Customers are visiting the store from up to two hours away.
• Increased in-store traffic can be attributed to increased online visibility for local searches.
• Since the start of 2012, nearly 30% of visits to the site can be attributed to Northeast Region (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts and Maryland), close to Leather Bound store.

Recommendation to Increase Traffic to Online and Retail Location

In order to further capitalize on local visitors to the New Jersey location, TopRank made the following recommendations:

• Set up Google+ Local listing and ensure listing is complete and optimized for priority terms
• Incorporate blog and resource content which appeals to local audience such as local events and recommendations.
• Add geo-specific keywords to keyword glossary and create specific pages for specific geographic targets.
• Add incentives for online visitors to also visit in store through the use of couponing, etc.

The impact of a strategic and well executed online marketing program can extend beyond stated objectives. Although it is important for your online marketing team to remain focused on top objectives which are most important to your program, you should always be exploring new opportunities to grow your business.

Attendees are in for three days filled with applicable tips, tricks, and tactics that can be applied to their individual marketing strategies.

TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden (@leeodden) will be giving a solo presentation titled “War of Words: Myth-Busting Social, SEO & Content” which which will identify and bust the most common myths about SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing and provide attendees with examples of how an integrated approach to online marketing will win the war for customers.

See TopRank at NMX 2013

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013
12:00pm – 12:30pm

War of Words: Myth-Busting Social, SEO & Content
Speaker: Lee Odden

This just in: “SEO is Dead”, “There is no ROI in Social Media” and many other proclamations are made in industry press and on blogs just about every week. And yet investment in social, search and content are all on the rise. Why the disconnect? From pageview journalism to egomaniacal SEO superstar wannabe’s, sweeping generalizations and out of context observations have created a number of myths about these highly effective online marketing channels.

This presentation will identify and bust the most common myths about SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing plus provide attendees with examples of how an integrated approach will win the battle and the war for more customers, better engagement and online marketing success.

Takeaways

• Distinguish fact from fiction about social, SEO and Content Marketing
• Discover a model for integration that gets results
• See examples of modern social, SEO & content in action

Event Details

NMX Presented by Blogworld
January 6-8, 2013

Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
3700 West Flamingo Road
Las Vegas, NV 89103

Register

Added Bonus: Interview with Lee Odden from Blogworld 2012

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming meshmarketing NMX Conference.  Be sure to follow the conference buzz on Twitter under the hashtag: #NMX.  If you’re interested in learning more about the specific sessions be sure to visit the schedule page on the meshmarketing website. TopRank CEO Lee Odden (@LeeOdden), Marketing Manager Ashley Zeckman (@azeckman) and Content Manager Miranda Miller (@MirandaM_EComm) will all be interacting and and tweeting at the event.  Also, be sure to check out @TopRank for those of you who do not already follow us.

Toronto image provided by Shutterstock.

The truth is each of these tactics can be effective for a business. Used together as part of a holistic online marketing strategy, they complement one another and become an incredibly powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal.

Why use PPC ads?

Pay-per-click ads are especially helpful for:

• Getting your brand in front of people already searching for information
• Tapping into previously undiscovered market segments
• Connecting with people ready to make a purchase
• Lead generation
• Launching new products or services
• Directing potential buyers to pages optimized for their search query deep within the site.

Once a potential customer clicks on ad, smart marketers will have them sign up for an email newsletter or follow the brand on a social account. The first interaction was paid; maximize that investment with an opportunity to connect on an ongoing basis and build a relationship.

How to Get the Best ROI from Your PPC Investment

The key to successful PPC advertising is in getting the right message in front of the right people, at the right time.

Use targeting options such as geography, device (mobile, tablet, desktop), operating system, location, language and more. Create a profile of the ideal person you will reach with your PPC ad campaign. Write ad copy that will appeal to that particular person and direct people to a page on your website that answers the need that caused them to click on your ad.

In PPC advertising, you will have campaigns and ad groups to target different users with a variety of ads. A campaign will have a theme; for example, you might choose to run a campaign for your 20% holiday sale. Your ad groups could then each promote a specific product. Finally, you will have several ads targeting each of your “perfect customers” so you can test them against each other and identify which perform best.

Tips for More Effective PPC Ad Campaigns

Use these tips and best practices to improve your PPC strategy:

• If you are running ads on both the Search and Display networks, set them up as separate campaigns so you can more effectively measure performance.
• Write ad copy with the device in mind. People searching from a mobile may use shorter queries and be at the point of purchase. For example, you want it made clear in your ad that the user is being directed to a sales page so you aren’t paying for clicks by people doing research on an item they are about to buy in-store.
• Use the Advanced Search option in location targeting to drill down to specific cities and states.
• Try different bidding options; test and analyze carefully to ensure you are not overspending on clicks that are not converting.
• Begin with “Running all day” in ad scheduling, then use your own data to determine which times of day and days of the week are most effective.

Effective PPC advertising is a necessary component in your online marketing strategy and can help you build your following, drive sales and increase your overall marketing ROI. Talk to a TopRank PPC advertising specialist today to learn more about how PPC could help your company have a more profitable 2013!

How often have you searched for an image online and couldn’t find it? Or had a hard time finding an audio file? You can make sure that doesn’t happen to your videos, images and other multimedia assets with some good SEO best practices. Below are guides to help you increase exposure to your images, videos and audio with SEO.

Optimize Images

With the amount of images most websites contain, image optimization should be a priority for all marketers. When optimizing images for search engines, pay close attention to the following. File names. Name your image in accordance with your keyword focus and stay away from generic names.

• Good: Image-Search-Engine-Optimization.jpg
• Bad: Photograph10955.jpg

Alt tags. Add alternative text for images via the alt tag. If there isn’t a field for you to enter it, the HTML string would look something like this: <img src=”http://www.domain.com/image-search-engine-optimization.jpg” alt=”image-search-engine-optimization-important”> Captions & Other Copy. Search engines can’t see images, so content that appears with them offer clues of topic, context and relevance.

• Good: Good content marketing should include image search engine optimization
• Bad:

Optimize Video

Videos offer some of the greatest opportunities for viral content. In addition to file naming conventions and alt tags, there are other ways to enhance your video’s reach with video search engine optimization. Title. The title of your video is one of the most obvious targets for optimization.

• Good: How To: The Basics of Video Search Engine Optimization
• Bad: How to Optimize Video

Transcripts. A transcript basically doubles your content by offering a video and a text version of the same content. The text can also appeal to people who don’t prefer video content. Video Meta Data. Video meta data can be optimized such as titles, descriptions and keywords. A keyword optimized description can especially helpful if your transcript didn’t include many relevant keywords. Be sure to include the word “video” in your description.

Optimize Audio

If search engines can’t look at photos or videos, they certainly can’t listen to audio files.

Names & Content. Again, previous SEO practices can be applied to audio, such as including keywords in the filename, creating a transcript of the audio file, as well as optimizing meta data and other on-page text.

ID3 tags. Audio has a distinctive tagging system known ID3 tags. This allows for the embedding of detailed information into an audio file that can optimized according to keywords and relevance.

Include Images. Make the page on which your audio file resides more interesting by including relevant images. These can also be optimized according to the directions above, as the images pertain to the audio.

Here, I’ve covered the primary methods for optimizing multimedia assets for improved search engine ranking. As you can see, with few exceptions, many of the same basic techniques and tactics apply, though in some cases, like the transcripts, it can take a bit of time and forethought. Now that you know the basics, start using the information to optimize your multimedia assets. Apply these techniques in mixed media settings for even better results.

Have you been optimizing your multimedia content? Please share your tips for optimizing multimedia assets in the comments below. Image provided via Shutterstock.

Image provided via Shutterstock.

TopRank Online Marketing is happy to announce that we have not one, but three team members participating as speakers and/or moderators for this exciting upcoming event. TopRank CEO Lee Odden, as well as Thom Craver and Miranda Miller will all be sharing their first hand online marketing knowledge with attendees.

Additionally, Jolina Pettice, Alexis Hall, and Evan Prokop will be providing live coverage of SES Chicago on TopRankBlog.

If you’d like a sneak peak into the exciting topics that the team at TopRank will be covering, take a glance below.

See TopRank at SES Chicago

Lee Odden

Optimizing B2B Content Across the Sales Cycle
Solo Session
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
3:15pm-4:15pm

With today’s fast moving search and social web, content flows in every direction throughout a variety of platforms, formats, and devices. The mass adoption of social platforms has brought about a revolution of B2B information access, sharing, and publishing. Now more than ever, guiding business customers on their journey through the sales cycle requires an integrated approach to content, optimization, and social media marketing. This session will help meet that challenge by providing:

• A framework for sales funnel optimization for specific customer segments.
• Case studies on developing content, optimization, promotion, and measurement for search and social media.
• Practical examples for optimizing awareness, interest, consideration, purchase, retention, and advocacy.
• Key performance indicators that lead to business outcomes with an integrated approach.

Integrated Marketing: What Does That Really Mean?
Panel Discussion
Thursday, November 15th, 2012
9:30am-10:30am

As the debate on what to call SEO continues, and much is made of the terms “content marketing” and “inbound marketing,” many in the industry cite integrated marketing as the answer. But what exactly does this mean? This leading panel of experts will discuss the meaning of the term and the merits of a fully fledged integrated marketing strategy. From case studies of high-profile brands, you’ll learn how to plan, create, execute, and measure cross-channel tactics for advanced digital marketing initiatives.

Sell Without Selling: The Real Secret to Content Marketing Success
Moderator
Thursday, November 15th, 2012
1:30pm-2:30pm

A truly effective content marketing strategy centers around creating compelling content that gives people a reason to return to your site or engage with you in some way. The secret is to stop focusing on the ‘sale’. Selling online means taking every opportunity to bring potential customers closer to your brand in an engaged way. Great content can do this better than any banner ad or pushy sales collateral ever will. Changing the way you not only view content, but also how you create it, will help you increase conversions. Learn how to use great content to create multiple opportunities to potentially sell to your audience.

Thom Craver

Introduction to Analytics
Solo Presentation
Tuesday, November 13th, 2012
11:45am-12:45pm

You’ve researched your keywords, optimized your site, and created your campaigns. But did these steps work? Analytics is more than just page views and visitors. You must measure and analyze your site visitors and how they consume your content. This introductory session will cover:

• How to decipher common web metrics and apply them to your business objectives.
• How to properly track campaign performance, regardless of medium.
• How to set goals and measure conversions in terms of dollars and sense.

Web Analytics Deep Dive
Solo Presentation
Thursday, November 15th, 2012
12:15pm-1:15pm

Go beyond page views and other basic metrics. This session will show you how to determine more common-sense information from the visitor data that you have collected. When done right, web analytics information can help you to meet business objectives and to determine future strategy decisions. In the end, your skills will improve your organization’s bottom line and prove your worth to the executives and management teams.

This session will cover:

• Ideas for how to segment your visitors into meaningful groupings.
• How to use the groupings to tell a story from the visitor data.
• How to interpret results in terms of your organization’s needs and objectives.

Miranda Miller

Leveraging Twitter and Facebook Ads
Moderator
Thursday, November 15th, 2012
10:45am-11:45am

Facebook and Twitter have become platforms many advertisers just can’t ignore – understanding paid media can amplify your social strategy and build a strong, engaged community. This session will inspire attendees to develop or enhance existing campaign assets and provide proven strategies & tools to conquer Facebook and Twitter Ads. Attendees will learn:

• Workflow & organization tactics
• How to Map Search to Social inventory
• Tools to Identify Social Synonyms & Other Segment Targeting Tools
• What images work & how to develop excellent image assets
• Winning FB ad strategies that WORK for B2B & B2C brands
• How to track FB Ad success with Google Analytics
• A case study on the B2B FB ad win over Search & LinkedIn ads
• A case study example on how Twitter can be used for creating brand awareness and generate new customers
• A deep dive to understand the advertising, analytics and targeting options on Twitter’s advertising platform.

Event Details

SES Chicago
November 13-15, 2012

Hyatt Regency
151 E. Wacker Dr.
Chicago, IL 60601

Register

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming SES Conference in Chicago.  Be sure to follow the conference buzz on Twitter under the hashtag: #SESCHI.  If you’re interested in learning more about the specific sessions be sure to visit the schedule page on the meshmarketing website. Thom Craver (@thomcraver), Miranda Miller (@MirandaM_EComm) and TopRank CEO Lee Odden (@LeeOdden) will be interacting and and tweeting at the event so keep an eye out for their tweets.  Also, be sure to check out @TopRank for those of you who do not already follow us.

Chicago image provided by Shutterstock.

meshmarketing 12 is a conference that provides a comprehensive mix of thought provoking speakers, tips, tricks, tactics, and engaging conversations.

TopRank Online Marketing CEO Lee Odden (@leeodden) is kicking off the conference with the opening keynote titled “The Optimization of Search, Social and Content” which which studies the intersection of these online tactics and how they can work together to create a cohesive marketing strategy.

See TopRank at meshmarketing 12

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012
9:05am – 9:55am

The Optimization of Search, Social & Content
Speaker: Lee Odden

The holy grail for content marketers: Developing high-quality, meaningful content that also embodies the best practices of search and social, and doing it in a way that operationalizes the process within the customer life cycle. In this session, Lee Odden, author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, will discuss strategies for making this gold standard a reality in your content projects. Whether you work in Marketing or Public Relations, understanding how your customers discover, consume and engage with content will help you optimize your digital marketing and communications across the customer lifecycle. In this session you will learn how to:

• Develop a hub and spoke model of optimized and socialized content publishing
• Map content types to phases of the buying cycle
• Operationalize search and social within the customer life-cycle
• Determine when certain types of content are best

Event Details

meshmarketing 12
November 7, 2012

Toronto Reference Library
Bram & Bluma Appel Salon
789 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON M4W2G8 Canada

Register

We look forward to seeing you at the upcoming meshmarketing 12 Conference.  Be sure to follow the conference buzz on Twitter under the hashtag: #mm12.  If you’re interested in learning more about the specific sessions be sure to visit the schedule page on the meshmarketing website. TopRank CEO Lee Odden (@LeeOdden) will be interacting and and tweeting at the event in addition to providing a keynote.  Also, be sure to check out @TopRank for those of you who do not already follow us.

Toronto image provided by Shutterstock.