That which is measured is improved: Whatis a Landing page? Before we talk about landi...

That which is measured is improved: Whatis a Landing page?
Before we talk about landi...: What is a Landing page? Before we talk about landing pages, first, let’s discuss which what one is.  A landing page, is a standalone...

That which is measured is improved: Why Are People Unsubscribing From You?

That which is measured is improved: Why Are People Unsubscribing From You?: Marketers usually jump to the assumption that when people attempt to unsubscribe, they are breaking up from your brand. That isn't alway...

That which is measured is improved: 3 Ways To Make PPC Work For You.

That which is measured is improved: 3 Ways To Make PPC Work For You.: Like all things, if planned and executed right, PPC can prove to be one of your more successful campaigns. However, easy mistakes can be m...

3 Ways To Make PPC Work For You.

Like all things, if planned and executed right, PPC can prove to be one of your more successful campaigns.

However, easy mistakes can be made, and if not corrected now can become bad habits.

1) Choose Wisely 

It is important to not only try and bid for your competitors top spots, but also be creative with your own. The only way to to win the top spot, is to bid more.
However I'm aware not everyone has a budget to do this, which is why it is important to come up with some better keywords.

Before you try and save money on obscure key words to try and cut costs, please remember why you are doing this, and focus on your customers. What would they click? what segment are you targeting? you may want to select long-tail keywords, but not select broad terms.

Another common mistake to avoid, are situations where people will click your ads even though you're not what they have put into their search. This commonly happens when you don't use negative words, and use the default broad match keywords, this will increase the number of clicks as buyers find your website after searching something similar, Once they realise you wasn't what they was originally searching for, they will bounce from your site, and you are still left with the bill.

What are negative keywords? will help you filter out those looking for something specific. For instance, if your site sells fake flowers, your negative word would be "real", because you wouldn't have real roses to sell to someone.
Every click drives up your price, so you need the most relevant possible visitors.

2) Relevance is key

Nothing frustrates your audience than a buyer searching for one thing, and being directed to the complete opposite. If someone is searching for a cashmere jumper, make sure the link directs them straight to the item, and not just the homepage of your website.

If you are not linking to the landing page from your PPC campaign, you're most likely annoying and loosing a lot of potential customers.

Remember the reason your customers are on Google, is for the convenience.

3) Check it real good

There is no point setting up a PPC campaign, and then forgetting about it. This will ensure you get the most out of your keywords, you spend less on the ones that don't work. Also, to analyse how much traffic is being driven to your site. 

You don't need to spend every hour of the day on your AdWords account, but you should take enough time to look through where your traffic is coming from, how you can create more, and if you can afford to increase your bid.

A big part of marketing is the planning, execution and analysis of the campaigns.

If you like this article, RT and follow me on Twitter: @SarahLouiseTalb

4 Strategies For Staying Ahead Of The Marketing Trends

Marketing is one of the biggest, fastest changing industries around, and we have the pleasure of working in it!

Between technology and techniques, are always changing, especially how buyers behave and have evolved over the years.

Staying ahead of trends, technologies and your competitors can feel very daunting.
This article, offers 4 strategies to help you get ahead of the rest- if not, lap the field.

1) Introduce themes.

Draw out a strategy each month, with an informative skill set. For instance, Octobers theme can be- Lead scoring, Novembers theme can be- abandoned shopping carts, and an obvious December- Festive campaigns for the holiday seasons.

2) Knowledge is Power

There are some great conferences, round tables and trade shows happening all around the UK. See which conferences are of relevance to your industry, or, even better depending on the budget, budget yourself to speak as a professional speaker.

However, if it isn't in your budget as an agency to attend as a speaker, consider finding local events that wouldn't include travel costs for example.
Perhaps nominate yourself as a speaker at an event you'd like such as @McrDig business and trade shows are on a continuous look out for new and insightful speakers. This gives you and your brand great exposure, as well as the ability to network.

3) Make your presence known

Elaborating from the previous strategy, it helps to have a few topic of ideas to present. Depending on the event, the most popular types of presentations I've seen are the case study types. My key tip for you, is to make sure you plan ahead- if you leave it a few weeks prior it will prove difficult to even book a speakers slot.

Work with your communications team on getting a speakers slot on next years conferences, usually, more luck is had if the conference organizer is contacted four to six month in advance.

Why Are People Unsubscribing From You?

Marketers usually jump to the assumption that when people attempt to unsubscribe, they are breaking up from your brand. That isn't always the case, remember knowledge is power, so use this to your advantage, and see why they are unsubscribing.

Relevance + Frequency 

No-one likes too many emails, just like no-one likes to be talked at too much. It's the number 1 root cause of unsubscribe, so automate your responses/ campaigns to co-inside with others, you could save money on not wasting emails also.

Number 2 cause of unsubscribe, of course, is the lack of relevance. It is important to consider that relevance and frequency are interconnected, in that if emails are deemed very relevant then subscribers will accept a higher frequency of mailings. So frequency itself is not the only concept of it being the problem.

A famous saying, is in order to catch a criminal, one must think like one. Even though we are not catching criminals, we are trying to catch the crime committed, before they hit the unsubscribe button.

"I like my emails, but it is blocking up my inbox".
"I like the company/brand, but can't stand the topics".
"I don't check my emails enough for it to be of any use to me."
"I've changed my buying behavior, and you no longer fit to my needs".

There can be a next step put in place with certain email vendors, that can provide your subscriber with an incentive/survey or option to ensure something is either learnt/gained before they leave.

Know your loses

It doesn't matter if you are getting more subscribers than unsubscribes, to get a handle on what unsubscribing is costing your email program, you need to understand two key things: your unsubscribe rate, and number of new subscribers.

it can be hard to estimate how many new people you need to sign up, in order to grow your list, but lets work it out like this, and if you need any help, drop me an email.  Lets say you've been given a mandate to grow your database to a whopping 1 Million. that means you will have to add 200,000 new people, plus the 260,000 you are currently loosing each year. Growth isn't impossible, but brushing the problems under the carpet will prove unnecessarily hard for your business.

If you would like to follow me on Twitter @SarahLouiseTalb I regularly post new articles.