Article Archive by Sonya Wood

Using Search and Display Together

by Sonya Wood

By using display advertising in conjunction with search, advertisers are likely to see a lift in conversions. Many consumers convert on a site where they are familiar with the name of the company.

In addition, if a consumer sees a display ad, they are apt to go to a search engine and research the company; this leads to a higher lift in searches. Since the visitor is already familiar with the company, they are most likely doing a branded search, which tends to be much more qualified traffic. Consumers interested in your products may just want to find out a little bit more.

For example, a person might see a display ad for a new hybrid car. If the person wants know more, they may go to a search engine and look for that specific car to learn more.

Participating in simple search advertising has some limitations because the ads that appear are restricted to just what people are searching for. People on the internet don’t know what they don’t know; so display advertising in conjunction with search engine marketing is a great way to get your name, products and services out across the internet. Running search ads can also lend to the credibility of a company if visitors see a display ad and do a search for it.

Using both display and search engine marketing can help people find businesses, products and services when they may not be searching online and lead to an increase in branded searches as well as an increase in conversions.

Foursquare: A Location-Aware Social Application

by Sonya Wood

Foursquare is an application (app) for your iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Palm that takes social networking to the next level. Users can update their location and send reviews about their favorite hangouts. This app uses a list of restaurants, bars and nightclubs and it integrates with Yelp and Google Maps, making it ideal for quick reviews and directions.

Foursquare lets other users know where you are. You can even “check-in” someplace to let your friends or social contacts know you are there. You can also let them know any specials or other things to do nearby. There is a competitive element to Foursquare that creates engagement. For example, you can earn badges and points for each action you complete, including “checking in” or becoming the “mayor” of a location. As more of your friends use Foursquare, you will learn more and more about the places they frequent and you can discover new places.

Foursquare goes beyond the typical online reviews seen in directories. Got a favorite local hangout? Local businesses that use Foursquare begin to recognize patrons and reward them with special offers, deals and incentives. For example, a restaurant engaged in Foursquare may want to offer a devoted customer free coffee, appetizers, ice cream or otherwise. Businesses should take this and other opportunities like Foursquare and run with them. Reward customer loyalty. It is a great way to get repeat customers and gain their social contacts as customers through word of mouth recommendations.

Leave a Lasting Impression

by Sonya Wood

Have you ever done a Google search for one of your keywords and discover that you don’t see your ad? Although there could be many reasons why your ads are not appearing, but the most likely reason would be loss of impression share (IS).

According to Google, impression share is a metric that represents the percentage of times your ads were shown (i.e. your accrued impressions) out of the total number of page impressions (i.e. pages where your ad appeared or could have appeared) in the market you were targeting. Basically, this means how many times your ad appears when searched.

The best way to determine if you are losing impression share is to run a campaign performance report then select impression share, impression share lost to rank and impression share lost to budget. These three options will show actual IS and how much you are losing due to rank and budget.

Increasing your daily budget is a simple way to improve your overall IS. This will allow your ads to be visible for longer periods of time throughout the day. Getting better ad rank is another method to gain IS.  Make sure that your keywords are closely related to your ad copy and landing page. Since ad rank is quality score is multiplied bid, improving your quality score, also improves your ad rank.

If you want to make sure your ads are being seen, remember there are several ways to garner more visibility including increasing your budget and ad rank.  This is a great way to leave a lasting impression on potential customers.