The vast database built up by a search engine means that it is able to retrieve specific and varied information extremely quickly when given a search to run, with the aim of providing the most appropriate and closely matching result as possible. This result is shown in a list of links, known as a SERP (search engine result page). The higher a website appears on this list, the more likely it is to be visited by users. Companies implement search engine optimisation (SEO) to help their websites rank higher in result pages, by ensuring that their content and website meet the criteria search engines look for.

Each page is studied and analysed by spiders to determine how it should be indexed – looking at titles, headings, meta tags and content itself to extract keywords and phrases. When a user searches for one of these words or phrases, the search engine chooses the sites that best match the query, depending on relevancy, popularity and authority.

The way search engines decide on the most useful match varies widely between engines, according to the algorithms they employ, and understanding the complexity of these processes can be extremely difficult. Each search engine also sets their own procedure which must be adhered to when conducting an online marketing campaign, or you run the risk of being penalised by the search engine and waste all your hard work.

Algorithms are created to allow equal opportunity for each company to rank highly, which is why SEO is a great long-term alternative to paid search (PPC) where budgets can dictate success.

Understanding how search engines work, and the processes they use to rank websites is extremely complicated. Therefore we spend a lot of time researching and testing to gauge the effects of different techniques on a website’s ranking. We have vast experience in optimising for natural search and can help to ensure your website ranks well for its relevant keywords.

Advertising on Facebook can be a beneficial way to target relevant, specific users, and achieve a variety of marketing goals. We have a handy downloadable Facebook Advertising 101 PDF on our website, for a full rundown of how the system works, but here are a few quick tips to help you get started:

• Establish your goals and objectives before you start. What is it you want to do? Increase traffic, strengthen your brand, raise awareness of a promotion or new product? Have this in mind when creating and targeting your ads.

• Brainstorm keywords. One of the aspects of the targeting system is related to groups and pages users belong to – think carefully about the types of keywords that will be relevant to your audience and find appropriate targeting areas.

• Find your audience. Do your research – who is your demographic, what do they like, what sites do they visit? More importantly, why should they want to click your ad?

• Choose the right landing page. Go back to your aims. Where do you want to send your ‘clickers’ and why? To boost your Facebook page numbers? To increase traffic to your website or a specific page? What will be most beneficial for your campaign?

• Split test. Much of PPC is trial and error. Experiment with alternative wording, images and landing pages to see which combination yields the best results. You can pause ads at any time so you needn’t be throwing your money away – find out what works and cull the others.

• Know what you’re doing. Um, obvious? Apparently not. Many businesses, lulled by the ease of setting up a Facebook campaign, charge right in and sink their cash into unsuccessful ads. Find out about the ins and outs of PPC (pay-per-click advertising), or hire an internet marketing company to help you out. (Wink wink!)

• Create eyecatching design. “But it’s only a teeny little ad,” you might think. All the more reason for it to grab the viewer. Use an image with impact, write an engaging headline, call the user to action, give them a reason to click and a reward for visiting. Keep your copy succinct and make it count.

• Be consistent. Use familiar branding, colour, design and phrasing so customers trust the similarity between your ad and your landing page. Sending them to a site that has no apparent correlation to the advert is disconcerting.

• Tweak until you get it right. Monitor your ad’s progress on Facebook Insights, check your CTR (click-through-rate) and your stats, and work out what works and what doesn’t. Adjust, adapt and improve!

• Don’t expect a quick fix. Treat Facebook advertising as an investment, just like any aspect of internet marketing. One of the best benefits of Facebook ads is to build brand strength – to be visible to the right people so that you are first in their mind when they think of a related product or service. Social media is about trust. If you’re looking for fast direct sales and a hard sell, then you’d better be a whizz with your copy.

• Use narrow targeting. It’s tempting to see a big number with lots of zeros and think: “Wow, my ad’s going to be seen my X-hundred-thousand people!” when really you’d be better off narrowing down your target audience. Be specific. Use relevant location, age, gender and keywords to increase your ROI.

• Connect and interact. Make your presence on Facebook before you start. Give your audience somewhere to find out more about you to increase trust and familiarity. Follow up with information, engagement, conversation so you’re not just a faceless advertiser.

• Give them a reason to ‘like’ you. If you’re using your Facebook profile/page as your landing page, it’s a good idea to add a custom welcome page enticing users to ‘like’ you. This is a great place to offer some sort of hook: a voucher, a free download, unmissable content etc. The same can be done on a website landing page, to help get traffic onto the site.

• Test performance. Along with split testing and adjusting your ad content, see how well your ads perform at different times of the day, different days of the week. Though you cannot automate this, you can switch your ads on and off manually, to save money if your target audience is not generally online during the weekend, for example.

For more information, visit How to Advertise on Facebook at Ikroh.com for our free Facebook Advertising 101 download, and professional internet marketing advice.

The growth and development of online marketing has been vast over the past few years, with smart phones, the iPad, mobile marketing, social media, viral marketing and the insane growth of internet and social networking use. (For an idea of what’s coming next, have a look at Trendwatching.com’s Crucial Consumer Trends for 2011.)

Here are some of our favourite 2010 stats:

Facebook grew by over 30% last year, now boasting 500 million users

Top Google search terms were dominated by social media, with users looking for Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. The social network giant Facebook nabbed over 3% of all searches in 2010.

For a handy Twitter roundup (and so I don’t have to go and research it all), check out the Most Powerful Tweets of 2010

I love Time’s Best Blogs of 2010 list, which shows that no matter how much information we have access to for free on the internet, most of us are still going to end up looking at humorous sites like CakeWrecks, Sh*t My Kids Ruined and The Oatmeal for cheap laughs. And if we’re not doing that, we’re searching for the next must-have technology or the coolest designs. Interesting also is that TechCrunch is voted ‘essential’ and Mashable ‘overrated’ this year.

The most watched YouTube videos revolved around music, parodies and humour (albeit annoying oranges saying “Whazzzzup!”). A representation for social media marketing took number 5 with The Old Spice Man, but my favourite has to be OK Go’s video for This Too Shall Pass:

Here at Ikroh, we eat, sleep and breathe the internet. Our experience and passion for SEO, PPC and social media mean that we can confidently say that we can set up and deliver high quality results for our clients. Not only that, but our positive and personal approach creates bespoke and flexible strategies which work for each individual business. We’re not into aggressive and pushy tactics, we’re a friendly company who take the time to understand and work with our customers to get the best out of their business, and find out exactly what they want.

We offer a very wide range of adaptable tactics and strategies to help businesses grow and develop effectively, and increase your presence online.

If you have an online business, we cannot stress enough the importance of Search Engine Optimisation. The majority of online companies fail to thrive, because they are just not turning up on search engine result pages (SERPs). If no one can find your site when they search for appropriate search terms, you will receive no traffic, wasting all the time, effort and money you are putting into your site.

There are different ways of achieving a better online presence. The two most common and most effective are search engine optimisation and Pay Per Click (PPC).

What’s the difference between SEO and PPC?

Search Engine Optimisation implements various methods on and off-page to make your website ‘search-friendly’, meaning that it is easy for search engines to find and index, therefore more likely to rank for your keywords. The aim of SEO is to increase ranking over time by making valuable changes and ensuring that your site contains relevant and fresh content. SEO is a long term process, and is essential for strengthening your online presence, increasing the authority that your site holds, and above all, driving traffic to your site.

Pay Per Click is a more immediate and short term solution, and can be very effective to publicise a temporary offer or new development. With a PPC campaign, you can advertise exclusively to the people searching for your keywords. Your advert will appear alongside relevant searches on Google and Yahoo! and other search engines, and you only pay when a visitor clicks on your advert.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media platforms like blogs, Facebook and Twitter allow you to connect with customers on a personal level and build a community around your brand, increasing awareness, site traffic and encouraging trust in your product or services. Your customers and your target audience are already using social media – why aren’t you?

STEP 1 – DISCOVER!

Getting started with your SEO/PPC/Social Media campaign

Ok, first things first. At Ikroh, we think that our relationship with each client takes priority – we want to know your goals and aims and the way your business works, and we want to make what we do as clear as possible to you so that we can work together to get the best results. We always take time to understand your business in depth so that we can provide the highest level of results and ensure we are targeting the right audience and search results.

We understand limitations in budget. We started out as a small business and even though we have grown, we still like to operate with the approachable and enthusiastic methodology of a small, personal business. Therefore, we will always make sure we provide you with the best possible service that you can afford, not just an off-the-shelf solution according to budget – we are a bespoke service provider, creating unique solutions for each client.

Many online search marketing companies offer a free analysis of your website as a hook, but these are often generic, automated, inaccurate and invaluable – a genuine site analysis takes time, effort and expertise. Ikroh spend a great deal of time making sure the results from our website analysis will help us to provide the best for your company. Our Web Audit service gives you an in depth view of your site’s strengths and weaknesses and we will draw up a fully structured plan to implement changes that will increase the effectiveness and productivity of your site, including optimisation.

If you choose to take on our Social Media services alongside your search campaign, we will conduct a thorough investigation into your sector, your online presence and your target audience to find the most effective way of implementing a social media strategy. This is completely bespoke, since it depends on many factors, and we can help you to become involved to whatever degree you choose.

In all that we do, we make sure that our results are trackable, and put careful Web Analytics monitoring in place to ensure that we can constantly review, analyse and adapt your campaign to ensure its ongoing success. We are approved Google Analytics consultants and know how to use your data to make important decisions and adjustments.

STEP 2 – DELIVER!

How do we get results and why are we so confident?

We are so confident in our ability to deliver such excellent results for online businesses that we do not tie anybody into a contract. Many companies today require a 6-12 month sign up subscription that you are stuck with, even if you are unhappy with their work.

Here at Ikroh we have a fantastic, friendly team with a massive collective experience. Working as a close team we develop ethical strategies which will increase the visibility of your website and strength of your business. Everything we do at Ikroh is always recorded, tested and reviewed, to make sure you know what’s going on and are happy with it, sending frequent, up-to-date reports and keeping you informed.

We also like to keep frequent contact with all of our customers so we know you are happy and if there is anything you need to talk about we are always here for you.

STEP 3 – DOMINATE!

Be a forerunner in your field, with our help.

Ikroh SEO sets high goals, not only for ourselves but for our clients. We keep our sights on the future, and plan ahead to improve the businesses we work with to the best of our abilities. We put all our efforts and experience to getting your business to the top and are confident that it is always possible.

As e-commerce becomes ever more competitive, retailers are turning to mobile technology to differentiate from their competitors and keep up with modern advances in the way we shop. Generally, sales are on the upturn; according to The British Retail Consortium, retail sales values rose by 3.8% in the last 3 months compared with last year, and total sales have increased by 6.6% since the start of the recession. Despite these positive stats, we as consumers are still making a move to internet and mobile purchase to try to find the best deal and get the most for our money.

To date, m-commerce has not proven to satisfy consumers’ requirements for fast, efficient and easy transaction, with problems ranging from slow page load times and small screens making viewing difficult, to fiddly or long-winded payment methods. Bad experiences mean irritated and frustrated customers, possibly leading to the loss of custom not only on mobile channels, but online and ‘real-life’ branches of the store too.

The percentage of smartphone users is still fairly low in the overall market, though more accessible pricing tariffs which are becoming increasingly available should change this. And so the world of m-commerce is coming; in fact, it’s been here for a while, we just haven’t noticed…

Quick Response (QR) codes – commonplace in Japan for over 10 years – are becoming more and more utilised to marry mobile and retail. The QR pixelated black and white squares can be scanned whilst in-store to provide mobile users with special offers or links to more information. Vouchers sent by SMS can then be scanned off the handset to cash in discounts at the checkout.

But uses for the codes are not just limited to promotions – Ubimark have printed 2D scannable codes into their copies of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, allowing readers to link easily with interactive maps, historical facts and information via their phone while reading. In the UK, estate agents intend to place QR codes on For Sale/To Let signs so that prospective buyers can download information on a property instantly. In France, codes are already in place on public furniture and parking meters to provide additional information.

A YouGov survey commissioned by Broadbank found that 40% of mobile users buy tickets for concerts/shows/events with their phones, and the most popular use of retail-related mobile internet browsing is to compare prices and product reviews, for example via Microsoft’s Ciao. You can even now apply for an instant (low amount) loan via text. We are increasingly relying on our mobile phones to make purchasing decisions, just as online research and commerce has become a trusted method of doing business. The creation of barcode scanning applications means that we can even wander around a shop checking comparative prices while we shop. Our current technical generation is made of confident and fickle shoppers and we are demanding better service via mobile technology.

Mobile marketing is becoming an integral part of multi-channel commerce; customers can research a product online, snoop out the store IRL (in real life) and make a quick double check via their phone to make sure they’re getting the best price. Multiple channels should satisfy different customer needs (ie: finding information via a website, reserving a product via mobile and picking up in person to avoid shipping costs) and not simply replicate the catalogue or website. A good retailer is always trying to make it as easy as possible for their customers to make a purchase or find out about a product. Suggesting related products according to a customer’s favourites or previous browsing history, and predicting where a customer might want to go next simplifies transactions and makes potentially complicated mobile retail faster and more user-friendly.

The key points here are to provide consistency and flexibility; m-commerce makes it possible for customers to get what they want wherever they are, not relying on proximity to a real life store or their computer or internet connection. They want familiarity with the store/website they already know, and the option to customise their purchasing experience. Providing stock details and reservation ability, SMS reports about your delivery status – these are all ways to give the customer full control (and in turn encouraging them to put their full trust in you).

Promotions and offers can span all channels, though be careful not to alienate some divisions of your customer base by leading them to believe that online customers are getting a better deal, for example. Encourage your clients to utilise all variations of your business presence – even if you don’t have a web-savvy customer, they’re likely to know how to use a mobile phone, or at least understand a special offer via text message. Customer service can be broadened from personal service in store, to a helpline, to email, to interactive support on Twitter or Facebook.

A company held to be a successful example of multi-channel commerce is UK warehouse retailer Argos, who provide reservation options on both their website and their iPhone app, which was downloaded by half a million customers within the first 3 weeks of its launch this spring. You can check stock, reserve products or request the transfer of items between stores, and this ease of use is transferred in-store, where self-service checkouts allow you to avoid queues. If you choose to have your item delivered, you are kept up to date with its progress via text.

And the future? Well, we’ll be covering this in a… future blog post, but it seems to be along the lines of completely excluding button pressing from transactions completely. Following on from contactless card purchasing, mobiles will apparently soon be endowed with NFC (near field technology), to turn them into virtual wallets, requiring a mere wave over an equivalent version of a chip-and-pin machine to pay for a purchase. Not satisfied? Ok, how about finger print transactions? Apparently realistically in the works. Minority Report here we come…

“Everyone Loves Music”

The success of Spotify in the last few years has been huge – its 7 million European users include people from all walks of life, who use the player as a personal radio station, listening to the music they enjoy while they work, browse the internet or relax at home.

Spotify intersperses its music with advertising (on the free version, at least), targeting specific audiences according to demographic, location and mood. The current formats are split between audio and graphical (banners and skyscrapers), or a mixture of both. Advanced advertising includes video as well.

Pricing is by CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) – £10CPM for audio ads and £6CPM for display ads. Targeting is organised by postcode, age and gender, or even by music tastes, and uses absolute targeted impressions, which means your ads will not be wasted on anyone outside your targeted group. Spotify users provide demographic information upon registration, which is used to aid targeting.

Audio advertising copy can be any length, but the ads are limited to approximately 2-3 minutes of advertising per hour of music listening. This can be accompanied by a logo, banner or packshot (in 250×250 gif format) which replaces the current album image and is clickable/trackable. Information regarding the ad scrolls below the tracklist, and is also clickable. Audio can be a great way to attract attention and place a call for action.

Display advertisements come in tower, banner or leaderboard format, and can scroll in sideways or from the bottom of the player. These are flash compatible and can be served by a 3^rd party ad company. There is also the option of a screensaver, which has high impact as it covers most of the player until the user scrolls over it, whereupon it minimises to a clickable leaderboard at the bottom of the screen. CTRs for display ads range from 0.2-2.2%.

Ads can be used to publicise promotions, directing users to an entry point, either under the home page, in a pop up or a separate tab. These promotions are also targeted, and you can run several different campaigns for different targeted demographics. This format is ideal for Spotify, as it is simple for users to enter, since their details are already logged within the system. Advertisers can opt in to receive entrants’ details.

Recently run ads generally have some aspect of affiliation, for example 3 Mobile have offered 24 months free Spotify Premium with one of their Sony Ericsson contracts. Seat’s Ibiza campaign combined a competition for tickets to the new Shakira tour and now a limited edition Shakira car.

 Spotify’s mobile app has just been given an upgrade to make it compatible with iOS 4, including a “nice little surprise”, according to their blog, making it not only the music player of choice for personal computers, but for background listening on internet-compatible mobiles too.

Using Facebook Ad creates an advert to appear in a small box in the right sidebar of Facebook pages, displaying information, promotions, an image and a link to your chosen destination.

Setting up a Facebook Ad is quick and simple to do, working on either a Cost Per Click (CPC) or Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) basis by bidding on keywords. Using the personal preferences most Facebook users have provided when setting up an account, advertisers can choose from a range of options to target their ads specifically to as direct or broad audience as they like.

These ads are run daily, according to the model you have chosen, and are set within a maximum daily budget – so you will never overspend accidentally. Facebook is used by a staggering 500 million people worldwide, so the audience potential in this medium is pretty high, whatever your targeted demographic.

Ads are comprised of a destination URL (which can be your Facebook page itself, your website or blog, or any landing page you choose), a title (25 characters max), the ad’s body text (135 characters max) and an image. Facebook make it as easy as possibly by making suggestions for content and images via the link provided.

You are then able to configure your targeted area and audience, by location (country/city), age (you are even able to target people on their birthdays), gender, marital status/sexuality, language, likes and interests, education and work information, and by existing contacts and friends on Facebook. You are given a running total of the reach of your ad, depending on your chosen demographic.

Your ‘Campaigns and Pricing’ options include currency, country and time zone, campaign name, maximum daily budget, specific date scheduling or continuous distribution, and a choice between CPM or CPC, including your maximum bid. Facebook also make suggestions for budgets and costs, and give an example of estimated impressions or clicks per day for each price. Organise and manage this aspect according to your budget, aims and analysis of your marketing campaign. An SEO company like Ikroh can be invaluable in helping with this if you are unsure what you are doing.

You are able to review your ad at this point, and ensure that all links, images and information are fully working and correct. Advertisements must comply with the Facebook ad guidelines.

Payment options are via Visa or Mastercard credit/debit card or PayPal and billing is daily. You have access to conversion tracking and analytics of your ads. “Facebook Insights”allows you to see the actual results of your campaign, as opposed to just your targeted audience. You can use this to analyse and adapt your ads to make them most effective. Facebook ads can also be tracked with Google Analytics.

Adverts can be used in a variety of ways:

• To drive traffic to your Facebook page and increase the amount of ‘fans’ or ‘likes’ for that page (a ‘like’ button is included in the ad for ease of use, and the user’s actions are documented on their profile wall for doing so).
• To drive traffic to your website or a targeted landing page.
• To publicise a promotion, new product or service (i.e. a temporary campaign as opposed to a long-running one)
• To increase awareness of a brand or service.
• To hold a competition or poll.

The social nature of Facebook means that it is most useful for strengthening brand reputation and awareness, building a steady, loyal group of fans and customers around your page or profile, which in turn will increase your authority and presence. Hard-sell ads are not necessarily the way to go – the basis of social media is the exchange of information and is not consumer-driven. Providing interesting information, fun competitions, games and promotions is a better way to generate interest in your Facebook page – and in turn, your company. Users of Facebook groups and fan pages want to be part of something that engages and amuses them, and the most successful business pages on Facebook do just that. Facebook’s own case studies can be found here.

ROI is variable, dependent on the targeted audience and nature of the product or business and ad itself. The formula relies on testing and adapting accordingly, making changes as you see results to optimise the success of this type of advertising. Ikroh can help with all aspects of online marketing, also provide management in advertising on other social media platforms such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as Blog Marketing, SEO and PPC.

Check the Ikroh blog for more Advertising 101 posts, including Spotify and Twitter in the following weeks…..

Landing pages are one of the main components of a keyword’s quality score. Second only to click through rate, the landing page is an integral factor in determining the quality score. Many times these are overlooked and this can have an effect on your bid price per keyword.

Having a well thought out landing page can also help with conversions. To improve conversions the landing page should be designed around a specifically chosen keyword. Content needs to be relevant, exciting and interesting to keep readers wanting further information, encouraging a customer to carry on reading. By having strong, clear content you will help build further trust within the site from readers’ perspective. And don’t forget about page layout, by making it visually appealing and easy to navigate, information within the landing page will be clearer and key points will be made to stand out.

Google search engine ranks websites using adwords with a score between 1 and 10. To get the best results from the service, experimenting regularly is recommended. The experiment generally carried out is known as split testing. By making slight changes to areas within a specific landing page, you will discover changes to your quality score over time. Examples of some of the changes which can be easily made to deliver improvements are: page layout, page titles or paragraphs.

By increasing your overall quality score you will provide your business with a chance to bid less on a keyword but still gain the same return. In turn, this will increase your website’s conversion rate and provide you the best return from Google adwords services.

The worldwide web is a big old place, and everyone is fighting to be number one on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). It’s not easy, even if you have an incredible product, a beautiful website and great employees and skills. Search Engine Marketing (SEM), also known as Online Marketing or Digital Marketing, covers the various methods of increasing a website’s visibility in SERPs, increasing awareness around your brand, increasing traffic into your site and hopefully resulting in more leads and sales for your company. Techniques vary from business to business but generally include:

-          Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

-          Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising or Paid Search

-          Monitoring, Auditing and Analytics

Companies like Ikroh specialise in these complicated fields, helping to develop a unique strategy for your particular company to drive prospective customers to your site. Research has shown that the top 30 search results get 90% of search traffic, and the top 10 results receive a staggering 80% more traffic than the following 11-30.

Search Engine Optimisation is also known as Natural or Organic Search – using well written SEO copy to increase familiarity within search engines, raising your website’s ranking on result pages. Keywords are important, but not the be-all-and-end-all of SEO, as peppering your articles and blog posts with mindless repetition of keywords is not only unappealing to read, but excessive overuse will be penalised by search engines. (Make sure your SEO is ethical, using white hat avatars, or your website could be dismissed, dropping through the rankings, or even banned.) Content can also be distributed through Social Media Marketing, shared via blogs and social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, and bookmarking sites such as Digg or Del.ic.io.us. Search engines will recognise an increase in coverage or links to your site, and raise your ranking appropriately. Though results are generally slower building than other techniques such as PPC, SEO is cheaper and the overall outcome will be stronger with regular monitoring and upkeep.

Pay Per Click campaigns are comprised of paying for the top positions in search page results by bidding for selected keywords associated with your product or service. This is a more expensive solution, but if implemented well can be quick and efficient at getting your website noticed and ensuring exposure to your customers.

Both types of SEM require specialist knowledge and continual monitoring and auditing to ensure that your site not only gets to the highest ranking it possibly can, but stays there! SEO companies can also analyse your site, tracking statistics to find out whether it is performing at its best, where it loses customers, where it succeeds in making conversions and if it is usable and engaging.

There are other avenues to pursue in Online Marketing, which can go hand in hand with your SEO or PPC campaign and increase your marketing success further, such as Email Marketing, Blog Marketing and Social Media Marketing. A professional SEO company like Ikroh will be able to tailor the most effective marketing plan for your business and get the results you are after.

Marketing in a hurry? Need to push a new product or service? Want to specifically target the customers searching for your type of product? Pay Per Click is an extremely effective and quick way to achieve immediate visibility.

By signing up to a host company such as Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing or Microsoft AdCentre for your Paid Searches, you agree to pay for your appropriate keywords and phrases to potentially secure you a space at the very top of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). These may hide nonchalantly within the ‘natural’ results, or appear in coloured boxes at the top of the page as ‘sponsored links’. Every time a potential customer clicks on one of these links, your host receives payment from you for the pleasure. Sure, it ain’t cheap, but it certainly is effective.

SEO companies like Ikroh can manage your PPC campaign, choosing relevant keywords, providing analysis and monitoring to keep it successful. Since advertising this way can easily cost thousands of pounds, you and your specialist have several important points to consider when planning it:

• Choose your keywords/phrases carefully – an analysis of the most commonly searched for keywords appropriate to your company or product will help you decide which ones are going to be most beneficial to pay for.
• Write a vareity of unique, carefully composed ads – one bog-standard ad across all your chosen keywords is likely to miss the mark in some instances. Tailoring your advertisments to each different aspect of your campaign will draw in your target audience no matter which area they search for.
• Make your links direct and every click will count. Sending anyone and everyone who clicks on one of your ads to your homepage is not the way to go. Providing PPC links to different pages of your site and helping customers directly to what they are looking for with the least amount of effort increases the chance of a conversion.
• Find a balance between budget and results. Paid Search can be expensive, and it’s worth analysing whether the potential ROI will exceed your outlay. Alternatives are available in the form of more focused, regional campaigns, Seasonal Campaigns or special schemes for Small Businesses.
• Monitor results and adapt and develop accordingly. As with any marketing campaign, close tracking and analysis is key to ensure that you achieve the results you are after. There are tools available to track which ads are most successful in making conversions and which are being ignored.

At the end of May, Google announced it was adding the option of an SSL encryption to its primary search engine which will protect your network from unfriendly snooping, but could coincidentally render third-party webmasters impotent in tracking traffic and search terms and worrying SEO firms whose techniques involve web analytics.

Google also encrypted its email server gmail earlier this year, and offers an SSL version for Google Docs, Calendar, Web History and Bookmarks. At the moment, SSL search is an optional service, only available when logged in at https://www.google.com, and is not currently compatible with Google Maps and Images.

What is SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. When searching over SSL, the protocol encrypts your search queries and search traffic information to protect them from being read by any third party, increasing the security of internet communications and data transfers. When SSL search is turned on, any non-SSL sites you visit will stop receiving referral data, eg: which search terms you used to arrive there and even whether you used a search engine or typed in the URL manually.

Will encrypted search cast a shadow on web analytics?

Some people think so, but at the moment the service remains tagged as “beta” and is by no means mandatory. Google are reportedly considering making it a default option, “…once we better understand how it affects users’ search experience,” according to a Google spokesman. But they also anticipate SSL search to slow down search time, and will be more likely to offer it as a default service in response to users who regularly choose the https version over the original. Certainly, it has the potential to throw web analytics into a quandary – if it becomes a popular way to search, trying to track traffic and come to solid conclusions based on these results will be difficult.

But this does not seem dangerously imminent, so calm down everyone. We’re still here…

When creating a PPC ad there are some key points that should be considered in order to achieve the best possible results.

1. Include keywords in your ad. Use keywords in your ad to give your company a chance of competing with the large companies within your specific industry. By featuring the keywords your ads will be more appealing to searchers and have more overall relevance for Google.
2. Features and benefits. Mentioning the features & benefits of your product or service within any ad will make it more appealing and easy to understand. Having a benefit which really makes your service stand out makes it more likely that people will click on your advert. An example can be “tone up + lose fat fast”
3. Credibility words. Credibility words will give your ad more power and result in more visitors. By using words such as “secure”, “safe” or “guaranteed” you will be providing searchers with the peace of mind and belief in your ad that encourages them to look in deeper.
4. Unique. Make your ad unique from the others; try to think about what is really going to give you an extra edge. Providing unique information which makes you different to other competitors within your field will provide an extra dimension and help your clicks.
5. Strong calls to action. Producing a good ad with key points about your service should be finished off with a strong call to action which ties the whole ad together giving a positive feel. Some examples of a strong call to action can be “get started now” or “subscribe today”. By taking some key points from these tips you will create more appealing adverts and create a direct approach for more relevant traffic. In turn this will create a higher conversion rate helping you to grow your business.

Finding telephone numbers and calling businesses has become even easier.

On Thursday, January 28th, Google released a mobile feature that allows marketers to add a click-to-call mobile ad to their paid search campaigns. The new click-to-call campaign is very similar to PPC (pay per click) but is based on searches from mobile phones.

Within this mobile feature, advertisers are given an opportunity to add a clickable telephone number within an advert through paid search. The advert allows any searcher to click on the telephone number and make a direct call immediately to that specific company. The advert and telephone number that appears will be dependant on your location. For example, if you are searching for a large chain company, the results which will be shown will be closest to you.

How Does it Work?

Current or future users who are getting involved using Google Adwords will be able to benefit from using this feature by adding a telephone number to their advert. From this, searchers will be given the option to make an instant direct call from their mobile phone to your business with a simple click of a button. Advertisers who use this service will be charged at the same rate as if the customer were to have clicked through the website from an Adwords link.

This will become a fantastic development, as there are more and more users growing the mobile internet network daily, and popularity is soaring. In recent tests, Google revealed that advertisers were finding an increase of between 5 to 30 per cent on all click through rates for their advertisement.

Find out more from Google: http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-click-to-call-phone-numbers-in.html

Split testing is an experiment used by many large businesses today, proving its worth. The test is best carried out with an audience of a sufficient size in order to getting the most information out of the results. It is a process used to keep costs as low as possible while receiving a greater return.

What benefits can you get out of split testing?

The most important benefit split testing provides is an increase in conversion rate. By increasing your conversion rate, you will be able to lower your advertising costs when using PPC, whilst still increasing your revenue.

Other benefits include that it gives you the chance to improve your overall website score provided by Google. Google use a scoring system between 1 and 10 which gives the chance to measure where your website is currently at so as to make improvements.

What areas can be split tested?

• Headlines
• Headings
• Colours
• Fonts
• Layout
• Paragraphs
• Offers

Just taking for example “headings” – testing your heading and making small improvements can have a massive effect. Headings are the first part viewers will read, if it’s not concise and interesting it will have a negative effect by losing the interest of potential clients, and in result decreasing your conversion rate.

When using a pay per click campaign it is always important that you run these tests. Just by making small changes or by using different word selections, you can show a marked increase in your conversion rates, which will also have a positive impact on your income.

Ikroh SEO have just launched a solution just for you – SUO AdWords. Designed to suit smaller businesses and start up companies, who never know what’s round the next corner, SUO AdWords doesn’t tie you in to a contract and doesn’t have a minimum spend on Google.

Reach A Targeted Audience Of Visitors Looking For Your Products

It’s all very well having a website, but if it’s not working for you, it’s wasting money. You may even be getting visitors, but how many are sticking around and becoming customers? A Google AdWords campaign can deliver visitors to your website who are actively searching for your product or service. This means they are already half way to becoming customers!

Leave It To Us

Ikroh SEO will;

• offer advice on realistic budgets
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This new solution is available from as little as £195 plus VAT. For more information click here, or call us on 01908 379938.

As far as Google AdWords is concerned, a click happens when someone sees your Pay per Click ad and clicks on it. An impression occurs when someone enters one of your search terms into the search engine, and your ad appears.

This difference is crucial as you aren’t charged for an impression, even though the person searching the internet may have seen the ad. You are only charged for actual clicks. If you are targeting the right keywords, and your advert is correctly worded leaving potential visitors in no doubt about what you offer, this means that you can be sure the people clicking through to your site are interested in your product or service. You already know they were searching for one of your keywords, and as your ad explains it further, effectively your site has less work to do to convert that visitor to a customer.

Even though you only pay for each click through (Cost Per Click), it is important to keep track of the number of impressions, as well as the number of clicks. If you have a consistently high number of impressions with a low number of clicks, you may need to rethink the wording or placement of your ads. Adjusting the time of day it appears, specifying a longer keyphrase, or rewording your ads can help boost the click to impression ratio.