BullsEye Marketing

While creating the last list of tips (view it here at http://bullseyenj.com/2011/08/15/bullseye-marketing’s-top-2-seo-and-sem-tips), the experts here at BullsEye Marketing realized that many different tips did not make the cut. As a result, this is another gathering of a few important SEO and SEM tips.

For those who are unfamiliar with BullsEye Marketing, we are an online advertising and marketing agency. We are located in New Jersey (NJ) but we serve clients across the tri-state area. BullsEye Marketing has experience in creating websites, running SEM and PPC campaigns and analytical reports. For more information about BullsEye Marketing’s services, please visit http://bullseyenj.com/services.

And now, as promised, are two more SEO and SEM tips:

1. Use long tail keywords instead of one general keyword

A long tail keyword is defined as 2 or more search words that define a keyword. For example, “ad agency nj” is a long tail keyword while agency or advertising is not. In most cases, potential customers use long tail keywords like “ad agency nj” instead of just agency. The reason for this is because the more words in the keyword phrase, the more specific the online search. The long tail keywords should be inserted throughout the website and blog post. Additionally, they should appear in the header and anchor text of the page. The more that these long tail keywords appear on a web page or in a post, the more relevant the post or webpage is to these long tail keywords.

2. Track your results and growth.

Sign up for a free analytic program like Google Analytics. Put the code from this program into your website. Now, look at the results of your SEM and SEO tactics. This analytic program tracks visitors, page views, IP addresses, keywords and a whole slew of important information. The best suggestion is to start using this analytic program at the start of any Internet advertising campaign because the analytic program will give the business a benchmark of their success before the advertising campaign. Then, as the advertising campaign progresses, look at the analytic program to see the lift in views and sales.

Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

BullsEye Marketing is an online advertising and marketing agency that serves the greater New Jersey (NJ) area. We have experience in creating websites, running SEM and PPC campaigns, analytical reports and call tracking; Basically, BullsEye Marketing can take care of all a business’s online advertising and marketing needs. For more information about BullsEye Marketing’s services, please visit http://bullseyenj.com/services. Additionally, we have been in the business long enough to know the do’s and don’ts of the industry. So here are some of our top tips:

1. Build a strong and easy to use Webpage or Website

This is important because it is the central point of online business. Without it, a business will have trouble really doing anything on the internet. The website is the first interaction that a potential client will have with a business. If the website is easy to use, has a fast loading time and basically pleases the customer, that customer will be sure to return and conduct business through the website. Also, all the PPC campaigns or other SEM tactics will be useless without a strong website because all online marketing strategies point potential customers toward a website.

2. Produce Content Consistently

This content can be anything from uploading a picture with alt text, a chart, a blog post or a full out press release story. It really does not matter as long as the content is relevant to the business’s website and it is uploaded on a consistent basis. The consistency is important because it shows to the google bots and spider bots that this webpage is still active. As a result, the page will receive a higher page position on search results. Additionally, the consistent upload will help attract readers and returning potential customers to the website.

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Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

It is said that the first few years of a business are the hardest because it is during these first few years that a company begins to make a profit. When a company first starts out, they usually take out mortgages and loans; as a result, the profit from the first few years goes to paying off those loans. However, by the fifth year, the company starts earning a profit and this is exactly why BullsEye Marketing is celebrating our 5th year as an online Advertising Agency.

BullsEye Marketing started out five years ago with a concept from its president B Alan. He believed that online advertising is the advertising and marketing of the future. Additionally, he also saw a lack of agencies that catered to this new online advertising. As a result, he used his years of experience within the advertising industry to create a new agency that was able to do both online and traditional advertising but it specialized in online advertising and marketing. And thus, BullsEye Marketing was created. For more information about the creation of BullsEye Marketing, please visit http://bullseyenj.com/about-us/.

Although BullsEye Marketing is based in New Jersey (NJ), the agency has clients across the tri state area including the states of Pennsylvania (PA) and New York (NY). Additionally, BullsEye Marketing has a variety of clients. The majority of our clients are car dealerships like the Martin Dealerships of Delaware and Madison Honda in New Jersey. However, BullsEye Marketing also has clients in other industries such as Handi Lift Residential in North Carolina and the Wilf Campus for Senior Living in New Jersey.

BullsEye Marketing offers many services which can help a business’s online advertising to flourish. We offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consultations so that businesses get the most out of their website. BullsEye Marketing also offers website creation and maintenance for those businesses that do not have a website yet. The marketing experts here at BullsEye Marketing also can run a company’s SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and PPC campaigns. Lastly, BullsEye Marketing runs an Analytical report for your website to make sure that the online advertising is effective in attracting visitors, leads and sales. For more information about the services offered by BullsEye Marketing, please visit http://bullseyenj.com/services.

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Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) industries use a lot of jargon and abbreviations like PPC and CPC. Here at BullsEye Marketing, we understand the advertising and marketing industry. As a result, we can decode the business terms into definitions and ideas that the everyday man and company can understand. As a result, we just updated our glossary page to include definitions and pictures to help the everyday man,. Furthermore, we added more terms to cover all the different aspects of online advertising and marketing including Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Our glossary can be found at our glossary or by looking under the need to know tab on the navigation bar. Because here at BullsEye Marketing, we don’t believe in the sneaky tactics our competitors use to trick their clients. We tell it like how it is and we give our clients the best deal and produce results. Check out our work at http://bullseyenj.com/our-work and contact us today.

Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

In 2010, Twitter had 105 million users and the owners believe that 300 thousand new users sign up everyday. That is a whole lot of users and more importantly to business owners, a whole lot of consumers. At this moment in time, Twitter is a relatively untapped marketing pool. In order to advertise on Twitter, all a person or company needs is to set up a free account and then to establish some followers. After that, the company or person can simply advertise their products by typing 140 characters and clicking enter. Its that easy.

But then you might ask, “if it is so easy, why aren’t more people doing it?” Well, to advertise on Twitter, it takes quite a bit of time and energy because it takes experience to shrink a half page ad or 30 second commercial into 140 characters. Also, research shows that there is direct relationship between the amount of content produced and the number of followers; the accounts with the most followers, are generally the accounts that produce the most content. As a result, in order to effectively use Twitter as an online marketing tool, new content needs to be consistently produced.

But that is where BullsEye Marketing comes in.

The professionals at BullsEye Marketing have experience in online marketing and Internet advertising in both local New Jersey and global markets. Additionally, we are able to create twitter, blogs and even websites in order to boost a company’s online sales. Furthermore, we will even maintain that website, twitter account or blog so that the client gets the most out of their online marketing medium. For more information about our services, please visit bullseyenj.com/services/

Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

Between your shopping sprees at Brooks Brothers, Express or the Apple store, make sure you check out our new ads in the Short Hills Mall. We just placed ads there for Madison Honda. See the new ads  by scrolling down or by clicking on the our work tab. While you are there, feel free to check out the websites we’ve built that are also under the our work tab. Then go see our ads for Madison Honda in person at the Short Hills Mall and Contact Us.

Contact Us: (888) 678-4890

Since we live in a world ruled by People Magazine, TMZ and celebrities in general, most people have a good idea about what a Public Relations (PR) person is suppose to do. However, when people hear the words, digital PR, they begin to look very confused; so let me explain it for you.

The role of a company that does digital Public Relations, such as BullsEye, is almost identical to the duties associated with a normal PR person; the only thing that changes is the tools associated with each type of PR. The role of a digital PR company is to create an Electronic Public Relations (ePR) Campaign which produces positive content around a company’s website or at the very least, is linked to the company’s name or website. This content then helps the company rise within the searches of the online search engines.

The tools of a digital PR company are vast and numerous, but nonetheless, all of them are offered by BullsEye. The tools include Electronic Press Releases, Email Blasts, SEO optimization, Database Marketing, Blogging and so many more.

Take advantage of our free consultation and find out what it truly means to have a digital PR representative.

The company name usually is the keyword that leads to the most web site traffic conversions. Your affiliates know this and advertise under your company’s name in paid search engine marketing. What happens is that not only do you now have to pay your affiliate for the sale they brought you, but you’ve already paid your due with your own advertising methods for that customer to know your name before the search. Be sure to prevent your affiliates advertising in paid search engine marketing for your company’s name. All they are doing is collecting the cash from your own internet marketing New Jersey advertising.

Those new to SEO NJ have often been told to focus on one very niche topic. One narrow vertical. That has commonly been considered the way to gain credibility, readers, links, and ultimately build website traffic, which assuming the blog/site itself isn’t your primary source of income, could lead to online conversions. But is keeping it narrow really the best way to go?

Another way to go would be to cover as much ground as you possibly can. Throw a wide net out there and see what you catch. Once you see what you’ve caught, maybe you can catch more in the same area. The thinking is that the more ground you cover, the more people you are potentially exposing your work to. It’s going horizontal, rather than vertical.

The more resources you have, the better off you will be, of course. That is why big companies, like car dealerships, with deep pockets find the horizontal content angle so attractive. They can afford to pay to have a lot of people create content. In automotive search engine marketing, they can afford to bid on keywords across the board.

But just because it’s easier for a big company to go horizontal, that doesn’t mean the small SEM experts can’t keep the same principle in mind. Small businesses can find success in e-commerce, despite the fact that Amazon and Walmart are only a click away. The same goes for horizontal content sites.

If you’re going to go the route of trying to cover as much ground a possible, it doesn’t mean that quality should be sacrificed. It’s not about quantity over quality. Search engines like quality, and more importantly, so do users (who also like to share quality content via social networks). Search engines like Google want to deliver the highest quality results possible to the user, and they’re getting better and better at doing this as time progresses.

You may not be an expert in everything. Who is? There are different ways to construct quality content in areas you are less familiar with. For one, obviously, you can get SEM experts to write content for you in any given niche. You can also perform thorough research before tackling a specific topic. The more you learn along the way, the more knowledgeable you will be anyway, and what is an expert if not someone that has a thorough understanding of a subject?

If you can cover more ground, you can attract a wider audience, which means more web site traffic, which means more eyeballs, which means more New Jersey advertising dollars.

Source:  Web Pro News

If you plan to begin a pay-per-click search engine marketing NJ campaign, you need information. Some critical information to run a proper campaign is where to publicize and how much to promote.

PPC, or pay-per-click, is a great way to advertise a website, service, or product. By placing pay-per-click advertisements on search engine results pages, you are encouraging potential customers to gain knowledge of your product through their search queries. Like all New Jersey advertising, it only works if it is directed at the right people, at the right time, and in the right way. However, as a result of millions of people searching for any single thing at any given time, you can surely count on getting to the right people. With the amount of people on the Internet using any search engine at any given time, you can be sure that you will build website traffic; and given that your website development team has set up your website properly, you can be sure that your online conversions will increase dramatically.

The larger the search engine is, the higher the price will be per click. Additionally, the keywords used will also effect the price per click. Each time a searcher clicks on your ad, you will have to pay that price. So you must make sure that you make every click count by making the buying process on your website simple.

The New Jersey advertising agency of the future will have to adapt to the changing ways of the business world.  Instead of distinguishing themselves between specific disciplines, such as just a reputation management company, or just a database marketing company, or just a website development company, or just a mobile marketing company, New Jersey advertising agencies of the future will have to broaden their horizons. They will have to become full on all-solutions marketing companies. A recent post on a great blog called Actionable Insights by Covario explains in full detail why a simple advertising agency may be a thing of the past. In the future, a marketing solutions company will be the answer to a business’s problems.

You can read the full blog entry here.

This time I will talk about negotiating in a buyer’s market and leveraging your business to get the most out of your New Jersey advertising dollars.

Since we are in a buyer’s market right now, your business is in a great position to add as much value as possible. For television advertising this can mean that your business is mentioned more in intros and outros to commercial breaks. For radio advertising, this means a higher frequency of mentioning your business’s name, or co-op advertising of a local event. For print advertising, this means bigger ads and more ad placement.

Finally, you should try to leverage any online marketing package that is presented to you in order to get as many leads as possible.

Next time, I will talk about establishing a reputation management campaign by being a contrarian.

According to a new study, mobile marketing budgets are going to increase dramatically over the next year. 31% of New Jersey advertising agencies anticipate a budget between $100,000 and $250,000 on mobile marketing in 2010, compared to only 22% of New Jersey advertising agencies a year ago.

About 13% of New Jersey’s online marketing companies plan to spend from $250,000 to $500,000, up from 4% of New Jersey’s online marketing companies in 2009. More than 15% will have a budget of more than $1 million for mobile marketing campaigns, compared to only 11% a year earlier. 23% are budgeting less than $100,000 and 10% don’t even know how much they are going to spend on mobile marketing.

The study also showed that 60% of marketing NJ firms that aren’t doing mobile marketing yet plan on buying mobile marketing in 2010.

30% of marketing New Jersey firms say that mobile marketing has become an integral part of the advertising media mix. Among New Jersey advertising agencies that have run mobile marketing campaigns, 78% said that they met campaign goals, while 80% said that they developed internal resources to support mobile efforts.

The proliferation of Google Android-based devices, such as smartphones, should help an online agency more easily run campaigns across different smartphones.

For many online marketing New Jersey advertising companies, traffic conversion rates are alot less than what they used to be. But simultaneously there are also some online marketing services that have experienced no significant drop in online conversions. This is because they have built exceptional subscriber loyalty over some years.

For many online marketing New Jersey advertising companies, the biggest problem is email database marketing deliverability. Email database marketing is being filtered so heavily today that often less than 20% of a large mailing list gets delivered.

However, there are a few ways you can improve your email deliverability. One such way is to run it through a spam checker before sending it out. The best email database marketing programs have built in systems that give you spam scores before sending your email out. So, for example, let’s your email scores higher than a 1 on a 5 point scale, you should probably revise your email.

Also, a business totally dependent upon email database marketing is not a very solid business. Businesses need a database that has not only names and email addresses, but physical mailing addresses as well. That way, if something apocalyptic ever happened in the world of email or the internet, they could just start using direct mail and still be in business.

Many ISP’s now monitor email delivery rates, bounce rates, and even open rates. They use readily available data, and if a given ISP or third party list host has a dismal record, they may block all emails from that source.  If ISPs are blocking sources that send out alot of emails that have very poor open rates, some online agencies may have to move to a different outlet.

For example, a business could start marketing through various social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace, and even build a larger email database. Businesses could use these social networking sites in much the same way that email is used. They can send direct communication messages with product/service offers, discounts, value deals, etc. They can also distribute online press releases through their social networks by greating interest groups or fan pages. Social networking sites are also a free and easy way to perform reputation management. And, since social networking sites are free to use, businesses will save money.

Have you spend alot of time looking far and wide for links to your Web site? You may be overlooking opportunities in your home town. Local business groups, such as a Chamber of Commerce or regional business council, can offer some great opportunities for links to your Web site. We’ll explore the process of finding these link opportunities on local business groups’ Web sites.

First, you’ll have to put together a list of all local business organizations in your area — even the very small ones. Then spend some time on each of their sites to find the low-hanging fruit, which is usually the member directory. Those often aren’t direct links.

That’s when most people stop their search because the obvious link opportunities aren’t present. In the process, they fail to notice other valuable links that could elevate their site into the top 10, thereby heavily increasing web site traffic conversions. It only takes a few high-quality links to make a difference.

Back to the site — did you check their pages related to your industry? Do a simple Google search, using this code for your chamber’s site: (site:chamber.com keyword). Replace “chamber.com” with the actual URL of their site, and “keyword” with broad-based terms related to your industry, such as medical, auto, attorney, etc. You may find pages that mention members in specific industries, or a place where companies in each vertical can display special offers.

Another approach is to look to see if they give direct links when they profile a company in their news section. Or find out if they need sponsors for upcoming events. Does the organization do any kind of community outreach that would draw media attention?
Of course, acquiring these types of links requires more work than simply filling out a form. They may require several e-mails, phone calls, or face-to-face meetings. Yet the effort is well worth it, in order to obtain top rankings.

Let’s say you get them to profile your company in their news section. With a small suggestion, you can get a deep link within the content to one of your main product pages with the keywords as anchor text, as well as a link to your home page. This is usually a best practice for marketing NJ.

While many would be happy with the above links, why not upgrade them? That’s accomplished by getting other sites to link to your new profile page. Every time another site links to your company’s profile, it increases the value of those links to your site, helping to build website traffic.

A link obtained from a page with external links to that page is more powerful. Many in the industry search out those existing pages with a high number of external links.

Why not reverse engineer the process? Get the links first, then get sites to link to that page. This is especially useful because sites can be hesitant to link to an e-commerce site. It’s more likely that they’ll link to a trusted page on a site, such as a Chamber of Commerce.

Now promote the company profile by all means available to build those links. This includes on your own site, online press releases, social media, blogs, and personal contacts. It’s time to call in some favors. Don’t forget your New Jersey advertising free newspaper, bloggers, and media companies.

Instead of overlooking link marketing opportunities, start exploring sites deeper. Look for more than just the easy links, which often have less value, and go after those less accessible links. The results could just be top rankings in the near future for your company.

–Source:  Search Engine Watch

Tucked inside newspapers across the country this Sunday, SmartSource, the coupon insert, will tell readers in 68 million households how they can send a text message to get coupons sent to their mobile phones.

Brooklyn Center-based Caribou Coffee used a mobile marketing couponing company called Cellfire to send coupons this year for its new Acacia Organic Blend and Northern Lite Latte.

“We looked at mobile marketing as a way for us to drive store traffic and gain trial for a new product launch,” marketing manager Jake Miller said. “If we can get trial, we know there is a good chance that guest will come back again.” He declined to give details on the results but said Caribou would use mobile marketing coupons again.

MixMobi, a Plymouth mobile marketing startup, is launching a technology platform that lets retailers build coupons that can be “tweeted” on the social media site Twitter, which appears on cell phones as well as computers.

MixMobi co-founder Lisa Foote is letting small marketing agencies experiment with the technology to work out the bugs before the launch. Sprout.mn in Minneapolis designed a coupon for the Seward Co-op advertising 50 cents off at the deli this weekend.

“I think the consumer definitely wants mobile couponing,” she said. “I think people are really hungry for deals, and more than 90 percent of Americans carry cell phones.”

To be sure, technologists have heralded mobile marketing coupons for several years with little effect.

But a sudden surge of interest by big- name retailers and packaged-goods companies, coupled with better technology, is creating buzz for the mobile marketing coupon this year.

Only 3 percent of consumers used a mobile marketing coupon in 2008, but more than half of them knew about them, Forrester Research, a technology consultancy, reported this year.

The recession has advanced coupon usage in all its forms, including online. Digital coupons were the fastest growing Web site category last November, with visitors to coupon sites up 32 percent over October 2008, said comScore Inc., another technology research company.

Put it all together, and advertisers see cell phones as 277 million tiny electronic billboards in every pocket or purse.

“It’s a big area of interest these days. I’ve been getting tons of calls about this,” said Evan Neufeld, a senior analyst for mobile communications for comScore Inc.

Mobile marketing coupons have become a buzzword inside the big packaged-goods companies, Neufeld said. “They all say they want a mobile strategy,” he said. These companies will insure consumers see more ads, he said.

The popularity of smart phones, with their larger, made-for-the-Web screens, is driving the trend, too. Coupons look better on bigger screens, marketers say.

Although smart phones like the Apple iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry make up only 17 percent of all cell phones, handset makers are introducing a new breed of cheaper smart phones this year.

Cellfire Inc. in San Jose, Calif., which did the coupons for Caribou Coffee, said the cell phone has become the new shopping list. It does work for grocery chains like Krogers and Safeway.

“The phone is really starting to emerge as more of a lifestyle device instead of just a communications device,” said Dan Kihanya, vice president of consumer marketing.

SmartSource, published by News America Marketing, might be the largest test of the mobile marketing coupon yet.

SmartSource will instruct people to text the word “coupon” to a number. Once they agree to give up their e-mail address, they can select up to 13 coupons for brand names such as Huggies, Trident and Tyson on their phone browser. Those selections are sent to their e-mail and must be printed out, which is an additional step.

–Source:  Twin Cities Pioneer Press

Big companies with reduced ad budgets have discovered a way to make more from less by utilizing paid search engine marketing. With more brands taking advantage, a search engine keyword bidding war is starting. The concern is strategy; SEO NJ is quickly becoming obscured by the amount of companies using the same keywords.

Companies like Sprint have ordered keywords in order to increase sales, not just interest. Instead of generic words like “Sprint,” they now use phrases such as “cellphone rate plans” or “Samsung Reclaim.”

Volkswagen is telling more than 600 dealerships across the country to not compete against each other. The car manufacturer has been buying the keyword “Jetta,” but a local dealer could bid on “New Jersey Jetta” and inadvertently increase the price.

Google, which owns 80% of the online marketing industry, has noticed the diminishing amount of keywords available as more big companies come into play. The search giant offers a variety of tools that monitor when consumers search for specific keywords, letting online marketing services know the best time to bid on those keywords.

People argue that it’s difficult to be original when creating online marketing campaigns if you’re always required to tell the same old message. For grocery chains, that message is usually fair prices, selection, and convenience. However, the marketers behind these brands are frequently and regulary able to create online marketing initiatives that promote these in an innovative way.

Exposure to advertising for grocery stores is not limited to in-store flyers and newspaper ads anymore. Advertising efforts have been shifted to the Internet, where sites have become rich content portals and grocery chains have plenty more to offer than pricing specials. All this comes with good reason; an August study from comScore, Inc. and dunnhumbyUSA — a consulting company specializing in retail sales — found that Internet marketing is as effective at increasing retail sales as is television. According to the survey, Internet marketing increases retail sales by 9%, which is compared to an average increase of 8% for television advertising. This makes an online marketing service a worthwhile investment for grocery stores.

A consumer’s online interaction with a grocery brand now plays out in a mixture of brand and local store websites, e-mail database marketing, mobile marketing, and banner ad campaigns. Grocery chains such as Albertsons, Wegmans, and Safeway have already successfully shifted to the online arena. Albertonshas robust e-newsletters and online recipes; Wegmans has a section on their website with videos that offer meal and lifestyle ideas; Safeway has a blog where shoppers can read tips for fall cleaning, eating nuts as a healthy snack, and accessing the latest supermarket coupons through Facebook.

Safeway owned chains Tom Thumb and Randall’s, along with Remke Markets and Kroger, all expanded their mobile marketing communications in 2009. Banner ads are also a popular choice for promoting stores’ weekly circulars, with many regional chains advertising their local sales on food-oriented sites like Cooks.com and Cooking.com. These banners are simple with a strong call-to-action and a link that allows shoppers to view specials by location.

Grocery stores are proving that there are ways to go beyond the usual advertising messages inherent to the grocery retail industry. For example, Whole Foods emphasized its wide selection of organic products by shirking a more traditional prize and giving its millionth follower on Twitter a million grains of quinoa.

These grocery giants are demonstrating that the tired and old advertising messages you’re obligated to deliver — whether it’s low prices or some other characteristic of your product — don’t necessarily have to hold you back. Their narrow margins may be the incentive you need to expand your marketing campaign and produce online marketing initiatives as creative as those from the grocery aisle.

In the last post, we talked about increasing web site traffic conversions by making it easy for customers to concact and by making your call-to-actions obvious. This time we will talk about combining your call-to-action buttons with benefits and keeping contact forms short and simple.

In addition to making your call-to-action button obvious and prominent, you should also combine it with a benefit for the customer. It’s not enough to simply say “Contact Us” or anything to that degree. You should be answering the age-old question, “what’s in it for them?”. So, instead of just a simple “Contact Us”, you can say something like “Increase Your Online Conversions Now!, Contact Us”.

Next, for contact forms you should only require the information that is necessary for you to respond to the customer. So, if your fishing for leads by having a sign-up form for email newsletters, all you really need is an email address, and possibly a first name. Some people prefer to be contacted by phone, so you can also ask what method they prefer by having a two-step form. Also, make sure that every time someone fills out a form, they receive a reply acknowledging that they’ve filled out the form. This process can be automated with many email programs.

We’ve finally completed all 10 steps to increasing your web site traffic conversions. By utilizing all these steps in unison, you can greatly increase the amount of leads your website generates. Of course in tough economic times it can be difficult to generate leads, but those are the times, such as now, during which you can evaluate your website so it has a jumpstart when things start moving again.

In the last post, I gave tips to increase your web site traffic conversions that were about being up-front about your price range and posting up pictures of your staff. In this post I will talk about making it easy for potential customers to get in touch with you, and making your call-to-actions obvious.

You should make it as easy as possible for potential customers to contact you. Your contact phone number should not be peripheral. It should definitely stand out on your website, and on every page of your website for that matter. Along with your phone number, you should make the link to your contact page prominent as well. Your website’s visitors should not have to scroll anywhere to locate your contact information. Also, you should post your contact information in the footer of your web pages, just in case the viewer is closer to the bottom of the page than the top of the page.

Next, you should make your call-to-actions as obvious and clear as possible. The call-to-action can be something like “Click Here for a Demo!” or even an email sign up form. But make the call-to-action copy short and easy to read. Also, use graphics, colors, styles, and positioning to make your call-to-action stand out. The viewer should not have to search for your call-to-action. You can minimize anything on your website that takes attention away from the call-to-action. These things may include words, images, or graphics, all of which are a type of “visual noise”. Direct your visitors to focus on the right thing, the call-to-action.

In the next post, I will give you the final two tips on increasing your web site traffic conversions. By combining all of these tips together, you can have a website that is trusted by customers. As a result, you will not only increase your rate of online conversions, but you will also build website traffic just through word of mouth.

Last time, the tips to increase web site traffic conversions that I gave were about promoting your benefits and being the customer’s primary source of information through every phase of the buying cycle. This time I will talk about informing the customer of pricing and posting up images of your staff.

It’s important for potential customers to know that your solution is within their budget. Most people don’t expect a “set-in-stone”price on your website, but they do expect to see some sort of a price range. Having this information right up-front will allow the customer to determine right away if your solution is a feasible option, saving both you and the customer time.

Next, it is also important for website visitors to be able to associate a human face with your business. This is especially true for service businesses and also local small businesses. On your “About Us” page of your website, you should post up pictures of the staff. If you have a very large staff, then it is only necessary to post pictures of the staff that customers will regularly interact with, such as the sales staff. You can even post up videos giving some background information on the staff. Show how down-to-earth and friendly the staff can be. Depending on your strategy, you can show strictly professional pictures with everyone in suits, or you can show somewhat goofy pictures. The goofy pictures would be for a business that wants to connect with its audience on an emotional level, like a business involved in the local community.

In the next post, two more steps on increasing web site traffic conversions will be discussed. Those steps are making it easy for customers to get in touch with you, and making call-to-actions obvious.

In this post, I will give you two more tips on increasing your website’s lead generation ability and increasing your traffic conversions.

The next step is to promote the benefits of your solution while still giving the facts. You should give concise descriptions of your products/services while also noting the most common questions so you can create a FAQ’s page with all the answers. Most importantly, you should note the emotional triggers that tell the benefits of your solutions. Most sales people know that creating an emotional connection is the most important aspect of a sales pitch.

Another way to increase your web site traffic conversion rate is to give the customer information during each phase of the purchasing cycle. Pertinent content directs potential customers from one phase to the next. During the research phase, be their primary resource for information. Post relevant videos to capture their attention. Retrieve their contact information by having them sign up for an email newsletter or an event. During the comparison phase, when the customer compares you to your competitors, you can have success stories, case studies, checklists, and guides that will give the customer more faith in your business. And finally, during the decision phase you should offer value-purchases, deals, and guarantees (that you can deliver on) in order to reassure the customer that they are making the right decision in choosing your business.

4 tips down, 6 tips to go, so stay tuned…

For service firms and businesses involved in complex sales processes, such as an online marketing company or online agency, the main objective of the website isn’t to direct customers to a shopping cart; the main objective is to convince the site’s visitor to contact the business. The main objective of the website is to generate leads for the sales team so it can convert that web site traffic into business.

In order to make sure that your website is giving you the most amount of leads possible, you need to view your site from a prospect’s point-of-view. In this post, and the next few to come, I will describe a few simple steps, 10 to be exact, that you can take to ensure that your website is a lead generating maching.

The first thing you need to do is establish credibility. You can start by creating rapport with prospects as soon as they reach your website. Make sure your website has a headline that creates a positive, reassuring feeling in the visitor; instead of a simple “welcome”, make your headline say something like “you’ve reached the only website you’ll ever need for (your industry)”. This tactic encourages people to stay on your site and even click a link or two. This will give you the opportunity to earn their trust. The first impression the visitor gets of your website will influence his/her view of the rest of the site. Make sure you speak to your visitors in a professional manner when you are telling the benefits of your solutions. Of course, you need to let them know what’s in it for them.

The next thing you need to do is quickly respond to all inquiries in a timely manner. Whatever way you receive the inquiry, whether it’s by phone, email, blog comment, or social media, you need to respond quickly in order to build confidence and trust with the prospect. The ideal response time is within an hour. This way you can also nurture the lead before it changes its mind or goes to another business.

In the next post, I will give you two more steps that will enable your website to maximize traffic conversions.

Online marketing slipped 5% in Q2 as the recession extended the first decline in online marketing since 2002.

This marked the second consecutive quarterly decline in online marketing since the dot-com bust at the start of the decade. That decline resulted in eight consecutive quarters of falling online ad sales.

In the first half of 2009, internet marketing totaled $10.9 billion, down 5% from the same period of 2008. Almost 50% of that money has been spent on search engine marketing with Google, making Google the controller of 2/3 of the U.S. search market. In fact, Google’s ad revenue for the first half of the year increased by 4%.

SEM experts predict that revenue will pick up as the U.S. economy recovers and advertisers increase their efforts to connect with consumers who are going to the Internet for information and entertainment.

The Internet’s advertising prices are also lower than those offered in traditional media. As a result, these advertising trends are the primary cause of traditional media suffering much steeper advertising declines than the Internet.

For example, print advertising has been falling for the past three years, including a 29% drop in Q2. Marketing analysts doubt that all the advertising dollars that have migrated away from traditional media will return, even after the economy recovers.

–Source:  The Associated Press 10/05/09

The Federal Trade Commission has made its guidelines tougher for traditional media and internet marketing.

From now on, advertisers who use atypical examples, like someone losing over 100 pounds from a diet pill, also need to provide typical examples. The newly revealed guidelines, which were announced October 5th, 2009, also have some requirements for celebrity endorsements. Celebrities now need to disclose their association with advertisers, if any, outside of the context of their traditional media ads. This includes appearances on talk shows and online social media connections. Celebrity endorsers and advertisers are now liable for any false or unsubstantiated claims.

The FTC has also place restrictions on social media advertisers, such as bloggers, online marketing companies, and word-of-mouth marketers. All three must now reveal if and when they received any material considerations, such as monetary compensation or free products, for their endorsements. Advertisers must also reveal if they paid for the research that backs up their claims.

Of course the FTC has the consumers in mind when making these new rules and regulations. The new guidelines will increase transparency for consumers. However, the increased scrutiny upon online marketing companies will increase costs, which will most likely be passed onto the consumer.

–Source:  Broadcasting & Cable, 10/05/09

On their blog, Google has announced several changes today that will effect their mobile marketing via smartphone technology.

Now, AdSense mobile marketing publishers will be able to serve up text and image ads on their respective websites, especially for phones such as the iPhone or Android powered devices.

The blog announced that this move will help mobile marketing publishers to earn more money and fund more web content and mobile sites.

New markets will be able to be reached, and business will be able to grow. The number of people going online through their mobile devices has increased by 34%, from 42.5 million to 56.9 million, from July 2008 to July 2009. These numbers are very promising to anyone running a mobile campaign.

The Mobile Marketing Association has released a new version of industry guidelines.

The recommendations have been designed to stimulate growth in the mobile sector and ensure that consistent standards are applied across the board.

The best practice guidelines will apply to various types of mobile strategies, such as SMS marketing and engaging with consumers via the mobile internet (using devices such as SmartPhones or iPhones).

Mike Wehrs, chief executive of the Mobile Marketing Association, said that the new guidelines would simplify the deployment of mobile campaigns, all the while increasing their effectiveness.

He also said that the new guidelines reinforce the Mobile Marketing Association’s longstanding pledge to provide the industry with reliable standards and increased awareness of mobile advertising globally.

The Mobile Marketing Association noted that mobile has turned into an integral part of their marketing strategies.

Successful email database marketing campaigns require constant improvment upon themselves in order to meet the demands and expectations of customers.  There are a couple of things you can do to maximize your ROI.

First of all, make sure you use a valid email return address.  The point of this type of internet marketing is to start a dialogue and end up with a loyal long-term customer.  As a result, your customers need to be able to respond to your emails so a long term relationship can be built.

Second of all, you need analytics to track your results.  This way you can measure exactly what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.  You should track bounced emails, open rates, click through rates, and online conversions rates.

Third of all, you shouldn’t overload your customers with too many emails or too much information. Your customers can’t spend all of their valuable time on your emails, so keep them short and simple.

Next, you must abide by CAN-SPAM laws that require your customers to agree to receive your emails. If you don’t adhere to a strict opt-in policy, you may be fined, and your deliverability rates will suffer.

Then, make sure you keep your database interested by staying relative and on-topic. Your database expects quality content, or they wouldn’t have signed up to receive your emails in the first place.

Finally, use a proper email marketing tool that will make your database marketing campaign scalable. There are many tools out there, so you must determine which one fits your needs. Many online marketing services run email marketing campaigns as well, so you should probably do some research and weigh the benefits of doing it yourself versus the benefits of hiring an online agency.

Email database marketing is the most effective and cost-efficient medium available for your internet marketing campaign.  Emails enable you to develop a long-term dialogue and relationship with your customer.  However, if you abuse your email marketing campaign, you can also harm your relationship with your customer. So you must strike a delicate balance.

In order to reach that balance, you should combine informative content with promotional content. You should create the need for your product/service by providing relevant information. Then you can start the sales process by providing promotional content.  For example, car repair businesses can explain the importance of maintenance, the benefits of repairing instead of replacing, or even the symptoms of required maintenance before offering their services.

Because of this delicate balance that is required, careful planning is a necessity for your email database marketing campaing. A successful campaign is constantly improving itself in order to meet customer expectations.  In my next post, I will give you some tips on how to run a successful email database marketing campaign.

According to a new study, internet consumers are now showing interest in a different type of internet marketing. Internet consumers are increasingly showing interest in interacting with videos and viral marketing.

This brings to mind last summer’s marketing for the film “The Dark Knight”. The film’s viral internet marketing campaign had fans all over the world running around the streets in order to look for clues, just to reveal the next piece of online marketing. The film’s viral marketing campaign even won a few awards for engaging fans the way it did.  And considering that the film made almost a billion dollars, being the second highest grossing film of all time, the viral marketing actually worked wonders.

By providing ads that don’t just act as banners, but as expandable interactive images, or videos, the marketer can better engage the consumer.  By engaging the consumer in such a way, advertisers can get the consumer excited about the release of a new product or service.  This way, the product/service can simply sell itself, so to speak.

Do you geo-target your paid search ads? If you only sell products to certain areas, then you most likely do. If you sell products nationally, you most like do not. But that may be a mistake.

Most people geo-target for two reasons: either to support the geographic areas their business supports, or for local promotions or events. While geo-targeting is perfect in those situations, sem experts agree that using geo-targeting in your regular campaigns can have some crucial advantages, even if you already have a successful paid search account.

So why should you geo-target your successful paid search engine marketing campaign? Well, geo-targeting provides an additional layer of data that is more profound than the keyword level. It complements the knowledge of which keyword is performing by adding information about which state a keyword is performing in. This enables your bidding decisions to be made with better data based on certain regional factors:

• Competition: The number of advertisers is different for each region. So your CPCs will be very different.
• Product price: New York advertising may cost more than New Jersey advertising. So, your CPA metrics should be different for each region, because revenue will vary based on location. This impacts your ROI and, consequently, your allowable CPC.
• Online Conversions rate: Some locations are in better economic situations than others, and are more likely to purchase and get traffic conversions. In other cases, one location may have users that are more Internet savvy. Many factors can affect your online conversions rate, and these factors will vary by geography.
• Brand awareness: Your brand may be stronger in some parts of the country. This might be based on the way various media is purchased, or store locations. This difference will impact your CTRs, and therefore your quality score.
• Ad copy: It may be hot in Miami and cold in Buffalo. There are also geographical differences in what things are called, or ways things are talked about, i.e. sub vs. hoagie. The message in your ad copy could target these differences.

In order to implement this strategy, you can replicate any given campaign exactly as it is. For example, if you have a campaign called “marketing,” copy it and call it “marketing NJ” or “marketing New Jersey” for targeting New Jersey (or whatever region you like).

In regards to the original “marketing” campaign, you can either remove New Jersey or keep it national. I suggest you keep it national, so that those prospects who can’t be identified geographically are still able to see your ad. This is especially important if that campaign is already working well, and allows your campaigns to maintain current web site traffic levels.

The only downside to this is the duplication of your keyword list. If you were managing 200 keywords in your “marketing” campaign, you will now be managing 400 keywords across both campaigns. This will add work to your bid management and reporting duties. But the impact this will have to your campaign metrics will more than justify the slight workload increase.

Think about the states or locations that will get you the most online conversions. In order for this strategy to work, you don’t have to select a single state, though that would make it much easier for reporting the data. It can be a collection of states, locations, cities, etc.

The idea is to go deeper than your keyword level, gain profound insights into how your campaigns are performing, and optimize against that data.

You need to budget as much as you can into your online efforts.  If you hire an internet marketing firm, you should redirect a good portion of your marketing budget towards that endeavor.  However, if you decide to tackle your online marketing efforts on your own, you need to keep a few things in mind when budgeting.

There’s a lot that goes into an online marketing department.  Of course you have to hire staff (creative staff for the writing and design, and IT staff for logistics).  You need to get proper equipment, which includes a top-of-the-line computer (you definitely don’t want to deal with lag when running an internet marketing campaign).  You need to have software so your internet marketing department can do its work.  You need to have tracking programs so you know how much web site traffic your online campaign is building.

It’s like going to Vegas, or Atlantic City for us Jersey folk.  To win big you need to play big.  The more you invest, the more return you can potentially see (of course there’s always the chance that you’ll fail completely, but what’s business without risk).  Of course with all the required investments in creating your own online marketing department, the bill can run up pretty high.  If you’re a small business, you might want to consider hiring an online marketing company.  But if you can afford to allocate the necessary funds into an in-house online marketing department, then by all means do so.

Finding an online marketing company with good SEM experts is a lot like shopping for a car.  You definitely don’t buy the first car that you see.  You shop around, look for the best deal, the best prices, and the best product.  Well, you should go through that same process for hiring the best online agency as well.

First of all, you should find out whether the online agency actually does search engine optimization, or if they just claim to do so but do something else in reality.  I know that some SEO NJ firms claim to perform SEO services, but instead they just buy the sponsored links at the top of the search results page.  Anyone can do that, you don’t need an SEO consultation firm to do that for you.  The whole point of SEO is improving organic search results, that is to say, all the search results that come underneath the sponsored links.  Improving organic search results has nothing to do with buying sponsored links from Google or Yahoo.

Secondly, you’ll want to find out if the online agency only offers SEO services, or if they also offer all other types of online marketing services.  The other types of online marketing are SEM – search engine marketing (that’s where the buying of sponsored links comes in), email  or database marketing, website design, website development, and pay-per-click (PPC, sometimes referred to as CPC, or cost-per-click).  The best online agencies even do their own website hosting.  A great internet marketing campaign will utilize all aspects of internet marketing, not just one.

Your website will probably be the most important and powerful marketing tool that you’ll have, so make sure that your online agency is on the same page as you when it comes to long term success.  And as when dealing with any salesperson, pay attention to how your questions are being answered (are they actually answering your questions or just beating around the bush), ask for references, and most of all, trust your gut (human intuition exists for a reason).

Here’s another tip for your online marketing campaign:  FIND THE RIGHT PERSON!

This may now be a cliché, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still true.  Your company’s greatest asset is its people.  If you have incompetent people working for you, your business won’t go anywhere.  This is also true for internet marekting.  They say that your company is only as good as your worst employee.  Well, your internet marketing strategy is only as good as the person who implements it.

Your business needs the right person (or group of people if you’re hiring an online agency) to head your online marketing strategy.  Do you have anyone who you can trust your life with?  Well, for your online marketing strategy you need someone who you can trust the life of your company with.  If your internet marketer, or online agency, isn’t good at what he/she/it does, then you’ll be behind the curve, which will mean dire consequences for your business.

If you decide to go with an online marketing company, there are a few things you should keep in mind when selecting one.  But I’ll save that for my next post.

Why is data analytics important? Well, have you ever tried to manage something that you haven’t measured? You could throw yourself into the deep end of a pool, but if you don’t know how to swim then you’re going to drown. So how do you stay afloat?  You need to invest in measuring and tracking services for all of your web site traffic.

First of all, you need to be able to measure your sheer traffic volume.  Traffic volume is the general number of visitors to your website, whether they were online conversions or not.  This can give you a clear picture of how many web surfers are even reaching your website, from anywhere on the web.  This number is also important because it gives you something to measure everything else against.

Secondly, you need to measure traffic quality.  What is the bounce rate of your website?  How much time are your visitors spending on your website?  These things are important to measure in order to gauge how well your website keeps the attention of its visitors.  By measuring this against the traffic volume, you can see what percentage of your visitors is actually staying on your website, versus just looking at it for a couple of seconds and then hitting the back button (or any other way to get off a website so quickly).

Thirdly, you need to determine your traffic sources and measure how many visitors you are getting from each one of those sources.  This allows you to see where you are getting your visitors from and enables you to allocate more resources to those traffic sources.  You can measure this against traffic quality to see where the most interested visitors are coming from (from which website or link they are being redirected).  You can also measure this against traffic volume in order to determine the percentage of visitors from each source.

Fourthly, you need to measure your traffic conversions.  Making that sale, i.e. getting that conversion, is the goal of your business.  By measuring traffic conversions, you can see how well you are doing in each category.  By measuring traffic conversions against all of the above mentioned kinds of data, you can determine where most of your online conversions are coming from, how long each conversion spends on your website, and the percentage of total visitors that become online conversions.

Lastly, you need to determine how often you should analyze these data points.  This depends entirely on your business and your industry.  It also depends simply on your preference.  Some people like to have daily numbers, some like weekly, or monthly, or quarterly, or even annually.  The point is that you need to figure out how often you need the data reports in order to be on top of your game.  But that is entirely up to you.

Again, these numbers individually won’t mean much.  A number by itself is just a number; but together, these numbers will paint a very clear picture of the health of your business.  With all of this knowledge, you’ll be able to do everything that is necessary in order for you business to thrive.  If you know how to swim, into the deep end you go.

Local SEO is much simpler than general SEO. Here’s why. Take for example our company, Bulls Eye Marketing. We describe ourselves as a New Jersey advertising firm rather than just simply an advertising company. This is because it is much simpler to win local keywords rather than generalized keywords for which there is much more competition.  There are alot more internet marketing firms in the entire world than there are here in New Jersey.

If you own a mom and pop pizza shop, there is no way in hell that you are going to win the keyword “pizza”. The huge corporate chains will always have monopolies on those words. So, your goal must be to win the keywords that are specific to your locale. After all, if you’re located in Central Jersey, then someone in Northern California will not care about your pizza shop. You should try to win over the keywords that specify your locality so you can bring in new business from around your area. But the challenge here is to define your parameters.

In order to define your geographic parameters, you should identify where you are already getting business from. Let’s say that everyone in your town already comes to your pizza shop for all their pizza needs. But if you go one level broader, let’s say your township, you can still do much better. So you should then run your SEO campaign for your township. You should simply run your online marketing campaign for the market that you are not winning. In our case, we try to win the keywords with the localities of New Jersey and Central Jersey.

Of course this means that you will receive much less web site traffic than if you were to win the keyword “pizza”, since “pizza” will be utilized by everyone in the entire country, or maybe even the world; but the rest of the country is not your concern when it comes to selling pizza. You’re trying to win over you own geographic location. So your overall web site traffic might be less, but the precision of targeting your locality will result in better and more qualified traffic conversions.

Blogging is not just for running public relations/reputation management campaigns.  It can and should also be used for SEO, or search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization is a way to get your business at the top of a Google or Yahoo search results page. This is the most effective form of search engine marketing, or online marketing. If you use Google to search for the service/product that your business provides, does your business show up on the first page of results? How about the second page? Maybe the third page? Does it show up at all? Chances are that your business is nowhere to be found.

Most people these days use search engines to perform product/service research before they buy anything. And more than half of the activity on the Internet is on search engines. So what does this mean for your business? You need to get indexed on search engines so people can see your business when they are searching for a product/service that they need. If you do get indexed, then you will probably have an almost exponential increase in business since the marketing potential of the Internet is unlimited.  You’ll increase your web site traffic and get more online conversions (which can be anything from form sign-ups to actual sales).

So how do you get indexed? Well, that’s where blogging comes in. But first you must understand how search engines work. Suppose you go to Google and search for “New Jersey advertising”.  Without getting into the technical aspect of it, especially since that would take up a couple of blog entries itself, simply put Google will run through the entire World Wide Web and find the sites with the most occurrences of the phrase “New Jersey advertising”. “New Jersey advertising” here is a keyword.

If you blog for your company, then you can utilize relevant keywords so when people search for the service that you provide, your business will come up. So the point of blogging is to win those specific keywords that are relevant to your business. And since blogging is very frequent, it is easy to win keywords since you can use them over and over and over again.  Industry experts, like these guys, agree that blogging may be the most effective form of search engine optimization.

But getting indexed on that first page of Google isn’t the last step.  After you’ve run a successful blogging campaign, which can take a while, your website needs to be able to get traffic conversions.  Let’s say your an online marketing company in New Jersey, like us.  Once you’ve been indexed on Google and someone searching for “SEO NJ” clicks on your site, your site needs to be able to make the sale or get that person’s information.  To get the maximum amount of online conversions, you can have people fill out submission forms for email newsletters, videos, and other things of that nature.  Then you can simply follow up on all your leads.  But that’s a story for another day.

The internet is a great forum to cultivate A.D.D. habits. Most people using it get bored very quickly. A big reason why a lot of websites start out good but then fall off the radar is that they are not updated. Any online marketing company can tell you that your website’s structure, layout, and content plays a big role in your online marketing efforts (that is why website development should be a part of your internet marketing strategy).  As a result, your website needs to be updated regularly. That doesn’t mean that you need to constantly add new content every second. But it does mean that it heavily depends on your industry.

Let’s say that you are a car dealer.  Automotive search engine marketing, or more specifically SEO, is almost necessary to build website traffic.  You need to keep your website updated with new car models, new deals, or even future concept cars from the manufacturer.  Your website’s job is to keep the audience interested and entertained.  Imagine if all the car enthusiasts in your area went to your website.  Even if they go there to just be entertained (by any interactive media you may have on the website, or just videos) chances are that they will buy from you when looking for their next car.  In other words, the more you keep your website updated, the more traffic conversions you will get.

If you regularly update your website with new content relevant to your industry, you can seem like THE industry expert.  Most people don’t want to be sold, especially by any random schmoe who doesn’t know about the product/service itself, but rather knows only how to sell the product/service.  Most people want to know that they are getting solid, factual information from people who know what they are talking about.  By keeping your website updated regularly, you can be that person/business.  Your website can be THE place that people go to for information regarding your industry.  Take us for example.  We are an online marketing company that specializes in co-op advertising, database marketing, mobile marketing, automotive search engine marketing, reputation management, and website development.  We consider ourselves to be SEM experts.  As an internet marketing best practice, we keep our main website, which is other our blog site, constantly updated.  We blog about online marketing techniques, online marketing services, and current events in the world of online marketing.  Even though we really just got the ball rolling, by updating regularly we will soon have enough content on our site to be considered scholars or experts in the industry.  Once we’ve accomplished that goal, once we’ve established ourselves as industry experts, getting traffic conversions will be much easier.  When people think that you are an expert in your industry, they rightly assume that you know what you are doing.  You will no longer have to go out of your way to sell, as your expertise will sell itself.

So, depending on whatever industry your business is a part of, you’ll need to update your website daily, weekly, monthly, or whatever consumers of your industry demand (aren’t we all at the mercy of our customers). But beware, once you start updating your content more quickly, your site visitors will expect the content to be updated in that same frequency for the rest of your site’s lifespan. So be like the tortoise, start out slow and pace yourself. You can regularly update your site with new content such as pics, videos, or even text. That way, your regular visitors won’t abandon your site completely.