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Google Adwords and Keyword Competition

by | Feb 22, 2006 | Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Question: I want to use Google® Adwords to drive traffic to my site and there are already tons of Adword ads on my keywords. Is it a waste of time, money and effort adding my ad to the mix if it doesn’t display on the first page?

Ford Saeks, Internet Marketing Speaker Answers In:

You’ll get the highest click through rate on the first page which as of now shows the first eight Google® adwords ads. I don’t always aim for the top listing even though it gets higher traffic. My tests have found that sometimes being the second or third listing on the first page actually gets a better quality lead to my site.

Google® changed the way keyword bid prices and listing work as of August 16, 2005. The minimum click-through rate is not the main factor in determining where your ads show, but now the amount you bid on the keyword (or keyword phrase) is a major factor with where your ad displays.

It’s only a waste of money if you are tracking the number of visitors and measuring your success of the campaign based on your “visitor value” and that value is less than it’s costing you to buy the traffic on Google. The visitor value is the number of visitors received divided by the revenues generated from them in a specific period of time.

You must split test your Google® ads, split test your landing pages and keep tweaking the process until it’s profitable. It’s profitable when you can attract a paying customer for less than its costing you to buy the traffic from Google. Keep in mind that you might be losing money on the first sale and that’s fine, as long as you have backend follow-up products that make up for it in the long-term.

A competitive keyword group doesn’t mean you cannot make money – it just means you have to be savvier with your ads, landing pages, auto-responder series, and lead generation mechanisms. There are several strategies specific of using Pay-per-Click methods to get traffic – and they can be the best source for cleaning up your sales processes quickly to increase your profits.

Copyright & Trademarks – Protect your Creative Works!

by | Dec 23, 2005 | Information Marketing

How to distinguish between a Copyright and a Trademark; what can be protected by each.

Recently I was asked to copyright someone’s book title. I told her it couldn’t be done. That if a book title was to be protected at all, it would likely be through trademark protection or some form of contract. “You’re wrong,” she insisted, “My friend copyrighted his book.” As I listened more closely to what she said, I began to realize she was confusing copyrighting her book with copyrighting the book’s title. I thought to myself, I wonder how many other people have made that very same mistake. How many people in some way have confused copyrights with trademarks?

While copyrights and trademarks are both part of the family called intellectual property – something you own, which you design, develop, conceive, or construct with your own creative mind or intellect – the similarity ends there.

A Copyright is a legal form of protection afforded to any original work of art or authorship that has been reduced to a tangible or physical form. And, your work is protected the moment you convert that original idea into something you can hear, see or touch. That’s what’s meant by tangible. Absolutely nothing else has to be done. (However, later in our process we’ll explore additional ways to protect your valuable copyrights.) For now all you need to know is for a copyright to be valid the work must be original and tangible.

We’ll look at trademarks more closely a little later in other articles, but for the sake of distinguishing a copyright from a trademark, here is the definition:

A trademark is a distinctive word, name, phrase, logo, design, symbol, sound, color, smell, or a combination of the above, which identifies the source of the goods and/or services. It simply tells the marketplace, including you the consumer, who owns what. It let’s you know who to purchase products and services from and who to complain to when there’s a problem. For example, the golden arches is a protectable trademark of the McDonald, Inc., the swoosh symbol is a protectable mark of Nike, Inc, the doink doink sound on the television show Law & Order is a protectable mark of the Law & Order franchise, and the color pink used in fiberglass insulation products is a protectable mark of the Owens Corning company.

(This is a special contribution from Francine Ward.)

Publicity Tips: Quick & Dirty Tips to Getting More Prospects and Customers

by | Dec 20, 2005 | Marketing

Publicity Tips

P.R. Quick & Dirty… 7 Reasons why you need free publicity:

1. Establishes credibility about you and your products or services.
2. Enhances customer retention.
3. Makes it easier to enter new markets.
4. Creates a competitive advantage.
5. Helps to position your products or services in your target markets.
6. Helps you sell more.
7. The price is right. It’s practically free!

TIP#1: When you prepare the release, use the term “MEDIA RELEASE” for television and radio and “PRESS RELEASE” for print media. Getting those terms mixed up sends a red flag to the editors and producers and your release may end up in the trash before they even look at it.

TIP#2: Many publications struggle each month to fill advertising space and welcome articles and product releases that add value to their audiences.

Basic anatomy of a media/press release:

It’s nothing more that a sales letter without a salutation or a signature.

1. Start with a unique benefit message in the form of a headline & subhead focused at the target market of their readers, listeners of viewers.

2. In a first paragraph mention your name and the compelling messages and benefits that you offer. Use might want to use highlighted bullets for easy reading. In most cases it’s critical to tie your benefits to hot or current topics.

3. The next couple of paragraphs should state why you or your company is unique and has credibility to offer such solutions.

4. The closing paragraph is the action step that you want your readers, listeners or viewers to do. For example, call for a free report, come to our event, etc.

Send out press releases each month to multiple mediums. Go to the library and check out the reference section for directories of publications. One great resource is the Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS) directory and site. www.SRDS.com.

Call them and ask for their “media/advertising kits”. Then review their publicaiton (or media source) and get familiar with the style and content to make sure that what you’re submitting has VALUE to their audience, readers, listeners, viewers, etc.

Then you can submit story angles that get attention and add valude… and more importantly, drive traffic to your site, build your prospect and customer lists and help you sell more product and services.

ACTION STEPS

What are my industry, profession, topic… print publications or media companies:
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YOUR NEW MOTO:

“I spend at least 2 hours a day on outbound marketing & promotion to bring business my way.”