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Paid advertising on social media becoming more popularby Andrew Redfern @ 14th August 2009 12:50 pm online advertising It has been highlighted recently how more and more big name brands are turning to social media outlets for their advertising. A report in today’s Financial Times reports that Facebook is now attracting input from global giants such as Starbucks and Coca-Cola. Facebook is an interesting case study because it allows companies to establish a presense on their site for free using it’s Pages funtction. This is complemented by a paid advertising system that displays targetted ads on the right hand side of the screen. As Facebook’s chief operating officer points out “If you look at people’s profile pages, you’ll see a lot of commercial activity even without advertising.”and this makes it an excellent medium for building up a promotional presence. The advantage inherent with social media sites like this is that the very nature of the sites makes it extremely easy to target ads at specific users. The advertising systems can cross-match the data contained in user profiles with the parameters selected by advertisers in order to get their ads showing to a very specific target audience. The problem social media advertising has is a question of user motivation. If someone is search on Google they are actively looking for something, generally users are not looking for products and services whilst on sites like Facebook. Therefore the types of promotion highlighted needs to change, the focus should generally be on informational content and event announcements. This is key to running a successfull social media advertising campaign with a tangible return on investment. It is essential to be providing something that will be of interest to a user rather than trying to meet a pre-existing demand as with systems like Google adWords. Also it is fair to say that currently the model for dedicated social media advertising is very much B to C, there is little evidence to suggest the benefits of a B to B campaign using Facebook. LinkedIn, which has a much more corporate model, is served by the Google Placement Network. So social media advertising with it’s targetting advantages is opening up a new avenue for companies wanting to advertise however it is not as simple as just picking your audience and running your ads. A report in today’s Telegraph highlights research that shows that despite it’s growing popularity social networking adverts fail to engage with over 90% of users. The article quotes Liane Dietrich, managing director of affiliate network company LinkShare
This shows how picking the right message and displaying it in the right way is vital to the success of a social media advertising campaign. They do however offer unparalled accuracy in reaching the exact audience advertising are hoping ot engage with and so, if the underlying message is engaging enough, offer outstanding value for money. Make Money on The Internet - Google & Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)by Andrew Redfern @ 10th July 2009 10:37 am online advertising It is something that all budding entrepreneurs look to do, make money on the internet. With some websites on the internet making £0000s each day, it is no wonder they chase the dream of making money on the internet. The thing is though, it isn’t easy to make money online, some people are under the impression that should they have a website with some good products on, they will immediately start making money. This is not the case, as many websites actually fail because they go in unaware of how to actually market a website. Internet marketing is the concept of using a number of tools to help increase a websites visibility across the web, the main aspect of this is search engine optimisation or SEO. If you have a website currently being built or are thinking about making an online venture, then you should explore all avenues of how you plan to make this a success. I mentioned earlier search engine optimisation (SEO) is the main factor in for internet marketing, well I feel I should explain what SEO actually is. It is the process of work completed on your website that will help interest the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Hopefully this interest will increase the number of times these search engines visit your site, which hopefully also increases overall position in the search engines. The difficulty and amount of work needed does depend on the competitiveness of each phrase which is picked out by analysing your products or services to find out what people actually search for online. The process of search engine optimisation is something that you should never embark on, on your own. The reason being, if you don’t fully understand all aspects then it is quite easy to get your site banned from these search engines and you will no longer be able to live the dream of making money the easy way. This is best left to professionals who have a proven track record of providing results in seo and internet marketing. Would you like to know about making money on the internet? If so, contact Hit Search on 0845 643 9289 Why Pay Per Click optimisation is just as important as your actual advertising budgetby Andrew Redfern @ 8th July 2009 5:19 pm online advertising It’s fairly obvious that there is much more to pay per click (PPC) advertising than just grabbing a budget, setting up a keyword, writing an ad and setting it all live. The basic steps to actually getting more for your money (or indeed getting anything at all) are numerous but worthwhile. Indepth keyword selection, copy writing & testing, landing page selection, setting the time you wish to show your ads it is all key to making sure your ads are visible to the right people. What many online advertisers fail to address is how to make sure your aren’t showing to the wrong people. Google adWords is an excellent system, massively efficient, easy to use and with a huge reach. It is this reach that poses problems for people. It is amazing how many times we encounter adWords accounts that have been set up without due care and attention and just allowed to run with scant regard for exactly where the ads are appearing. It is an easy just to get your campaign moving along and there is always extra ways to expand the campaign in order to get the most clicks (and therefore spend the most budget). Although it is such an obvious thing too many times we find that a campaign’s keywords are all set to broad match. This however is just the first step to ensuring your budget is going on the right place. The Google content network, ran via the adSense system, is a superb way to increase your exposure. It opens up your ads to literally thousands of extra sites and means potentially millions of extra impression. It is, however, an automated system. It will never be perfect and no matter how much effort Google put into their targetting systems it is always encumbant on the adWords user to monitor which sites their ads are appearing on. There will always be sites that will not provide relevant clicks, every one of these clicks means one less click from a relevant source. Volume doesn’t always mean enquiries. The other analysis tool that is generally underused is actually monitoring what terms people are actually typing into Google and it’s search partners to be matched to your adverts. Again Google is brilliant at doing this matching for you but unless you have each and every keyword set to exact match it is vital to continually monitor these queries. This can be done either by careful analysis of the in-built adWords reporting system or via your website monitoring software (for example Google Analytics). Whichever way you choose to do it it is vital exercise because only when you understand exactly what search terms make your ads appear can you begin to make sure that the wasteful, irrelevant terms won’t continue to take up any of your budget. It’s too easy to see the conversions coming in and assuming your keywords are performing to their maximum. It’s only via constant attention and tweaking can you be sure your budget isn’t being wasted. Would you like to know more about this subject? If so, contact Hit Search, SEO and Google adWords qualified PPC specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible. Why online marketing is no “holy grail”by Andrew Redfern @ 26th May 2009 5:07 pm online advertising Interesting article from MediaBizNet in which the head of Publicis Group actual make a great case FOR the actual topic he is trying to talk AGAINST. Online Marketing is so measurable that its difficult to argue making you marketing spend more transparent in trying times. “Internet advertising should not be seen as a magic wand to solve the problems facing advertising, said the head of Publicis Group Maurice Levy at the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP) World Magazine Congress in London this month. Levy said that print media would continue to suffer even after the recession, however he warned that online marketing was no “holy grail”. As technology evolved, said Levy, the traditional model for print advertising was “broken” and that new media were dominating the market space. “The end of the economic crisis will not be, I’m sorry to say, the end of the crisis for analogue media,” he said. “You are facing a deep and profound structural revolution and have to be prepared for a new world.” Levy also added that in his experience, customers are more likely to spend money on keyword promotion and search engine optimisation than an expensive option like television advertising. Nearly 50 per cent of online budgets went straight to search advertising said Levy. “The current crisis is not the cause of the problems of the media industry, it’s just a brutal accelerator and identifier of long-term trends“.” Granted online marketing should be an essential part of any marketing campaign and it would appear that large scale media outfits still struggle to understand how it effects them. Would you like to know more about online advertising? If so, contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible BBC : Online classified advertising ‘booming’.by Andrew Redfern @ 8th April 2009 11:58 am online advertising The BBC has posted an interesting report noting the surge in use of online classifieds website such as Criagslist and Gumtree. According to figures quoted from HitWise visits to such sites in the US are up 84% compared to last year. This shows that while the traditional advertising market may be in decline but the online classifieds are bucking this trend and thriving. According to Hitwise the top search term in the US in March was for US online classified site Craigslist taking over from social networking site MySpace which was the most searched for site for the previous 16 months. It’s thought that the recession has played a part in turning people from paid advierts to the free online classifieds. The article on the BBC website quotes Hitwise research director Heather Dougherty as saying “Consumers have embraced free classifieds as a way to generate income by selling personal items, while others take advantage of the deals available”. In the UK the growth in the online classifieds has been more modest with sites such as GumTree seeing a 15% growth in traffic. As yet Craiglist is not as popular with UK internet users and so there is no nothing with as strong a brand with eBay still being seen as primarily an online auction site. This may well change however as Craiglist will almost certainly seek to expand it’s UK presense and eBay is attempting to move from auctions into a more Classifieds style of listing. America’s newspaper industry has been badly hit by the economic downturn with the rise of classified advertising websites held partly to blame. Would you like to know more about online classifieds? If so, contact Hit Search, SEO and Google adWords qualified PPC specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible. Online shopping habits revealed by NMAby Andrew Redfern @ 7th January 2009 12:44 pm online advertising New Media Age today revealed some excellent research on online shopping habits of people during the recession; its come up with some fascinating statistics and ones that all point to a growing online market. Below is a reprint of some of the main points of the article which can be found here. “The survey of 1,957 people found 36% plan to do more shopping online and less on the high street this year. This figure rose to 45% of 18-24-year-olds and 44% of the big-spending 25-34-year-old market. With recession looming, online consumers are more price conscious and intend to use the internet to hunt for savings - 34% plan to use price-comparison sites more, while 22% will increase their use of value supermarket and auction sites. The research is supported by Nielsen figures which reveal a 64% year-on-year increase in unique visits to the site of value supermarket Aldi. In line with the growth, the cut-price chain is expanding its web presence with the launch this week of a travel website, with a flowers site due to launch later this month. Rival low-cost supermarket Asda is also seeing growth online. Digital marketing manger Chris Dalrymple said, “There are considerable opportunities with our online and catalogue platform. Asda Direct is going from strength to strength and home shopping has seen 70% growth year on year, meaning we have the second-largest market share.” Mark Elwig, head of sales at Shopping.com, the number-one price-comparison site according to Nielsen, said it had also seen an increase in users over the Christmas quarter. “Where it used to be about the range and selection - having the widest range of products from the biggest number of retailers and a wide range of reviews - it’s now all about price and having the best products at the best price,” he said. Neil Mason, head of UK retail research at Mintel, said, “Price-comparison and product review sites have enabled consumers to become more knowledgeable and seek out the best value, which is particularly important in a downturn. This will increase in the next year and value for money will be key during 2009.” The majority of respondents to the new media age survey (89%) believe better prices can be found online, while 68% said shopping online is cheaper than visiting the high street due to the rising costs of parking, petrol and transport. The online consumer also believes the internet offers a wider range of products (81%), lower prices (89%), ease of finding items (84%) and ease of comparing prices (95%). The survey also highlighted areas where online could improve, with the high street preferred for customer service (70%) and the lack of waiting time to receive a product (74%). The research comes as well-known high street stores such as Adams, MFI, Whittards of Chelsea, Woolworths and Zavvi fell into administration. Robin Goad, director of research at Hitwise UK, said, “All the companies that have collapsed over the last month didn’t have a good web presence. Zavvi unfortunately had to shut down its website, which had a significant impact. Retailers with no site backup will be in serious trouble.” Pure-play sites, however, are already reporting successful Christmas trading. Entertainment etailer Play.com last week reported that sales in its Christmas trading period were up 24% compared with the previous year. Simon Peree, MD of Play.com, said, “We’re in a fortunate position as entertainment products are relatively cheap and do well in a downturn. This year we plan to expand ranges within our categories, such as clothing and entertainment, and will also add new categories.” The new media age survey found CDs and DVDs were regarded the cheapest buys online, followed by video games, personal electronics, books and large electrical items. Justin Moodie, head of online at HMV, said, “Some consumers are now more comfortable with the idea of shopping online, considering it more convenient and cheaper, especially when you consider the costs of visiting and shopping in high-street locations. However, a significant number of consumers are still very happy to shop on the high street or, as we’re finding at HMV, to mix and match from both channels according to their requirements.” David Smith, director of the IMRG, the industry body for etailing, said, “Consumers are more empowered. They’re researching online and buying offline, and vice versa. Brands have to have a multi-channel approach.” As new media age went to press, Christmas trading results from high street fashion retailer Next showed its stores had seen a like-for-like decrease in sales of 7%, while the Next Directory, which accounts for 60% of the brand’s online sales, saw a 1.1% increase since last year. Debenhams also saw a decrease in sales over Christmas of 3.3%, while Marks & Spencer is expected to report a fall in its sales. The IMRG is due to release online sales figures next week, but Smith predicted positive results for online shopping from both pure-plays and high street brands online.”
Would you like to know about Internet Marketing? If so, contact Hit Search, Search Engine Optimisation and Pay Per Click & Social Space Marketing specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible. CNet : Search advertising defies economic gloomby Andrew Redfern @ 8th October 2008 12:50 pm online advertising In an article published today CNet are reporting the search advertising market is staying bouyant despite the general economic downturn. They quote the Interactive Advertising Bureau as saying internet advertising revenues rose 15.2 percent, to $11.5bn (£6.5bn) during the first six months of the year, compared with the same period last year. According to the figures search advertising systems such as Google adWords and Yahoo Search Marketing have increaded their share of the market rising to 44% (an increase of 3%). The search advertising sector in it’s entirety was worth $5.1 billion during the first half of 2008, this was up 24% on 2007. Banner advertising also grew by 19% up to $3.8 billion over the same period. The report would point to the conclusion that companies are switching budgets for more traditional advertising mediums such as newspaper & radio ads to internet advertising. Internet based systems like Google adWords have an advantage over other marketing methods because they are easier to set up, easier to target and much more measurable. Would you like to know more about search advertising? If so, contact Hit Search, SEO and Google adWords qualified PPC specialists, on 0845 643 9289. Remember, its a big world out there, make sure you become visible. Other Related Stories That May Be Of Interest:
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