Spinfield: Web marketing trends today, tomorrow, and beyond…

Working for an online marketing agency that does both pay-per-click (PPC) and display advertising (banner ads) as well as other methods to generate traffic and leads, I often get asked what should be the medium of choice and what works better.  It’s really hard to answer simply to what works better in different situations.  It all depends on your target audience, goals, product offering, etc.

Are you trying to create brand awareness?  Generate traffic? Generate Leads? Convert sales?

All these questions need to be answered to determine the best online marketing approach.

From personal experience, I have found that display advertising is usually best for creating brand awareness and driving traffic.  However, there is no guarantee that the traffic you are driving is good quality traffic.  You really need to make sure that you are targeting your display ads to your message and you will get a much higher return.

As for pay-per-click (PPC), I have found that this is best used for generating leads and driving sales, although PPC can be good for generating traffic as well. When running a pay-per-click campaign, you really need to spend time optimizing your ad text and landing pages.  Do not send them right to a conversion page.  Provide them with good information and the ability to convert and you will do much better.

A lot of time and effort go into both methods.  Which ever method you choose, you really need to focus on it and analyze the results to see what you are getting for your money.

Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam: Google Webmaster Matt Cutts expounds on ranking, spam and the future of search for German Webmaster Blog. View the video at Google’s Webmaster Central blog. Or, if you speak and read German, view the the German translation here.

Google Trifecta Recording Available: Did you miss the online presentation? Google recently held a Webinar to present information about Google Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, and Google Website Optimizer. Don’t fret if you missed it. The presentation is now available online.

Q2 Search Engine Performance Report: Efficient Frontier reported last week that online advertisers are putting more and more money into Google.

Google took more than its fair share of the overall increase in search spending: for every new dollar spent on search in Q2 2008 versus Q2 2007, $1.10 went to Google. Yahoo lost $0.09, and Microsoft lost $0.01. In other words, advertisers are putting all of their new search dollars into Google, and pulling money out of Yahoo Search and Microsoft Live Search.

Read a full summary, or view the full report.

Want to Look Good?: Google Docs now has a template for many of your needs. From resumes and cover letters, to albums and flipbooks, to personal finance and more, visit Google Docs for templates you can use.

Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta: Opera Software last week released its first public version of Opera Mobile 9.5 beta. The company states, “The beta takes mobile browsing speed and features to a new level, complete with visual effects and a new look.” Read all about it.

Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

Once you have your business plan put together, and have come up with a logo and a way to brand your company there is one very important step that is vital to the life of your business. You must decide who your target audience will be, and focus on how you are going to get your information to them.

Many people think that if they put their information on the Internet it will be seen by everyone, including people that fit in their particular demographic needs. This is not always the case because out there, in all of the World Wide Web, there is an Internet age gap that is best described in a recent story on CNN:

There you have it, proof, that even people whose job it is to search the Internet all day miss things that are taking off within other age groups.

You might be wondering what “Fred” and all of this age talk has to do with marketing your company online, well, think about what your company does and how you will get attention from your necessary audience.

Do you sell something designed specifically for the elderly? If so, your page needs to be set up for their needs. Elderly people do not use the internet anywhere near as much as people under the age of 45 and do not always understand all of the “gizmos and gadgets.”

If you are trying to gain attention from people in their early 20’s you want to make sure that the page isn’t too boring, and that it catches their eye among the several other pages that they are visiting that day.

You need to understand how often and for how long your desired audience is on the Web, and how much time they are going to put into searching for and through your site. Putting time in early to discover your audiences’ needs will definitely benefit you in the long-run.

Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

Weird American Laws

There are some pretty interesting laws still on the books in various states! For example in Strongsville, Ohio Catch 22 is banned, and in Fairbanks, Alaska it is illegal to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose! Check this website to see other weird American laws.

More Fun with Stop Motion

Last month we featured a video on Stop Motion Drums and Piano by Lasse Gjertsen. Here are a couple other stop motion videos for you to enjoy! Western Spaghetti by PES and Human TETRIS by director Guillaume Reymond.

Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.

When should the marketing activity start for a Web site? What are the different tools by which one can promote a Web site?

Marketing activities should generally start before your Web site is finished. So, how will people who see your marketing efforts find you online? Nothing would irritate me more as a consumer then to see a bit of marketing for something, go to the Web to find information and not be able to find any. “Coming soon” or “Under Construction” pages are ever worse. If you are going to start marketing your Web site before you launch it, make sure you have a good landing page and maybe an opt-in form to collect information from people who would like an e-mail notification when the site launches.

Here is a quick list of some things you can do to market a new Web site.

• Search Engine Marketing
  Running a search engine marketing campaign focused around keywords relating to your products and services will quickly put you in front of potential customers at the moment they are looking. This in-turn increases your traffic and brand recognition and helps build you as a leader and authority in your areas of expertise.
• E-mail Marketing
  Permission-based e-mail marketing is a great way to get your message in front of existing and potential customers. Starting with existing customers is a great way to let them know about your new site and give them incentives to visit.
• Submit to online directories, both paid and unpaid
  Online directories are a great way to get more back links into your Web site. Most are free to submit to, but some require a small payment for inclusion.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
  SEO should be thought of for your site before it even begins development. Natural, or organic traffic from search engines will be a key factor in the success of your new Web site. Patience is a key here. SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time to get indexed and ranked up naturally in search engines, especially if your site is brand new.

Finally, make sure you have a good analytics tool collecting data on your site so you know where your visitors are coming from and how they are spending their time. Google Analytics is a great tool and free to setup an account.

Copyright © 2008 by IdeaStar. All rights reserved.