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Benefits of PPC
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Benefits of Pay Per Click Advertising

There are many different reasons why you should be using paid advertising. Billions of people are searching online every day. Pay per click (PPC) advertising now accounts for about 65% of clicks – compared to 35% generated organically. People who click on a pay per click ad are 50% more likely to make a purchase than organic visitors.

If you want to get your product in front of your customers, it is essential to be paying for online advertising. Here are the benefits of using paid digital adverting and why you should be doing it.

Ads are affordable and measurable

Online advertising is a billion dollar industry – but that doesn’t mean you have to spend millions or even thousands of dollars in order to see results. With Pay Per Click advertising, you have total control over your budgets. This means you can spend exactly what you can afford. Google allows you to set daily budgets and maximum cost per clicks. You can bid on keywords and decide the maximum amount you want to pay to have your ad shown when that keyword is searched.

Maximize Return On Investment

Alongside Google Adwords, you can track conversions, monitor impressions to see how many potential customers your ads have reached, in Google Analytics as well. You can instantly see the results of your ads and make changes, allowing you to effectively meet your goals. You can maximize your return on investment by monitoring your cost per click and measuring cost per acquisition. If you are selling a product that costs $100, then spending $10 on a click isn’t worth it – but if your product is $10,000 it would be worth the investment.

Only Pay For Clicks

Pay per click advertising allows you to get the best return on investment as you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad. When people see your ad but don’t click on it, this is essentially free advertising. Not only that, you can set daily budgets so you are in total control of what you spend.

Optimize

Google automatically optimizes your best performing ads. You don’t have to worry about which of your ads is the most effective. Google automatically monitors how your ads are performing and show the highest performing ads to more people.

Target a Specific Audience

Digital Marketing allows you to reach a specific audience by targeting exactly who you want to reach. You can allow your ads to reach people within a 10-mile radius of your store who are searching on mobile devices. By reaching a more qualified audience, you can ensure you are getting your message to the people who are likely to become customers.

Digital Advertising is fast evolving and it is important to keep on top of it. PPC ads can boost brand awareness by 80%. Here at Cloud9, we can help you manage your PPC account to get the best results for your business. Contact us – call 604-398-4016 or email: clientcare@cloud9marketing.ca

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The Makings of a High Converting Landing Page

There’s a common misconception that landing pages are hard to create and maintain. But we want to dispel that rumour! Many businesses don’t make the most of their landing pages, but – done right – they are one of the easiest and smartest ways to generate more leads for your business.

However, a high converting page does more than simply “look good”. To convert visitors into customers, there are a number of design factors you will need to consider. Here’s how you can make your page as appealing as possible to visitors, to encourage them to stick around.

What is a landing page?

Landing pages are distinct from your homepage, or any other page on your website. They are designed for one purpose and one purpose only – to convert visitors into customers by capturing their information. A good landing page will target a particular audience and convince potential customers to share their personal details in exchange for a deal or special offer.

Why do you need a landing page?

Put simply, landing pages are a great way to improve SEO and drive traffic to your site. They guide customers towards a specific offer or product, and encourage them to take action. This gives you a fantastic opportunity to create conversions and grow your consumer base.

A few rules to consider when designing a high-converting landing page

 

  • Never send traffic from an advert to your homepage

The first rule of thumb is to keep your landing pages separate from the rest of your website. The whole purpose of a landing page is to make sure visitors can’t miss your promotional campaign. Home pages often bombard visitors with images, text and information, which will make it difficult for them to focus on your offer.

  • Keep your landing page clear and relevant

Online you only have a few seconds to convince someone that your business is relevant to their needs. This means you need to make those few seconds count. Entice your visitors by making your offer as big and bold as possible, and removing all surrounding clutter.

  • Keep your copy to the point

If you want to stop traffic on your site, you’ll need to design a killer headline. Keep it short, snappy and engaging, so viewers will be compelled to keep reading. The rest of your text should also follow this format. Match your concise and relevant copy with keywords that you used in you PPC ads, to reassure visitors that they’re on the right track.

  • Focus on the visitor experience

While it’s important to keep the overall look and feel of it similar to your main site, your landing page should be all about the visitor. Their first impression of your landing page really counts, so capture their interests and showcase how your brand can improve their life.

If you need any help developing a high converting landing page, or if you’re running a campaign but questioning the results, let us take a look! Our team at Cloud9 would be happy to evaluate your campaign to learn exactly how to refine your ads to gain maximum response – for less cost.

 

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google-search
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Google’s New Search Ads: What You Need to Know

Google has just made a big change to the way it displays search ads which could have significant impact on your business. The right hand side of search results will no longer display search ads and will only display Product Listings Ads (PLAs) on highly commercial searches. Find out what this could mean for your business, and how you can utilize these changes to your advantage.

In the past a search engine result page (SERP) would show three paid advertisements above the organic listings, a handful on the right hand side and some underneath the organic results. With the new changes, up to four advertisements will be displayed above the organic search results and there will be no ads shown to the right of the results, except for PLAs in highly competitive commercial searches (such as insurance or airfares). According to Google, the click-thru-rates (CTRs) of ads on the right hand side was poor and this new change is expected to benefit advertisers in the long run, while creating a more user friendly search experience for browsers.

The biggest change this will have for advertisers is unless you are in the top four positions- it is very likely your impressions and CTRs will diminish. Competition for the top four spots will increase resulting in higher bids needed to obtain these spots. Those businesses who do manage to snag a spot in the top four ad results will likely see an increase in impressions and CTRs. Businesses who don’t have a budget to position in the top four will need to be more selective with their keywords and compete on words with a lower CPC or will face being buried underneath organic search results.

These changes will also affect organic search results as an additional ad displayed above organic results will limit the space for organic results on each page. This and the increase of ad extensions will encroach on dwindling organic search result space. Some experts believe the new changes may actually increase the CTR of organic results on the first page as the portion of web traffic that click on right hand ads (5.61%), may now click on organic results instead. Either way vying for that sought-after first page of Google will be more difficult for organic and paid results alike.

The new changes will take on the same layout as mobile searches and will affect advertisers across all languages and around the world. The changes were rolled out on February 18th 2016, and were some of the biggest changes Google has made to the SERPS in years.

So how can you use these changes to your advantage? Paid advertisers need to be selective on their key words and bid competitively. Maintaining a high quality-score through relevant ads, keywords and landing pages, using ad extensions and maintaining strong click thru rates will help secure a top spot. Those selling products can take advantage of the product listing ads to the right and top of the browser. Businesses relying on organic search results need to ensure their SEO strategy is rock solid to compete for a first page rank. As users become more sophisticated and business categories become more competitive it will take expertise and strategy to be displayed on the coveted first page of Google.

Need help with your Adwords (PPC) or SEO? Cloud9 Marketing creates and implements results driven digital marketing strategies using the latest trends and innovations in online and search engine marketing. Contact us today and see how we can help you.

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pay per click advertising
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Pay Per Click Advertising, Demystified

If you’ve been looking into increasing your web presence as a company you’ve probably encountered the phrase “pay per click.” Well this very vague title is exactly what we are going to explore in this blog post. What exactly is this so-called “Pay Per Click Advertising” and how does it work? Lets find out.

 

What is it?

Pay per click advertising is a form of web based adverting that helps with search engine optimization. Search engines like Google and Bing have designated spots on their search result pages, usually along the side or in the first 1-3 search result lines. These prime locations are reserved for paying clients who have pay per click advertising with key words relative to the search. Every time someone uses the ad by clicking on it, the paying client is charged, because it has proven to be a successful advertisement placement and search result combination.

 

How does it work?  

First things first, you’ll have to choose a keyword or phrase that you’d like your page to be associated. The process of determining which keywords you should apply to your business page requires a thought out approach. You’ll need to consider how generic or specific you’d like your results to be. Keep in mind what phrases your competitors might be using and always remember your target audience. Lucky you for, Cloud9 has marketing gurus available that do exactly that. We can help you determine what keywords would benefit your business, reach your target audience and achieve web presence goals. Working with a budget in pay per click advertising can work multiple ways. Sometimes it is a bidding war on the price per a click for a desired spot and search combination. Whoever is willing to pay the most per a click gets the spot. You may want to top out at a certain budget each month or after achieving a certain result. Almost all web presence goals can easily be reached by utilizing per click advertising as it increases traffic to your page, or even a sub pages of your website. Each click will take the searcher exactly where you’d like to be on your website. It’s the most ideal way for getting a searcher to find your page rather than your competitors and increase over all SEO.

 

Is it right for me?  

Sounds pretty peachy so far doesn’t it? Well the truth is, pay per click advertising is phenomenal; it is an incredible tool for your webpage. There aren’t many drawbacks for pay per click advertising unless the keywords and target audience don’t match. As mentioned before, this is a crucial step and needs some serious brainstorming. It can also be expressive and competitive to land your page in the top results section. If you’re considering using pay per a click, give us a call at Cloud9 and we can weight out the pros and cons for your company specifically and decide on the right marketing combination for your business. Pay per click isn’t for everyone or every business, but when it is fully understood and used correctly it can take your SEO to a whole new level.

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online digital advertising

15 Online Advertising Stats

Online advertising has come a long way in the relatively short existence of the web. Today’s ads come in a variety of shapes, sizes and forms, from simple text to interactive multimedia. Here are 15 online advertising statistics about ad spending, revenues, consumer perception and more.

 

  1. U.S. advertisers spent over $37 billion on digital advertising in 2012, which amounted to 22% of all ad spending.https://www.emarketer.com/Coverage/AdvertisingMarketing.aspx

 

  1. Over half of U.S. consumers describe online advertising as “annoying” (68%) and “distracting” (51%).http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_State_of_Online_Advertising_Study.pdf

 

  1. 36% of consumers and 49% of marketers consider advertising created by professional marketers the most effective form of advertising. 28% of consumers and 27% of marketers, however, believe that user-generated content is most effective. http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_State_of_Online_Advertising_Study.pdf

 

  1. Earning the consumer’s trust is particularly important when it comes to online advertising. Only 40% of consumers say that they trust ads served by search engines somewhat or completely. 36% trust online video ads and ads on social networks, 33% trust online banner ads and mobile display ads, and 29% trust mobile text ads. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/nielsen-news/trust-in-advertising-%E2%80%93-paid-owned-and-earned/

 

  1. Although 33% of social media users say that ads on social networking sites are more annoying than other online ads, 17% feel more connected to brands that they see on these sites. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/

 

  1. 15% of social network users have shared ads on social networks, and 26% have liked such ads.http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/

 

  1. 14% of social network users have purchased a product as a result of a social ad. 10% purchased a product online, and 8% made a purchase at a store. Also, 18% of users purchased or obtained a coupon as a result of a social ad.http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/social/2012/

 

  1. Ad click-through rates vary by browser. Opera users have the highest click-through rate at 2.12%, followed by Safari Mobile users (1.54%) and Internet Explorer users (1.14%). http://insights.chitika.com/2012/web-usage-infographic/

 

  1. In the third quarter of 2012, U.S. online advertising revenues reached a record $9.26 billion. This represented an 18% year-over-year increase. http://www.iab.net/about_the_iab/recent_press_releases/press_release_archive/press_release/pr-121912

 

  1. North America is the region that spends the most on online advertising, accounting for 41.7% of global ad spending in 2011. Western Europe comes in second at 28.8%, and Asia-Pacific is third with 24.1%.http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-ad-spending/

 

  1. Search ads make up 49% of all online advertising. 23% of online advertisements are banner ads, 8% are classifieds, 5% are lead generation ads, 6% are digital videos, 5% are rich media, 3% are sponsorships, and 1% are email ads.http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-ad-spending/

 

  1. When it comes to online advertising market share, Google is on top with 44.1%. Yahoo and Microsoft claim 12.3%, Facebook has 3.1%, and AOL has 1.5%.http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/online-ad-spending/

 

  1. According to a 2012 report by BIA/Kelsey, social media ad spending is forecasted to reach $9.8 billion in 2016, demonstrating a compound growth rate of 21% per year. http://www.biakelsey.com/Company/Press-Releases/120515-U.S.-Social-Media-Ad-Spending-to-Reach-$9.8-Billion-by-2016.asp

 

  1. 72.8% of marketers responding to a 2012 Ad Age survey said that they expected their social media advertising budget to increase over the next year. 25.3% expected it to stay the same, and 1.9% expected it to decrease. http://adage.com/article/digital/ad-age-survey-marketers-love-facebook-idea-ads-work/235642/

 

  1. A study by AdParlor found that click-through rates for mobile Facebook ads were about 15 times higher than those for non-mobile Facebook ads (1.32% and 0.086% respectively). However, the study also found that mobile ads had a lower conversion rate than non-mobile ads (68.4% compared to 84.16%). http://adparlor.com/pdfs/AdParlor_Report_State_of_Facebook_Mobile_Advertising.pdf

As these statistics illustrate, online advertising has become more complex over the years, but there is still plenty of value in tried and true formats such as paid search. The key is to carefully target your ads so that they reach the right audience and entice them to take action.

 

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