What “Tiger” Will Do For Your Search Campaign

Posted on October 19, 2011 by WebVisible Team

According to Danny Goodwin at Search Engine Watch, SEM Bing is rolling out a new search infrastructure called “Tiger” with the hopes of offering faster and more relevant search results for Bing users. This new development is using Solid State Disk (SSD) technology which will improve the process for search queries.

What does this mean for your search campaign?

Well, it is definitely good news.

While it might seem like it could possibly limit the people who are finding your site, it is actually only allowing the most relevant searchers to be able to see your ads. This will in turn increase the value of your ads and the amount of actual leads you receive. For example: You don’t want someone who is searching for a job as a painter to find ads for your residential painting company, right? That is a click lost, and it will force your relevancy score to go down, down, dowwwn.Bing's Tiger

SEM blogs and companies constantly preach about how your keywords need to be specific to the service you offer. And not too broad. The more relevant your keywords, the better. And now Bing is staying true to this theory by improving their search infrastructure. Now your painting ads will show to the users who are more likely to click thru to your ad, search your website and actually need your company. Not only is this helping the companies who advertise on Bing, but the users who are searching on Bing will be happier too! A user does not want to be directed to something that had nothing to do with their search or that was misleading to what they actually wanted. Customers want effective results, and they want them fast!

With Tiger, the advertiser and the customer are happier.

Remember, this will not work unless you are only including relevant keywords that relate back to your landing page/website. If a user thinks your ad looks like the service they want and they click on it only to find that the ad was actually not what it seemed, they will leave your site. While one or two occurrences of this will not matter, any more could lead to a low quality score. Meaning your ads are not effective and not generating relevant leads. Translation: this will not be good for you or your business!

This new advancement for Bing is similar to Google’s ‘Caffeine’ that was released in 2010, which offered more relevant results in half the time. Bing is expected to finish this global roll out at the end of this year.

Written by WebVisible’s Tara Cesarano

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The Importance of Buying Local

Posted on August 5, 2011 by WebVisible Team

The notion of promoting local businesses is the foundation upon which WebVisible was built on. We eat, sleep and breathe local. And at a recent meeting, we literally ate local. At the request of one of our QA engineers, Mack, we ordered from a pizzeria across the street from our building. Before the meeting, Mack spoke about the delicious quality of the New York style pizza, but more specifically he spoke about the importance of supporting local businesses. Many of the popular pizza companies are owned by larger companies. Pizza Hut was a previous subsidiary of PepsiCo and is now a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. Dominos Pizza is owned by a private equity firm that was founded by former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Why give those other guys our money when we could be supporting a company on our own block? Buying local is our motto and should be put into practice more often. Instead of pumping money into these large businesses, consider the benefits of investing in your bucks in your own backyard.

Community Prosperity

Locally owned businesses help strengthen community bonds through social and economic relationships. Suddenly, you and your neighbor have something to talk about besides property lines.

Spurs the Local Economy

Unlike large companies, locally owned businesses convert much of their revenue back into their local economy. By shopping local, you’re helping locally owned businesses help you. Talk about paying it forward.

Good for the Environment

Looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint? Instead of fighting traffic to get to that wholesale store, walk to your local market or town center. Local businesses tend to gravitate around lively compact shopping centers. Instead of driving to three different stores, walk around your local shopping center. It will help reduce gas usage, pollution and possibly your stress.

Increases Competition, Lowers Prices

A wide range of local businesses in one area helps to increase competition, which in turn ensures low prices. Bargain hunters, unite!

Reduces Cookie-Cutter Products

In a world where more products are mass produced, a little variety can be a good thing. Local businesses have the flexibility to select products and services based on their own interests and community needs. A broader range of product choices are made available. Whether you want an original pair of shoes or quality New York Style pizza, the choice is yours.

By: Melody Gandy

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How to Make an Effective Landing Page

Posted on July 19, 2011 by WebVisible Team

How do you grab people’s attention? How do you convert potential customers?

Here are some tips Search Engine Land’s Scott Brinker recently wrote about that will help make your landing page more effective.

1. Message Match

It all starts with the ad. Someone searches for your product or service, your ad pops up, they click on it. But if your page isn’t what the ad promised, they’re probably gonna click away. This usually happens when lots of different, specific ads all lead back to a generic LP. If someone clicks an ad for home refinancing and is taken to a generic mortgages page, they won’t want to hunt around for the relevant info. Try using multiple, specifically targeted landing pages so your ads better match your pages.

2. Visual Design

If I see a professional looking landing page, I assume the company behind it is professional. If I go to a page that looks thrown together (or auto plays music), then I usually just leave. Your page’s design is your customer’s first impression of you – it needs to be good.

3. Depth

Depth doesn’t mean your page should have a ton of content. In fact, when it comes to landing pages – less is more. What it does mean is that the content needs to be meaningful and not “fluffy marketing speak.” If you install heating and cooling systems, you can say you use the “highest quality products” but it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t say what brands you install. Writing that you have an “experienced crew” is good, but writing that you’ve been in the industry for “over 29 years” means a lot more.

4. Interactivity

An interactive landing page can better capture your visitors’ attentions. A great way to do this is through online videos, which have been shown to have better retention and recall than television ads. Interactive maps showing where your business is located can also be effective.

Remember, not everyone will convert after one visit to your page. In fact, most people won’t. But if your message matches what they were looking for, if your company looks professional, and if your page has meaningful info – there’s a good chance they’ll come back in the future. And if your page is interactive, it’s all the more memorable.

By: Austin Sheeley

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WebVisible Knows the Keywords That Deliver Conversions

Posted on July 19, 2011 by WebVisible Team

Whether you are a small business owner starting your first paid search campaign or a medium-sized business trying to increase ad conversions, choosing the right keywords can be a challenge. Sorting through the different keyword research tools can be time consuming and ineffective.

WebVisible’s keyword performance engine, KPEye, takes the guess work out of keyword selection. This innovative technology moves beyond standard analytics programs, which simply measure click rates. “For each individual advertiser’s campaign the KPEye identifies keywords that result in the most leads for the dollar, not just the most clicks,” said Ron Burr, WebVisible CEO.

KPEye utilizes the historical data from hundreds of thousands of campaigns, along with current market data, to determine the best keywords for your campaign. The program also identifies “dangerous” keywords that generate lots of clicks but no conversions. KPEye monitors keyword traffic 24 hours a day to identify changes in performance and optimize your advertising budget.

WebVisible is confident KPEye technology will help advertisers improve their return on investment for search campaigns. CEO Ron Burr stated, “We’re pleased to see that our robust technology and years of experience are clearly helping small business advertisers achieve greater efficiency and conversion rates, and they’re achieving these results with manageable ad budgets.”

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WebVisible Survey Shows Consumers Prefer Local Businesses

Posted on June 16, 2011 by WebVisible Team

Would you rather shop at a smaller, local business or at a larger chain? More than 4 out of 5 consumers – 83 percent – prefer the local business. Why? Answers vary, but the top three reasons are:

  1. 1. I want to support my community.
  2. The local merchant is more conveniently located.
  3. The service is more personal.

But what about price? Can local businesses compete with large chains when it comes to cost? According to many consumers, they not only compete with but surpass the chains! One in four consumers said “lower price” was one of the top three reasons they prefer a local business.

Here are the findings:

Why customers choose to shop at local businesses

This is great news for the small-to-medium-sized business, but what does it mean in terms of marketing? First, one needs to make sure the right people are seeing their ad. With television this can be a problem. Even local TV stations have a wide range, so many of the people who see your ad are too far away to find your location convenient or consider you part of their community.

But at WebVisible, we use local radius targeting to make sure you only pay to advertise to the area you choose. When someone from outside your area searches for “awesome garage doors”, your ad won’t pop up. But when someone from within your area does, there’s your ad!

Since we know location is important to consumers, we emphasize it in the ads we create. Practice bankruptcy law in Emporia? The headline for your ad could read “Emporia Bankruptcy Attorney”. It’s simple but effective.

We also emphasize “local” through Call Tracking Numbers on the Landing Pages we create. It’s important to track the number of calls coming through as a result of people viewing your Landing Page—that way we know how effective the campaign is. And by using a local area code, we further emphasize that this is a local business. (Although we do offer toll free numbers, for advertisers who prefer.)

To learn more about effective local advertising, give WebVisible a call. Or if you’d like a full copy of the survey results and a graphic presentation of top-line data, email info@edgecommunicationsinc.com.

- Contributed by WebVisible’s Austin Sheeley

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WebVisible Optimizes Landing Pages for Optimal Results

Posted on June 9, 2011 by WebVisible Team

Optimizing your landing page is the best way to get the results you want. First we need to ask, “What is a Landing Page?” A landing page is what your ads lead to when someone is searching for a service. Copyblogger describes the landing page in golf terms: “A landing page is the putting green that you drive the ball (prospect) to. Once on the green, the goal is to get the ball into the hole.” The ultimate goal of a Landing Page is to get leads, and the best way to get leads is to optimize your “putting green.”

As a leader in the industry for the past 10 years, WebVisible has created fail-proof practices that focus on the best possible solutions for any business. We have drawn from our own historical data and additional public data to perfect the Landing Page and its effectiveness. The Product Team here at WebVisible has combined forces with the Creative Department to create our own landing page templates. From creative visual aspects to Search Engine Marketing strategies, we suggest five Best Practices to create the optimal Landing Page.

  1. Bold Header: You only have about 5 seconds to catch the attention of the viewer. Your header should stand out to entice the viewer to read further. This could be a special offer that you are promoting, unique services or anything about your company that makes you stand out from the competition.
  2. Keep It Simple: Once you catch the reader’s attention, you will need to hold on to them. Including a lot of text and information could cause readers to turn away and become uninterested. Make sure to list the main services and what you have to offer, possibly in the form of bullet points.
  3. Visually Appealing: Images and color are other great ways to catch readers’ attention. Again this should be minimal. We have studies that show the best colors to use are reds and blues. These could be good to use in the header.
  4. Video: Our own studies show that Landing Pages with a video have better lead generation than those without. It is important to remember that these do not need to be flashy – a simple power point slide with appealing images and content is effective.
  5. Lead Options: You want to make sure that you give the customer clear direction. In other words, what do you want the customer to do? Do you want them to call, fill out a form or come in to your location? Giving multiple options will also be very beneficial.
  • Call: Make sure to use a number that can be traced back to the Landing Page to show how well it is performing for you.
  • Form Fills: Keep the information asked to a minimum. Most customers don’t want to spend all day filling out information when they just have a few questions.
  • Walk In: Having a reliable map on your Landing Page is a great way to get people in to your business/store. At WebVisible, we keep track of how many driving directions are printed from your Landing Page – another useful method to track leads being generated.

While data and trends are always changing, WebVisible continues to stay ahead of the curve with the latest in Search Engine Marketing and Optimization.

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Study Shows Online Video Ad Retention & Recall Far Higher Than TV

Posted on June 8, 2011 by WebVisible Team

Video advertising has proven to be a great way to connect to a consumer and keep that person engaged with your company. However, the cost of producing and broadcasting a TV advertisement can be significant, making television quite a gamble for small business owners—especially when consumers can skip the ad altogether with a DVR.

If you’re looking for a way to get through to consumers or prospects through video, you don’t need to blow your budget on a costly television ad. Make your presence known through online video, featured on WebVisible Landing Pages!

According to this study by IPG Media Lab in partnership with YuMe, an online video advertisement is up to two times more likely to be recalled than an ad placed on television.

By taking measurements of facial expressions, eye movement, eye placement and biometrics, researchers were able to determine the level of attention that viewers paid to ads both on TV and online. They found a startling disparity in attention levels between the two media while ads were on screen:

According to the research, in an environment where attention spans are short, DVR systems are common and off-screen distractions are numerous, online video beats television when it comes to the number of ads watched and remembered by the viewer. It engages consumers right out the gate and stays with them well after they’ve finished watching the video.

What does this mean for a small business owner? It means that the biggest bang for your video advertising buck is going to come from online video ads, not TV. And with professionally-produced online video ads coming standard with WebVisible Landing Pages, there’s never been a better way to connect to consumers and stick with them.

If you’re running a small business, you know how important it is to put your advertising budget where it’ll reach the most people and give you the best results. Call WebVisible today for more information on how to make it happen!

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WebVisible-Web Marketing Solutions

Posted on January 10, 2011 by WebVisible Team

Internet marketing is definitely complex. At WebVisible, they have tens of thousands of small and mid-size businesses using their Web marketing solutions so they have learned a lot about what it takes to turn your Internet “presence” into a rich pool for attracting new customers. It’s their experience, expertise and know-how that sets WebVisible apart from the rest.

WebVisible has created a list of simple yet important things to improve your online presence and allow consumers to find you in multiple places online. It’s just not enough to have 1 website these days. You need to have multiple pages and make sure you also take advantage of all the free social media. That is an easy yet effective way to get your name out there. It is also important to have all your pages linked. The more links you have to your information on multiple, popular sites, the higher your pages will rank on search engines, too.

After you have created more pages and linked them all, make sure you update them. No one likes to see the same old thing, and neither do search engines. You don’t need to completely re-write your website and pages, but simple changes really do help. The search engines and your prospects are looking for fresh, relevant information on your pages. Have you recently received an excellent review? Got a new special going on? Do you have new services/products to offer? Let your customers know.

Finally, don’t forget you can also re-purpose content. If you don’t have any new information to share, you can re-post, re-purpose, or reuse all sorts of content from other people on your pages. If you read an interesting article that talks about your field, add a quick sentence that points out the section(s) you liked and link to it. If you see a Top 10 list made by someone you respect (people love lists), find a way to relate it back to your business and post it. The point is: being a “curator” of useful information can be just as powerful in drawing prospects as being a “creator” of content.

Posted in Small Business Marketing, WebVisible Advertising Tips, WebVisible Marketing Tips, WebVisible Products, WebVisible's Web Marketing Solutions | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Dr. Doug LaBahn of WebVisible Talks Straight About Landing Pages

Posted on November 10, 2010 by admin

As the founder of several small businesses, a former professor, the son of a small business owner and a doctor of marketing (he has a PhD), Doug LaBahn knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the importance of landing pages for businesses in the 21st century. He writes a column with straight talk about online marketing and provides advice that appears in the WebVisible monthly newsletter. His recent advice about landing pages was in response to tough questions from business owners. According to LaBahn, landing pages are something small business owners can’t live without if they are going to be successful in the online space.

During the course of his recent career as product strategist and marketing expert for WebVisible, Doug LaBahn has heard countless business owners recounting how they’ve spent thousands of dollars hiring someone to build a website for them that didn’t get them any new customers. He’s also heard a lot of grumbling after telling people that they need to build a landing page after all the time, effort and money they’ve already spent on their company’s website. This is why he wants the business community to know that there are plenty of reasons why they can’t live without landing pages whether they like it or not.

Websites should provide a lot of information about a company. That is fairly obvious. A website should include pages that provide information about the company history, its products, the owners/staff, where they are located and other pertinent details. But companies also need landing pages that visitors will “land” on and immediately get the call to action and pertinent information about why they need to invest in this product or service. A well-designed and analyzed landing page will encourage visitors to become paying customers in minutes, or even seconds. According to LaBahn, this is much more effective than a convoluted website that requires half an hour of navigating to learn a thing or two about the company.

Posted in Small Business Marketing, WebVisible Advertising Tips, WebVisible Marketing Tips, WebVisible Products, WebVisible's Web Marketing Solutions | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments