image by D3 San Francisco

Some time ago a company came to us with an AdWords budget of $10,000 per month. This company had been managing its own AdWords campaign for years. They were making money, but their profits had been shrinking as their per-click costs gradually edged up over the years.

We were able to make some pretty dramatic changes with that client’s account. By making some adjustments to the keywords they were targeting, lowering their spend on the Google Content Network (which wasn’t getting them anything anyway), and implementing some ad text changes, we improved their overall sales and dropped their AdWords costs to $7,000 per month, including our fee for managing the account. They were amazed and grateful.

Hiring a company to manage your AdWords campaign can make a dramatic difference in your results. Whether you hire NetBiz.com or another company to manage your AdWords campaign there are some great reasons to outsource your day-to-day activities.

They’re certified and you’re not. Google has an AdWords Qualified Company program that certifies individuals at companies. These people must take a test that demonstrates knowledge and experience using AdWords. NetBiz is an AdWords Qualified Company.

They’ve seen it all. AdWords management companies frequently work with companies from all over the world and in many different industries. These companies have an outsider’s perspective on your advertising and can make calls that you are either too afraid to make or don’t even know about. NetBiz has served over 20,000 small business customers in the last three years. We’ve seen nearly every AdWords scenario.

Their campaigns are stronger. Part of your AdWords quality score is dependent on past performance. Good AdWords management companies are those with several years of high-quality performance. Since the bid to be at the top of the results is directly tied to your quality score, this lowers the average cost-per-click and makes it easier for your ads to show up higher on the page. Also, if your campaign was disabled because you violated Google’s Terms and Conditions, an AdWords management company may be able to get your account reinstated.

More access. AdWords management companies that meet certain revenue marks are granted an account management team at Google. They actually have someone at Google that they can call when something goes wrong, which is something average AdWords user doesn’t have. NetBiz, of course, has an Account Management team.

More eyes are better. Most small businesses have just one person who manages the AdWords account, and usually that person also does several other things. AdWords management companies have teams of certified employees who review all accounts regularly. At NetBiz all of our client accounts are seen by three people within the first week, and reviewed regularly to make sure that they are performing well.

Any questions on why you should hire an AdWords Management Company? Let us know in the comments.

A recent question on our community page sparked this question, and I wanted to expound on it further.

Does purchasing sponsored links affect your organic search engine rankings?

Officially, Google says no. In the Google Webmaster support pages, you’ll find this quote:

“Advertising with Google won’t have any effect on your site’s presence in our search results.”

Most experts agree that purchasing Sponsored Links gives no benefit to organic listings, though there is some debate (Google also claims to look at all traffic driven to a site, and with the tremendous amount of data they have about which sites get visited, it’s not unreasonable to assume that some Sponsored Link data makes its way into the organic listings algorithm).

Sponsored Links (or search engine placement) are a great way to increase your visibility on the search engines and directly target the people who are looking for your product. Essentially, this means you can pay to have your site show up on the search engines whenever people type in certain key terms related to your site. As long as you see increased traffic to your site and you make money from the sponsored links, it’s a great deal.

However, Sponsored Links may not always be the best, or only, long-term solution, and that’s why many companies choose to go with Search Engine Optimization services. NetBiz.com offers SEO as well as Search Engine Placment (SEP). SEO and SEP are great complimentary services. When used together, they dramatically increase the click-through-rate (CTR) of your search results. (Being on the page twice, both in the organic results and the paid advertisements section, is a great way to make sure people see you and click through to your site.)

Last week I was involved in a conversation over at the Webtrends blog about Google’s announcement that they’ll be integrating social media into their search results. I made a comment about how people with big tribes win:

Let me explain what I mean.

Back in the old days, before the Internet was prevalant, when people wanted an expert opinion on something, they asked around until they found the phone number for someone who was a recognized expert. Their immediate contacts allowed them to reach out until they could find what they needed.

Fast forward to recent years, when most people go online to look for an expert opinion. The problem with that has been that the search engines haven’t had many ways to separate the expert content on the Web from the content created by the average blogger. It was relatively easy for new bloggers to establish themselves as authorities in a field and dominate the search results.

Then social media came along, allowing established experts in various fields to grow their own following.

Now that Google and Bing have announced that they will begin incorporating social media content into their search results, this creates an enormous opportunity for established experts in all fields. For those business owners who have an established and growing online following, this could mean the expansion of their credentials and client base.

What will you do with this opportunity? Have you educated yourself on Search Engine Optimization yet?

Social Search Optimization

Initially, as Bing and Google start to roll out this new element of search, the average user won’t notice much difference. Users who are logged in to a Google account, however, will start to see social media content  related to a search topic showing up at the bottom of the first page of their search results. That content will be generated by people in their immediate social network (i.e. people you follow on Twitter or friends on Facebook).

At the outset, the results won’t be very good, and it will be easy to spam. To counteract this, Google will release this feature only to registered users in the beginning.

As time passes, however, and the search engines gather more data, this social media content will start appearing on regular search results. This will happen fairly soon, probably not more than a couple of years from now.

How can you take advantage of this now so that you are positioned to show up when Social Search spreads wide? Here are some examples:

Start a blog: Even if you just post once per week, create a blog that you can consistently post content to, and connect that to your Web site. Talk about your business, your industry as a whole, and share useful information about what you do. It helps you build thought leadership and improves your search engine results.

Experiment with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media: With over 300 million users and counting, Facebook has people who are interested in your organization. Fan pages are becoming major tools for doing business. Become a fan of NetBiz.com on Facebook. Before you hire a social media consultant to create all of your accounts for you, go online and play around. Learn how it all works. There are no social media experts out there right now. The industry is so very new, so try doing it yourself for a while!

Learn the basics of Search Engine Optimization: As you do this, you will start to learn how the Internet really works, which can only be an advantage to your business.

Image via Hexidecimal Counting

As a small-business owner it is easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of things you have to do. If you can track just the things on this list, your business will be in good shape on the Web.

You can track this data using Google’s built-in Analytics software. If you are a NetBiz.com client, you can get some of this data (the first six items listed below) by contacting customer service at 888.847.2226 or by making a request here.

Impressions: The number of times your ad is seen. In the case of Search Engine Placement (SEP), this can be the number of searches done as well as the number of times people hit refresh on their screen.

Clicks: Simply put, the number of times your ad is clicked on.

CTR: Stands for Click-Through Rate, or the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. This is an important benchmark to gauge how responsive people are to your ad. The higher the percentage, the higher quality ad you have. Industry standards for search ads are around .5 – 2%. NetBiz clients usually see around 4% or higher.

Cost: This one should be fairly obvious.

CPC: Stands for Cost Per Click. If you spend $100 and you get 20 clicks, that’s $5 per click. Use this, in conjunction with conversion rates (below), to calculate how much you’ll have to spend to hit the number of sales you want. Remember that clicks do not necessarily equal sales, so you’ll need to experiment with this formula to hit your sweet spot.

Average position: The higher you are on the page, the better you do in search marketing. If your average position is 4 or lower, you may need to take action to raise your placement.

Conversion Sales: How many users clicked through to your Web site and took some specific action. This could bepurchasing something, downloading a white paper, or sharing their contact information via an online form.

CPA: Stands for Cost Per Action. Different from Cost Per Click because this tracks the cost of getting someone to do something besides, or in addition to, clicking. This might be downloading something, sharing via email or any number of other actions.

Conversion Rates: The percentage of people who land on your Web page and take the action you want (e.g., buy, download, etc). If this percentage is low, then you can use this to figure out what part of your Web site is not performing.

Revenue: Raw dollars coming in.

ROI: How much money do you make for each dollar you spend on Web advertising? Is it enough to support the rest of your business and make a profit?

Customer Geolocation: What’s the geographical breakdown of customers using your Web site? If you are a real estate agent, for example, you may want to know whether local clients are looking at your site. Search engine marketing ads can be targeted by region.

Time of Conversion: What time of day are most people buying on your site? There may be a correlation between spending more on advertising at a certain time of day and seeing increased sales on your site. Use this data to be where your customers are looking when they are looking.

There are additional data you can track, including customer demographics (like age, gender, race, etc), Loan To Value, user behavior, and more, but this list is a good place to start with your Web marketing. The trick is to start tracking each piece, one at a time, until you are comfortable with it. Once you master one piece, move on to the next.

Thanks to Lisa Barone for the inspiration for this post.

After we get you set up with your Google Search Engine Placement campaign, you may have some questions about what your ad will look like and where it will appear.

The best way to answer these questions is to look up your ad using the Google AdPreview tool. Here’s a quick video explaining how to use it:

You can certainly just do a regular Google search for your keywords, but we recommend against this because it throws off the numbers when we generate your reports and makes it harder for us to serve you better. AdPreview is reflective of where the ads are truly appearing.

At this point this service only works for Google. Yahoo and Bing do not offer a similar tool.

Do you have questions about using the AdPreview tool? If so, please leave them in the comments below. We’ll answer your questions soon!

If you are a small-business owner and you haven’t heard about Google SideWiki yet, check this video out:

There’s no denying that the Internet has come a long way since its humble beginnings. The Web has rapidly become a far more interactive and integral component of our lives. In a single day you could use the Internet to video chat with friends 3,000 miles away, share photos of your new puppy on your blog, Tweet about your business, watch your favorite TV show, share documents with co-workers, get directions to a new restaurant, buy a book online, download music, learn about your family tree, and so much more!

People have an innate need to be involved with the world at large, and the Internet affords them that opportunity. They crave dynamic, relevant Web sites, and if site owners don’t put forth the effort to create sites that are useful and interactive, people will find their own ways to connect and comment.

In fact, Google has created an application to help people do just that! SideWiki is Google’s newest endeavor that allows people to annotate the Web sites they visit. Essentially, users will be able to share their opinions, provide helpful hints about navigating through extensive information, and link to relevant news. Though many people are excited about this new wiki, there is still a great deal of controversy regarding its basic premise. Web site owners should have the right to choose whether their visitors can comment or leave feedback that others can read. SideWiki disregards owners’ preferences, and allows site visitors to post freely (and anonymously), possibly even spreading lies and maliciously attacking the owner and business. Regardless of the controversy, it looks as though Google has the upper hand, at least for now, and the rest of the world will have to play catch up.

In an effort to build a stronger community with current and potential customers, we at NetBiz.com are working hard to reach out via this blog, our official NetBiz Twitter and NetBiz Facebook pages, and of course, our Ask NetBiz marketing Q&A.

So, we want to know: what are you doing to make your Web site more interactive?

Our awesome Graphic design team at Netbiz has taken time to share with you some of the things that small business owners need to know about their websites.

Five things business owners do wrong:

1. Attempting to do it all yourself. Hire someone to do things you are not an expert in or have time for (i.e. SEO, SEP or Web design). Yes, it does require a bit of an investment but you save time and many a headache in the long run. After all, you’re in business because someone has hired you to do something they’re not good at, right?

2. Not defining the purpose of your Web site. Are you online to sell a product? Are you there to share valuable information? Are you there to socialize? A great design is important! However, without a clear purpose, visitors soon forget why they are at your site. They won’t take action and most likely won’t come back for a second look.

3. Not measuring the results of your web traffic. With the inclusion of an analytics program, like Google Analytics™ you can easily track who’s visiting, the amount of traffic you’re receiving, what pages they’re lingering on, etc.. Something as simple as this can help in determining if your site is fulfilling its purpose or not.

4. Promoting features over benefits. People typically view Web sites with a “What’s in it for me” attitude. By creating content that allows the reader to clearly see how your products and/or services would make their life easier you create incentive for them to do business with you .

5. No motivation for visitors to give their contact information. By offering the viewer a reason for leaving contact info (e.g. free information, a mini course, something of value) you encourage them to give their contact info.

Things to do with your website:

1. Offering a “Free Report” creates an image of expertise in your specific field and is a simple way to attract new leads.

2. Write professional, concise and interesting content. Get your message across quickly. If you are unable to write quality copy that can grab your viewer’s attention and motivate them to take action, then you should hire someone who can.

3. Give up-to-date testimonials. An old adage says, “Facts tell but testimonials sell.” When it comes to your online business, what other people say about you is almost more important than what you say about yourself.

4. Being perceived as the Authority on the Web is powerful. You may have the knowledge and credentials but if it isn’t made evident on your site, no one will know. By continually posting valuable information about your industry or products via articles or a blog, you will eventually be perceived as authoritative and trustworthy. Just make sure your posts are accurate and useful.

Graphical Tips:

1. A picture is worth a thousand words so make sure they are of high quality. Poor quality imagery can kill any hope of making a good first impression.

2. There are many “Stock Photo” sites out there providing amazing imagery in every conceivable area. The prices can be as little as $1 per image for web quality.

3. Clearly visible navigation using live text, if at all possible. Avoid using “mystery meat” links which are images or Icons without accompanying text that indicates where you’ll be directed.

4. Limit the use of motion graphics. A good rule is one per page. Any more than that and they compete with each other and become a distraction from your message.

5. Long load times are a nuisance. Fewer page graphics means your page will appear faster.

6. Fight the need to fill every bit of space on your Web site with text or graphics. Margins and “white space” give the viewer a place to rest.

7. Keep your contact information visible on every page and if you can’t, at least make it easily accessible.

8. When it comes to your content, try to limit your font usage to two, browser friendly fonts.

9. Make your site cross-browser friendly (IE, Firefox, Safari) so that the majority of people can view your site the way it was intended to be seen.

If you have any questions about how to improve the website you have, or want to get a new website, we’ll give you a free 15 minute consultation.  Give us a call 888-847-2226.

I’m told that 63% of you use the internet to get information about local businesses.  When you are trying to decide where to go to see a movie, to get a bite, to buy that tool, you use a search engine like Google or Yahoo.  Unfortunately for you, my friends, there is a bit of a disconnect.

• Only 44% of you have a website.
• About half of you spend less than 10% of your marketing budget online.
• More than half of you who do have websites are unhappy with your site.

Who are you?  You are a small business owner in the USA, the most technologically advanced country in the world.  Wow.

We know it’s overwhelming.  There’s a lot to learn when it comes to internet marketing.  These statistics show that you are not alone when it comes to feelings of frustration when it comes to getting the internet figured out.  Guess what?  It’s okay to feel that way, and it’s totally normal.

You are an expert in what you do.  Whether it’s real estate, garage door repair, or some other business, you help other people make their lives a little bit easier with your expertise.  Find someone who can help you make the internet easier.  There are lots of resources that show how important internet advertising really is to small businesses.

By the way (and here comes the shameless plug) did I mention that Netbiz’s mission statement is Making the Internet Easy?

What do you find overwhelming about internet marketing?  Let us know in the comments below.