Monthly Archives: April 2013

ppcAs small businesses tailor themselves to the changing trends of e-Commerce and social marketing, it is crucial important for owners and entrepreneurs to optimize their planning and execution for the year. This includes figuring out how businesses will build positive relationships with the advertisers that share space on their websites. As partners in the objective of creating revenue, advertisers and owners must have systems in place that accurately how effective their marketing partnership is.

An important tool that fosters this marketing partnership is the Pay Per click system.  Many online businesses have already utilized the advertising engine but are missing out on how to maximize its revenue production. If last year was any indication, 2013 promises to be a big year for e-Commerce. Pay Per Click systems will be a prominent factor in how businesses create their websites and chose their marketing partners. It is crucial now more than ever to get ahead of the game and prepare your marketing plan with these important Pay Per Click tips.

  1. KNOW WHAT PAY PER CLICK IS: Although it is a new and innovative way to have online dealings, Pay-per-Click is fairly easy to understand. Pay per click advertisement (also known as cost per click) is facilitated in one of two ways. In one instance, cost per click ads are conducted on a search engine results page according to the search criteria entered by the online user.  For example, if an online user searches with the words ‘Tobago Vacations,’ a range of advertisements on vacationing in Tobago will most likely appear together with (before or after) the general information provided by the search site. In another case, a specific set of online advertisements are placed in online forums and locations frequented by a set of online users whose profiles match the content of the advertisements displayed. For example, a webpage with the theme ‘weekend projects at home’ will most likely have cost per click ads featuring hammers, paint, drills, safety eye wear, or other items regarding house projects. Visitors going to that website will then ‘click’ on these ads, gaining revenue for the page host.
  2. LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! : Just like when preparing a web page optimized to include specific key words for more effective searches, the same preparation must take place when deciding on where and when to place ads on a website or forum. Advertisers seek online locations and search engines with heavy traffic and users whose age, lifestyle, income, and other such variables are diverse enough, and in enough numbers, to capture the widest possible response to their advertising. Owners want to make the most money by posting advertisements where they will be clicked most frequently. Advertisers want their ads placed where they can be seen the most.
  3. DECIDE HOW TO GET PAID: The rates paid to advertisement hosts in the pay per click schema are of two types — flat rate, and bid-based. With the flat rate method of payment, the advertiser and site host agrees on a fixed rate per click on a specific ad, whereas with the bid-based method, the advertiser agrees to pay the site host for clicks in relation to current and projected popularity and traffic of that site.

Sheryl Connelly, CEO, Marketing Media Management

Guest Blog Post By Sheryl Connelly, CEO, Marketing Media Management

In 2012, as many as 46% of those connecting to social media sites, access their accounts using handheld devices such as, smart phones and tablets.  What is the impact of these results on small business? Mobile devices seem to be more of a requirement than an option when looking to upgrade your presence within the social media realm, when more than 60% of smart phone users are accessing these accounts daily.

Clients of social media consulting firms are being advised to adopt the mobile social media channels of marketing and branding to catch up on this trend and move forward with the lead generation. To increase social media presence clients are encouraged to embrace both PC/desktop and mobile social media strategies. The challenge lies in collecting demographic data for the target market to convince business owners of the results.

Internet marketing channels are effective and affordable for small business owners to use for marketing and branding. To make the most out of target marketing, up to now online strategies have been geared towards the PC. Over the last several months, social media consulting firms are moving towards developing target marketing tactics for mobile social media outlets. The data is easily collectible  through mobile outlets and analytics tools, who have confirmed the average mobile social media user to be between 18 and 49 years old, with some college education and making $50,000 to $74,999 a year. This data needs to be broken down even more to show the direction of a marketing strategy for a small business. But as this initial demographic tends to fall within most business to consumer ideal target markets, the most obvious next step for these small businesses would be to step right into the mobile social media network.