With the average small business now spending more than $75,000 a year on digital marketing, spending is only going to go up.

If you’re not constantly updating your digital marketing strategy, you’re going to fall behind. You need to have a strategy that takes into account what your customers want, or you’re going to fall flat on your face.

Here are three things to keep in mind when updating your strategy for 2019.

Stay Social

One of the best tools you have access to as a business owner is all the free advertising you can get on social media. With the help of social media, you can test out ideas with your digital marketing strategy in real time and see real results. Rather than having to guess whether you’ll be able to connect with your audience, make it happen on social media.

With social media, you get the opportunity to make powerful and directly targeted campaigns that work to connect with audiences of all types. Want to make something targeted to working-class women in Toronto? You can do it with social media.

Looking to try out a new flavor of your product in Ohio? Social media helps you figure out what kind of response you’ll get.

Start a Blog

When people use search engines, they’re either looking for a specific product or the answer to a question. When you start a blog, you get the chance to capture both audiences with your writing, offering answers to questions with your products and services as the solution.

When you start a blog, you also get the chance to increase your ranking on search engines. Search engines reward websites with lots of regular updates with higher results than other sites. They look for keyword intent and the context that you use terms in.

They’ll also be looking to match searchers with local results, so mention where you’re located as often as is relevant.

Don’t Give Up On Email

While it might seem slightly outdated, email is still a viable way to connect with your audience and run a promotion. When you maintain email as part of your digital marketing strategy, you connect with the people who’ve opted into what you have to offer.

When you connect with your customers via email, it feels more personal than social media.  Since it means you’ll reach them directly, you need to handle this contact information with care and target customers only with what they care about.

Your Digital Marketing Strategy Is a Moving Target

The metrics for success when it comes to digital marketing are constantly changing. If you’re not ready with a flexible and agile digital marketing strategy, you’re going to fall behind in the dust your competitors create. Use the three methods above but be ready to shift your content at a moment’s notice.

Check out our latest guide to ensure you’re also using best practices with paid advertising.

The post Ring in the New Year: What Your New Digital Marketing Strategy Needs to Look Like in 2023 appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Curious about the newest PPC trends?

Google reported $33.74 billion in the third quarter of 2018 in ad revenue. Facebook reported $13.54 billion in that same quarter for ad revenue. This is significant for two reasons.

First, other PPC platforms, such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Bing are galaxies away from contending with these digital ad giants. Second, the sheer number of marketers you must contend with for PPC space is colossal. To get ahead of the competition, you must master the process. And use the most up-to-date information.

And that’s why we’re here today. In the sections below, we outline the biggest PPC trends for 2019, so you can be on the top of your game. Read on when you’re ready to discover the newest advances and blow away your competition.

PPC Trends: #1 Decline of Keyword Importance

The days of keyword stuffing are long gone. The keywords themselves also seem to be losing their value for PPC campaigns. What do we mean? Let’s take a look.

If you’re a marketer, you’ve already seen the expansion added to Google’s Remarketing Lists. We’re talking Customer Match lists, Search Ads, and Similar Audiences for Search. Well, now marketers must power to target their audience by both demographic AND life events.

That reduces the significance of keywords.

Google promises to soon offer the ability to target users based on their other behaviors:

• Frequency visiting real-world stores or restaurants
• Frequency researching and comparing products or services

With this, marketers can target prospects based solely on behavior. It may completely revolutionize your lead generation strategy.

#2 Voice Search

Finally, voice-supported technology reigns. Both pc and mobile devices offer a range of compatible voice recognition software. Think Siri and Alexa. Other stripped-down devices, such as Amazon’s Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod, offer voice-only web searches.

Voice support is becoming ubiquitous.

By 2020, over 50% of all web searches will be voice searches. That’ll make a difference to your PPC strategy. People use different language and phrasing when performing voice searches.

In other words, you’ll need to figure out how to add natural language into your website copy. After you update your web copy, consider adjusting your AdWords account:

• Match your keywords to voice searches.
• Use longtail, 5- or 6-word phrases
• Use phrases that incorporate “near me”

Try to focus on the prospects intent when searching. For instance, traditionally, users may have performed a search using the query, “Trendy Bars San Francisco.” With a voice search, the same user may say, “I need a trendy bar that serves marguerites near me.”

#3 Visual Search

Now, this is futuristic technology coming to life. Services like Pinterest Lens and Google Lens can now search the web for items you snap pictures of. You just take your phone, snap a picture of whatever you’re looking at, and Lens performs a search.

This will affect search dynamics, and therefore PPC. Unfortunately, nobody’s sure quite how. Keep your eyes peeled for this new technology and how it’s impacting marketing.

#4 Video

Did you know that YouTube has become the second most used search engine? Yeah, so if you’re thinking of branching out, the video ad market is the place to be in 2019. Things like Google’s recent vertical video ads are taking advantage of mobile content over performance.

We recommend you investigate this option before 2019, so you can hit the ground running in the new year.

#5 Amazon Rising

Amazon is building its innovative advert platform to compete with Google and Facebook. The online store is offering marketers a greater scope of options to generate sales. Experts argue that Amazon is going to dominate the market, just as they dominate seemingly every other market.

Once again, keep your eyes peeled. This time, for Amazon’s advert platform in 2019.

What’s Next?

Well, now that you know the newest PPC trends, please spend some time evaluating how they’ll affect your marketing strategy. If you can get in on the ground floor, you’ll see a surge of both conversion rates and ROI.

Did you find this material valuable? We’d love to help you get your PPC campaign started. Contact us today for more information!

The post Top 5 PPC Trends to Watch Out for in 2023 appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

But, how do you do that?

Ads are a great way to send targeted traffic to your website, but if you’re not using proper PPC optimization, then you’re going to miss out on a lot of leads.

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about PPC marketing.

What is PPC?

PPC stands for Pay Per Click. It’s a type of advertising you can do in which you pay when somebody clicks on your link. When you do a Google search, the ads at the top are PPC ads.

Compared to other types of ads, PPC is more cost effective because you only pay when someone actually interacts with your link. This means that the number of people that see the ad is irrelevant.

However, you can also end up wasting a lot of money on PPC advertisements if you’re not optimizing your landing pages. Landing pages are where a potential customer ends up after they click on your PPC ad.

If you have a lot of people clicking the link thatddoesn’ttake any further action on your website, then you won’t make your money back on advertising. This is why PPC optimization is vital.

How to Optimize Your Site for PPC Marketing

Here is a brief guide to optimizing your website for PPC campaigns:

1. Related Content

When someone clicks a link, it’s important that they get exactly what they’re looking for. For example, if someone searches for “how to tie a shoelace” and your ad pops up, the page that ad takes them to needs to be about tying a shoelace.

2. Visuals

We can not emphasize enough the importane of appealing visuals. The brain processes images significantly faster than it does text, so it’s crucial to include images and videos on your landing pages. You want a visitor to quickly be drawn into your site, and visuals are a great way to do that.

3. White Space

As important as visuals are, white space will also allow a visitor to hone in on only what’s most important.

Picture a web page where every inch of it is covered in blocks of color, tacky banner ads, and excessive text. How much time would you spend on that page trying to find useful content?

Make sure you have plenty of white space so the images and text stand out.

4. Easy to Read

Don’t have a rainbow of colors in fancy fonts moving across your page. You want the content to be easy for your visitors to read. Include headings, small paragraphs, bulleted lists, and tables where you can.

This is especially important because of how many people use mobile devices to browse the web. Keeping things easy to read keeps visitors on your site.

5. Clear Call to Action

Your call to action (CTA) needs to be clear. Once you’ve provided a visitor with the answer to their question, tell them what you want to do next. Should they order a product from you, sign up for your newsletter, or schedule an appointment?

Pick just one action you want a visitor to take, then let them know and make it easy for them to do so.

Get Help with PPC Optimization

By preparing your landing pages and carefully selecting keywords, you’ll be able to grow your business by capturing targeted leads.

We want to provide a free assessment of your website today, so fill out our form and we can help you implement PPC optimization for your business.

The post The Importance of Optimizing Your Landing Pages for PPC Campaigns appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

It’s currently an opt-in service but the search engine titan is going to be making it a requirement for all pages on October 30th, 2018.

If your advertising knowledge isn’t expert than you’re probably wondering what this means for your business.

Read on and we’ll show you what you need to understand this change.

What is Parallel Tracking?

Currently, Google Ads tracking relies on a redirected URL.

The process goes like this: the user clicks on the link from Google. From there the user passes briefly to a Google Ads tracking URL and they end up on the final landing page.

For most users, this results in a delay that can be measured in literally the blink of an eye. The problem is that on slower networks, particularly 4G networks without a strong signal there can be a delay of several seconds.

Parallel tracking allows your customer to go straight through to the landing page. The tracking will run in the background.

Since mobile networks are slower than broadband WiFi it should result in a much quicker loading time for the end user while maintaining the Google Ads tracking you’re used to.

More of your customers are using mobile devices than ever before and loading time can have a big effect on your conversion rate.

End Results for Google Ads Customers

Currently, parallel tracking is an opt-in service. You’ll need to activate it in order to use it.

That will change as of October 30th of this year. If you’re using a third-party tracker make sure you contact them and ask if they’ll be upgrading. Google estimates the infrastructure change required could take up to several months.

The biggest impact for those using Google Ads to advertise their landing pages is this: studies have shown that a one-second delay on a mobile site can cause a loss of interest in the site.

No interest, no conversion.

Parallel tracking speeds up Google. Remember that most of your customers may not be super online savvy. Instead, most of them rely on split-second decisions to make purchases and that extra few seconds can result in them hitting back and trying something else.

We’d recommend opting in as soon as possible. While the end effect is still a bit uncertain, case studies have shown a clear relationship.

Faster pages sell more.

Staying on Track

If you’re not a PPC guru then this all might sound like a little bit much to take in.

It boils down to this: Google is actively working to make your Google Ads campaigns convert better by offering parallel tracking.

Google Ads forms the backbone of most PPC campaigns. Improving an essential marketing service will only make things even better for their customers.

If you’re looking for more information on how PPC advertising can help to make your landing pages bring in more customers then it’s time to contact us.

The post Google Adwords Parallel Tracking: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Pay per click (PPC) is one of these strategies, and chances are in your research to find the best marketing strategy for your company, you’ve come across it. But just what is PPC and how does it benefit your business?

Since digital ad spending is on the rise (nearing 78% of total advertising spending in America in 2022), we’ve provided a beginner’s guide to PPC for you to get the most out of your paid advertising campaign and bring in those paying customers or clients!

What is PPC?

PPC is exactly what it sounds like- paying for clicks. Advertisers will create an ad link for customers to click on, these ads can run on search engines like Google or social media like Facebook. The advertiser, however, doesn’t pay a flat rate to run these ads, instead, they pay a small fee every time the ad is clicked on.

PPC ads do not rely on organic traffic or search engine optimization (SEO) to appear at the top of a search engine results page or in the news feed of a Facebook user. Instead, the ad will automatically appear at the top of a Google search page or Facebook will run the ad on the newsfeeds of those users who match your targeted demographic.

PPC Marketing on Google and Facebook

If you own a small business, chances are you have a Facebook page. If you do then you may have seen the option, or even ran a few, to run ad campaigns or boost a post you posted to your company’s Facebook page timeline. This is PPC.

You can either advertise your Facebook page as a whole or just one post you’ve created. Either way, the procedure is the same. You choose how much you want to spend a day, who your targeted demographic is, and how long you wish to run the ad. Facebook does the rest by making sure the ad shows up in users newsfeeds who match your targeted demographic.

And you only pay for each click of your ad link or those that pause long enough to register in Facebook’s system as having read it. The benefit being you could get a few thousand views and likes while paying only a small amount.

The same works for Google ads or Bing. Except your ad will appear at the top of the search engine result page (SERP) whenever someone runs a search using the target keywords you’ve selected. The link will usually lead to a landing page related to the search query of the user. The goal is to create an advertising campaign for your target audience at the lowest cost and drive conversions. Alternatively, there are display ads and YouTube ads that appear on other websites. Display ads are a lucrative tool because browsers track the cookies of the websites users visit and use them to remarket at other websites in the future – that way you are staying at the front of the users’ mind with your display ads.

Get the Most Out of Internet Marketing

PPC is a great way to ensure your ads will get seen by potential customers while ensuring your marketing budget stays low and affordable. It also helps to get a leg up in the competition.

We hope we’ve done a good job of explaining pay-per-click advertising with this PPC guide, but understand that PPC advertising can become quite extensive. For more information on PPC and online marketing contact us today!

Frequently Asked Questions

How Does PPC Marketing Work?

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing is a type of online advertising that allows businesses to place ads on search engine results pages, social media platforms, and other websites. With PPC marketing, businesses only pay when a user clicks on their ad.

To get started with PPC marketing, it may be helpful to work with a digital marketing agency or consultant who can help you develop a strategy that aligns with your business goals and budget.

Can I do PPC myself?

Yes, it is possible to do PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising yourself, but it can be a complex and time-consuming process. To successfully run a PPC campaign, you need to have a solid understanding of keyword research, ad copywriting, bid management, and analytics tracking.

If you lack the necessary expertise or resources to manage your own campaigns or PPC budget, it may be more cost-effective and efficient to hire a professional PPC agency or consultant.

What is the best advice for beginners in digital marketing?

The best advice for beginners in digital marketing is to start with a solid foundation of knowledge and then build from there. Some tips for getting started include:

1. Understand the fundamentals of digital marketing, including SEO, PPC, social media, email marketing, and content marketing.

2. Focus on one area at a time and master it before moving on to other areas.

3. The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, so it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices.

The post Ultimate PPC Beginners Guide appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Seasonal Keywords — What Are They?

The concept behind seasonal keywords is simple; they’re the phrases that people search for most at certain times of the year. For example, early in the year, many people will be searching for information about the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl. In December and November, people will be searching for gift ideas.

Is It Worth It?

The downside to using seasonal keywords is that they can distract from your efforts to reach your long-term SEO goals. Some keywords are relevant all year long, and those are the ones that are going to give you the most benefit year after year, especially if your goal is to create evergreen content.

The upside to using seasonal keywords is that they are highly relevant for a short period of time, and they can boost your traffic. Also, since not all businesses use seasonal keywords, there tends to be less competition.

Whether it is worth it for you to use seasonal keywords depends on both your long-term and short-term goals.

How to Get the Most From Seasonal Keywords

If you decide to use seasonal keywords, be sure you:

• Use a platform like Google Insights to forecast which terms will have the greatest relevance.
• Post seasonal content shortly before the season you’re targeting.
• Don’t neglect your long-term SEO goals while you’re producing seasonal content.

It is definitely possible that seasonal keywords could play a beneficial role in your strategy to reach new audiences. If you want to learn more about seasonal keywords and if they are right for your internet marketing strategy, contact the digital marketing experts at Exults.

The post Seasonal Keywords: Worth It? appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Surveys Let People Know You Care

When you issue surveys, you’re inviting people to get involved with you. In effect, you’re saying that you want to open a dialogue.

When you’re designing your survey, be sure to include open-ended questions as well as multiple choice. The multiple-choice questions will give you quantitative data that you can use to improve the way you do business, while the open-ended questions will give you a more insightful look into what your customers are thinking. They might bring things to your attention that you never considered before.

You Can Offer Discounts

When you’re looking for survey participants, offer a reward. After the survey is completed, you might give people a percentage off their next purchase from you. You could even give them a small freebie. Advertising the incentive along with the survey may attract more customers to your business. If what you’re offering is significant enough, participants might even share the link to your survey on social media.

Use the Data to Attract Customers

After the survey is finished, you’re going to have a boatload of data in front of you. By analyzing it, you can identify your business’s weak spots and strive to improve. If the vast majority of survey respondents complained about something specific, you can start advertising your new way of doing things after you make adjustments. The result may be a better relationship with the public and a greater number of customers.

Digital marketing using surveys isn’t easy, which is why you should enlist help from the experts. Contact Exults today to discover all the benefits of working with experienced digital marketing professionals.

The post Can Surveys Nab More Customers? appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Business Services

At a cost per click (CPC) of over $58, “business services” is by far the most expensive AdWords keyword in 2017. There’s heavy competition for this keyword, but with a successful campaign and an appropriate price point, it could be worthwhile for your business to pay that high price tag.

Casino

Online casinos aren’t legal everywhere, but their popularity is growing rapidly in many parts of the world. At a CPC of more than $55, it’s clear that “casino” is a keyword that primarily high rollers can compete for.

Lawyer

With a CPC of nearly $55, “lawyer” is a pricey keyword. If you offer legal counsel, it may be better for your budget to compete for lower-priced keywords that are more pertinent to your firm’s specialization.

Insurance

From health insurance to auto insurance to homeowners insurance, protecting yourself and your property is a hot topic. At a CPC of over $48, “insurance” is an expensive Google AdWords keyword and one that can be tricky to compete for, especially if your profit margin is slim.

Degree

As universities vie with each other to advertise their online degree programs, it becomes increasingly difficult to capture that search traffic organically. At a CPC of over $47, however, “degree” isn’t necessarily easy to design a PPC campaign around, either.

Whether you’re dealing with expensive or affordable keywords, you need an AdWords campaign strategy that works for your business. Find out how Exults’ search services can drive traffic to your website and put your brand in the spotlight.

The post 5 Most Expensive AdWords Keywords appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

Why Use A/B Testing?

Though it involves a bit more effort than just posting your pay-per-click ad and letting it fly, using A/B tests can vastly improve your overall conversion rate. Just because you only pay for the clicks you receive doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the time to ensure your online ad is as attractive as possible to potential customers.

What Gets Tested?

Basically, anything that can appear differently on your ad can be A/B tested. Some examples include:

• General layout
• Images
• Font types and sizes
• Amount of text displayed
• Colors used

Proper Testing Strategy

If improper A/B testing is set up, your results will be worthless. Just as A/B testing is used in science and statistics, you should eliminate as many variables as possible when running your test. For example, don’t test two different designs on different websites. Keep the position of your A and B ads as consistent as possible. Run each one for the same amount of time.

Some sites will allow A/B testing to occur live — visitors will randomly see either one or the other. The ads will point to different temporary landing pages, allowing you to accurately monitor activity. With many sites, however, you can only post either one design or the other, so make sure you do it right.

Choosing a pay-per-click advertising strategy is a good move for an e-commerce business. Get the best possible results by using A/B testing to construct the most effective ad. The experts at Exults are always happy to help!

The post A/B Testing for PPC appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

When using AdWords, one adjustable setting is how often your ad rotates. Utilizing the right ad rotation helps display your ads to your target audience and eventually give you a profitable ROI. In the past, there have been four options to choose how often your ad will rotate, and it’s not always easy to choose which route is best for your goals. Starting in late September, Google is simplifying ad rotation to two settings: “optimize” and “rotate indefinitely.”

What’s the difference?

Optimize

Using machine learning technology, Google can identify and connect keywords, search terms, the type of device used to search and where the user makes a search entry. It takes puzzle pieces and puts them together to connect users with ads that are expected to perform better than others. By using optimized ad rotation with three or more ads per ad group, you can expect a better ad performance with more clicks and impressions. This can be done through Smart Bidding.

Rotating Indefinitely

If you prefer to control your ads with a more personalized touch, the “Rotate Indefinitely” option is best for you. It is the easiest way to give your ads equal preference and test specific ad strategies. Google’s most significant modification is that it is now only offered indefinitely, whereas before it could be modified.

“We don’t expect any drastic effects from this change and recommend using the optimize setting unless you have a specific A/B test where you want to control the duration and equal impression amounts. In most cases, allowing Google to test and show the best performers more quickly will be in the best interest of both the client and Google,” said Mike Nucci, a search specialist at Exults.

Unsure which Ad rotation strategy is best for your company’s digital marketing campaign? Feel free to call us and ask which route is best for you or request a quote online today.

The post Attention: AdWords Setting Updates appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.