Coupons still work. Consumers may not find them as often as they used to in the Sunday paper or in magazine inserts, but this doesn’t mean that coupons are no longer popular or effective – because they still are. Just do a quick check on the Web and immediately you’ll find tens of thousands of online coupon sites – like RetailMeNot and CouponSaver – offering discounts, special deals, free shipping offers, and other similar privileges to consumers. If, as a small business owner, online retailer, merchant, or Internet marketer, you still haven’t tried using coupons as an online sales tool, then you might want to start doing so – especially at a time when the world is still trying to recover from the financial crisis. According to recent studies, over 76 percent of the shopping population use coupons, which continue to gain such popularity that the number of people searching for them on the Web has grown to thrice as – Read the full article
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or haven’t touched a computer at all for two years, you would know by now that Microsoft has rebranded their MSN search engine to a product called Bing. It’s the company’s answer to Google, the search giant that owns a large part of the market share and which continues to lead over Bing, Yahoo, and its other search competitors. Microsoft has shown, however, that it is willing to invest and make Bing a better search product for its users. It has also spent a huge amount of money in heavy marketing spending in order to gain a bit of Google’s portion of the search space – a move that has helped Bing consistently inch upward every month. While comScore recently reported that Google still has 64.4 percent share of core searches, Bing continued to gain in April 2010 and upped its search share to 11.8 percent. Which leads to the question: should search – Read the full article
As we’ve mentioned in an earlier post, keyword selection is one of the most important factors in creating a successful PPC campaign. In the world of pay-per-click advertising where you simply have to get the most of your advertising dollars, it pays to be choosy – and to be smart and savvy, instead of reckless, in making decisions about keywords. Of course, this doesn’t mean choosing the most popular – and therefore most expensive – keywords. You have to take the time to research which ones are fit for your needs and budget, and which, when taken as a group, will still bring you high-volume traffic. Keyword research will require a set of tools that you can use to bring in the data, which can make you spend even more than you ought to. That’s why we’ve come up with this list of free keyword research tools that can potentially help you drive more traffic to your site and increase – Read the full article
In the book The Tipping Point the author, Malcolm Gladwell, describes it as the little changes that can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, changing the world. I have been lucky enough to be involved with dozens of startups in the Chicago community through consulting, working for and starting a few of my own. It seems like the ground swell of entrepreneurship is finally reaching that “tipping point”. Chicago has been getting some much deserved press with the recent Fast Company article featuring Chicago as a great place for startups or the fact that Crain’s launched a section for small business. We are fortunate to have dozens of organizations in Chicago who have been supporting entrepreneurship for years. But, I am talking about the grass root efforts that are taking place under the radar, that is slowly changing the landscape. I – Read the full article
Online advertising has evolved – and continues to evolve – so rapidly that secrets, tips, advice are coming from all corners. Just Google “PPC tips” and you’ll see what we mean. Businesses and marketers are keen on increasing their pay-per-click conversion rates and ROI, and they wouldn’t hesitate to try out this new piece of software, that new eBook, this new complex paid-for PPC management tool that should serve as current Shiny Object in the world of Internet marketing. We’re talking, in other words, about a lot of effort, time, and money. Sometimes, though, you can get the job done with something as simple as a Shiny Button. What are we talking about? Well, we’ve written in the past about “call to action” being one of the tips for a successful PPC campaign. Call to action: encouraging your visitors to make a decision about your product, your service, your brand. Writing persuasive ad copy that makes it hard for your – Read the full article
A PPC – pay-per-click – campaign is not for everyone, but when it works for you, then you’ll find out how it can stretch your advertising dollars and realize your sales potential. We wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s hugely underrated, but PPC can work in a way that helps your local business – hugely. In achieving local SEO and PPC success, however, you do have to keep some of these things in mind. Go for balance. Getting the right keyword or set of keywords is important. Choose too popular a keyword, and you may take years or never before you can reach the first page of the search engines results page. Choose keywords that are too uncompetitive, and you risk generating no traffic and lower conversion to ROI. Do all the necessary research. There are four main factors that come into why prospects will buy from you – or why they will not buy from you. These – Read the full article
Traditional radio, TV and print advertising simply don’t deliver the bang it once did. More and more, people are getting their news, entertainment and business needs from the Internet. Are your marketing dollars helping you find the people who really need your products and services? It’s not by magic or accident that a website ranks #1 on search engines. There are many factors that influence your websites organic search engine rankings. Our team of internet marketing specialists give your website the time and attention required each month to win in the website rankings. We work with dozens of small to medium size businesses to help them increase sales by using search engine optimization, social media, online advertising and e-mail marketing. Contact us today to learn how we can help you take your business to the next level. Give us a call today at (312) 229-0038 or complete the request form below. Lakeshore Branding Internet Marketing Services Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Read the full article
Looking to stretch your advertising dollars? Try implementing a PPC (pay per click) campaign. It’s cheap. It’s ideal for small businesses. It’s not as costly as producing a full-blown advertising or Internet marketing campaign. It’s also can be very effective if executed correctly. Getting your money’s worth on PPC advertising means coming up first with a good strategy. A lot of people think that a PPC campaign can be hastily thrown together – “okay, I’ve chosen my keywords – I’m done!” – and they are the ones who are most prone to making costly mistakes. So, before you go about launching your own PPC campaign, take a look first at these helpful tips. They won’t just help you save money; it will also maximize your money and, subsequently, your sales potential. Keyword Selection Choose keywords wisely, and cast your net broadly. Of course you want a high PPC ranking. But that doesn’t mean you have to get the most popular – Read the full article
