What do you want your online New Jersey marketing campaign to accomplish for you? Are there any reasons why you would not want your pages to be found for your targeted keyword phrases on page 1?
Here are 3 reasons as to why that may be the case.
Is there intent for actual commerce?
Let's say you are the first result.
You should be asking yourself, what is the intent of this keyword phrase? Do the words contained in the keyword phrase give any indication of someone getting ready to spend money on a product/service that you offer?
For example, consider three keyword phrases we would use: Britain O'Connor, co-op advertising, and automotive marketing ideas. The latter 2 phrases give an indication of someone who is getting ready to spend money. The first phrase does not.
If you are targeting a keyword phrase that has questionable intention, there really shouldn't be any reason to be found on page 1. It would be better to target more appropriate phrases instead.
If there's no intent for actual commerce then that keyword phrase isn't helping your online New Jersey marketing efforts.
Traffic Really Matters
If you can have a first page result in position 4, or a second page result in position 12, which would you choose? Is this an obvious choice?
What if the first page choice has 3,300 monthly search queries for its keyword, but the second page choice has 22,200 monthly search queries for its keyword.
Would you still believe that the best choice in this example is the first page result?
According to numbers from Aaron Wall's site, approximately 6% of search users will click on the number 4 result in Google. That's 198 visitors in a month.
And over 1% will click on the number 12 search result. That's 222 visitors per month.
The second choice is now the obvious choice. The higher traffic volume will result in a higher percentage of online conversions.
Smart Searchers Bring Value
The people that click the first result in the SERPs are more often that not less serious than people who go through the first few results or who continue searching onto the second page.
There is something to be said about avoiding people who almost randomly click the first result and who may have impulse control issues.
These may not be the best potential clients for your products/services. For an automotive ad agency, retail advertising agency, or public relations agency like us, we like our clients to be a bit more informed so we can be on the same page when it comes to performance. The searchers who don't just click on the first result but read through a few are usually the more informed people.
A second page result could bring you more serious potential customers, people who are more likely to actually read your website content, understand your products/services better, and be more likely to become a traffic conversion.
This time I will talk about negotiating in a buyer's market and leveraging your business to get the most out of your ad dollars.
Since we are in a buyer's market right now, your business is in a great position to add as much value as possible. For television advertising this can mean that your business is mentioned more in intros and outros to commercial breaks. For radio advertising, this means a higher frequency of mentioning your business's name, or co-op advertising of a local event. For print advertising, this means bigger ads and more ad placement.
Finally, you should try to leverage any advertising package that is presented to you in order to get as many leads as possible.
Next time, I will talk about establishing a public relations campaign by being a contrarian.
Most companies were quick to cut advertising budgets as the recession took hold of the economy. To most people this seemed to be the rational choice. Historically, however, the data indicates that it is better to maintain a strong advertising presence through an economic downturn. Understanding this counter intuitive phenomenon will be helpful to companies who want to weather the storm and come out stronger than they started.
The best reason for any company considering advertising is a simple fact: the competition isn't advertising. When a company stops advertising because of a recession, the market essentially is left open to its competitors. Customers will still need services irrespective of the recession. Your company can be the one the customer chooses because you've made your presence known.
Another positive from advertising through difficult times is creating a long term position for your company. The visibility of your product increases during a recession because of drop in advertising of your competition. Even if consumer spending has dropped, when a consumer does make a purchase your sales will drop if your product is not on their mind. Gaining the customers that pick you through difficult times can turn out to be a benefit in the long run. This underlying trust between consumers and your company is invaluable. There are some very good examples of this i.e. Pepsi rose to prominence during the great depression.
The bad economy can also be helpful in certain aspects. Television advertising, radio advertising, and internet advertising prices have also taken a hit. What better time to advertise than when you spend the least for a time slot! Use this time to make contacts in the advertising industry as well. An Account Executive can be your crucial contact to get your ads in prime placement, negotiate good deals on rates and even get extras thrown in for your ads.
Use this opportunity to talk to your customers directly. Customers react favorably when a company makes available products that help the consumer weather tough times. In the auto industry, companies have come up with great automotive marketing ideas and programs that protect buyers from the impact of losing jobs. These programs have reflected as positive growth in automotive sales leads. An example is Hyundai, who achieved a growth of 4.9% in sales with their assurance plus program. Toyota on the other hand has taken a 36% drop in sales.
In spite of seeing the obvious benefits of advertising through tough times we still face one question. Where do we get the money to sustain an advertising campaign in this economy? This is where we look deeper into budget advertising.
There are a few options available to a small business to advertise without hurting their bottom line. Here’s a look at few of them.
If you have a TV commercial for your product, post it on YouTube. It costs nothing to upload a video and it effectively increases your ad's shelf-life.
Going back to the basics of traditional media is always a prudent choice. Issuing flyers and coupons can definitely help create a buzz. It's a relatively low cost initiative and by implementing programs that offer a discount to those who bring in a flyer can bring in new customers.
Maintaining a website is crucial. Even if you do not engage in selling products online, having a virtual presence goes a long way. People searching for local businesses will notice your competition if they have a website and you don't.
Radio advertising is a good way to reach out to local customers and give you the ability of choosing a target audience. Taking time to find out which stations and the time slots in which a particular set of people will be tuned in will help increase efficiency of your ads.
Co-op advertising is a great cost-effective way to get your name out in the public. The cost is shared by several related businesses. For instance, a bath fitting company can advertise with furniture dealers and reach out to common audiences. This increases exposure with limited need of expenditure.
At the end of the day, a bad economy does not necessarily mean bad business forever and effective advertising does not have to be expensive There has never been a better time to be innovative and reap the rewards.
What and where? These are the two big questions that must be answered over and over again in local SEM.
Local searchers ask these questions implicitly and explicitly. In some cases, geo-terms are used and in other cases they aren't. For example, search queries can be "best ad agency in NJ," "cable advertising NJ" or simply "best ad agency" or "cable advertising."
Search engines such as Google and Yahoo want to know the same things about your business that searchers want to know. Where is it and what products/services does it offer?
Are you answering these critical questions for your potential sales leads as well as the search engines?
Many times local businesses choose online marketing consultants based on the attractiveness of the websites they create without giving any thought to SEO. Even those website designers who know how to help with search rankings are rarely knowledgeable enough about the specifics of ranking for local search. As a result, the local business owner ends up with a beautiful website that never ranks for competitive keywords or attracts any new customers.
By following a few simple tips and tricks, you can prevent this from happening to your online marketing investment.
Your Home Page
You need to make it clear to people who land on your page what you do and where you do it. Simply because everyone in New Jersey knows where Broad Street is, it doesn't mean that everyone who sees a Broad Street address on your website will know that you're in New Jersey. The searcher may be entirely new to the area or just passing through, which may be the reason why someone may be searching for your business in the first place.
So, if you're a New Jersey marketing firm, don't expect people to look around to find that information on your site. Say it clearly near the top of the page and do it in text form, that way it is unmistakable to the search engines as well as to the searchers. Don't assume anything! It's important to make this information so clear that it can't possibly be misunderstood.
Your Page Title
This is the most important ranking factor for SEM. And if that isn't enough of a reason, then think about it from the human point of view.
Google displays the page title as the headline in the listing that appears for your pages in the SERPs. If someone is for searching for "marketing companies new jersey" and the headline they see in the search results says "THE Best of the Best Marketing Companies in NJ," it'll grab their attention much better than a headline that says "marketing company".
Google will also bold the words that were in a search query in the title when it appears on the page. So, for example, if a searcher in Central NJ asks for "co-op advertising" and your page title says "The Co-Op Advertising Professionals in Central NJ", then your title will look like this to the searcher: "The Co-Op Advertising Professionals in Central NJ".
Your Meta Tags
Along with your page title, these are also displayed in the SERPs. Meta tags are like the ad copy that entices people to click on your listings and go to your website.
Much like the page title, if your meta tags have the terms used in the search query then Google will bold these words on the SERPs. If the tags don't contain the keyword phrase that was used in the query, then Google will pull a snippet off the page that contains that phrase.
It's important to use your best keyword terms in your meta tags because, even though they may not help your pages to rank, they will likely encourage searchers to click through to your site.
In my next post, I will give more tips and tricks on how to clearly tell the search engines and the searchers where you are and what you do.
Co-op advertising has been around since there has been print advertising, and it remains strong even in today’s world of television advertising and online marketing. Co-op advertising is a common advertising practice used by manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and distributors. It enables products/services to be highlighted in regional and local advertising.
Think of amusement parks, like Six Flags here in New Jersey. They always have some sort of promotion through Coca-Cola, such as "buy one get one free" or "half-price tickets" with a coke can. Coca-Cola enjoys the endorsement of its products by Six Flags, while Six Flags get extra special pricing on product purchases. More importantly, since the advertising specifically mentions both Six Flags and Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola will help offset the cost of the co-op advertising campaign by jointly paying for the co-op advertising with Six Flags.
As traditional media marketers and online marketing consultants, we run both traditional and online co-op advertising campaigns. Don't have the capital or resources to advertise the way you want to? Sign up for our mutually beneficial co-op advertising program. We'll offset your advertising costs while also advertising your business.
For more info on co-op advertising,
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