As one of the most popular Pay-Per-Click (PPC) online advertising venues, Google Adwords can seem daunting and complicated at first (or second, or third) glance. It's part of the larger discipline of optimizating your website for search engines (SEO or more specifically in this case, search engine marketing - SEM). Here's a layman's guide to getting started with PCC through Google Adwords. What is Google Adwords? You pay Google to display a customized, keyword-driven text-based ad when it serves up a person's search results. You can also elect to have your ad show up on Google's affiliate sites (sites who get commission for displaying Google's ads). How do they work? As a business, you pay a predetermined price for every click that your ad gets. The price per click is determined by the competition for that particular keyword or keyword phrase that's found in your text...
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You're probably familiar with the story... Apple released the iOS 6 upgrade and forced iPhone users to ditch their familiar Google Maps function for an Apple Maps product. The result has not been pretty: fans are incredibly disappointed that their high expectations for a flawless system have not been met. The biggest complaint has been incorrect data, and a lack of data. Our family's personal opinion is that the turn-by-turn voice directions is a superb feature, and on a recent trip from SC to IL, we were only misled once when we were told a Starbucks would be directly off an exit (all we found were McDonalds and gas stations…those definitely don't count). But aside from all the whining and complaining, there is something important to think about: is your business listed on Apple Maps? Apple is extremely important to mobile marketing, so it would be wise to get the ba...
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Manta, an online community dedicated entirely to small businesses, surveyed it's residents and found that 90% of them use social media for their businesses. The most popular way to attract new business opportunities is through your company website, which many businesses closely connect with their social media. 24% of the business owners surveyed gained new customers through their websites, with Facebook following closely behind at 19%. Other social media outlets followed. So what does this mean for your business? It's important for you to know where and how to find your customers. Are they on Facebook? LinkedIn? Google+? Since not every business caters to the same audience you must carefully think through your specific target audience and where they are most likely to congregate. Ask yourself these questions (among others): What social media venue would attract your t...
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Secret #1: Keep it simple Navigation. Make it easy for your customers to find the products they are searching for. Using simplified navigation (for instance breadcrumbs like the Apple Store example) gives your customers instant orientation to which page they are viewing and a visual path back. Search. Since approximately 50% of users are search driven - they instantly locate and use the closest search tool - having a search that narrows search results as you type is a great feature. Your results page should effectively and graphically list the results, proving to be simple to understand. Checkout. An easy checkout system or shopping cart can make the buying process smooth and more inviting. For example, it's easiest for me to checkout online with simply my e-mail address as a guest checkout, rather than having to create a new user account at each site I shop at. If yo...
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