Tech and social media are booming, and it seems every company these days is offering a position for someone to handle its social accounts and applications. However, with such an influx in the market, it can be hard to tell which companies are actually the best to work for in what is a relatively new career path.
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Keywords to Concepts: The Lazy Web Marketer's Guide to Smart Keyword Research
The SEO's system for themed keyword research. If Google's Penguin update and Knowledge Graph have taught us anything, it's that concepts have become more important than individual keywords for search marketing.
Many people in the SEO space mistakenly assume that because Google withholds keyword referral data
Moz 2014 Industry Survey Reveals Budgets Are Up & Median Marketing Salary Trumps SEO Pay
Marketing analytics provider Moz has released its latestindustry survey, polling more than 3,700 internet professionals on a number of marketing and search related topics. According to Moz’s survey results, not only are budgets on the rise, but the median marketing salary totaled $73,034, the fifth highest median salary by role.
Monday, January 27, 2014
10 LinkedIn Shortcuts For A Post-Twitter World
By now, we’ve all heard about Twitter’s little break-up with LinkedIn – and discovered the consequence in our now tweet-free LinkedIn timelines. As social media marketers, this adds a new wrinkle to our already hectic days of trying to juggle multiple social media channels. LinkedIn may not be the sexiest social network, but it’s still an important one.
Google+ Introduces Embedded Posts
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Google Launches WordPress Plugin For AdSense And Webmaster Tools
Google has released a new plugin for publishers using WordPress. The official Google Publisher Plugin offers support for Google AdSense and Google Webmaster Tools, with more services likely to be added in the future. This is a beta release, so as an early adopter, you’re also a test case. Google said in the release announcement,
Use Google Analytics To Create Campaigns, Not Just Track Them
We all know that analytics are good for understanding how a visitor behaved on your website — what pages they looked at, what buttons they clicked or what keywords they used to find you. You can also use analytics to track campaigns like email blasts and paid advertising. That’s pretty basic stuff.
What many beginning marketers and small business owners don’t know is that you can use analytics data to create an online marketing campaign.
Analytics can answer some of the key questions you might ask when you want to create a campaign: Who are you targeting? Where do they live? When should you start your campaign?
You can even pinpoint what content will resonate with your audience and combine that with the who, when and where. Using data to craft campaigns means you’re not just guessing — and guessing is gambling. I’m not saying there’s no place in marketing for the gamble; but sometimes, we need the safe campaign success to build us up to the point where we can take that gamble.
As we figure out what data to collect, I like to build a document that will start to take shape as an outline for an ad campaign. I set a time period that seems representative of the season I want to target. If I’m targeting Spring Break Travelers to Florida, I look at data from that same time period over the last two to three years.
My major sections are:
I then take this data and build a campaign. I start with source. A campaign that focuses on Search Engines as a source begins with a different strategy than a campaign that focuses on social media or email marketing.
Once I’ve determined source, I look for content. I look at landing pages, keywords, and demographics to flesh out the best targeted content for my campaign. My last step is to determine how far ahead of time I need to promote this campaign (if at all). If you’re targeting a holiday or a specific season and your purchase or booking window is long (say 30+ days), then you need to plan your campaign timing accordingly.
Let’s build a campaign with example data now:
Now, I’m ready to build my campaign and most of my questions are answered — all using analytics. I can build an email blast with information that caters to women who like a 3-bedroom rental in Key West. Likely, they have a family and are looking to ship about 45 days or so from arrival. Knowing my purchase windows tells me when to start my campaign. This one in particular should be online by January 20 at the latest and run until early to mid-March.
If the best converting rental is already booked, my job is to find rentals nearby that have a similar size, look, feel, location and cost. This allows me to book similar units with a fairly targeted strategy. If you use a CMS software or collect customer demographics, you can segment your email list by age, gender and location. We use PARDOT, but there are others out there that will do a great job, as well.
Now, you have a model and a direction in which to go to start building your first online marketing campaign that originates outside of the “create an email blast for everyone” or “put up some PPC ads.” Your campaign could target Social Media, or even a specific platform such as Pinterest. Successful campaigns are built on what you know about your audience and how you can craft your “story” to hit home with them. Using Analytics to collect this data should get you started in the right direction.
What many beginning marketers and small business owners don’t know is that you can use analytics data to create an online marketing campaign.
Analytics can answer some of the key questions you might ask when you want to create a campaign: Who are you targeting? Where do they live? When should you start your campaign?
You can even pinpoint what content will resonate with your audience and combine that with the who, when and where. Using data to craft campaigns means you’re not just guessing — and guessing is gambling. I’m not saying there’s no place in marketing for the gamble; but sometimes, we need the safe campaign success to build us up to the point where we can take that gamble.
Collecting The Data
As we figure out what data to collect, I like to build a document that will start to take shape as an outline for an ad campaign. I set a time period that seems representative of the season I want to target. If I’m targeting Spring Break Travelers to Florida, I look at data from that same time period over the last two to three years.
My major sections are:
- Timing Target: What time of year are you looking to book, sell, etc.? (If there is no timing target, just leave this alone.)
- Top Converting Traffic Sources: Look at the All Traffic report under the Acquisition tab in Google Analytics.
- Best Converting Landing Page: Look at the Landing Pages report under Behavior –> Site Content and view it with Ecommerce info sorted by transactions descending.
- Highest Visit Count Landing Page: Look at same report as above, but sorted by Visits descending.
- Top 3 Keywords Driving Conversions: This is trickier because we live in “Not Provided” land. You will need to use PPC or Webmaster Tools Search Query data to help you get an idea of keyword phrases that convert.
- Top 3 Converting States/Cities/Metros: Under Audience –> Geo –> Locations, look at cities or states and Ecommerce, then sort by transactions descending.
- Male/Female Conversion Ratio: Under Audience, look at Demographics and then Gender. Apply the Ecommerce info and sort by transactions descending to see who converts more.
- Top Converting Age Group Demographic: Under Audience, look at Demographics and then Age. Again, apply the Ecommerce info and sort by transactions descending.
- Purchase/Booking Window: This is somewhat difficult to gauge in Google Analytics. I recommend looking at Time to Purchase under Conversions –> Ecommerce. The tricky piece is attribution — if you are looking at “Last Click Attribution,” which is the default and where many beginners or small business owners start — then a majority of your conversions will be on Day 0. Not extremely helpful. Attribution models deserve their own articles; there are quite a few good ones here on Marketing Land or on Search Engine Land. The reality is that, for a novice or beginner with analytics, this number is likely something you know from dealing with customers and sales or from an internal reservation or sales software you use.
I then take this data and build a campaign. I start with source. A campaign that focuses on Search Engines as a source begins with a different strategy than a campaign that focuses on social media or email marketing.
Once I’ve determined source, I look for content. I look at landing pages, keywords, and demographics to flesh out the best targeted content for my campaign. My last step is to determine how far ahead of time I need to promote this campaign (if at all). If you’re targeting a holiday or a specific season and your purchase or booking window is long (say 30+ days), then you need to plan your campaign timing accordingly.
Let’s build a campaign with example data now:
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Timing Target | Spring Break – Feb 20 to March 31 |
| Top Converting Traffic Source(s) | Email Marketing |
| Best Converting Landing Page | /rental/blue-swayed-shoes/ |
| Highest Visit Volume Landing Page | /rental/ |
| Top 3 Keywords Driving Conversions | key west vacation rentals, vacation rentals in key west, key west rentals |
| Top 2 Converting States/Cities/Metros | New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania |
| Male/Female Conversion Ratio | 7:10 |
| Top Converting Age Group | 35-44 |
| Purchase/Booking Window | 35-45 Days |
Now, I’m ready to build my campaign and most of my questions are answered — all using analytics. I can build an email blast with information that caters to women who like a 3-bedroom rental in Key West. Likely, they have a family and are looking to ship about 45 days or so from arrival. Knowing my purchase windows tells me when to start my campaign. This one in particular should be online by January 20 at the latest and run until early to mid-March.
If the best converting rental is already booked, my job is to find rentals nearby that have a similar size, look, feel, location and cost. This allows me to book similar units with a fairly targeted strategy. If you use a CMS software or collect customer demographics, you can segment your email list by age, gender and location. We use PARDOT, but there are others out there that will do a great job, as well.
Now, you have a model and a direction in which to go to start building your first online marketing campaign that originates outside of the “create an email blast for everyone” or “put up some PPC ads.” Your campaign could target Social Media, or even a specific platform such as Pinterest. Successful campaigns are built on what you know about your audience and how you can craft your “story” to hit home with them. Using Analytics to collect this data should get you started in the right direction.
Google AdSense Testing New Home Page Design
Google is testing a new home page design for the AdSense publisher console. AdSense publishers can see it by logging intogoogle.com/adsense. The publisher will be presented with an option to check out the new design, which is aimed to help you “focus on key day-to-day information.” Here is the prompt displayed to AdSense publishers when they login:
Google Celebrates 10 Years Of AdSense: Says Over 2 Million Publishers Earned More Than $7 Billion Last Year
10th anniversary of Google’s advertising network for publishers, AdSense. Susan Wojcicki, SVP of Ads and Commerce, reflects on the early days in 2003 when AdSense was a fledgling product to today when AdSense is an integral part of Google’s advertising business. The AdSense community has grown to include more than 2 million publishers, and last year alone, publishers earned more than $7 billion from AdSense.
AdSense Changes How It Calculates And Reports YouTube Earnings
Google AdSense announced that they have started calculating and reporting on earnings from YouTube slightly differently. AdSense will no longer calculate and report AdSense for Content Host earnings for YouTube partners. Instead, AdSense earnings from YouTube videos will only be calculated by YouTube and displayed in YouTube Analytics.
Yahoo Strikes Deal To Run Contextual AdSense Ads From Google
Yahoo has announced that it will be working with Google. No, not on search-triggered advertising, Bing is still Yahoo’s exclusive partner there; but, Google will non-exclusively provide contextual ads that will appear throughout Yahoo’s properties and certain co-branded sites. The ads will come through AdSense for Content, with mobile ads provided by AdMob.
Google To Strip DoubleClick AdPlanner Of Significant Functionality
If you’ve been using DoubleClick AdPlanner to research anything other than sites on the Google Display Network, you’re about to be out of luck. Google this week has been sending out notices to AdPlanner users telling them of dramatic changes due to take effect September 5.Folks in the digital marketing space have grown accustomed to using DoubleClick AdPlanner to research sites across the web (including their own), gathering information on everything from traffic,
Google Launches New Certification Program For AdSense Consultants & Service Providers
Google announced today it is launching an AdSense Certified Partner Program to vet consultants and service providers managing AdSense accounts for publishers. Similar to Google’s AdWords and Analytics Certified Partner programs, individuals and companies can qualify to become a Google AdSense Certified Partner by passing the certification exam and meeting program requirements.
Google Reorgs To Grab Brand Spend, YouTube The Anchor
Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. There were two (or three) primary reasons: YouTube had “won” as the top online video destination, it was considered a “social media” property and Google saw it as the gateway to brand advertising dollars. For three or four years thereafter, financial analysts and institutional investors complained loudly that YouTube was too costly and wasn’t making money — “when was it going to make a profit?” was the tired refrain.
Beginners’ Guide to Google+
Authorship, hangouts, circles? What is all the buzz about and why do webmasters, SEOs, and business owners need to pay attention? The super savvy marketers at Digital Always Media know, and they have created an excellent blog series about the why’s and how’s of Google Plus.
Google+ Announces and Launches Pages for Business and Brands
Google+ “Pages” is now available for business and brands after initially announcing and launching its Google+ social network in June that initially only allowed personal profiles. Google+ Announces Pages for Business and Brands , Google+ even removed and terminated brands that set up accounts using the personal profile. Some businesses were allowed to stay for testing purposes including the Ford Motor company.
How Google AdWords is Becoming More Social
It’s becoming more and more difficult to lie in Google AdWords advertising, and social media is to blame. One of the great things about buying advertising on Google was that anyone could show up #1 – if they had catchy-enough advertising and the money to bid to the top of the auction. In the offline world, only the biggest brands
Google+ vs Facebook – Infographic
I am starting to wonder if Google+ is a waste of time as a marketing platform for bloggers and brands. Google+ launched with a bang last year and has now reached over 170 million registered users and 100 million active users. The demographic is mainly male at 67%, the average age is 28 years old with a technical bent. I do like the Google+ interface and I am sure it had a significant impact on maintaining competitive pressure on Facebook to keep its user interface fresh with its new “Timeline”
64 Google+ Marketing and Branding Tips Infographic
Google+ is a social media network that most people don’t seem to understand. It has now been with us in the social web ecosystem for over 12 months and has reached over 400 million users. Despite this, it is underestimated as a tool for marketing your business and brand.
10 Top Google Plus Tools for Digital Marketers
Google+ is the love child of search and social. When Google realized that Facebook wasn’t an aberration, anomaly or an afterthought it made its move. It created a social network that glued all its online assets together, collected social data and added social signals to its search algorithms. That glue cost them over half a billion dollars to design and develop.
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