PPC – Pay Per Click marketing.

PPC – Pay Per Click marketing.

Is an effective and easy sector of Internet marketing, one where a layman can actually manage a bit of DIY. That being said please be careful there are numerous pitfalls and it can end up costing you a lot more than the services of an Internet marketing consultant. This is available on most search engines and appears in the slightly coloured section called ‘sponsored links’. This is effectively a bidding system. It is important to note that you only pay the bid once your ad is physically clicked on; this sends the visitor to your page. Thus you are paying for the click, or visit.

What can it cost?

 This, if used correctly can be a very quick and very efficient way of marketing your web page. If done incorrectly it can cost a lot of money. Let’s not forget that Google, although trying to serve the client, wants to make money and this is one of Google’s primary sources of revenue! So if you’re going to be making mistakes don’t expect Google not to capitalise on that. There are also keywords that are competitive and therefore costly most experts should be able to find other alternatives that aren’t that expensive that allow you to compete on both fronts.

Use the correct keywords:

Amateurs often, because they don’t know and understand Google’s guidelines, end up paying  too much for certain keywords and often choose the wrong keywords, certain keywords will be used during a research phase, these don’t lead to sales and strictly speaking shouldn’t be used in Pay-per-click as they won’t produce revenue. Typically I only like to use ‘buying phase’ keywords for PPC. These are highly specific and targeted, as an individual will use once completing their search and now wanting to buy.

Landing Pages:

The use of specific conversion orientated landing pages for PPC advertising is highly recommended. These pages should cover all relevant details in a succinct manner and give the potential client every means possible to contact you. Minimise distracting links taking your client away from the page and causing interference in the contacting / buying process. Make it as easy as possible.

Pay per click marketing can be a very effective form of driving traffic to your website. It is relatively easy to set up but please be careful any carelessness can result in you spending and usually wasting a lot of money. I’ve got a friend who’s now a ‘client’ as well who did a relatively good job of setting up a PPC campaign for himself. I was able to have his cost per click and double his click through rate. This has resulted in a doubling of revenue from the campaign.

By Ian Thomas

WSIMS – We Simplify Internet Marketing Solutions

WSIMS – We Simplify Internet Marketing Solutions

As the name very subtly hints at we are an “Internet Marketing Solutions” provider. There is a lot of confusion in the market place about what exactly “Internet Marketing” is, so here goes the definition as my experience defines it.

I will talk about Google as it is the main source of traffic, the algorithm Google uses to come out with which websites are going to appear in which order is very similar to the other search engines. As a result if you’re ranking 2 on Google you may rank at 3 on Yahoo and 1 on MSN ( or variations there on) but there isn’t a material difference between them. As a result I will talk about Google but please take it to mean all the other surrounding search engines as well.

Pay-Per-Click Marketing:

These are the sponsored links occurring above and to the right on the Google page. They are like taking out an advertisement in a newspaper but you only pay if someone reads it, on Google you only pay if someone actually clicks on your ad which will take them to your website.

Organic Marketing:

This is the natural or ‘main’ search segment. This is for planned strategy and takes some time to get in place. It is however by far the most rewarding once it is right.

This also comprises two parts. “On page” optimisation and “Off page” optimisation.

Social Media Marketing:

These are marketing efforts taking place through places like blogs, twitter, youTube, linkedIn, Facebook and the like. Anywhere your target market is spending time. This is a fast growing and surprisingly effective method of communicating. It’s the ‘word of mouth’ section of Internet marketing.

Email Marketing:

This is done to known clients and is the most effective form of driving return traffic to your website. Everything is tracked and recorded for later analysis and segmentation. This data is also very useful for targeted offline marketing efforts.

All of these will be discussed individually in later posts so come back to see the details.

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

Social media… what’s all the fuss about?

Social media… what’s all the fuss about?

Internet Marketing isn’t dead; it isn’t dying in fact its growing faster than ever before!

What are people saying about you?

I respectfully suggest that what you or your agency says about your brand matters less than what your clients and the public says about your brand. We’re moving into an age where communication is king and transparency is vital. Opting out of this kind of communication isn’t going to take any business down just yet but opting in might just make your business…

Social media is here to stay and like it or not people are talking about you:

Social Media isn’t a fad or a ‘hot topic’ it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate make no mistake it isn’t going away! Social media is at its essence ‘word of mouth’ on steroids, or as I like to call it ‘world of mouth’ no longer is communication hampered by time, distance or any other form of interference. As a result your customers and clients have an unparalleled ability to communicate with each other, do you like what they’re saying about your brand… or do you like what they’re saying about you better??? Either way its best you engage in social media and join the conversation!

Monitor what is being said about you and your brand on the Internet

There are a number of free tools you can use to monitor what people are saying about you, your brand and even your competitors online. Google alerts and Yahoo pipes are two very useful tools. At least with this knowledge you can converse with these people and enhance your brand image. Some measurement says that dealing properly with a negative customer experience and rectifying it to create a positive experience is more memorable than a ‘normal’ experience and on this stage its available for the rest of the world to see! Great branding exercise or you can continue with your head in the sand like a lot of people are now.

Proof is in the pudding Top 500 companies now using Social media more!

Take a look at this article (http://bit.ly/4p4qU2 ) showing that the growth in companies using social media is phenomenal! No one needs to go on about the incredible growth of sites like Twitter but most pessimists ask, who’s doing it? Well now you have the answer, if the Top 500 companies are doing it then surely there’s a message there, even for the most stubborn of minds?

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

Tips for Twitter users

Influencers on twitter:

 Don’t be deceived into thinking that those with the most followers on Twitter are the most influential; there are a number of ways of gaining followers that don’t necessarily hold any value. Try a program like Twitalyser if influencers are what you’re looking for. Once you’ve found the influencers you can follow them and try pick up tips on what they’re doing and tweeting about. Also try find the influencers in your market segment, they are good to follow as you can learn about your industry and what makes people interested in them.

Tracking Trends:

There are a number of tools that allow you to track the current trends on Twitter. Spending 24/7 analysing whats being said on Twitter isn’t going to achieve much for your business so use the available tools like http://whatthetrend.com , or simply follow TweetingTrends. A more predictive tool is TwitScoop.com or something like twopular.com is also very helpful.

Searching Twitter:

 You’re going to need to know what’s going on so use these search tools. http://search.twitter.com/advanced don’t miss the Places, People, links and attitudes fields! Remember to search for things that surround you. Your industry, your product, your name, your company names and your competition! Remember to track tweet links to your website, this can’t simply be done by searching for your domain, use Backtweets.com

What are people reading?:

 Twitter can be used as a filtered news portal, programs like microplaza.com can tell you where people are paying the most attention to and talking about, this’ll really give you a jumpstart, it’s a fantastic service!

 Bookmark things to read later:

Look for the gold star in the bottom corner of posts when you mouse over them, clicking this will add them to your favorites which appears as a list under your favorites tab. Especially useful when you’re on a mobile device!

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

Twitter for business

Ways business can use Twitter:

Twitters impact on the Internet is second only to email. Twitter allows others a peak into your environment what you’re thinking and what you’re doing. If used correctly this can be a great way to promote your business. By correctly I don’t mean complicated I simply mean interesting.

Listening:

“Listening” on twitter is a key skill. Using Twitter search you can keep a finger on the pulse about what is happening in your industry, Twitter can be used as a real time sentiment machine. By using the twitter advanced search (www.search.twitter.com/advanced) you can drill down even more precisely and even get geographic information as well which I find very useful when looking for trends in, for example internet marketing in South Africa. Using this feature you can also keep abreast of what people are saying about your competitors! You can even get email alters about certain search terms, thus allowing you to keep your finger on the pulse without having to log onto twitter incessantly!

Programs for twitter:

Lets face it the twitter website isn’t the most awesome piece of software in the world however there are a few third party programs that really can make life a lot easier. Programs like TweetDeck. This program allows you to group incoming messages. This can give you easy insight into exactly what you want to see in one easy page or even on your desktop!

Mobiles:

One of the major advantages of twitter is its mobility, even sending and receiving tweets on your phone. If you have an iPhone try Twitterific or Tweetie. If you have a blackberry try Twitterberry or TinyTwitter. Business tip: For business following peers and industry leaders can be invaluable. They will often point out good articles they’ve seen which can be very useful; you might even be able to make a connection with them!

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

Phone: +27 (0) 079 191 1911

How buying behavior is changing and a how to keep up with current marketing trends using the technology available.

Marketing in today’s environment:

Part 1: How buying behavior is changing and how to keep up with current marketing trends using the technology available.
Consumer buying behavior is changing and with it so are the rules of marketing. Mass marketing is dying a sad and lonely death as consumers become more circumspect and filter more out. The consumer is now driving the process and only looking at what they’re interested in, when they want to. Traditional “push marketing’” is a thing of the past. The consumers are in control now and there’s a whole new set of rules! Mass media and mass media marketing are being more and more clogged and less and less effective, personalized, intuitive, interactive one-on-one marketing is where we are going.
As the consumer gets more control so the process becomes more and more streamlined. I’m not declaring the end of push marketing, simply the coming of the newest trend in marketing. People like interacting with people and as this demand gets met more often it is expected more and more often. Mediums like the internet and more specifically internet marketing are offering this kind of shopping experience. Only 14% of consumers trust what advertisements say, yet 74% believe pier recommendations. Word of mouth has always been number 1, the consumer now has access to word of mouth all the time through social media… word of mouth is fast becoming world of mouth! Information spread is only becoming faster. Do you like what is being said about you and your brand?
Do you see how the old ‘put it out there’ marketing is becoming ‘old and boring’? Throwing a message out there and waiting for customers to flock is dying and it is not going to work going forward.
I’m not saying marketing is becoming complicated, as long as you’re cleaver, intuitive and in touch (as well as knowledgeable) it can be really simple!

Post by: Ian Thomas
Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa
Web: www.wsims.co.za
Email: info@wsims.co.za
Phone: +27 (0) 079 191 1911

Twitter_Tips… how can I use Twitter for business?

As I always say you should be measuring your effectiveness on the internet in terms of your business goals. Too many people have a haphazard approach to what the internet can do for them. They get an idea and think they are improving by measuring things like hits (how idiots track success) and a number of other measurements that actually don’t mean much and certainly don’t add to the bottom line of their income statement.
Now its time to get tactical lets use a planed approach so we don’t “plan to fail”. Let’s establish goals for this section of your web strategy! Lets just throw some goals out there…
Some strategies to think about could include:
• Lead generation
• Product and service awareness
• Customer support
• Education
Mix of all the above

Your strategic goal is to get someone to follow you, so lets look at the mix of information you should be sending out.

A suggested mix may look something like this:
50% -Useful information for your target market
10% -About yourself, your company, your products
5% -Thoughtful questions (which create responses)
20% -Joining interesting conversations
5% -Stuff which can make your followers lives easier
10% follow up with appreciation to your followers

A good mix will keep your tweets ‘fresh’ and will open the door for conversation and to share valuable information and then allow you to leverage this without boring them or overdoing it in one area or another. You need to keep an eye on things so you don’t end up stagnating on a topic or particular area of your business.

Plan on spending a particular part of your day on participation each day, remember listen, respond engage (see: How to use Twitter for business: Part2) make it your aim to be part of the community and add value to others before yourself. This will establish trust around you, your company and your interaction. Only after this will you be able to leverage this to be able to use twitter effectively for your business.
You need to have a plan to make Twitter a priory part of your day (20min – 1 hr), this needs to be monitored and maintained by adjusting your mix to make your interaction multidimensional.

REMEMBER:
• Twitter is a conversation –treat it like any other social occasion
• Don’t be “That Guy!”
• Always Listen –Respond –and Engage to keep the conversation going.
• Use the search tools to find interesting conversations and add value to these.
• When you interact with someone on Twitter always ask yourself “What value can I add for them?”
• Engage your audience by encouraging a two way dialogue
• Only after you’ve built trust with your community should you occasionally “sell”
• Plan and strategies your time on Twitter to get the most out of both these resources.
• Develop a mix based on your strategy and try stick to it
• Follow a participation plan to make sure you are efficient, consistent, and effective

See part 1 and Part 2

Find me on Twitter: Ximungwe

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

How to use Twitter for business: Part 2/3

Here is an easy three step guide “What to do on Twitter?”
1) Listen – This is again the same as you’d do socially. You listen to the conversations happening around you. Naturally you’d pay more attention to the ones happening around you that interest you. You’d then get involved in them. Twitter is exactly the same… there are a number of tools which help you find the ‘interesting conversations’ and you can then interact in these. Some of these tools are twittersearch used for searching on twitter its self, Twitter troll – real time twitter searching tool and a nice way to find new friends Backtweets – search for backlinks on twitter or for a more comprehensive resource you can take a look at How to Search Twitter the Advanced Guide. Look for what interests you search your topics of interest and see what people are saying about them. You can search for your name. your company name, your products, your industry and surrounding topics.
2) Now get involved, mix and mingle. You’re joining a conversation on something you know about or that interest you so you can add value you need to think about it that way. “How can I help?”and “Where can I add value?” are the thought processes that should be going through your mind. You could be giving advice, answering an unhappy customer or giving an opinion, just like a cocktail party you’re intergrading into the conversation. Always add value before expecting the conversation to add value to you ($$$).
You must be able to respond to the negative and try creating a positive spin. If you search Twitter enough you’re bound to come across some negative, these people are ‘easy pickings’ to create a positive image about your company by responding and rectifying. Take responsibly and rectify. You may even find others commenting on it and spreading the word about your great customer service. Negatives can easily become positives as word of mouth spreads around Twitter, embrace it! Here’s another resource you might like to take a look at for more detail using Twitter for customer service

3) Engage… Now you’ve woven yourself into the conversation and communicated with your (potential) clients add idea’s start new topics answer questions, get them involved! Start conversations with them by asking advice and getting feedback. Retweet their comments, suggestions and insights, build a community by making it a two way conversation.
Now continue that cycle, listen respond and engage as you do so your stock on Twitter will continue to rise and with it your credibility will grow and you will learn about your clients.
In business you can never learn too much about your clients and twitter is a prefect tool to learn about them and engage with them.
By repeating that process you will now be able to share the occasional “hot deal” or “Once in a lifetime offer” to this market and you won’t be perceived as “That Guy”(see How can I use Twitter for business: Part 1).
Now that you’ve built the relationship tread lightly and always add value to your clients. There is a very real opportunity to increase sales, aquire leads and have more satisfied customers.
Like doing anything in life Twitter takes time and effort and you’ll only get out of it what you put in.

Part 3 of this post now available!: How can I use twitter for business: Part 3/3

Find me on Twitter: Ximungwe

Post by: “>Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

How can I use Twitter for business: Part 1

There’s only one serious rule for twitter: “Don’t be ‘that guy’!” You know the guy who constantly irritates you by trying to sell ‘stuff’ to you? The guy you start to avoid at all costs… Yip ‘that guy’. While you don’t often come across that type in everyday life you’d be amazed about how many there are interacting like that on Twitter! Remember social media is exactly that, social. It’s about making friends and interacting with people, not about a constant sales pitch. Have you ever recommended someone you met out at a party / braai / dinner to another person? Something like “I met this guy at a party the other night who sells cars; I know you’re looking for a car, perhaps I’ll get you guys in touch”. That’s social media, engage with people chat to them, share stories, add value and create a relationship just as you normally would in a social environment. Then when you’re both comfortable it might lead to business. People do business with people and people avoid “that guy” so be yourself and don’t force anything on people who aren’t interested.
So tweet (talk) about yourself and what’s going on, what you find interesting, share resources and information you’ll establish yourself as a source of knowledge and information. Once people see you in that light they’ll be coming to you and asking for help rather than you pushing a sales pitch on them that they don’t want and will shut themselves off to!
If you were to walk into a dinner party on a normal Saturday night and announce to a bunch of strangers that you sell life insurance and you’ve got a great policy with benefits, perhaps one or two would respond the rest would shut you off and walk away, you’re “That guy”. Please don’t do the same on Twitter or any other social media for that matter. Let’s engage, chat, share and educate. That’s what socialising is about.

Part 2 of this post is now available!!! Twitter for business…

Find me on Twitter: Ximungwe

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za

Marketing in today’s ‘economic slowdown’.

We’re all being affected by the ‘economic slowdown’ admit it or not. From a marketing perspective it brings a whole new set of challenges to the table. Combine this with the current set of changes we’re finding in the way people perceive and receive advertising and we’ve got ourselves a handful!

Currently people are turning back to core principles, scaling down and becoming more self reliant. This is no news flash. While I believe the tendency toward budgeting, saving and learning to say no to kids (and them having to accept it) has its advantages from a social perspective it has big challenges from a marketing perspective. People are cutting down on the media they view, it’s cheaper to catch up with news on the radio or online, magazine purchases are seen as a luxury and DSTV is being scaled down or stopped. The Internet however is still seeing growth! It’s cheaper quicker and easier than any other way. There’s no petrol, no store attendant to hassle you also you can visit numerous locations in a few minutes. People are budgeting much more and sticking to those budgets; they are also taking more notice of specials and discounted offers. More and more people are shopping where the ‘deals’ are. People are moving away from branded items and even shops like Woolworths and moving to P’nP and wholesalers for deals and bulk purchases.

We need to take advantage of this ever increasing online trend and capture these visitors while they are in a ‘buying mode’ and educate them about our products and services. Then we need to streamline the purchase process to ‘help’ them make the purchase online or expedite the process of them buying in store. Research shows that significant proportions of people are researching online before buying at a store, people often like to make the purchase in house but if they don’t find you during the research phase you’ve lost out!

Post by: Ian Thomas

Specialty: Internet marketing South Africa

Web: www.wsims.co.za

Email: info@wsims.co.za