The purpose of call tracking is to monitor which source the call has come from in order to see which of your marketing avenues is proving most fruitful. The call can be attributes to Pay Per Click, Organic, Email or Direct. In principle the call tracking software works as follows. It replaces the websites usual phone number with a new phone number unique to that user. The number is then monitored so as it is possible to track from which source the call came from.

Once a goal has been set up in Analytics for a phone call you can import it into the AdWords campaign, once, AdWords has triggered more than one goal conversion.

By having access to the data which shows where your calls are coming from you can more accurately target your PPC campaigns. It is accurate down to the keyword which has triggered the phone call, perfect for those testing multiple keywords. In reality this plays out as follows, if you click an ad that has appeared after you have typed in “AdWords management” and you decide to call the phone number on screen, the conversion will be attributed to that keyword.

Before call tracking it was difficult to attribute calls to a specific keyword, meaning that alterations to an account were based on a hunch more so than fact. Now we have call tracking we can accurately justify turning off certain keywords which aren’t working and focus on those which are.

It’s a miserable day. Murky, turgid skies with rain clouds fighting over which can be first to dump freezing rain on my family and I. Some seaside day out this is. The kids are bored – they spent all their coppers in the arcade and the toy they won is already broken. So to brighten the mood and escape the impending shower we decide to treat ourselves to coffee and cake at The Tenth Hole.

No soul is brave enough to attempt the nine hole pitch and putt in this deluge but the tea room is warm, cosy and welcoming. There are even people sitting outside under the canopy enjoying tea or something nicer. It’s a typical tea room. Except for a few little thoughts that make it stand out from most businesses; tea rooms, coffee shops or otherwise.

There’s a good selection of hot drinks and the range of cake looks awesome. Almost too good to eat. But any decent tea room can do that.

It got me thinking, those people outside should be freezing, in fact, they wouldn’t even be sitting outside if it weren’t for the simple addition of colourful blankets available for customers, tied up with rope and neatly stacked on shelves for them to take to wrap around their shoulders or over their knees. In addition, all tucked up in a box mini hot water bottles sit waiting to be topped up on request to keep the weather creeping into your bones.

But that’s not all, atop of all the outside tables were recycled jars complete with flowers. OK, they were just dandelions but a splash of colour really adds a lot on a gloomy, wet afternoon. Talk about your extra mile.

According to my phone it’s 10 degrees although it feels more like five. It’s pouring with rain and this is a seaside resort in April, but I count at least 6 staff working and scarcely a table available. Maybe the cake really is that amazing or maybe it’s the lampshades made of teapots or obviously local photography that adorn the walls, but I doubt it.

Whilst many would say it’s the cake, I believe that it is those little touches that cost very little make a huge difference to customers and they keep them coming back for more – it’s a nice place to spend your money.

What little extras do you add to your business to make customers feel special?

Broad Match

A broad match keyword will show when something within the same category is searched. It looks for broad matches, hence the name.

For example, if you search ‘Ladies dress’, results for ‘girl’s dress’, ‘dresses for girls’ and ‘female clothing’ will all show.

Broad Match Modifier

A broad match modifier works in a similar way to a broad match, but with a bit more freedom to those of us with slippery fingers. It’s a fact of life that everybody commits typos from time to time, so AdWords accommodates for this. By opting for broad match modifiers it will still show results even though something may be spelt slightly wrong.

For example, if you are searching ‘mens jeans’ but spell it ‘mens jeens’, the results will still show. Your ad will still show in search results ‘boys jeans’ and ‘male jeans’ as broad match modifiers work in the same way as a broad match.

Exact Match

The clue is in the name. Exact match results will only show for specifically what is searched. For example, if you had ‘red hat’ as an exact match, ‘red hats’ or ‘red top hats’ will not show.

Phrase Match

Phrase matches don’t have as much freedom as a broad match, but are also not as strict as an exact match. Time for another example. If you have ‘white shirt’ as a phrase match, results for ‘small white shirt’ and ‘white shirt buttoned’ will also show but ‘white buttoned shirt’ will not. The words in the original phrase match need to remain in the correct order, uninterrupted, somewhere in the search term.

Search Network

A search network is where your ads will appear. It refers to search engines, which support your ads, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo but also includes the more specific searches the website involves. This can include shopping, maps and videos.

Search Partners

Search partners are websites in partnership with search engines so that they can display ads. AOL is partnered with Google to show ads in the Google search network.

Search Query

A search query is anything that somebody types into a search engine. This can be anything from ‘red hats for sale’ to ‘cats doing funny things’.

Top vs. Side

Top vs. side refers to the positioning as to where your ad shows. It is important to bear in mind when creating ads that ad performance differs when the ads feature in different places.

We appreciate that these are just some of the terms you may come across whilst investigating PPC for yourself  or that you may hear during a Google AdWords training session but by having a basic understanding of what they mean will definitely help in getting to grips with the subject.

Tell us… who is best suited to AdWords training?

The training we deliver is best suited to anyone who needs help with their AdWords account, but whose business doesn’t spend enough to make it worthwhile having it managed. Companies who successfully run their business on £5-£10 of budget a day would spend more on having it managed than they would in a month of AdWords budget if they were to outsource where as a few hours coaching can help them increase their customers and lower their costs.

Do you need a certain level of understand/skill in order to undertake the training?

You don’t need to have any specific Google AdWords knowledge but it is highly advantageous to have a solid level of computer literacy and be proficient with a spreadsheet.

What areas of AdWords does the training cover?

Our training sessions are all bespoke to each clients needs and are targeted to their level of understanding. Our training is reactionary so rather than cover old ground or coach you on irrelevant areas we use your account and deal directly with the problems you are having.

How does the training benefit a business?

Training is highly beneficial to companies as it not only teaches them to achieve their goals for less money but it also up skills a member of their team.

How much training is needed?

The amount of training a person would need is entirely dependent upon the persons skill level before they begin and what they need to learn in order to make the most out of Adwords for their individual case. It is important to stress though that throughout the training we will be working on your account. So whilst you are paying for training you are also improving your account in real time and learning how to effectively manipulate and change your own account for the better.

What should you do if you think training is for you?

If you think that training is something you could benefit from then get in touch. Give us a call or book a free consultation below.

Below are our 10 Top Tips on how you can maximise your success using Social Media

1. Be Selective 

Just because there are dozens of social networks out there doesn’t meant you have to use them all. Each have their own benefits and some are more suitable to some types of businesses than others. For example, Twitter works well for both B2B & B2C companies. Facebook is better suited to B2C as it’s where there customers can be found and LinkedIn is applicable to both, depending on what you are using it for. It is great for maintaining business connections, recruitment and raising the profile of your business but it isn’t a sales platform like Facebook and Twitter can be.

Other networks which you maybe aware of are Pinterest, Google+ and Foursquare. Whilst all are use and have growing members, they shouldn’t be your priority as you don’t engage with customers/clients in the same way as you do with the previous three. Google+ and Pinterest do have good SEO properties though, but we’ll save that for another post.

Stick to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and you’ll be able to see how they can benefit your business almost immediately.

2. Be Genuine

Whilst automating the delivery of some social media messages isn’t a problem, you have to balance it out with genuinely engaging posts. You also have to collect fans and followers over time. It is all every well ‘buying likes’ or activating ‘automating follow/un-follow tools,’ but would any of those people know who you were if you contacted them directly or gave them a call?

Calvin Lee from Mayhem Studios in LA says, ”

“I believe in doing good deeds and not ask for anything in return. My goal is in helping others where I can, sharing useful information, answer questions, reciprocating and more importantly. Be NICE! When you do good deeds, it will be returned to you 100 times or more.” This is definitely true of social media and worth baring in mind when you are working out what to say.

 3. Say It In The Right Way

Each social network has it’s own conventions so make sure you adhere to them. Hashtags are for Twitter and Twitter alone. LinkedIn is all about business, so don’t post about what you had for lunch or where you are taking the kids at the weekend, nobody cares!

When using social networks as an employee of a company or as the company itself, be sure to maintain your core values. Be representative of your brand and most of all be positive. Leave the venting of personal frustrations for your own blog or private accounts.

4. People Want To Get To Know People

Engagement is all about building a rapport with your clients or customers. A s the title suggests, people want to get to know people not have companies selling to them every posts. In order to do this you have to hold off on the sales posts and instead posts about the everyday. People are much more likely to engage with a post if they feel related to or included in it some way.  For example, “Monday morning, full inbox, where’s the coffee?” “Was lovely to see so many familiar faces at Saturday’s launch, everyone have a good time?” ” Love this quote on a bad day, ‘Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy. #AnneFrank”

Potential customers now use social networks to get a feel for the type of companies and people they will be working with. If they feel a rapport with staff members or an affinity with the way the company presents itself, half the battle to wrangling them in as a potential customer is already won.

5. You Get Out What You Put In

Social media networks maybe free to join but they take time and effort to make valuable. All social networks need to be regularly monitored, updated and used to engage. building a community takes time, social networks are no different. Faking it through automation might improve your numbers but they will have no real value to your business.

6. Look, Listen, Learn

Social networks are a great outlet for learning more about your customers or the needs of your potential customers. By spending time really looking at what your clients/customers are posting about you can learn a lot about what they are looking for, what they like, what they don’t like and when during they day they are most active on social networks. All highly useful information in the battle to engage and turn online relationships into sales leads.

7. A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

Images are key to obtaining higher levels of engagement. As human beings we are drawn, in the majority, to visual images, which is why positing images on social networks is more likely to engage a response than a simple text post. It is also worth noting that image posts in Facebook have twice the lifespan of those which are just text based. In simple terms, it means they remain in your fans feeds for twice as long meaning they get twice the exposure.

8. Quality Not Quantity

We have already brushed over this in previous tips, but it is worth being clear. Across all social networks, quality is more beneficial than quantity. Think of it like this, if you have 500 Facebook fans or Twitter followers who you have garnered through a basic automation tool that sounds great to an outsider, but what’s the point if they don’t talk to you? The same applies to posts themselves. 3 valuable tweets/posts a day is far more valuable than 20 pointless ones. LinkedIn isn’t the place for a chat about the weather, but it is a great platform to discussing industry changes, throughout ideas or ask for advice.

9. Social Bookmarking

If you don’t already have social bookmarking tools on your website, why not? People won’t know you’re there if you don’t show them! Social bookmarking tools also lend themselves well to SEO. If you regularly contribute to a blog on your website then make sure the social bookmarking tools are present there too. By encouraging people to share their finds using the social bookmarks beneath/beside the article links will be built for you and in turn help to raise your Google Rankings.

10. Enjoy

Social Networks are exactly that, social so whilst it is always a good idea to bear in mind the previous 9 tips don’t let them take the fun out so social networks. They are all about engagement after all, so don’t be afraid to demonstrate personality.

For more advice on Social Media, why not check out our social media training page? just click here: Social Media Training 

We spoke to our own PPC Specialist Liam Ingram to find out.

What is the purpose of an Advanced Campaign?

The main reason for Enhanced AdWords Campaigns is to reach people based on context. We will now be able to show different ads depending on the time of day, the location of the search and what device somebody is using. Enhanced Campaigns can also show download links to apps from popular stores if the user is searching on a smart device.

What about bid adjustments?

We can now manage bids for ads across different devices including time of day and locations. The adjustments we make will apply to all ads/keywords in one campaign.

So how do the ads work?

People tend to search for different things near a shop on their smart phone than if they were sat at their desk on a computer. Enhanced Campaigns show ads with the correct ad text, site links and information without the creator having to edit each campaign for potential situations.

Example

A high end retailer is targeting people searching for “Deals on women’s jackets”. When this keyword is searched on a desktop, the potential customer is linked to the company website. However, when searched on a smart phone, the phone number and directions are shown.

How will I know it’s working?

Enhanced Campaigns easily allow you count calls and apps as conversions in the Adwords reports. This way you can keep an eye on what is working and what is not.

Sounds good! When can I try it out?

Enhanced Adwords Campaigns will be appearing over the next few weeks. In mid 2013 however, all campaigns will be upgraded.

To find out more about Google Adwords click here: Google Adwords Or if you’d like to know more about change to Google Adwords Campaigns contact Liam here.

If you are a merchant looking to embark on Google Shopping we have created a list of 5 reasons you should use Google’s Product Listing Campaign.

1. The point of a product listing campaign is to get your products shown in the Google shopping listings. This is exactly what this does.
2. The new system allows high ranking Google Shopping products to appear on main search page amongst the organic and sponsored links. Any exposure your product gets to a searching audience is always advantageous and could result in a sale.
3. Product listing ads source the information about your products from your website which means the prices are always accurate.  This change to the way ad information is sourced means that if you have a sale or amend the prices it will be immediately reflected in your listing.
4. In keeping with Google’s intentions the changes to product listings generate higher quality leads than before. Those who are searching are already in the mood for shopping and therefore more likely to buy.
5. As well as all the benefits above Product Listing Campaigns can be targeted better than before. This again improves the quality of the leads.

Whilst critics will say, ‘why should I pay for a service now which was free?’ we say because it’s a better service and one which will result in more sales of your product.

To learn more about Google Shopping or Product Listing Campaigns, contact me today for a free consultation.

2013: All About The Visuals

The majority of human beings are visual learners; we absorb 400% more information if images are incorporated. With recent user figures for social media networks in mind I would go as far as to say that we are 400% more likely to be interested in a visual image as well.

Whilst it may have hit the headlines in a negative way towards the end of 2012, Instagram saw their followers grow from 860,000 to over 11million in the last 12 months. But they weren’t alone; Pinterest saw similar success with their community growing to 20million. I predict that this will continue well in to 2013 as will the incorporation of visuals into other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

2013: Brand Blogging

We have seen an increase in brand journalism over the last year as companies embrace new ways of engaging with their audience by self-publishing blog posts and articles. We predict that more companies will follow suit in order to maximise the personalisation of their company and keep tighter control on brand image. This will include things like Facebook posts, Twitter, Blogs, direct mail and LinkedIn.

2013: Return on Investment

As social media continues to push its way to the forefront of digital marketing companies are having to invest more in both services and staff to remain on top. Like all businesses the more you put in, the more you want to see come out, which is why in 2013 we predict that there will be an increased focus on the ROI of social media. Do we know the financial gain of one more like of Facebook or 10 retweets instead of 1? Not yet, but as the focus on social media increases companies will be looking to put a figure on the value of these elements.

In 2013 businesses will have to find a way to monetise the impact of social media.

2013: Building Bridges With Bloggers

Bloggers are the key in 2013 for B2C companies. If you are looking to push a product or service then you need to hunt out high profile bloggers and get them onside. Bloggers not only have an online following but also an extensive, interactive social media one which means the potential reach for a review of a gifted product or service could be huge.

2013: The Rise of Mobile Media

Smart phones and tablets will continue to dominate the market this year which means those generating social media messages will have to remember the size of screen on which their audiences will be viewing their messages. Long Facebook posts will be replaced by links to videos or related images and links to short articles via Twitter or Google+ will more prolific.

Time will tell if these predictions come to fruition but I feel confident in saying that with the way social media is being adopted by companies of all shapes and sizes, 2013 is going to be a very interesting and potentially explosive year.

We asked our SEO Specialist Adam Futer to explain….

Having a new website built is great, but it is imperative that you put in place 301 redirects to ensure that all the authority and links you have built up over time aren’t lost into the ether. If you are currently in the process of developing a new site then make sure your developer includes 301 redirects. If you have a new site and this hasn’t been done, don’t fret there is time.

My advice would be to get the 301 redirects done as soon as possible. Whilst technically it is never too late for 301 redirects to be beneficial there does come a point when Google stops indexing 404 pages. If you reach this point it isn’t worth 301ing anything as the pages won’t be showing up in the serps. Google will have indexed the new pages, completely unaware that they are indexing a new page that was once an older page at a different URL. At this point you can wave goodbye to your already established links.

I hear you asking, “How do you know you’re too late?” That’s simple, but more of a case of ‘how do I know I still have time to implement the redirect?’

Type the URL you are checking into Google. If you get faced with a 404 error page you still have time to redirect this page permanently before the authority and links are lost forever.

From an SEO point of view I can’t emphasise enough just how important redirects are. So if you are unsure my advice is get checking!

Click here to see more articles on SEO

Outsourcing

Outsourcing the management of your Google Adwords is a common occurrence. Digital Marketing agencies such as Tillison successfully manage a plethora of accounts on behalf of their clients in order to improve the number of quality leads their website receives.

Whilst outsourcing your Google Adwords management is a successful means of improving your websites visibility there is something fulfilling about learning how to do something yourself.

Google Adwords Coaching

Adwords coaching is a fantastic way to upskill yourself or your staff. By undertaking a series of coaching sessions you will be able to learn enough to manage your Google Adwords account in house.

Our training is bespoke. We can adapt our techniques in order to suit all skill levels from the ground up. Our coaching sessions will cover the following useful topics:

• How to spend less per click and achieve more sales
• How to write ad copy to generate a greater CTR
• How to find more, cheaper keywords
• Why CTR is so important
• Why targeting can massively improve results
• Why better account structure means you’ll pay less per click

Our training sessions are also designed to allow you the time and the opportunity to ask questions. By following instructions, applying what you’ve learnt between sessions you will quickly be able to see results.

“Undertaking a successful set of adwords coaching gives you a sense of satisfaction which you just don’t get when you outsource. Whilst running your own campaigns isn’t always possible, it is worth learning the basics so you can see just how your account is improving,” explains Senior Strategist Antony Potts.

If you would like to learn more about Google Adwords Coaching, click here: Google Adwords Coaching