Google 360 Street View
05 2010 Monday
3
By Chris Holgate in Google
For the good of mankind Google need to let the rest of us know exactly what they do to come up with such fantastic and innovative ideas. For now I will have to be content with the constant stream of material they provide me with for these articles. The most recent offering that has me climbing the walls in excitement being “Google Street View”.
I can practically imagine the meeting in which an employee stood up and proclaimed “let’s drive specially modified cars down every street in the entire world and create a three dimensional virtual representation that anybody can then browse at home for free”. In any other company you would undoubtedly be ridiculed but at Google this idea was taken on board and followed through so over a period of two years practically every major city in the developed world has been captured.
By now most computer users will have used Google Maps which has a birds-eye view of almost every square-inch of the planet. “Street View” enhances this is giving you a street level 360 view of your chosen location so can take a look around as if you were actually there.
This world was created by the vehicles photographing their surroundings at 30 to 60 foot intervals along each piece of road they are driving on, the result allows you to view the world 360 degrees horizontally and 270 degrees vertically. Additional freedom to explore is given by simply clicking the direction in which you wish to move down the street or even take a corner when you reach a junction.
The UK maps only came online very recently so the coverage is fairly limited, there isn’t any coverage of my local area in the South West. Cities added in the United Kingdom currently include London, Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Bradford, Scunthorpe, Bristol, Norwich, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Birmingham, Coventry, Liverpool, Southampton, Belfast, Cardiff, Swansea, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
Number plates and faces have been removed to give users the opportunity to remove any views that are deemed inappropriate, however ‘Street View’ has given the campaigners involved with the ever present privacy debate yet more ammunition. The watchdog organisation “Privacy International” based here in the UK has issued a formal complaint to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) requesting the service be switched off pending a full investigation. These concerns have been sparked by 200 complaints by the pubic who believe their likeness is verifiable despite the facial recognition software blurring their faces.
It seems odd to me that these two hundred individuals didn’t simply click the ‘report an image’ button to have their image removed permanently but instead choose to locate the address for Privacy International to compose a strongly worded letter of protest. For the sake of the other 60,954,800 people in the UK who haven’t felt the need to complain I hope that the service remains online as provided the privacy of the individual continues to be respected via face blurring and manual image removal tools I don’t see there being any real cause for concern.
To get started simply visit http://maps.google.com or alternative the feature is also accessible directly from the fantastic Google Earth which can be downloaded for free from http://earth.google.com
Chris Holgate writes a weekly article of all things tech related. He is a director and copyrighter of the online computer consumables business Refresh Cartridges who sell cheap ink cartridges, toner cartridges, computer hardware and other computer consumables online. An archive of his work can be found at www.computerarticles.co.uk.On Google Docs
04 2010 Thursday
29
By Chris Holgate in Google
Google Docs has been around for some time now but until recently I’d never managed to find a use for it in my life and my lack of experience with the service means I’ve not felt confident enough to recommend it to readers. We are currently going through the process of getting another shop up and running in Newton Abbot which has necessitated several people working on the same few spreadsheets (costing exercises, proposed time sheets and so on) from several different locations. Google Docs has worked out perfectly for this task.
To get started, set up a free Google Account (if you don’t already have one) at http://docs.google.com. From there you will now be able to create an online Document, Spreadsheet or Presentation. As well as then giving you access to these documents from wherever you are in the world, you also have the added advantage that you can choose to share them with any number of different people. Those that you trust to make their own changes can then also edit the document, even at the same time as another user.
There are three primary types of file that you can work with:
Word Processed Documents
- Either create a document from scratch or upload an existing Word, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or plain text file. Files can also be saved back in to these formats for distribution in more conventional formats.
- Files are created using a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor. Those familiar with Word should have no problems using this and similar formatting and insert tools are provided.
- Each document can have a maximum size of 500kb plus up to 2mb per embedded image.
Spreadsheets
- Documents can be created from scratch or imported from Excel, OpenOffice, CSV or a plain text file. In the same way as with documents, work created in the Spreadsheet can also be saved back in to those formats.
- The layout and navigation is very similar to Word and the previously mentioned formatting and formula editing tools are provided.
- The spreadsheets you can create can be up to 256 columns, 200,000 cells or 100 sheets; whichever is reached first.
Presentations
- Work can be imported and exported in PowerPoint format along with the facility to save as a PDF file.
- A familiar looking WYSIWYG editor is provided to allow you to easily format your slides as well as inserting images and videos. Those used to using Word or PowerPoint shouldn’t have any issues.
- Presentations can be a maximum of 2mb in size when uploaded.
I have been massively impressed with how fully featured the Google Docs applications actually are, even though nothing needs to be installed or downloaded. The sharing functionality which is incredible and really helps Google Docs to shine; it’s quite surreal to be working on the same document as someone else and seeing the changes they are making in real time. A revision history helps keep track of amendments that have been done on a document as well as rolling it back if necessary.
Since all the work you create is saved online there are potential issues with regards to privacy and security however I don’t believe that most would have any real cause for concern. Members of MI5 may want to consider sticking to conventional offline storage methods for the time being, although that having been said, it is much harder to leave an online document on the train.
Chris Holgate writes a weekly article of all things tech related. He is a director and copyrighter of the online computer consumables business Refresh Cartridges who sell cheap ink cartridges, toner cartridges, computer hardware and other computer consumables online. An archive of his work can be found at www.computerarticles.co.uk.5 Tips on How To Use Google Sidewiki Efficiently
04 2010 Wednesday
28
By Debbie Everson in Google
Google launched Sidewiki on 23rd Sep 2009 as a part of its toolbar. Google Sidewiki appears as a sidebar in the browser and allows visitors to comment on any webpage. Its main aim was to collect useful information on any webpage from people around the world and therefore lead to better user experience.
For example, a person searching for a local restaurant can see its review in the sidebar by the previous diners.
Google Sidewiki comprises of an algorithm which pulls out the most useful and valuable comments from its database. This ensures that a visitor will see the most relevant comments on a webpage. Listed below are 5 steps for using Google Sidewiki efficiently.
- Get Started With Google Sidewiki. Sidewiki is available in the options tab of the Google toolbar. Simply download the Google toolbar and select the option to integrate Sidewiki using the checkbox. It appears as a blue sidebar in the browser which slides open when you click on it. Google Sidewiki works perfectly well in Firefox. Although, Google’s own browser, Chrome seems to be having some issues in integrating Sidewiki.
- Add Comments on Useful Webpages. Adding comments in Google Sidewiki is extremely easy. You need to log in to your Google account and click on the “Make an Entry” link which appears at the bottom of the sidebar. Enter your comments and publish. It is advised to add something which ads more value to the content. If your comment is relevant to the topic, then it can be placed on the first page of Sidewiki for that web page, unless you are the website owner.
- Claim Your Position At The Top Of All Comments. If you want to place your own comment at the top, you need to verify ownership of the website by using Google Webmasters Tool. If verified, as the page owner your entry is placed at the top entry for that page. The top slot can be used to leave a note for anyone who is yet to comment.
- Share Your Comments With Everyone. Each comment in Google Sidewiki has the option of being shared on Twitter, Facebook or emailed to any user. This enables everyone to read the Sidewiki entries without using the Google Toolbar. This option is very useful if your web page has received some great comments from visitors. Sharing these comments will pull readers from others streams like Twitter and Facebook onto your website.
- Flush Out Negative Comments By Blocking Sidewiki. Google Sidewiki does not provide an option for blocking or deleting negative comments on a webpage. Many users have expressed their displeasure with Google for not providing an option for this purpose. If your web page is inundated with negative or irrelevant comments which are harming your website, you can block Google Sidewiki. This can be done by switching from normal http:// to secure https:// pages.
Google Sidewiki is not the first of its kind. One of the first commenting add-on, Third Voice was launched way back in 1999. AddATweet and Kutano are plug-ins which can be installed on your browser and let you tweet comments on a webpage.
Despite many competitors, Google Sidewiki has risen to become the most popular commenting tool of its time. Start your week by experimenting with this comment tool.
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultation.The Google Gadget that Makes Selling Online a Snap
04 2010 Monday
19
By Merle in Google
If one or all of the following applies to you, please raise your hand – “I want to sell something on the Net”, “I have no technical or coding skills”, or “I don’t want to be bothered with a merchant account”.
Do I have your attention now? How about if I told you that there’s a quick and easy solution to your online selling problems? Well, thanks to Google, your prayers have been answered. Google Labs is a testing ground for new services thought up by the geniuses who work there. One of their latest concoctions is called “Google Checkout Store Gadget”. Its basic function allows you to copy and paste some code onto any webpage or blog, and become an instant merchant selling your own products.
Let’s take a look at the “man behind the curtain” to see how it all works. The very first step is to open a Google Checkout Merchant account, which is easy to do by going to http://checkout.google.com/signup Fill out all of the required information, and you’ll also need to input a bank account where your hard earned sales funds will be sent to. Google Checkout will process all incoming orders for you. The orders will appear under the “orders tab”. On another note, make sure to uncheck the box that says, “my company will only post digitally signed carts”, then hit the save button. Also, make sure to write down your “Merchant ID” number as you’ll need it later on.
The next step is done using a Google Docs Spreadsheet which will track all your inventory. Google provides a template that can be copied which can be found here, http://tinyurl.com/yhebl4y . Take out the “dummy” product information and replace it with your own. There are separate columns for each item, even for shipping information. Each product can have its own separate shipping charge if need be. Keep in mind when filling it out that it can be viewed by the general public, so don’t include any private information in it.
After you’ve entered all your items, hit “share” in the upper right hand corner, and publish as a “web page”. Also, check the box that says “Automatically Re-Publish when changes are made.”
Google makes it easy to set up your online store by using http://storegadget.googlelabs.com . It takes you through the process step-by-step, and when finished you click on “start publishing” and select where you’d like to embed the code, for example your website, Blogger, etc. Copy the code and paste it where you want the gadget to appear. There are no coding skills necessary, and anyone can do it. Really, it’s that simple.
If adding to a Blogger Blog, go under “edit layout”, add a “gadget”, then click “add your own”, and paste the gadget code. Now you’re selling items from your Blog that quickly.
So what’s all of this going to cost? There is a small transaction fee charged by Google Checkout for any monthly sales as follows:
- Under 3,000.00 2.9% plus .30 per transaction
- 3,000.00 to 9,999.99 2.5% plus .30 per transaction
- 10,000 to 99,999.99 2.2% plus .30 per transaction
If you’ve been putting off getting up a store front because you thought it was too difficult or technically complicated, Google really has simplified the process. With “store gadgets” even a child can sell online.
For more information see these resources:
- http://googlecheckout.blogpsot.com Checkout Blog
- http://tinyurl.com/ybd8ksk Google Checkout Store Gadget Forum
- http://tinyurl.com/n2c2dy Google Docs blog
Merle’s Mission Blog- “Rants, Raves and Random Acts of Kindness” a self proclaimed “Internet Junkie” with a passion for net marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several niche sites to her credit. Find out more at http://merlesworld.blogspot.com Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/msmerle3 Important Questions to Ask Google Analytics
03 2010 Sunday
21
By Debbie Everson in Google
With dozens of free web analytics tools available in the market, Google Analytics stands out because it provides data like no other tool does. Just add a few lines of JavaScript code to your website’s footer and you have access to a vast amount of metrics you can slice and dice.
This data is useful to develop and implement fresh website marketing strategies and understanding the behavior online of your web visitors.
But before diving into Google Analytics, prepare a list of the most important questions you want answered from this tool.
3 Important Questions to Ask Google Analytics:
1. What do you want visitors to do on your website?
Every website has a purpose. It may be to provide information, build a brand or sell products online. Set your goals for the website and build it accordingly.
The Goals category of Google Analytics helps you to understand the number of goals achieved in a day, week or month. All you need to do is set your goal URL in the analytics settings and watch the data pour in. The funnel visualization sub category provides this type data:
- How many visitors completed my goals?
- How many visitors abandoned the goals to move onto other URL?
- Which internal pages did visitors came from to the goal webpage?
2. What is the Visitor doing on the Website?
Analysis of this data enables you to track the visitor’s action on the website. You can find out whether the visitor completed the goal you set. Accordingly you can make the changes which will reinforce goal completion. The content category in the left sidebar of Google Analytics provides important data:
- Top Content. It contains a list of the content viewed by the visitor, arranged in descending order. This lets you know the most popular pages of the website and how to leverage them.
- Top Landing Pages. These are the pages visitors land on, before going ahead and browsing the website. You can view the browsing path for each webpage and find a pattern.
- Top Exit Pages. It contains a list of web pages which failed to generate interest among the visitors and lead them to exit the website. Revamp the exit pages with these details and aim to convert them into your top content pages.
- Site Overlay. The Site Overlay opens a new web page which contains a small progress bar over every link. This bar shows the percentage of the number of clicks on that link. As the number of clicks on a link increase, the percentage of the progress bar increases.
3. Where is the Visitor coming from?
This is one of the most important data elements you can work on to get insights into the visitor. The ‘Traffic Sources’ category displays the websites and keywords which send traffic to your website. This category can be segregated into:
- Direct Traffic. This contains the number of visitors who came to the website by entering its URL into their web browser. Direct traffic is also used to determine the popularity of the website.
- Referring Sites. Referring websites are the ones which link back to a website using some content and a link. The visitors get referenced from the source website and land on the target website using the link provided. Referring websites can be used to judge the success of social media marketing techniques.
- Search Engines. It contains a list of the search engines which send traffic to the website. Google Analytics also lists keywords which were clicked upon by the visitors. A high percentage of visits from search engines indicate a successful search engine optimization strategy.
The answers to the above questions coupled with custom reports and segmentation provide rewarding insights. These metrics can be used to model the website around the desired goal and achieve higher conversions.
Debbie A. Everson is the CEO of SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Learn about search engine marketing, paid search advertising, social media, and email marketing. Read my SEO Blog for hints and tips. Follow me on Twitter @searchmar. Call 1.866.885.6263 to speak to one of our SEO Consultants and receive your free consultation.google analytics,web analytics tools,top content,web traffic,referring sites,direct traffic,search engine traffic
How to Increase Google Page Rank
03 2010 Tuesday
2
By Suzanne Morrison in Google
Visit any internet marketing forum and you are bound to find at least a few discussions on Google page rank. But what exactly is Google Page Rank and what do you need to do to increase it?
First of all Page Rank is a value that Google assigns to a web page based on the importance of the page. It is determined by the number of incoming links to that web page and few other factors including the page rank of the page giving the link to you.
There has been discussion recently asked to the importance of page rank. However one thing to consider is this, if Google thinks page rank is important than page rank is important.
Remember Google gets over 65% of all the search traffic on the Internet every day. If you were to take 10 websites that were all optimized for the same keywords, typically you would find that the page with the highest page rank would rank higher in the search engine results than the other pages.
So what are the best ways to increase your Google Page Rank?
- One of the first things you should do is aim to increase the numnber of backlinks that you have pointing to your website. This fact alone can increase your link popularity and ultimately increase your page rank. Combined with that is the fact that the more back links you have pointing back your website for more potential traffic you will get from it.
- As well as increasing the quantity of links to your website you should also try to get your links on high quality web pages. This means getting your link on pages that are ranked as high or higher than yours. When you do this some of their page rank can be transferred to you which ultimately helps increase the page rank of your site.
There are lots of ways to increase your page rank, but the most common methods are posting in discussion forums that have a high page rank, article marketing, submitting your site to directories, commenting on blogs and distributing press releases.
You should also try to get some deep links in addition to the links to your home page. Deep linking means linking to internal pages on your website as opposed to always linking to your homepage.
There are many other methods that you can use to improve your page rank, but any time you spend on getting links is well spent!
It is worth noting that the page rank displayed on the Google toolbar is not up to date. Although Google is always internally updating the page rank of web pages, the toolbar page rank is only updated every few months.
You should also be aware that just because a web page has a low page rank it doesn’t mean that getting a link on that page isn’t worthwhile. The page rank could increase on the next toolbar update.
Finally, it is worth remembering that a good Google Page Rank on its own is not necessarily going to mean lots of traffic. You also want to ensure that you have chosen good keyword phrases and have optimized your website.
Visit Suzanne Morrison’s Higher Search Engine Ranking website and download her SEO EBook for more SEO tipsHow to use the Google Trends Website
02 2010 Monday
1
By Bill Wynne in Google
The Google Trends Website was made public in 1996 but many marketers on the Internet don’t know about it. Some know but don’t understand it and so don’t get the benefits out of it that are possible.
The Google Trends website is a service offered by Google to users that want to get some fantastic data about keyword searches in the Google search engine. For example if you wanted to know how popular Levi jeans were over the past 6 years you could type in “Levi Jeans” and get data that would show you the search trend for Levi Jeans. It will not only give you the search trend but you can begin to focus the searches on country, city or even by language.
For anyone looking for a Niche to market and make money Google Trends is something they should not do without.
How to use the Google Trends website Practically?
PPC Marketing – If you are primarily a PPC marketer Google Trends is going to help you in your geo-targeting. I was involved in a niche that was hot in the United States but it gradually tapered off in the USA but got real hot in the Japanese market and so you set up your Adwords campaigns to target Japan. Thank you Google for saving me money on advertising and making me money by knowing where the buyers were.
Spying on Competition – To the right of the trends graph there are a list of links that show you articles that are ranked high for the keyword that you chose. Look over those articles, get some ideas, spin it and submit it. Have you seen our page about Online Article Marketing?
Hot Trends for Bloggers – Google Hot Trends is a separate service and URL. When you are blogging you are in need of content and if you want to have something relevant to your crowd that is timely with world events or something else you can use Google Hot Trends to see what is real relevant. Not long ago Tiger Woods went through his hardship with his family and the reporters. If you type Tiger Woods into the Google Trends website you will see the spike that was created over the bad press. I would not use Hot Trends to determine a niche because it is only reporting the hot things that are very current and as we know, news is changing all the time.
Keyword Analysis – The Google Trends website should be a part of your keyword research in conjunction with a program like Traffic Travis (download Traffic Travis for FREE) and the Google external keyword tool. Google trends will save you money from choosing keywords or a niche that is no longer active in a particular country that you may be targeting.
Another cool part of the keyword analysis that I should mention is something I saw in a webinar. The Google Trends website was used to compare “table tennis” and “ping pong”. Which do you think is more popular? Which country would you think either is more popular? Curious? Well I am not going to tell you. Go to the Google Trends website and check it out for yourself. While you are there play with it and see if you should alter some of the marketing that you are doing.
Note – Remember that this is only Google traffic and does not account for the traffic on other search engines like Ask, Yahoo and Bing. Clearly Google dominates as a search engine and gives a good picture of what is most likely taking place in the other search engines.
Bill Wynne has been an Internet Marketer since 1999. He has been successful in a number of niche markets. Recently he decided to create his own blog where he has decided to share his knowledge of Internet Marketing. He offers many free tools and articles like Google Trends Website on his blog as well as special offers.How To Get A Top Google Ranking
01 2010 Monday
4
By Azmi Adnan in Google
When you are optimizing your website to get a top Google ranking, you have to be patient. Most webmasters are very eager when it comes to optimizing their website for a top Google rank and they go overboard with the use of keywords. If you do this wrongly, not only will you not rank highly on Google and the other search engines, but you may also end up getting banned from their list.
Getting a top rank in Google may be your dream but you need to understand the keyword density for each of your article. The calculation for keyword density is critical. As a rule of thumb the keywords used should not be more than 5 % of your article. This to me makes perfect sense. Imagine reading an article with so many of the same words being repeated. It turns the readers off and is not good for your marketing. A naturally written article attracts more readers who would likely read to the end of the article before they decide to buy whatever it is that you are selling.
There are many tools that you can use to assist you in getting a top Google rank. Without a doubt, the most essential of all is Google Keyword Tool, a free web-based tool to help you find the right keywords and the number of searches made for that keyword in a 12 month period so that you can use the information to optimize your articles for a top rank in Google. There are also several paid keyword software tools that you can purchase but I find the free Google Keyword Tool is a great tool to start with before you progress to other multiple use software tools.
Original and informative content is what Google and the other search engines value highly. Why would they want to publish something that has already been written by someone before. The search engines are providing a service to the mass public on finding information and the more original and informative your information is with the right amount of targeted keywords, the higher is your chances of getting a top rank in Google.
Besides articles and information, your website has got to look like a normal website and not a sales page with just good copywriting. A normal website has the “about me” page, your contact details, privacy statement, categories, and pages. The more pages you have with the right keyword density, the more the search engines will love your website because they love content. The search spiders eat your content and will push you up the Google ranking if they love eating what you have to offer.
Once the spiders have crawled and you are listed by the search engines, you will need to optimize your site even further. Usually, you won’t rank on Google’s first page on the first crawl. Fine tune your articles with keyword density and build backlinks to your website. Backlinks that point back to your website are extremely valuable because it shows that your website is popular. You can build backlinks by marketing articles with your hyperlink in the resource box, joining forum sites and doing some social bookmarking on popular platforms such as Facebook, Digg and Twitter.
Azmi Adnan is an expert in SEO optimization and getting top Google rankings. Read more about his SEO strategies at his blog http://topgooglerankingtool.comFour Reasons Google Adwords is Not Meant for Beginners
12 2009 Sunday
20
By Trish Thackston in Google
Google Adwords is an incredibly powerful marketing tool with an instant global reach that can take your business from nowhere to an overnight success. Why wouldn’t a new marketer take advantage of such a powerful tool? I can answer that question with another question. Why wouldn’t you let someone with a new driver’s license behind the wheel of a race car? Because, unless they are extremely lucky, they are going to crash and burn. Google Adwords is the Formula One of online marketing and it is not for beginners.
As advertising goes, the reasons to avoid Google Adwords early on in your education is overwhelming.
- First, it can be very expensive and most new marketers will exhaust their ad budget before they can successfully bring in revenue. This is mainly because Google Adwords can be deceptively difficult to master. The basic formula is to identify keywords, write an ad that uses the keywords and have a landing page that completely delivers on what your ad promises.
- Next, Google rewards advertisers who solve the problem their searchers are trying to solve. If you fail to do this you can expect high cost per click and low traffic.
- Further, Google purposefully keeps the exact formula for success under wraps. If you are not getting the results you are seeking, the support you receive from Google will be general at best. Expect Google to suggest “improve your landing page” or “tips for writing ads.” On top of that, Google periodically change their rules requiring you to change your campaign or face the prospect of high cost per click or low traffic.
- Finally, the instant global reach of your Google Adwords campaign is accompanied by global competition with a wide variety of skill levels and budgets.
Keep your chin up though. There are many options that exist for the new marketer.
Initially most new marketers have more time than money and that can be a good thing (more on that later). There are many low-tech approaches that have worked for decades and still do. These alternatives allow you to learn how to market affordably which will allow for some trial and error without spending your whole ad budget.
Using some of the methods below will allow you to use several forms of marketing which is a more balanced and stable long-term approach. Here is the big bonus: your competitors are still online spending themselves out of business with Adwords!
Here are just a few options when thinking about an offline marketing campaign. They may not be sexy, but they are time-tested, and still very effective marketing tools.
- Newspaper Advertising – requires only a computer and 800 number. Information about newspapers from around the country is easily researched online and ads can cost as little as $10 per week.
- Flyers – this is a big one for those who have time but little money. Getting flyers or business cards made is cheap and easy using a site like vistaprint.com. Spend a couple of hours a day papering parking lots. The key with this plan is to put out a lot of flyers (hundreds daily).
- Bandit Signs – Simple three line signs that reside at intersections and other high traffic areas which direct prospects to an 800 number with a message. Signs cost between $2-$5 dollars each and work wherever your prospects pass by or congregate.
- Warm market – You have an immediate advantage approaching people you know because a level of trust exists between you. Many marketers can get off to a quick start by starting here.
- Article campaigns – this is absolutely free to do. Establish yourself online as a respected and knowledgeable marketer in your niche. You may still be learning the ropes about marketing but you definitely know more than most people about your business.
- Blogging – Similar to article marketing in that you share information about your area of expertise. Once people see you as a helpful resource they will begin to seek you out. The key here is to provide new content on a consistent basis. You can start today with a free site from WordPress or Blogger
If you have the budget, make Google Adwords a part of your overall marketing plan AFTER you have established other forms of marketing. Whenever you are new at something you need to be allowed to make mistakes, learn from them and apply what you have learned in the future. Hard won knowledge is the best way to learn. By starting with basic (and still viable) forms of advertising you can develop into a well-rounded, knowledgeable and, ultimately, more successful marketer in the long term, which is everyone’s goal.
Trish Thackston – Brookview Partners teaches people how to become successful home-based entrepreneurs. Want to know the five principles we use and teach that have generated millions in income? Click below for our free report http://www.thehomebusinessroadmap.comWhy Using Landing Pages By Themselves Will Increase Your AdWords Budget
12 2009 Friday
18
By Duncan Wierman in Google
Google AdWords, or any other kind of contextual advertising for that matter, is about one thing: getting a return on investment. Businesses of all types, from multinational corporations to sole proprietorships’ selling machine parts to real estate agents and investors love the traceability of AdWords and other pay per click advertising models – but it’s entirely possible to spend too much on your AdWords campaigns.
But the whole idea of AdWords is that you can have near total control over your advertising budget, isn’t it? Before we go any further here, I feel that I should mention that I am not knocking AdWords at all. People who end up wasting money on these campaigns aren’t doing so because of any flaw in this advertising model – they’re wasting money because the rest of their marketing strategy or even their entire online presence is ill conceived.
It’s not Google’s fault and in many cases, it’s not really these real estate investors or real estate agents fault either. It’s that they’re using a type of marketing strategy which is inherently poorly suited for the real estate business.
Should these people have known better? In some cases, yes – but there are plenty of newly minted investors trying to make their fortunes by investing in properties made affordable by the currently soft US housing market. These people, by and large aren’t experts on how to reach their target markets, let alone design or deploy an AdWords campaign. What you’re probably asking now is what exactly these people are doing wrong; and of course, how you can avoid making the same mistakes.
The biggest single mistake that real estate investors make when they establish a presence on the web is this: they’re thinking like the online snake oil peddlers, not real estate brokers. There is an enormous difference in how (for instance) someone promoting a dubious home based business does business online and how a reputable real estate investor does business online.
In a nutshell, that’s what it comes down to – but that’s not the whole story of course and it’s useful in this case to look at exactly what misguided real estate investors are doing, how they’re doing it and of course, how this approach results in an AdWords budget which is much larger than it needs to be without producing a solid return on investment. So without any further ado….
Landing pages
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: using landing pages only and real estate just don’t mix and making landing pages the central part of your online marketing means wasted money in your AdWords campaigns, just as sure as the sun will set in the West tomorrow.
Just what’s wrong with landing pages alone? Nothing, if you happen to enjoy wasting time and money.
But I’ve read that landing pages can produce results? OK, there’s a grain of truth here. It’s possible that you could see an inquiry or two at some point as a result of your landing pages – but of course, you’d be able to get the same or better results by standing in Times Square wearing a sandwich board advertising your real estate investment business.
Neither of these methods is really a great way to promote yourself if you’re in the real estate business, in case you were wondering. At least wearing a sandwich board in midtown Manhattan won’t mean budgeting for AdWords ads which don’t get clicks – and it’s a lot faster and cheaper to make this kind of advertisement than it is to build multiple landing pages.
Let’s get to the heart of the problem here. When people decide to build their online presence around landing pages, what they tend to do is to take a shotgun approach, desperately building landing pages for any and every keyword which they think will possibly lure in interested parties.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this other than being a massive waste of time, these same would-be online real estate investors then put a lot of effort and budget a significant amount of money on Google AdWords and other PPC advertising to drive traffic to these many different pages. This would still be fine if this approach actually tended to produce worthwhile results – but if you’ve tried this yourself, you’re probably already all too aware that it simply doesn’t work in 99.9% of cases and even less often in the real estate business.
It’s an approach to online business which is taken from the often less than reputable world of affiliate marketing; while I don’t mean to defame affiliate marketers, you have only to look at how many of these people adopt the same marketing model we’ve been looking at here – and how little return they see on their investment of time and money.
Now of course, some of you are probably thinking that AdWords ads don’t cost you anything unless someone clicks through and I won’t argue this point. However, the problem is that the money budgeted for multiple campaigns is tied up and could more than likely be used better elsewhere – and it adds an entirely unnecessary layer of complexity by requiring you to manage any number of campaigns at once rather than one.
That’s right – one. All you really need is one well designed, professional looking website and a blog in order to get exactly the same results as you will from having a site and who-knows-how-many landing pages. Your main website should be a traditional, largely static site whose purpose is to provide you with a professional business presence online (you know, like grown-ups).
Your blog can easily provide the same function as a dozen landing pages – and you’ll need just one PPC campaign with a budget and management needs which the average person can actually get their head around. You’ll also look more reputable, plain and simple. In an industry like real estate where your appearance is everything, why would you want to make yourself look cheap; or make running your business more difficult than it has to be?
Duncan Wierman is an Ex Software company CEO turned Real Estate Investor and Marketer. Discover how you can use creative online marketing methods to do more deals online. For more details on how to set up an automated internet marketing system, please visit Duncan Wierman’s website and get is free 14 day e-course. http://www.DuncanWierman.com
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