Google Display Ads
Google has outlined its efforts in growing display advertising on its blog. In this post there are five key aspects which guide its future products in this area. These five principles are: making life more efficient, managing revenue, better control and insight, betting on openness and everything is going to be ‘display’.
Google’s director of product management, Jon Bellack says that things such as new standards for video ad serving that connects sellers with purchasers are aiding publishers to come up with creative ads on their websites. But, he added, that there is much progress to be made in this particular area for both large and small publishers.
Bellack also says that there is no doubt that delivering the right ad to the right user at the optimum time brings good results. Google has years of experience doing with with search ads as well as with text ads and it is now bringing that experience to the world of display. What this means is that if a publisher invests in a good ad server that can automatically learn where and when a given ad will get the best results, he/she is all but assured of getting great results.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
Social Networking is Evolving
Social networking has rapidly expanded in both the number of users and the number of websites that bring them together. The big three (Facebook, Twitter and MySpace) still reign supreme when it comes to sheer membership numbers but more and more social sites are gaining in popularity every day.
Long before some of the more popular social networking sites existed, there were other sites that essentially performed the same function, creating a place, albeit virtual, for people to interact and share everything from life experiences, tips and tricks to recipes and child rearing advice. Chatrooms were definitely all the rage for close to a decade. Community forum websites covering every niche you can think of were and still are very popular. Another networking platform that are also very popular are the myriad dating websites.
Today however, thanks to a combination of improved and innovative technologies, widespread availability of broadband internet and good old word of mouth, social networking sites appear to be here to stay. The need for instant communication is in high demand in today’s society so it is only natural that online social networking continues to grow and evolve.
Social networking pervades every aspect of our lives including personal, educational and business relationships. Having an online presence is a great idea for companies interested in connecting with their customers. Establishing that presence by using social networking tools is a great way to accomplish this goal.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
Get Noticed With Google Places
In yet another useful offering for businesses from web behemoth Google, the recently implemented Google Places is a great asset to merchants.
Google Places essentially provides local business listings for both consumers and businesses to locate items and services they are seeking. Originally launched in September 2009, Google Places has so far logged about 50 million places around the globe.
Businesses can create, update and edit their Place Page through Google’s Local Business Center. It enables business owners to put information about their business right at the fingertips of the consumer in a fast and efficient way. It’s fast, free, simple and very user-friendly. A few minutes and a few clicks will instantly help your online visibility.
For example, if you were looking for golf clubs in a Google search, you would get millions of results ordered by page rank and relevance to your search terms. With Google Places, you can instantly see local businesses that offer golf clubs. Furthermore, those businesses that use Google Places can also show their hours, movies, products, exact location and coupons right there on the Places Page.
This additional listing probably also inadvertently adds to your online presence. Consumers are more likely to patronize businesses they can view more information about right away without having to wade through frequently slow-loading, media-heavy business websites to find what they’re looking for.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
Facebook Invades Brick & Mortar Stores
In a recent article picked up by the Associated Press, it is made clear that social networking giant Facebook has its eyes on the future of advertising. In an interesting twist, the online powerhouse has partnered with well-known Target retail stores which will now offer Facebook gift cards.
While this comes as a bit of a surprise, it is not entirely unpredictable. The gift cards will allow Facebook users to purchase everything from applications to game enhancements. Hugely popular online games like Farmville and Mafia Wars attract thousands of Facebook users to play and interact with their friends through the social networking portal. Converting real dollars into virtual merchandise is not a new concept but, with the ever-increasing presence of social networking, it is expected to be a growing market.
You can expect other retailers to follow this trend and implement their own gift card offerings for Facebook and other major online networks. Now there is another perfect gift for the person who has everything or is just hard to shop for. Just picking up a Facebook gift card from your local Target store and sending it to your friends and family will probably make their day, as long as they are Facebook members.
Look for more interactions between major retail outlets and major online sites in the near future.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
What is New in Online Shopping?
In this day and age more and more consumers have access to fast internet connections and at least one way to get online, be it a home computer or a hand held web-enabled device. This means that online shopping sites are receiving more visitors than ever before.
Today’s online stores consist of great looking websites that are easy to understand and navigate. Heavy graphics are not used as much these days as the emphasis is put on simplicity and ease of use. Consumers want to know what the product of service has to offer instead of a lot of fluff advertising.
Social network integration is also a growing trend. Web stores are integrating Facebook and other social networking sites into their websites so that they can become more personal with their customers and can hopefully be able to expand their customer base. A simple link placed on Facebook can go viral in just a few days time, so this is a very popular option for nearly any type of business today.
Mobile shopping is another growing trend that is really catching on. More and more consumers carry smartphones these days and are choosing to shop directly from their hand held devices which has resulted in many stores now having mobile versions of their websites available.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
Advertising to the Subconscious
In advertising industry, both traditional and online marketing techniques have evolved a great deal although some older methods are still quite effective. On the surface, most advertising efforts seem pretty simple, put the product where it can be seen by consumers and they will buy it if interested.
The fact of the matter is that advertising is an informal science that incorporates a wide variety of factors. Advertising takes into account the power of the unconscious mind and understands that consumers make decisions based on unconscious motivations that lie deep within the human psyche. Big brands use advertising techniques that play on this phenomenon which can be very effective in convincing consumers that they somehow ‘need’ to purchase their products.
Often times the names of the products or the symbols used to represent them have a hidden message or meaning attached to them that consumers find intriguing. Take Victoria’s Secret for example, this brand’s name evokes feelings of sexuality that intrigues both men and women. Many of their products have names that have double meanings.
Advertisers have been using the vulnerabilities of the unconscious mind to persuade people to buy their products for as long as human commerce has existed. Sometimes a catchy jingle or an attractive mascot is used to get people to remember the brand name and to hopefully spur them to go out and purchase the product or service.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
How to Find a Hot Online Niche
It can be very difficult for some people to find a strong, online niche. A good niche is one in which few people have built sites around the topic and it also must have the potential to make you a lot of money.
You should go online and see what the newest trends are. You can use Google Trends for this. Next, find a product that matches that trend. The product must be something you can envision yourself promoting and selling so be sure not to choose something you find dull or difficult to understand.
Having passion about the niche makes your work a whole lot easier as you will be much more able to write about the product or service if you love the concept yourself. Be sure that the niche market you choose has a future and that it is not simply a fly-by-night product idea that may die out next week. After all, you will be putting a lot of time and effort into setting up your website, blog and landing page, so do not choose a topic that won’t be around tomorrow.
Check out any information about the niche and determine what the anticipated growth rate of the industry will be. Be sure to select products or services that will be needed as time goes on.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
Understanding Consumer Behavior
All types of individuals make up the consumer market and these people are buying products for themselves, their families, guests, relatives, co-workers and friends.
Consumer buying behavior needs to be looked at if you are planning on doing some marketing since you need to understand how consumers respond to marketing efforts that you may employ. When someone begins the buying process, five aspects go into play: recognition of need, the search for information, evaluation of products, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior.
A whole lot of factors can influence a consumer’s behavior. The most common factors that play a role in consumer behavior are age, sex, occupation, education level, personality and lifestyle.
There are also some strong psychological factors that determine consumer behavior. Motivation is a psychological factor that spurs us to act and to seek satisfaction. Perception helps us to select and interpret information so we can form a picture of the world. A person’s attitude also is a psychological factor that can play a great role in deciding what types of products and services to buy.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
How to Get More Traffic and Improve Your Site’s Popularity
Online business is booming these days as more and more companies are going online to sell their products and services. It is essential as a matter of fact to create a strong online presence if you expect to compete in the business world as the internet is the best way to attract new customers.
In order to drive traffic to your site, you should optimize your website with strong keywords that people are using to find products and services like yours. Have the site updated for SEO as well so that it gets seen online when people are conducting searches.
Make sure that your site is user-friendly and nice to look at. Nothing makes a person click away from a sight faster than a poor design. Be sure to offer useful information on the site that people will want to read. Consider setting up a forum so that your customers have a place to share their thoughts with others who are interested in the same types of things.
Finally, be sure to offer your customers something of value each time they visit your site. This means that you must keep your content fresh and updated on a regular basis.
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About Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing can fit into two different categories of advertising. The more traditional application of the term is meant to describe marketing that takes place while moving, such as tech trade shows or billboards that move. The second meaning of the term is rapidly becoming the more popular method of sending advertising messages to mobile devices such as a cell phones and smartphones.
Marketing to cell phones is becoming more and more popular since the rise of the text message in the early 2000’s all across Europe and parts of Asia. More recently, text messages are much more common and are now being used to sell products and services because so many people are routinely using their cell phones on a daily basis and carrying them everywhere they go.
As SMS marketing took a hold in Europe, many people were very critical of it because they thought it was just another way to send out SPAM or unsolicited advertising information. However, as time passes, mobile marketing is becoming more practical and companies big and small are jumping on the bandwagon by setting up their own mobile marketing campaigns.
People are much more receptive today to receive messages from companies on their cell phones and they are even apt to buy something directly from their hand held devices.
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SEO | Lead Generation | Online Advertising | Social Media | Mobile Marketing
