INTRO TO DIGITAL ADVERTISING(aka you need to spend money to make money)

WHY ADVERTISE ONLINE?It’s more than a shady car salesmen

SO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE. NOW WHAT?

Getting people to notice you on the Internet is hard these days. Advertising is essential to get people to your website.

Online advertising is cheaper than any other form of advertising (if you do it right).

There’s a right way and a wrong way to advertise. We like to think that we do it the right way.

THERE ARE TONS OF RIGHT WAYS TO DO IT

GLOSSARYCommon terms you’ll hear in online advertising

SEO VS. PPC SEO: Search Engine Optimization

A fancy term that encompasses the different methods that businesses use to get their websites to show up on the first page of Google and other search engines “organically”

Usually cheaper than PPC, but also more time consuming

PPC: Pay Per Click

Paying to place ads on various advertising networks (Google, Facebook, Bing, etc.) – an advertiser is charged for each time that someone clicks on an ad

More expensive, but more immediate traffic

SEM

Search engine marketing

An all-encompassing term that describes the different methods that advertisers use (SEO and PPC) to get a website to show up on the first page of a search engine (Google, usually) for a specific search term.

SERP

Search engine results page

The list of sites and ads that show up after someone makes a search

KEYWORDS

The specific searches that you want your page to show up for

Note: This is usually different than what people are actually searching for in Google. For example, “How much does 600 sq ft of hardwood floor cost?” is not a keyword, it’s (what we call) a search phrase. An advertiser who sells hardwood floors might be trying to rank for the keyword “hardwood floor costs” which Google might associate with that search phrase.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

You own a business that sells trampolines and you want your website to show up on the first page of Google (the SERP) whenever people search for something related to “cheap trampolines” (the keyword). You have to decide what advertising (SEM) methods you want to use (either SEO or PPC) to get your website ranked for that keyword.

POP QUIZGet your tabs ready…

WHAT IS SEM?

A. The method used to get your website ranked “organically” on the first page of search engines

B. The results that show up after someone makes a search in Google

C. A term describing the strategies that advertisers use to get their website ranked in search engines

D. Paying to place ads on various advertising networks

CHOOSING YOUR METHODSEO, PPC, or both?

THE PROS AND CONS OF SEO Once your page is ranked organically, that’s tons of free

traffic to your website that you no longer have to work for.*

However, it generally takes a lot of time and resources to get your page ranked. There’s a lot that goes into SEO and it’s only becoming more difficult.

*Google regularly changes the “rules” to what you need to do to get ranked organically and one of those changes could immediately wipe your site from the first page.

For example, Google recently released an update that heavily favors mobile-friendly sites. If your site wasn’t at least responsive after the change, you would say goodbye to the first… or second, or third page of the SERP.

THE PROS AND CONS OF SEO (CONT.)

Also… competition is fierce. Some of the things that increase your chances of ranking organically:

Being mobile-friendly Having a site that has been active for a long time Having many active pages Having a physical address Having pages that match the keyword very well Having good “authority” Fast page load speeds Original, useful content on your pages Lots and lots of “backlinks” More to come… http://backlinko.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Google_Rankings_Checklist_Backlinko.pdf

THE PROS AND CONS OF PPC

You can get your page shown on the first page instantly… if you’re willing to pay for it.

You still have to pay attention to what you’re doing to get your ads to show up on the first page, but this is a lot less time-consuming with PPC.

However, it’s really easy for your PPC advertising to get out of control. If you’re not paying attention to your ads, you’ll end up spending lots and lots of money for clicks that you don’t want.

THE PROS AND CONS OF PPC (CONT.)

Factors that increase the chance of your ads showing up:

How much you’re willing to pay for a click How closely your keyword matches the actual

search phrase How relevant your ad is to the keyword that

you’re targeting How relevant your landing page is to your

keywords and ads Utilizing “ad extensions” – adding a physical

address, phone number, reviews, and other additional features to your ad

BOTH?

You won’t be able to rank organically right away, no matter what. SEO takes time and patience. It’s worth investing in, but you need to get traffic to your site in the meantime.

Use PPC to get traffic to your site while you’re building up your backlinks and content and authority, etc. Eventually, as long as you do everything with SEO in mind, you’ll start to see your website moving up in the organic SERP.

ADWORDSThe king of PPC

WHAT IS ADWORDS? This is Google’s paid advertising platform. With it, you

can set up and manage ads to show up in the Google SERP and Google’s affiliated sites.

Adwords offers a number of ways to set up different types of ads:

Search ads are text ads that display in Google SERP Display ads are text ads, image ads, and multimedia ads that

display on Google’s partner sites (not SERP) Product listing ads display on Google’s shopping pages Video ads can be display ads, or can utilize Youtube’s own ad

platform Mobile app ads are a subset of display ads that appear on

mobile apps Remarketing ads show up to people who have visited your

website already

SOCIAL MEDIAEngage your audience

WAYS TO ADVERTISE USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Create a blog and write informative articles about whatever it is you’re trying to sell

Build your reputation across the different social networking sites

Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc.

Use paid advertising to promote your stuff on the different social networks

PAID ADVERTISING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

Similar to the concept of SEO and PPC, there’s a free way and a quick way to advertise using social media.

Making a Facebook page or posting a video on Youtube is great, but that alone won’t get you noticed.

However, you can “promote” your content in many of these networks by running a paid advertising campaign to reach out to potential customers.

FREE ADVERTISING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Once you’ve built up a decent following from your

advertising, use it to your advantage!

Don’t just stick to one social network, there are tons out there and they all cater to different groups

Selling your artwork? Promote it on DeviantArt, Etsy, Redbubble, Tumblr

Have a cooking blog? Link to your articles on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter

You can create a Youtube video for almost anything you’re trying to promote

Cross-promote within the different networks to bolster your exposure in all of them

EMAIL MARKETINGKeep the love alive

WHO USES EMAIL ANYMORE?

…turns out, a lot of people

Email marketing is one of the absolute most effective ways to keep your audience coming back for more

Also, it’s pretty much free

Also also, it’s way easier than SEO

UH, OKAY, BUT WHAT IS EMAIL MARKETING?

Instead of advertising via search engine or social media, you’re advertising through email.

You can either build up your own list of emails by collecting contact information after a customer signs up or makes a purchase from you (free but slow)

Or you can purchase a list of email addresses that you want to send out an email to (quick but costly)

Or you can do both!

BONUS: ADSENSEThe flip side of Adwords

WHAT IS ADSENSE?

Adsense is a great way to make some extra money if you have a blog or content site

You allow Google to display ads that others have created in Adwords on your site

In return, you get paid every time someone clicks on one of those ads

CONNECTING ADWORDS AND ADSENSE

You have a site that sells trampolines and decide to run a PPC display campaign to get more sales.

In Adwords, you set up display ads that link back to one of your more popular trampolines.

You set your max bid to $2 per click and target your ads to display on trampolineenthusiast.com, a blog that has Adsense ads set up to appear on their site.

Every time someone clicks on your ad from their site, you’ll be charged a maximum of $2 and trampolineenthusiast.com will earn roughly 55% of what you paid (Google keeps the rest).

SEE YA NEXT TIME!Now it’s your turn…