Your visuals are a huge part of your Site, but they also give you a big opportunity to get things wrong. Although it sounds like something we’ve stolen from a preposterously priced perfume Ad, perception is reality Online. If I get to your Site and see a couple of grainy, pixelated images, your Site is going to look pretty amateur. And if your Site is all I’ve got to go off, I’m then going to presume that your Business is pretty amateur. 

Likewise, keep your images relevant. Wherever possible they should add to my understanding of your Business, products, and services. Again, if your image selection seems to be completely random your Site is going to going to look chaotic. And if your Site is all I’ve got to go off….

We’ve seen too many people commit the cardinal sin of trying to cram everything they can think of into their Site. Enthusiasm is great, but it needs to be tempered with a dose of common sense every now and then. If there’s too much going on, you’re going to confuse your reader, and eventually lose them to a competitor. 

Similarly, if you’re overloading your Site, the chances of the reader viewing the info you want them to is reduced.

This is another common mistake we see people make time and time again. You built Site to serve a certain purpose. More than likely, you want to either sell directly, or generate leads to be sold at a later time. With that in mind, make sure your design serves YOUR purpose. 

Are your best sellers prominently displayed? Is it blindingly obvious to a first time visitor what they need to do to register their interest? The answer to any question of this nature needs to be a big, thumping yes. Begin with your goal in mind, and then design from there. 

 

Whether you’re pulling together your first Site or your tenth, working alone or with a professional, it’s easy to end up with something that you think looks great, but ends up not quite working out. Always keep your goals in mind, and follow the 3 tips above at all times.

We’ve already touched on it, but SEO is your way to get yourself seen Online. Don’t forget that there’s probably a ton of other people out there trying to sell the same products and services, what’s going to set you apart is your ability to meet the people who are looking to buy. 

Around 90% of people will use a Search Engine to research a purchase before parting with their hard-earned dollars. This stat tells you exactly how important it is to be getting yourself up the results pages. If you’re not doing everything you can to attract interest, you’re leaving all that potential money on the table. It’s unlikely your competitors are acting as unselfishly. 

Start embracing SEO as an opportunity to meet potential buyers, and to cut your competitors off at the source.

As a Small Business Owner your budgeting and spending probably costs you a fair few hours of sleep each week. We’re in the same boat, we get it. This makes your choice of SEO even more important, because it’s honestly the most cost-effective method of generating sales. 

Although you probably are going to require a bit of professional help, the price of this doesn’t need to be exorbitant. Additionally, the real beauty of good SEO campaigns is the way they can feed their own growth. Once your Site climbs the rankings a little, you’ll get more people landing on your Site. If these people stick around and indicate to Google that this was a pretty good choice, you’ll climb the rankings again, and the circle of life is established. In terms of affordability this can mean that over the time the same investment yields greater and greater returns.

Beyond the use of keywords which are highly relevant to your industry and products, you can also get clever with your keywords and try to lure those who are ready to purchase. For example, somebody searching ‘build website for my business’ is going to be more likely to convert than the average person who has searched ‘does my business need a website’. 

Be savvy with your choice of keywords and you might be able to snare some Site visitors who are ready to swap their cash for your products. 

 

The 3 points above are a brief introduction to why SEO for your Ecommerce Site is a no brainer. Yes, there are an intimidating number of things you need to be doing in order to drum up sales, but SEO has got to be right up there at the top of that list.

If you’ve been running your Ads for long enough to generate a bit of historical data, it’s time you had a look at how you perform on Mobile versus Desktop devices. Depending on what you’re actually selling, it’s highly likely you’re going to see that your Ads generate a better return on one of these platforms. If you have data clearly showing where you’re overachieving, you want to try and maximise the amount of money spent on that platform. 

For example, if I’m selling high-end televisions, although people do research using their phone, when it comes to making a thousand dollar purchase, they tend to do it from their desktop computer. In this instance I might increase the percentage of my spend that goes to desktops. However, I still want to be capturing some of those people who are researching on their Mobiles so I’ll definitely leave some spend there.

Look, we know that writing product titles can be a time-consuming task, and just pulling across your existing ones from your Site saves you the hassle, but you don’t really want to be doing this. Google Shopping gives you up to 150 characters to sculpt a winning title, and there’s no reason not to use all of them. 

Although an abridged title will show alongside the thumbnail, if somebody hovers over your Ad they’ll get the full title to read through, which gives you more space to entice them into clicking.

In the first point we talked about the need to allocate your budget to the devices that generate you sales. The same is true at a product level. As a general rule of thumb, you should always begin a shopping campaign by focusing on one or two of your most popular products. As you gradually expand, keep a keen on eye on which products are performing well for you. If one product seems to be the star of the show, then don’t be afraid to up the amount of spend you’re allocating to it. 

It might be that your best instore seller and your best Online seller are completely different. If you see a trend emerging make sure you capitalize on it wisely. 

 

As you’ve probably guessed, there are a ton of different ways to alter and optimise your Google Shopping Ads. The three points above give you a great starting point to make sure you’re on the right track.

If all the techno talk about Search Engines and algorithms leaves you feeling a little dazed, just try to remember the following: Google My Business is a free, super-effective Business listing. Used properly, it gives you the ability to get the top level information you want seen by all those people you see staring at their phones. 

All the essentials such as your address, opening hours, industry, and contact details can be neatly and conveniently found as soon as your Google My Business is up and running. Grabbing people’s attention Online is hard, but this is a great first step. Beyond simply telling people how they might get in touch with you, your listing will actually make it easier for potential Customers to get in touch with you. At that point it’s over to you and your best sales routine.

Be honest, are you one of those individuals who loves reading a paragraph or two (and sometimes no more than that) but ultimately needs a couple of pictures to really get your mind going? If so, there’s no need to panic about whether you might still be a toddler, you’re just like everybody else. 

Google My Business gives you the ability to get pictures you choose in front of the eyes of the very same people who just got a flavour of your Business details. Whether you’ve got a fabulous logo to show off, a couple of products that look so good words cannot do them justice, or you’re just so good looking that you want to share it with people, Google My Business gives you the choice to get this out there. 

Use it wisely, it’s a criminally underrated tool to get people excited about your products or services. 

You don’t need us to explain to you just how important reviews are when it comes to buying and browsing Online. Google My Business will prominently ask for, and display, reviews of your organization. Casual browsers will be given a snapshot of how your Business has been rated via a simple out of 5 score. Those who want to go a bit further will be able to actually go in and see who has left you what score, and any other comments they have made. 

Now, the key thing to remember here is this really has the ability to go either way. If you’re going to prominently display your review score (and you don’t have a choice if you set a Google My Business up) you want to make sure it’s something that paints you in a positive light. Don’t be terrified of what people might say, just be sure to find a way that works for you to ask delighted Customers to leave you a little something nice Online.

Google My Business is free to set up! We hope that the 3 points above have begun to show you how important it is to your growth Online, so there’s no reason not to get cracking today.

When you’re getting started, forget all of the fancy stuff about sales psychology, you just want your written content to be as readable as possible. Use big, bold headings to let your visitor know exactly what they’re about to read, and then use subheadings to break up your text. 

It’s also a good idea to echo any important points or offers that your reader may have seen prior to visiting your landing page. Continuity will help to strengthen your message, and will lift your legitimacy in the eyes of the reader.

Always remember that your landing page has a concrete goal. If it doesn’t, you probably need to go back to the drawing board. Staying on the content theme, every last word you write needs to try and nudge a viewer towards this goal. Some success stories, or a brief paragraph on your point of difference can be useful, but don’t waffle on and lose the reader’s interest.

The best way to ensure an action is taken is to make it blindingly obvious how beneficial this is going to be to your potential Customers. If you’re offering a free trial or other special offer don’t get bogged down in exactly which features the trail comes with or how the signup process works. Instead, focus on really emphasizing just how much pleasure this free trial is going to bring the lucky recipient.

Although pushing people too hard isn’t going to get you the result you want, your tone needs to be proactive enough to encourage people to take action. Emphasising just how great your offer is, or reinforcing that there is a strict limit on time/ number of giveaways is a great way to prompt a reader to take that final step. 

Extend this thought process throughout your landing page. Rather than a button simply titled ‘submit’, go for something more alluring like ‘Get me my free trial’, or ‘Send me my E Book now’. As long as you’re not going overboard, it’s okay to write convincingly. 

Finally, don’t forget that your goal isn’t just to get people to take action, it’s to get them to do it right here and right now. The chances of people returning to your page in the future to fill something out are next to none. Write in a way that encourages them to get everything done now, and make sure you’ve made it simple for them to do that. 

Pulling together landing pages is an exciting time for your Business because it can be the start of a real period of more Leads, more Customers, and more Sales. The pointers above will give you a great foundation.

Although we’ve never seen one in the wild, our guess is that SEO algorithms eat fresh content for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’re guilty of getting a whole load of great content together during the launch of your Site, and then not uploading a thing since (and we know for a fact there are lots of you out there), you might want to see if you can hollow out a tiny bit of time to start doing so. 

Fresh and recent content shows Search Engines that any visitors are going to be greeted with relevant, up-to-date information on your products and services. Additionally, once people start landing on your page and taking some to have a look at all the great stuff you’ve uploaded, Google and everybody else are going to notice just how long the average browser sticks around for, and how many pages they visit. This in turn can cause you to rank higher, as both are part Google’s quality score. It’s pretty easy to see how fresh content can really get you on a roll.

The phrases and key terms you’re attacking with your campaign go a long way to determining success further down the line. If you’ve gone too specific with your phrases, you run the risk of running an immaculate SEO campaign, and ranking in first position for a whole host of terms that nobody ever searches. On the other hand, go too broad, and you’re likely to start butting heads with a lot of battle-hardened campaigns. 

As with everything in life, striking a healthy balance is key. Be realistic as to what a Small Business Owner like yourself can achieve, and build a plan accordingly. No, you don’t have the clout to go after trophy keyword like ‘men’s trainers’, think of all the time and money an organization like Nike has invested in that exact area. Try to marry up the uniqueness of your Business with what your future Customers are likely to be searching.

Link building is becoming more and more integral to the success of an SEO campaign. A healthy repertoire of links from other Sites to yours shows Search Engines that you have trustworthy and legitimate content. Take Wikipedia as an example, and think about how high up the Search Engine Results it comes for almost anything you search. A large part of the reason for this is that Wikipedia is linked to by so many other Website around the world. Search Engines see this and take notice.

There’s no way you’re ever going to get to grips with everything and anything SEO related. As a Small Business Owner, you’ll probably need a fair bit of help to make sure that any Digital Marketing you’re running is actually serving your goals. 

All that said, the 3 points above are some of the steps that just about anybody can take to lift the performance of their SEO. Focus on what you’re able to do, and don’t get bogged down in the messy world of backend development.

Perhaps the biggest plus with Google Shopping is that it gives you another route to the very top of the Google listings. Pay Per Click is great for boosting your visibility and delivering you a quantity of relevant traffic, but since its launch Google Shopping has gone one step further. Shopping Ads actually appear above every other Ad type, right at the very top of any result page. 

When you consider that these actually run at a lower Cost Per Click than PPC, you realize you’re getting a pretty fab deal.

Getting seen is great, but it’s only the (very important) first step. If your products are being seen by the right people, you want as many of them as possible to be clicking on your Ads and landing on your Site or product page. The great news for you is that Google Shopping Ads are almost twice as likely to get your viewer to click through. 

We’ll discuss a couple more of the reasons behind this in a second, but a large factor in this is the fact that people searching for particular products or product types are closer to buying. If I’m for a Samsung S10 mobile phone, I’ve already done some degree of research on which brand I want, what I can reasonably expect to pay, and whether this is the right handset for me. All of this means I’m far closer to a purchase than I was the first time I Google ‘buy mobile phone Online’ and clicked through a couple of the PPC and Organic results for a bit of info.

Google Shopping Ads allow you to prominently display pictures of your products alongside any written text. Don’t overlook this, it’s a big step forward from text only PPC Ads. If you’re using high-quality images that show your products in their best light then you’re going to be able to create that instant ‘WOW’ factor that can trigger rapid purchases. 

Even if your products aren’t the type to cause an impulse purchase, being able to see a picture of something is the next best thing to being able to reach out and touch it. It’s going to create a sense of legitimacy, which is going to help the viewer form the opinion that you’re a reputable supplier. 

All things considered, if you’re selling Online, you should be selling through Google Shopping. Although there is a little bit of work involved in terms of getting your images and groups set up, the benefits are easily worth it.

Your goals need to match what you’re actually requiring from your Campaign. Whether this is people making a purchase, calling you directly from the Site, or filling out a form, make sure it’s properly being tracked. For instance, if you’ve incorrectly set it up so that people landing on a certain page registers as a conversion, Google Ads is going to be telling you your Campaign is absolutely flying while you’re sat scratching your head wondering why this isn’t translating into dollars. 

Even worse, if your Marketing is triggering you a ton of calls but you’re not tracking this, the data is going to tell you that PPC isn’t working for you. If you act on this information and turn your PPC off, it’s going to have a very real negative impact on your bottom line.

There are a number of Ad extensions to use, and your industry and Business type will dictate exactly which ones you need to be using. If you’re wanting people to get in touch with you directly so you can whip your silky sales skills out, then you’ve just got to be using a call extension. This will add your phone number to the end of your Ad, which will call you directly when clicked from a Mobile device. Now people don’t even need to visit your Site if they’re desperate to learn more about your Business. 

Similarly, click to text extensions will enable somebody to send you an SMS straight from the Ad, which is a pretty handy tool for anybody searching on Mobile. We could probably write pages on the importance of getting your extensions right, but we’ll leave it there for now.

Although not every Small Business Owner is a word wizard, if you’ve gotten this far you know how to sell. Make sure that all of the text within your Ad actually sells your Business to the reader, and doesn’t just list snore-inducing information. Give the reader a little something that lets them know your Business is relevant to them, but make sure you’re also emphasizing enough of the great things in order to get them to give you that click. 

There’s some pretty tight limits in place. Some fields will only allow you a total of 30 characters including spaces, which is a pretty daunting task when you consider the opening sentence of this paragraph is 42. Get creative and to the point. There you go, 30 characters exactly!

Google Ads is nowhere near as tough or complicated as some would have you believe, but being smart about how you’re running your Ads can give you a big boost. Set aside some time to make sure that you or your professional are covering the basics.

Bing gives you the ability to widen the net and pull in leads from an additional source. This is crucial to your ability to stabilize your Business, which is what’s going to let you sleep at night. However, the benefits don’t stop here. Bing Ads typically run at a lower cost (because of the reduced competition), meaning you can generate just as many Customers, Leads, and Sales for a reduced cost. Getting a similar level of service for a reduced cost gives you a different – yet just as valuable – type of stability.

Look, we know Google is a good bit bigger than Bing, and we know that you know that. However, what you might not be absolutely sure of is just how many people are currently using Bing. It’s still the second-largest Search Engine in Australia (and globally) and gets a SERIOUS amount of monthly traffic. Beyond all of those who go directly to Bing to search, your Ads will also be shown across both AOL and Yahoo due to an agreement in place between those organisations. 

All of a sudden you’re able to display your Ads across 3 of the world’s largest Search Engines… that’s a pretty powerful position for any Small Business.

Okay, so maybe that’s a gross overstatement, but there is some truth in there. Because of the different audience on Bing, your average searcher has both a higher income and more disposable income. This is because your regular user is older than their Google counterpart. Taken globally, almost 40% of Bing’s traffic comes from people in the 35 to 54 age bracket. While Google is immeasurably more popular with a far younger crowd, there’s no doubting which of these two is going to have more cash to spend on your products and services. 

Although the fact you need to be Marketing with Google isn’t likely to change soon, the time when this is all you needed to be doing is over. Bing Ads has a lot to offer in terms of both stability and growth, it’s time you grabbed some of that for yourself.

Think back to the last time you landed on a Site that looked great, but left you completely confused when it came to finding the information you were after. We’ll bet that you got the hell out of there, rather than sticking around for the 7 videos and 19 photo slideshows that were about to hit you. Ultimately, somebody’s overcomplicating of their Site design may have prevented them from turning you into a Customer.

When agreeing on your own Site, keep the actions that you’re wanting your clients to take at the front of your mind. Chances are, you’re wanting them to be able to find certain information, buy certain products, or contact you in a certain way. Try to make it as simple as possible for them to do this. If this means sacrificing a couple of visual elements, or a link to your favourite Blog, then get cutthroat with your decision making.

On a similar note, anybody who lands on your Site needs to be able to easily navigate their way to the info and pages they want to see. The simplest way to do this is to get yourself a really plain and obvious navigation bar. Have a look at the official AFL website (https://www.afl.com.au/) and you’ll see what we mean. 

There’s an almost intimidating amount of content that’s presented to you in a number of different ways. To be blunt we find this a little off-putting. However, if I simply want to check who my team has next week, I know that I’m going to find it under the ‘Fixtures’ tab in the menu that runs across the top of the page. Additionally, it’s also prominently displayed on the right side of the home page, meaning I can’t miss it. 

Beyond menus, try to take an approach that allows your viewer to feel in control. The internet is a place with a billion different options for them, you don’t want to scare them away.

Having a consistent design prevents your viewers from experiencing any unwanted surprises, and boosts this feeling of control. Design and arrange your homepage in a way that draws the eye without launching a full on assault of the senses, and then replicate parts of this design throughout your Site. 

Every page doesn’t need to be exactly the same, but if I land on a clean, simple homepage with some well-placed photographs, and then get whisked away to a lime green page with walls of text and autoplaying videos, it’s going to be a pretty jarring experience. It’s also going to scream of a lack of organisation on your end, and that’s not the impression you want me to have of your company. 

The key to a great Site is a balance between wanting to get something that’s cracking to look at, while also being easy to use. Keep the experience of a first time visitor in mind and you’ll be going down the right track.

SEO is no different to any other area of doing Business: there’s no substitute for a wealth of relevant experience. Although there’s plenty of people out there who would try to convince you otherwise, there’s nothing to SEO that you couldn’t learn and implement to become a great practitioner yourself over time. However, the brutal truth is that in all likelihood you don’t have that time, and you certainly don’t have a route to acquire a ton of experience before starting work on your own Site. 

Even if you have a pretty good level of knowledge, you are human, and that means you’re going to make mistakes. It’s better to bring in an expert who knows exactly what they’re doing from the off. Which neatly brings us to our next point…

Besides Customers, Leads, and Sales, your most valuable commodity is time. Bringing in an expert for to cover your SEO isn’t going to suddenly see you working 1 hour a day from the Bahamas, but it is going to help you to avoid another major headache in an already cramped schedule. 

Besides simplifying your schedule, an SEO pro is going to be able to give you the information you need, when you need. It’s pretty easy to drown in all of the information and chances that Digital Marketing offers, finding somebody who is able to reliably tell you key facts like which keywords you’re attacking, and how much traffic they’re generating you each month, is vital. Likewise, a specialist should be able to give you a reasonable guide on what you can expect from a campaign in its first 6-12 months. This information can help you to make sure you don’t overcommit, or leave yourself exposed.

All of the major Search Engines are pretty frank about the fact that they’re always adapting and looking to improve with changes in taste. This means that SEO itself is a field requiring extensive ongoing education as the latest changes to an algorithm could be all important to your Business. 

While a one-off set up or investment of your own time might be enough to get you up and running, it’s not going to safeguard you against industry changes, and we cannot stress how inevitable they are. Any reputable SEO practitioner will be abreast of significant changes, and will be set to minimize their disruption to you.

Although SEO isn’t the massively overcomplicated dark art that some people like to paint it as, our experience tells us that mastering it isn’t something the average Small Business Owner can accommodate in their life. By hiring a professional, you’re freeing yourself up to focus on the areas that you’re an utter rock star in. That sounds like a pretty good thing to us.

The geographies your Ads are shown to, as well as when they can be shown, are pretty important factors. If you’ve gotten this far you’ve probably got a reasonable idea of who your Customers are, and why your Business appeals to them. Similarly, you should be reasonably certain on exactly which of your products you’re moving the most of. 

For instance, if you’re selling retail lawn care products, your biggest buyers are going to be homeowners with gardens… we’re not going to charge you for that piece of insight.  With this knowledge, you probably want to be targeting suburbs where your average house comes with at least a bit of land. Sydney CBD might be full of people with money to spend, but if they haven’t got a blade of grass to their name, then there’s really not much point in you paying to get your product seen by them.

In a similar vein, you should have a rough idea of when your potential Customers are most likely looking to buy. It might be that you get a steady stream of sales throughout the week, but Saturday is always your best day, as people have more time to get out into their garden and see what they need. If this is the case, you need to ensure your Ads are being shown on Saturdays. To go a step further, you might realize that nobody gets home after a tough Monday at work and restarts work on their lawn. In this scenario you might actually pause your Ads on a Monday so you can increase your weekend spending without having to raise your budget. 

Putting a bit of thought into your Ad scheduling can have a massive impact on your ability to get those people with their hand already in their pocket viewing your products.

You’ve probably noticed the theme here is to make sure that you’re doing everything possible to get your Ads seen by the people who are going to end up putting cash in your pocket. Negative keywords are another tool to help you do this. In a nutshell, negative keywords are those terms you select which will block your Ads from ever showing. 

For example, if you’re an optometrist, you can find yourself in a bit of a tricky spot with the many definitions of ‘glasses’. To counter this, you might use ‘wine’ as one of your negative keywords. As a result, you’re not going to be wasting budget on anybody who is looking to ‘buy wine glasses online’. Have a good think about any potential confusion or crossover there might be with your product name and go from there.

It’s tempting to just split your budget down the middle for mobile and desktop Ads and just be done with it. However, there is some good room for improvement if you’re realistic about the purchasing habits of your Customers. 

If you’re selling products with a high ticket price, you might be somebody who benefits from a higher slice of your budget going to desktop. The likelihood of somebody spending 4 grand on a diesel generator on their train commute is pretty slim, they’re probably going to want to really research and ponder their purchase, and there’s a good chance they’re going to use a computer to do this. 

Alternatively, if you’re in an industry where snap purchases are the norm, consider weighting your budget in favour of Mobile searches. It’s 2019, nobody goes home to pull up a picture of those trainers on the PC in the study, it would only mean we’ve gotta wait another day to wear them!

Google Shopping is marvellously powerful tool IF you’re using it correctly. Make sure you’re not making any of the cardinal mistakes outlined above and you should be on the right path.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the best place to start when optimising your Ads, isn’t actually with your Ads at all. You can have the sexiest Ad copy in the world, with all the right keywords, but if your pages aren’t properly set up to convert you’re not going to get anywhere. 

Getting people to your Site is the first step, but once they’re there you want them to do something, whether that’s buy, register interest, get in touch, or any number of other possibilities. In order to get them to do this, you need to make it as simple for them as you possibly can. Whether this means giving your Site visitors a variety of buttons to click to register their interest, or a row of featured products that can be purchased with one click, you always need to try and imagine how your page views to somebody arriving there for the very first time.

Although you’re probably harbouring dreams of going Australia-wide before a global takeover, keep your Ad geographies super specific. If you’ve got one city or location that you’re doing well in, consider focusing all of your efforts there before going broad. Likewise, if you know that a higher proportion of your clients live in certain parts of the country or even certain parts of cities, then go ahead and target them aggressively. 

It’s possible to get as specific as selecting which suburbs see your Ads. If you’re beginning with a small budget and not a whole lot of information, maybe try to focus your efforts on those areas which you know will bring you success.

Perhaps the biggest Google Ads crime going is repeatedly blowing your budget on people who either have no interest in purchasing from you, or are actually looking for a different product or service. Negative keywords are essential because they help you to control those tricky tasks instances where a search term may indicate a willingness to purchase more than one product. If you’re selling ladies shoes Online, you don’t want to be splashing your budget on a bunch of people searching for footy boots. Negative keywords give you the ability to avoid this. 

 

Although you can pour thousands of hours into mastering every possible permutation in Google Ads (trust us, we’ve done it), there are a host of quick and simple measures you can take. As a rule of thumb, if you’re driving a good volume of relevant traffic to a page that’s set up to convert, you should be doing just fine.

Bing is simply Microsoft’s alternative to Google. It works in pretty much the same way that Google does… just enter what you’re searching for, and a massively complicated algorithm that nobody really understands will return you some impressively accurate Search Results. Head over to bing.com for yourself, and you’ll also see that the two even look pretty similar. There’s only so much sprucing up of an ‘ENTER YOR TEXT/QUESTION HERE’ box that can be done. 

The similarities don’t end here. Just like Google, Bing is used millions of times each day by Australians looking for products or services to spend their dollars on. Although Google is often the best place to start when it comes to Digital Marketing, you can’t be writing Bing off, just because it’s the smaller of two giants.

Just like Google, Bing has its own Pay Per Click (PPC) platform, which allows Small Businesses just like yours to affordably bid on certain keywords in return for Website traffic. The great news here is that due to the reduced number of users, it’s often appreciably cheaper to Advertise through Bing Ads. Most sources estimate the average overall cost can be brought down by about a third, although this will obviously vary by industry. 

Furthermore, Microsoft is pretty realistic about how in love with Google everybody is. To counter this, they’ve made it super simple to import your existing Google Ads campaign into Bing, meaning you can get started in a matter of clicks. If you’ve got an established Ads campaign that you’ve poured some blood, sweat, and tears into, why not boot it up in Bing and see if those juicy savings could apply to you? Similarly, if your current campaign is filling you with leads, but the cost of doing so is beginning to erode your margin, you’re probably at the point where you need to have a decent look at Bing.

Bing Places is Microsoft’s alternative to Google My Business. If that’s still a little too techy for you, just think of it as a free (yep, FREE) listing service that you can use to promote yourself Online. When used properly, Bing Places gives you control over what people see as the ‘official’ listing of your Business. Being able to easily select and edit the images and written content that greet anybody who searches for your Business Online is a huge step towards being able to turn browsers into Customers.

Bing have gone to a pretty big effort to ensure that their products and services don’t require a degree in astrophysics to operate. Besides intuitive set ups, Bing will also give you a boost by multiplying your work where possible. For instance, once you’ve established your Bing Places page, you’ll start to show up in Bing Maps, and a host of other location-based services.

If you’ve got any other questions, or you’re still not sold on how Bing can help your Small Business, feel free to give us a call.

To confront the question, it’s probably best to ask yourself how your time on the internet is usually spent. Be honest, if you need to find something Online, are you somebody that’s likely to head downstairs to the study and boot up your trusty family computer? Alternatively, is there a greater chance of you slipping your phone out of your pocket and tapping away from the comfort of your sofa, train seat, or favoured drinking establishment?

Just like 99.9% of Australia, we’d wager you’re in the latter camp. We’re not trying to tell you that nobody owns a computer anymore, but we are trying to tell you that everybody owns some form of a smart device. Google themselves have repeatedly published statistics showing how more than 50% of searches now come from Mobile. All of this means that you need to be doing everything you can to ensure that your Mobile Site is user-friendly, and a representation of your Business that is likely to help you pull in dollars. 

If your current Site isn’t optimized for this shift, it’s not the end of the road for you. However, you are at the stage where you need to invest a little time and money in getting yourself into the present day. Just like every other piece of digital technology out there, Websites age and fall behind. The difference here is that as well as all being judged by all of your potential Customers, you’re also getting judged by Google itself. And, if it hadn’t been made clear yet, they look pretty unfavourably on non-optimised Sites. 

Getting yourself a Mobile-Friendly offering doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg, and the vast majority of developers will build you an entirely new Site across all platforms for a single cost. Get your feelers out there and get started.

In a word: NO. SEO is one of the fundamentals of Online success, and we applaud your for doing it, but it’s not going to save your bacon here. Ultimately, you need both a Mobile Site and SEO. The latter is going to help Google and other Search Engines to see just how relevant and interesting your Site is to browsers, and the former is going to prove that everything you’ve got is easy to access, read, and interact with. 

If you’ve got great SEO being done on your Site, don’t view it as an antidote to the Mobile-First move, because you’re going to end up going backwards. Combining both is what is going to help you rock Online.

The first thing you need to do is check just how ready your Website is. There are a lot of tools out there that’ll give you a Mobile-Friendly score, and they’re a pretty easy place to start. If you think you’re in need of an improvement (and relax, there are plenty of others just like you out there), then get in touch with an expert who’ll be able to clearly discuss your options with you.

It used to be pretty common practice to try and cram as many Keywords as possible into a Website’s written content. This practice has the rather unattractive name of ‘Keyword stuffing’, and basically describes any attempt to trick a Search Engine by deliberately overusing words or phrases.

Although early users saw some success, Google and the others have long since latched on to this, and now are actively working to stamp it out by negatively ranking Sites that look a little too plump on Keywords. It’s important to target phrases and search terms in your written content, but you need to make sure you’re not overdoing it. As a general rule of thumb, if it becomes annoying to read, it’s probably over the top.

In this day and age not having a Site that caters to Mobile users should really be a criminal offence. We’re not going to bore you with statistics on the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, because you already know, and if you don’t you can find out by having a quick look outside. Google are definitely tech-savvy enough to know these statistics, and punish the ranking of any Sites that don’t offer a clean experience for Mobile users. 

If you’re at all unsure whether your Site is Mobile-friendly, just boot it up on your own device and have a look around. If this leaves you scratching your head a little, Google have built their very own Mobile-friendly test tool for you to have a play with. Finally, there’s never any harm in asking your Web Developer if there’s anything else you can be doing.

Alongside Keywords, it used to be fairly common (and sometimes good) practice to stuff your Site with so much Content that your server was bulging at its Digital stitches. The theory was that more pages meant more Keywords, which meant more traffic, which meant higher ranking. 

Again, Google and others picked up on this practice fairly quickly and moved to stamp it out. Now, any content that you produce needs to offer some kind of value to a prospective reader, as this is always Google’s goal. If people are landing on pages and quickly exiting, that seems reasonable evidence that what you’re serving up isn’t up to par.

When it comes to your SEO, you need to continually ask yourself whether your content serves any purpose other than helping you to climb the rankings. As long as the answer to this question is yes, you’ve probably got no need to panic. Keep your Site fresh, readable, and interesting, and you’ll be on the right track.

Google Shopping allows Online Consumers to search and view products in much the same way that Google Search allows you to compare and use Web pages. Shopping results are triggered by the use of particular search terms. If you sell athletic gear Online and want to have a neat summary of your product, price, and a couple of snazzy images to appear when somebody searches ‘men’s Nike running shoes’, then congrats, you already pretty much understand what Google Shopping is. 

Results can appear either under the specified ‘Shopping’ tab on Google, or at the very top of the Search Results page. Needless to say, the latter is a pretty coveted spot, and gives Small Business Owners a real leg up when it comes to getting ahead Online.

Let’s dwell on that for a second. Google Shopping gives you the ability to show at the very top of Google (including being placed above traditional PPC results). The fancy Digital Marketing term for this is ‘prime shelf’, but it doesn’t take a degree to figure out that being the first thing people see can only help you to sell. 

The beauty of this compared to PPC is twofold. Firstly, the clear display of price and image gives browsers a better idea if this is really the product they want before they click on your Ad. Secondly, due to the less-established nature of Google Shopping, the cost to you each time somebody clicks on your Ad is greatly reduced.

When it comes down to making a purchase, you can use all the great sales copy in the world, but your Buyer is probably still going to want to see an image of your product. The use of high-quality images builds authority, and can reassure Consumers that this is the exact product they were looking for. This is particularly true in industries such as fashion, where appearance is a mighty large part of the buying decision.

By prominently displaying your (hopefully high-quality) images, Google Shopping allows you to pull an Online shopper in. Before they know it they’ve clicked your Ad and could be only one more click away from checking out.

This is obviously a very brief guide to Google Shopping, but it does highlight some of the key benefits of this awesome Marketing Tool. Crucially, there’s no outlandish investment required to either set up or run a campaign… meaning you’ve really got no excuse not to get going.

It may seem counterintuitive, but the best place to start when it comes to increasing the margin you’re making on your Marketing is with your Site itself. You could have the best Campaign, with the fanciest Ad copy ever seen, but if your Site isn’t up to par, you’re probably wasting your dollars. Similarly, if you’ve got a great Site but aren’t set up to convert, you’re not going to be turning as many of your visitors into Customers as you should. 

Remember, people are time-poor, inattentive, and confronted with a thousand alternatives to you. Make sure your Site presents everything it needs to in an easy to navigate manner, and paints your Business in the best possible light. 

You’ve got to think of the rise of Mobile devices as a gift to you and your Business. Your ability to hoover up Online Customers got a whole lot easier as soon as people were able to do things like browse for that killer holiday bikini as they sat on the tram after a rainy day at work.  

If you’re smart, you’ll be using your PPC to target the horde of Mobile users across Australia. Whether it’s through call extensions that allow people to simply hit your Ad and get straight on the phone to you, or taking advantage of the fact that you can choose to show certain campaigns only to Mobile browsers, there are a ton of ways for you to get creative and wring every last cent out of your spend. 

One of the most logical ways to increase your margin is to decrease your Cost Per Click. The first way to do this is to conduct a review of the Keywords you’re currently targeting. Draw up a list of what you think your essential keywords are, and then see if you can come up with any synonyms or alternative phrases. Although the amount of traffic - and the strength of the lead coming through - might be the same, you might find that it’s far cheaper to bid on ‘dress amendments’, rather than ‘dress alteration’. 

Similarly, if you’re in a highly competitive industry, it’s wise to try a couple of different options when it comes to the types of phrases you’re targeting. Rather than blowing your entire budget on ‘dress alteration’, it might pay to go after something a little cheaper like ‘cheap dress alteration near me’. Not only will this drive your Cost Per Click down, but it might actually deliver a better strength of Page visitor.

When it comes to your Google Ads, there are thousands of hours you could spend on lifting your profitability. However, if you’re anything like us, you probably don’t have that kind of time spare. Start with the points above, try to always remember that Google Ads is an ongoing process, and you’ll be on the right track.

Google Ads runs on the largest and most popular Search Engine in the world. It has two Advertising networks within Google itself: the search network where your ads appear alongside the Search Engine Results; and the display network, where your Ads are displayed across affiliate Websites that are part of the Google network.

On the other hand, Microsoft Bing Ads are displayed across three of the lesser (yet still major) Search Engines: Bing, Yahoo, and AOL.

Before choosing your preferred PPC platform, make sure you take the time to understand your preferred audience, so you can use the platform which is going to enable you to target the appropriate demographics.

Based on Statista, an online Statistics Portal, 40% of Bing users are between 35-54 years old, and nearly half of them are married. Meanwhile, the average Google user is a fair bit younger. It might sound overly technical, but do take a second to consider this data before you launch your PPC Campaign. For instance, if your products are almost exclusively aimed at teens and millennials, you probably need to be leaning towards Google Ads. If you don’t mind targeting a slightly older age bracket, then Bing might be advantageous to you.  

A display URL is the web address seen underneath your ad; they’re delivered in green text on both Google and Bing. It gives those who search Online an idea of which Website they will be taken to once they’ve clicked your Ad. There does seem to be a small advantage when using Bing as the URL is emboldened underneath the Ad, which can draw the viewer’s eye to the Advertisements. Obviously, this is true for all paid Ads showing after any given search, but it should help you marginally increase the number of people clicking on your Ad.  

If you’re a Small Business with a limited marketing budget, what good can a PPC campaign do you if you can’t even afford it in the first place? Presently, this is the key strength of Bing Ads… it allows you to compete at a much lower cost. Bing Ads has a smaller market share, meaning that there is reduced competition (and therefore a cheaper cost per click) in the majority of industries.

Don’t be confused, paying less doesn’t equal low quality traffic. With some help from PPC experts, it’s possible to generate the right traffic, more sales and a better ROI without splurging all of your dollars. For those on very tight budgets, Bing is often king.

When it comes to Online visibility, it’s obviously a no-brainer. Google has a simply monstrous number of users. It’s also arguably faster and easier to manage because so many people are so familiar with it. While Bing is no match for Google when it comes to volume, its network is growing by the day and you simply cannot ignore the many missed opportunities when you refuse to look outside of the obvious Marketing options.

There’s no simple answer to which of Google or Bing is better for you, sometimes it’s not even that easy to explain differences between them. Eventually, you’ll need to be doing both if you’re serious about growing your Business and creating stability. Just

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, relax. It’s not as complicated or as techie as it sounds. Geotargeting, also known as location targeting, is simply a way of determining which geographic areas your Ads will be shown in. Say you’re from Brisbane and go online to find someone to wash your SUV, you’re likely to arrive at a list of car wash companies servicing your area. Information on the best wash and valet in Germany is likely to appeal only to the purest of petrolheads. If you’re a Small Business needing to target consumers in a particular location, geotargeting just became your best friend.

Again, it’s all about finding your potential Customers. For instance, if you’re selling surfboards, why not target coastal areas where you know demand is appreciably higher? It might cost you less to target Outback Australia with your Ads… but how much of your outlay are you going to recoup? You’ll increase your chance of a healthy ROI by ensuring that your Ads are shown in the appropriate locations.

Don’t think that geotargeting means you necessarily have to get super specific. You can go as broad or narrow as you like, state by state or postcode by postcode. It all depends on what you think is going to boost your Business.

In many industries you’re going to find that certain locations are your most profitable. Geotargeting gives you the ability to tweak your Advertising so that you are attacking these areas as much as possible. If you’re seeing great results from a certain geography, it’s probably best to keep allocating as much budget as possible to these areas until you begin to top out.

With geotargeting, the opportunities are endless when it comes to competing with your industry competitors. If you feel your competitors are strong in a certain area due to local Advertising, a physical store or outlet, or anything else, geotargeting for PPC is your chance to level the playing field. Make sure you’ve got a set of ads that appeal to your potential Customers, and get all fired up to win some clients from your competitors.

Remember that as a Small Business Owner with a careful eye on your pocket, you ALWAYS need to be striving for quality Digital Marketing that resonates with your target market.

A huge part of this is making yourself visible to the people who need to connect with a Business like yours. Geotargeting allows you grow your Business in both the financial and geographical sense of the word. If you’re running a barebones PPC campaign then congratulations on taking the first steps, but you need to complete the great work.

 

Sites n Stores have helped thousands of Small Businesses through their Digital journey. If you’ve got any questions regarding absolutely anything at all, don’t hesitate to get on the phone.