So your pay-per-click advertisement offer of “free shoes with the purchase of every shoelace” caught the attention of a search engine searcher. They’ve clicked on your ad, Google charged your account the $5.50 you bid for the term “shoe fastening devices,” and the potential customer is on your site. Now what?

What can you do to your site to encourage customers to take the desired call to action? Below are a few tips that may help to improve the effectiveness of PPC landing pages.

1. Align the Keywords

Align the keywords you purchased with the content on your page. Make sure your keywords are scattered throughout the copy, specifically headlines, so the visitor knows right away that they are on a site that covers “shoe fastening devices.”

2. Searchers Don’t Like to Search

Put the most important information front and center, so visitors don’t have to look around for it. The easier you make it for them to find the information they are looking for, the longer they will stick around. Bold face or enlarge the main points and keywords on the page to allow for quick scanning. Also, images of the product or service are a good idea because they draw attention easier.

3. Clearly TELL Them What to Do

A quick, clear and concise call to action is easier to understand than a wordy one. “Click Here to Purchase” puts the action as the first word, leaving little confusion on how to purchase the product. “If you would like to purchase shoelaces, click here,” isn’t as powerful and doesn’t give the same type of urgency.

4. Above the Fold (Unlike this)

A main point to remember is that the call to action (CTA) should be above the fold. The fold refers to the bottom of the page that isn’t visible without scrolling down. The most common spot for a CTA is at the top of the right-hand column, but check out the sites that you frequent and see where they put theirs. You can also test the best place for a CTA with A/B testing. Put the CTA in two different locations on the Web page, and then study the analytics to see which version customers responded to better. Google offers a great, free A/B testing tool.

(Part 3 of a 4-part blog series on The Battle for Influence: Online vs. Print Media)

“We face the most difficult advertising environment in our history … ,” wrote Terry Egger, publisher of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in a letter to readers after restructuring the paper in June 2008. Major sections of the newspaper now appear online only.

According to Ad Age, the top 100 U.S. advertisers — who account for 41 percent of the total advertising spending — increased measured Internet spending by $1 billion, slashed newspaper spending by $674 million and cut TV budgets by $406 million last year.

It’s true that print media is losing out to the Web. The list goes on:

• Online media companies like Google are enjoying huge advertising revenue increases, while mainstream media outlets are suffering.
• Real estate revenues are shifting online.
  
• Auto ad dollars are shifting online.
• Department stores are shifting ad dollars online.
  

With social media, online forums, blogs and the interactivity of the Web growing and expanding so quickly, newspapers and magazines struggle to compete with the printed version weakening their bottom lines.

The advent of pay-per-click, mobile ads, dayparting, and ads sold by user profiles offer newspapers the ability to master the online monster. Eventually, the print industry will adapt and shift its printed counterpart online entirely — as soon as it integrates these emerging online technologies.

So, where does PR go from here? Less focus in print, more attention to Internet marketing campaigns, pay-per-click services, mobile ads, social networking, social media, blogging and search-engine optimization — the list goes on. The needle is shifting toward inbound marketing.

Blog Series — The Battle for Influence: Print vs. Online Media

Part 1 — Newspapers without the Paper?

Part 2 — Views from the Mainstream

Part 3 —  Print Media is Losing

Part 4 — Public Relations: The New Fundamentals

 

(Part 2 of a 4-part blog series on The Battle for Influence: Online vs. Print Media)

With the explosion of social media — Facebook.com, Youtube.com, MySpace.com — the Internet has in a way given people control over their consumption of news and information. So how is the printed newspaper — a vehicle so used to managing information flow — to survive in this world where consumer decisions drive the proverbial information bus?

I decided to go out into the community to find my answer. George Nemeth, a Cleveland-based blogger, known for brewedfreshdaily.com, and author, and Dan Hanson, a Cleveland-based writer for both printed and electronic publications, offer their insights.

Do you see the day when newspapers completely abandon their print counterpart?

DAN: There are still a whole lot of people who rely on the newspaper for their news.  Maybe they don’t have access or desire for cable TV, Internet or other alternative information sources. Maybe they just like the experience of holding the paper and turning the pages. … Whatever the reasons may be, newspapers would be foolish to abandon this market. They may need to raise the price for consumers but I think the print versions will be around for a while.

GEORGE: As newspaper demographics change, younger readers aren’t reading the paper, so eventually the paper’s advertising revenues won’t support its cost of publication.

So how can the printed newspaper survive?

DAN:  I see a combination of online and print working, but not merely duplicating the printed paper on the Web. Smart companies will use each medium in the way they best serve consumers. Internet news seems more disposable (and less valuable) than a daily newspaper, which, in turn, is more disposable than a glossy magazine. I’d still rather be on the cover of Rolling Stone than on the homepage of rollingstone.com.

GEORGE: Revenue for online advertising is increasing significantly, while revenue from the print side is falling rapidly. I saw figures recently that time spent online is about 80 percent of all media consumption, while most ad buyers spend 20 percent of their budgets online. I don’t think it’ll be very long before buyers correct that disparity. Depending on the market, it may be within the next year or two.

What do you predict for the printed newspaper?

DAN: Publishers will offer bundles. Buy x column in the paper and get your banner ads rotated y times on our Website. Or, spend enough on our Website and we will include your message in our nice 4-color print weekly so you can distribute to customers and hang on the wall.

GEORGE: As soon as someone creates an inexpensive computing device that folds like a newspaper and allows you to play multimedia files, the print vs. online debate will be moot. Who knows what will be possible in the future with nanotechnology.

There seems to be a disparity between the baby boomers and Generation X. Those who grew up holding the newspaper in their hand don’t see, or at least don’t want to admit, the day is coming when that will no longer be an option.

Content is king and will prevail — in whatever form consumers decide. And the numbers don’t lie.

You can check out George Nemeth’s blogs at www.brewedfreshdaily.com, www.optimisticrebel.com and www.radicaltransitions.net, and Dan Hanson’s monthly column in Inside Business magazine at www.ibmag.com.

 

Blog Series — The Battle for Influence: Print vs. Online Media

Part 1 — Newspapers without the Paper?

Part 2 — Views from the Mainstream

Part 3 —  Print Media is Losing

Part 4 — Public Relations: The New Fundamentals

 

"The next 5 years will hold more change for the advertising industry than the previous 50 did."That, according to a new report from IBM (NYSE: IBM) Global Business Services.

In "The End of Advertising as We Know It," (all apologizes to Sergio Zyman who published a book in 2003 under that exact title), IBM surveyed more than 2,400 consumers and 80 advertising executives globally. The report shows, "increasingly empowered consumers, more self-reliant advertisers and ever-evolving technologies are redefining how advertising is sold, created, consumed and tracked."

Report Highlights

• Broadcasters must change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments.

• Distributors need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices.

• Advertising agencies must experiment creatively, become brokers of consumer insights, and guide allocation of advertising dollars amid exploding choices.

• All players must adapt to a world where advertising inventory is increasingly bought and sold in open exchanges vs. traditional channels.

• U.S. users report more usage of social networking sites and user generated content than almost any other content services category:
  • 45 percent use social networking sites
  • 29 percent visit user generated content sites
  • 24 percent use a music service such as iTunes 
  • 24 percent subscribe to premium television content

• In biggest DVR market, users report extensive replay of television programming. This is resulting in ad skipping and revenue shakeup unless producers and broadcasters reinvent marketing formats and messaging: 
  • 24 percent have a DVR in their home, and 48 percent have used video-on-demand from a cable company or other provider
  • While 33 percent report watching more television content than before the DVR, 53 percent report watching at least fifty percent on replay

• Users feel extreme regarding new forms of advertising. Marketers have to work harder than ever to understand individuals and micro-segments:
  • Nearly 50 percent reported that video spots online – during, pre-rolled or as sponsorships – were the least annoying form of advertisement. Other formats tested were banner ads, pop-ups, and contextual search ads

• However, nearly the same level of consumers responded the same forms of advertising were most annoying online

• Additionally, 11 percent said they’d be willing to pay a little for ad-free viewing of video online

Check out the full report from IBM.

On the heels of surpassing the $200 billion mark in market value (which by the way is more than the combined value of News Corp, Disney, Viacom and CBS), Google amassed nearly 4 billion search queries in September, according to the latest report from Nielsen Online.

That's 54 percent of all online queries conducted at the top U.S. search providers. Yahoo! Search is second with 1.4 million (19.5 percent).

So, as Google's influence continues to expand, here are a few practical tips to help your business tap into the wealth of services offered by the search giant:

• Sign up to receive Google News Alerts for your company, competitors and industry.

• Create custom Google Maps of your headquarters to post online, and send in emails.

• Research and monitor discussions and trends in the social media world through Google Blog Search and Google Groups.

• Launch a pay-per-click campaign with Google AdWords.

• Submit your Website to be indexed by Googlebot.

To find even more uses for Google in your business, check out the Google Business Solutions site.

Public relations as we know it is rapidly evolving, and organizations caught watching from the sidelines are being left behind.

Innovators and early adopters are taking the risks, and reaping the rewards, of launching social media campaigns. These organizations, seeking more affordable and effective, non-traditional marketing solutions, are turning to online tools such as blogs, podcasts, wikis and videos – and some are having remarkable success.

Take, for example, Blendtec. For the YouTube.com faithful, CEO Tom Dickson (that's him in the lab coat) is a social-media celebrity. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with the “Will It Blend?” video series, it is a case study in the power of viral videos.

In a recent StartupJournal.com article entitled, “Marketing Videos Are A Hit in Their Own Right,” it was reported that as a result of a series of online-only videos featuring Dickson blending items such as, golf balls, EZ Cheese, Transformers, magnets and iPhones (yes, he actually obliterated an iPhone), sales of Blentec’s home blenders sky-rocketed 43% in 2006.

Update:  The original article linked in this entry is no longer active. For more information, check out the similar blog post, "Marketing Videos Became a Hit in Their Own Right."

It’s even more impressive when you consider that Blentec didn’t have a marketing department until 2006, and launched the video effort on a $50 budget!

Have you considered how social media is changing your business, and your industry? Maybe it's time that you do.