Tag Archives: Online Advertising

Google AdWords

One of the things that can really help get your website traffic fast is paid advertising.

We recently helped an Indianapolis dentist get started with paid advertising from Google AdWords. We came up with a marketing plan together and created a budget. We were able to use input from the client and data from Google Analytics to know what people had been searching for and finding them in the past. Basically, we wanted to amplify and expedite what the site was already doing well through content marketing and SEO.

We setup a campaign for the metropolitan area of Indianapolis, funded it with an initial payment, and setup 6 different ads so we could test to see which one was more effective. We plan on revisiting this over the next couple of days to see which ones were more popular and possibly add new ones. The ads usually take a little under a day to start showing up. This is because of an initial approval process by Google and for time for the payment to process.

Bid Per Call

One recently new feature (added in 2011) is a bid-per-call feature that allows you to bid for phone calls, in addition to bidding for clicks, when you show Google search ads on computers and tablets. According to Google, both your max bid per click (max CPC bid) and max cost-per-call bid (max CPP bid) can influence your ad’s position on the results page. You can increase your ad position and drive more phone calls to your business by setting a bid that is equal to or greater than the $1 minimum call fee.

Bid-per-call requires you to use a Google forwarding number when you activate call extensions. It provides detailed call reporting, so you can have a better sense of the value of calls and clicks your campaigns are generating.

With bid-per-call, the maximum cost-per-call (CPP) and your call Quality Score will be factored into your Ad Rank. This means that you’ll automatically be rewarded with higher ad position and lower cost per call when your phone number is useful to users. And you’ll have increased control over the position of your ads and your call volume by adjusting your bid. As always, you’ll never pay more than you’re willing to for either a phone call or a click.

Groupons is a company and a website with a unique business model that is mutually beneficial to vendors, customers, and Groupons itself. Vendors like retail outlets contact Groupons about goods or services they would like to package and promote. Groupon reps work with the vendor to create an ad that runs in a daily email newsletter. Each coupon has a quota and if enough people purchase a package, all packages sell at once. Groupons takes a small percentage of the sale and mails the vendor a check the next day. Customers get the coupon immediately for use.

Because Groupons only makes money when you, the vendor, makes money you can be sure that the ad reps will help paint your company and products in a good light. There is very little risk and a lot of potential exposure. Even if not enough coupons are sold, your brand will still go out to thousands of potential new clients who may use your business in the future.

If you want to learn more about how Groupon works, check out their guide site. At Watershawl, we can also assist with helping your company apply to Groupon or setup an email marketing campaign of your own. We prefer Constant Contact, but we are also familiar with Delivra. We recommend email marketing be a core part of your overall marketing strategy and advertising budget.