The Trada Blog

How to Determine Keywords for PPC

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Guest post by Marianne Pratt

Figuring out just the right keywords to use for your pay-per-click advertising can seem as elusive as finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. The good news is that there’s more than one needle out there, and there are plenty of tools to help you find the sharpest ones. You just need to conduct a little keyword research.

The best keywords for search engine optimization (SEO) and PPC are not necessarily the same, so you need to think differently and research specifically for PPC. Success depends on selecting the words and phrases that will be most effective and also cost-effective.

It’s all about ROI. Your ads need to be seen, but they also have to attract clicks and generate sales. Betting on the wrong keywords can be extremely costly, a total waste of advertising resources.

Your keyword research goal is to find choices that are specific enough to your business and products to separate you from your competition. Using a variety of specific keywords can help maintain ad display frequency while keeping cost per click (CPC) lower. Look for even more specific “niche” keywords, as they can be even more valuable. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Keywords

Marketing Tools: Optimizely

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to change something on your website because you have a hunch that it will perform better? But maybe you aren’t a developer, and you’re unsure if it will ACTUALLY improve your conversions or for whatever goal you’re aiming.

Optimizely to the rescue! Simple, fast, and powerful. Optimizely is a dramatically easier way for you to improve your website through A/B testing. Create an experiment in minutes with their easy-to-use visual interface with absolutely no coding or engineering required!

Why You Need It

1. Super Easy

Enter the URL, create versions of the page you’re testing, and test! It REALLY is that simple. You can choose the element you want to change, (font size, color, the message, etc) and see which version performs best!

2. YOU Can Do It!

“It’s awesome!” says our Marketing Manager, Anna Sawyer. And that’s because SHE can do it herself! With Optimizely, there’s no need for a developer or coder to change the page. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing Tools

How to Market Your Business With Email Marketing

January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Check out Trada’s other posts in our online marketing series: How to Market Your Business on Twitter, How to Market Your Business on Facebook, How to Market Your Business with a Blog, and  How to Market Your Business with Video. Leave us a tip of your own on marketing with email, and the best comment will win a $25 Amazon gift card. Comments must be made by Sunday, January 29 at 11pm ET.

E-mail marketing is an extremely effective tool — if used correctly. I learned from the lessons of hard knocks on what to do and what not to do. As with everything, it’s always better to ask the experts. This time we asked experts from Marketo, SendGrid and social media agency Room 214 for their thoughts on how to use email marketing, understanding regulations and how to create email marketing lists.

Meet the Experts:

Tim Falls, a Community Manager for SendGrid, an email delivery system that simplifies the process and produces better results. Check out his SendGrid’s blog and follow him on Twitter @timfalls.

 

Maria Pergolino, Sr Director of Marketing at marketing software automation system, Marketo.  Check out the Marketo blogs and follow Maria on Twitter @InboundMarketer.

 

Ingrid Getzan, Group Practice Director at social media agency Room 214. Check out the Room 214 blog, Capture the Conversation and follow Ingrid on Twitter @igetzan.

 

 

Email marketing is one of the most heavily regulated online marketing components. What do companies need to know before getting started with email marketing?

Ingrid Getzan: Companies need to know the very basics;  go with a trusted email software company, don’t buy lists, don’t use certain words in the subject line that will be marked as spam, know an acceptable frequency to send emails, and most importantly, know your plan.

Too many businesses send out emails because they think they should, without having a clear agenda of what they would like to communicate. There is no better way to get blacklisted then sending out irrelevant or spammy emails – a sure way to kill your email marketing efforts immediately. Sit down and figure out at least a 6 month plan of what you want to tell to your subscribers. Figure out why they want to receive your email and make the information within your email valuable to them. Don’t just pick a template or extend promotional offers to them – make it exclusive and worth their time.

Maria Pergolino: Get familiar with Can-Spam Laws – this goes far beyond the laws in your country, extending to anywhere you market.  Just because you are in the US, doesn’t mean can ignore laws in other countries you sell your goods.  To learn about Can-Spam Laws, check out this great guide by the FTC.   [Read more...]

Filed Under: SMB Marketing

Top 10 Industries in AdWords Spending

January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Google’s 2011 earnings were announced recently as “disappointing,” but they still made $37.9 billion in advertising revenues. Have you ever wondered which industries are contributing the most to that number? Our friends at Wordstream have put together a stellar infographic detailing who spent what in Google AdWords, as well as the top five biggest spenders in each industry. Check out the infographic below, and head over to Wordsteam’s blog to see Larry Kim’s analysis of the results.

Interested in more paid search news and tips? Subscribe to our blog!

Filed Under: Advertising

How to Get Started in PPC

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Guest post by Marianne Pratt

Are you finally ready to give pay-per-click (PPC) advertising a try? Maybe you’ve dabbled in PPC but your efforts need a boost. Or perhaps you’ve put your proverbial toe in the water and now think PPC may be a career opportunity for you. Knowing how to get started in PPC will ensure your next steps take you where you want to go.

Used properly, PPC can make your marketing more efficient, producing greater search engine visibility, more traffic, higher quality leads and quickly quantifiable results. Just being able to track and control your advertising can do wonders for your ROI.

Follow these basics on how to get started in PPC:

  • Do your homework. Google is the easiest place to start, because they offer lots of help. You can even earn an AdWords certificate.
  • Set goals and identify metrics to analyze results. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Paid Search, PPC Tips

[PODCAST] Internet Ads Update: Search Plus Your World

January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Search Plus Your World is causing quite the kerfuffle since its US release last week, and we’re being bombarded with burning questions! How does it work? How can I, as a marketer, capitalize on Search Plus Your World? And is this just a slippery slope toward a dystopian alternate-universe future where the education we get from the internet is inconsistent with that of others’ and is subject to factors outside of our control?!

In this 8-minute podcast, intrepid world-travelers Matt Hessler and Anna Sawyer call in from their trip around the world to offer practical advice for digital marketers. This week, they’re in orbit above New Zealand in the International Space Station with a macro view of the potential effects Search Plus Your World will have on Planet Earth. They cover:

- How does Search Plus Your World work?
- What does it mean to marketers?
- What are steps marketers can take to protect their place in the organic and paid search rankings?

As always, your comments, topic suggestions and compliments are like the rich oxygen that fills our lungs. Leave them in the comments or email us at podcast@trada.com!

For the latest internet advertising news delivered straight to your iTunes…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Webinars are a Legitimate Lead-Generation Channel: 10 Strategies to Monetize Your Webinars

January 18, 2012 By 3 Comments

You guys! This is a really exciting milestone for me, and for you!

Today I hosted my 30th webinar for Trada. (Ed. note: at press time, Ms. Sawyer is wrapping up her 33rd Trada webinar – golly gosh is she a machine.)

Webinars are a lot of work. I develop a concept, decide where it fits on the calendar, find a partner or guest (or choose to go it alone), write an abstract, put together copy for email invitations and build landing pages, design all the slides and accompanying materials, and write and design a best practices guide.

Then I moderate or host the webinar. Strive to be charming, knowledgeable, engaging, helpful, witty, centered and valuable. Remember to breathe. Don’t let my chair squeak. Don’t space out looking at the volumes of chat messages coming through in the webinar interface. Keep my cool presenting for hundreds of marketers who’re dedicating an hour of their time to hear me speak.

Finally, follow-up. With the help of an excellent intern, this has been whittled down to a frenetic half-day, but it’s still a formidable time investment. And when this is all over? I plan the next one. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Marketing Tools

Five Things I Learned in One Month at Trada that I Didn’t Learn in Four Years of College

January 16, 2012 By 4 Comments

Guest Post by Keith Jensen, Sales and Marketing Operations Intern

As I am dreading my impending graduation from CU Boulder this May, it was interesting to look back and see what I wish I would’ve learned while attending college.  I’ve only been at Trada for a little over two months, and I now know that there will always be more concepts, skills, or programs to learn before I can get to where I want to be in the real world.  Here are five main ones that hit me within seven days of my Marketing and Sales Operations Internship:

Salesforce.com
If you are involved with marketing or sales and you haven’t heard of SFDC, then I would recommend buying Salesforce.com for Dummies.  SFDC has received multiple awards over the past few years, including “Most Innovative Company” and “Best Sales Platform.” It serves as the basis for keeping all of a company’s leads, contacts, opportunities, accounts, campaigns, and everything else sales-related organized and easy to read.  A lot of companies pay above-average salaries for someone to be their SFDC Administrator, so learning everything about the site can prove to be a huge resume booster.  I had to spend hours exploring all the features and pages that exist in the back-end of the site, and knowing the basis of how it worked first would’ve made it a lot easier. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Trada News

Click Fraud Week Wrap Up

January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Click Fraud Week has come to end. Thanks for tuning in all week! If you missed yesterday’s webinar, fear not, we have it here!

Click Fraud: Protect Yourself from Internet Crime!

Check out our other presentations on Slide Share!

Filed Under: PPC Tips

[PODCAST] Internet Ads Update Episode 7: Click Fraud – One Step to Protect Yourself

January 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We’re wrapping up Click Fraud Week here at Trada with a special episode of Internet Ads Update! In this 8-minute podcast, Matt Hessler and Anna Sawyer call in from their trip around the world (this week: swimming with Great Whites in South Africa) to give you the #1 best possible way to protect  yourself from click fraud – and it only takes ten minutes a month.

Questions? Topic ideas? Haircut suggestions for Anna and Matt? Leave them in the comments or email us at podcast@trada.com!

For the latest internet advertising news delivered straight to your iTunes…

Filed Under: Podcasts
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