Category: Tips

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Are Coupons Right For Your Business?

Get $100 of AdWords clicks free.So are coupons right for your business? From my point of view they should be used for just about every business. Prospects love to get something free and clients love little perks. Shoppers may choose your product or service over a competitor just because of a special discount or free shipping offer.

So what kind of coupons should you consider? Here are just a few. When you create one, make sure to list it in your Google Places account as coupons and reviews are just two of the factors that help to boost your Google Places page organic position.

  1. Free analysis
  2. Free shipping on your first order
  3. 10% off your first service
  4. Free gift with purchase – could be a pen, coffee cup or promotional item
  5. 10% of the purchase of a yearly service plan
  6. Free inspection
  7. Free review of existing coverage

You don’t have to break the bank or destroy your own profit margin to have a coupon. In my case, I am offering $100 of clicks on Google AdWords free with the set up of a new account. AdWords gives me many coupons each quarter and I am glad to give them away as I get new business. You may have similar situations with your vendors all you may need to do is to ask.

Are there any businesses where coupons would not work? I can’t think of too many, even insurance reps can offer free analysis or a free review of your existing coverage. Don’t consider a coupon a way to cheapen what you offer but rather think of a coupon as an incentive for a potential customer to ask more questions and to make contact with you in the first place.

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Google to Roll Out Call Metrics for AdWords to All End of June

This is great news for all AdWords customers, Marek at Google Agency Support told me that the plan is for Google AdWords to roll out call metrics to all US clients by the end of June 2011.

I have been testing call metrics and I think that it is a must have for anyone using Google AdWords. Once you turn it on in your account, expect about 30 days of service free (you will only pay a cost per click charge) and then expect to pay $1 per call on top of your cost per click charge.

For advertisers who have expected that AdWords has been driving phone traffic and not website form conversions you’ll now have the proof to evaluate further your success with AdWords. We have several clients who will really benefit from the new call tracking features.

This is how it works. Your ad will now have a click to call icon. The user can either click into your ad or click to phone you. If they phone you, they will be calling a phone number generated by Google that will then forward the call to your regular phone. Google will track the length of the call and time. They will then record the call as a conversion in your AdWords account in the call metrics section. We’ve long known that Google AdWords can drive off Web traffic and now we will have the proof.

We are excited about this new feature and plan on implementing it for nearly all our our clients. Watch for it to arrive in your AdWords account interface this month or early next month.

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ICANN Sets Up New Domain Name Endings

Coming in January 2012 are new domain name endings, but don’t get excited too fast if you don’t have $185,000 for the application fee. Yes, that is right, these new domain name endings called gTLD or general top level domains are pricey but for the right business a perfect solution.

A gTLD is a domain name ending that is a keyword. So for example I might have mccordweb.webdesign with webdesign now being my domain name ending instead of dot com. With Google stating that they are preferentially treating keyword domain names preferentially in the organic results (this may now cause a change in Google’s algorithm) a gTLD could be a real organic placement boon for a business.

However, the gTLD will be for the rich corporate client as the application fee is $185,000 per domain name request and then a hefty quarterly renewal of over $6,000. Wow, you’ve got to have deep pockets to get into this game.

What does this mean for small to medium sized businesses. Well, in the long run, I think that there will be some entrepreneurs who will pick up the keyword dense gTLD and then resell subdirectory domains on their domain name ending for way less than you would pay yourself.  So, in the long run you may be able to get a keyword domain but as a shared domain with others in your industry.

This should be interesting to watch as it unfolds. The application process starts in January 2012, so keep an eye out.

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Contact Form Woes And The Solution

Occasionally we have a client who is using a low-end web host or who is self-hosting and does not have a cgi-bin or scripting enabled in order for us to install a contact form processing script. Sometimes this has lead to expensive programming charges. We do not offer programming and so we have to contract out this portion of a project adding to expenses.

We have found a service that will process the script for you on their servers and so far it looks like a clean and elegant solution to a thorny problem for some clients. Our preferred site is MyContactForm.com. With a premium account for $24.99 per year, now any client can have a professional seamless contact form installed on their site without complex programming initiatives. I think that it is a very smart solution.

We have used this service on a number of client sites over the years and have had no issues in implementation or script processing. If you are in a similar situation, it is worth a look-see.