Category: News & Trends

Posted on

When to Advertise on Facebook

When to Advertise on Facebook
When to Advertise on Facebook

Here are my tips as to when you may want to consider advertising your business and services on Facebook.

One, if you have a relatively low ad budget and want to test if pay per click might be a good option to grow your business, Facebook pay per click advertising is a good match.

Two, if you have customer demographics that fit with the older Facebook user, Facebook advertising may be a good fit for your needs. If your audience is in their 20’s and 30’s consider Instagram instead of Facebook.

I have had clients have success advertising products and services on Facebook. Here are some additional considerations if you decide that you would like to try it out.

One, make sure you are monitoring comments. Readers will post comments to your ads and if you are not watching competitors may even post their own links in the comments.  You can delete any comments you find offensive or not business enhancing. It is not uncommon for trolls to post negative things on your ads, so it is crucial that you be monitoring ad comments.

Two, I do not typically encourage driving Facebook pay per click traffic to your Facebook page but rather to your website so your message is shaped to put you in the best light.

If you need help on strategies or evaluation of Google Ads as an option, make sure to visit our website for more information and pricing.

Posted on

Using Twitter at at Conference or Trade Show

How to use Twitter at an event or conference.
How to use Twitter at an event or conference.

Are you at a trade show or conference and want to tweet out what is happening? It’s easy.

Download the Twitter app for your phone at the Apple Store or Google Play.

Enter in your Twitter credentials to allow your desktop activity to be synced with your mobile activity.

At your next event, look near the entry for the hashtags your event is using. You may see something like #WebConf2019 for Web Conference 2019. At the end of our tweet add the hashtag. See my example below:

Seeing and learning today with our team at #WebConf2019.

I recommend when you are at a trade show or conference that you attach quick pics to your tweet using your smartphone. Simply take your photo, save to your phone’s gallery and then craft your tweet. After the hashtag click the paperclip icon to add a photo from your gallery and click tweet!

It is very easy, fun, and your tweet becomes searchable with the event hashtag. Remember you don’t need to be perfect when you tweet at an event, but be in the moment and capture the essence of the fun and what you are learning.

Posted on

Are Trademark Issues Keeping Your Google Ads from Showing?

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC
Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

There are two scenarios I see often in Google Ads – trademark infringement and site suspension. Today I am going to chat about trademark infringement.

For Medical Spa owners one of the biggest issues is getting ads to show using the term Botox.  Even if you are a medical doctor who is able to provide Botox injections, you will not be able to advertise with the word Botox without getting an approval.

Here is the process. For more information check out Google’s help page on getting an approval to use a trademark.

  1. You will need your rep to pass the form for trademark use approval to the makers/suppliers of Botox at the corporate level. Your rep’s signature will not be enough to get ads to run.  Authorization Form
  2. Once a company principle has signed the form – make sure you have supplied your AdWords account number as part of the request process. They will send this online back to Google. Google will then mark your AdWords account as having the ability to show ads with Botox in the ads.

Now Google is pretty picky about the word Botox. They may flag your website and ads as disapproved for use of a Medical term and they may even suspend your website and all advertising for it.

The best thing is to not use the word Botox in your ad text. If you are advertising in the US you may still be able to use Botox in your keyword list, but if you have Botox on your website, you may get a site suspension forcing you to get an approval or remove all content.

If you do use Botox in your keyword list, make sure you do not use dynamic keyword insertion or you will surely run into a shut down issue.

Other words that have similar problems are all facial fillers and injectables like Restylane and Dysport.

If you need savvy help check out our services for Google Ads. We’ll use what we know to try to assist you in getting running again.

Posted on

Site Chat Apps Close Sales

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC
Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

Site chat apps do generate leads which do turn into sales.  I am a living testimony to that. Since I have installed the Drift app, which is an online chat app, I have had about 20 chats, some just about questions but four about services. One moved into contract and will spend about $2,500 for my services.

I’d say that having the chat function on my website has been good for business. What’s even better is that I am always on, but do not always enter a response immediately to a chat. Even with a live chat function, you can have weekends and a real life. Your business does not need to own you.

I do feel that my prospects do like the friendliness and immediacy of  live chat. The paid version of Drift, which I am using as a free version, does has an automated bot that fills in the gaps with responses which is nice and I may upgrade to it if I get more big sales.

I find that the really serious clients start out on the chat app but then move readily to email and then to phone calls. The client that found me via my online site chat closed in less than one week.

So, if you are looking for more sales, I do recommend installing on your website an online chat function. Drift is just one of them to consider, but there are others.

I invite you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter to get more tips and information that you can use for your own business.