UT Central: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Itty Bitty Printer We All Want

Hello Little Printer, available 2012 from BERG on Vimeo.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

How to Create Great Calls To Action On Your Website

With the world only a click away, people's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Cutting through the clutter and getting people to stop and take notice of your businesses services and products is more challenging today than even a few years ago. In the crowded online world it takes a lot of work and/or money to get people to come to your site. Getting your site traffic engaged enough to want to sign up for emails, become a facebook fan and twitter follower or take advantage of an incredible marketing offer can be challenging but not if you practice the guidelines below.

What is a call-to-action?

A call-to-action (CTA) is an image or text that prompts visitors to take action, such as subscribe to a newsletter, view a webinar, or request a product demo. These can be actual descriptive buttons or QR Codes strategically placed on different pages. CTA's should direct people to landing pages, where you can collect visitors' contact information in exchange for a valuable marketing offer. The more calls-to-action you have across the internet the more you increase your chances of generating leads and increasing visitor-to-lead conversion opportunities.

Calls-to-action can be found all across the internet. Think about when you go to Twitter and are prompted to "join today", go to Amazon, iTunes - the list goes on and on of sites that prompt you to "sign up" or "join" sometimes before you can even access their content.

Where to place calls-to-action?

1. Your Website - Probably the most visited page on your website is your homepage. Take advantage of the traffic and CTA's for perhaps your newsletter, facebook and twitter pages and introductory offer.

2. In Presentations

3. Email Marketing - A great place to have people click through to find out about you and/or your company.

4. Blog

5. Videos - Give a compelling reason to get more information and list your web address in the video.

6. Facebook - Set up a photo gallery of your work with CTA's to get more information.

7. LinkedIn

8. Twitter - People like to click through from links with valuable information relevant to them.

9. Paid Media - Include CTA's in your Google AdWords and display banner advertising.

How to Optimize a Call to Action

Keep it simple to understand.
Keep it above the fold.
Make it relevant to the landing page.
Make it stand out.

What makes a great call-to-action?

Value - Think about what's most important to your visitor and put that in a few short words.

Create Urgency - You need to capture people's attention and get them to engage instantly. Using words such as "now", "today" "for a limited time" create action.

Keep it Personal - If they are on your "about us" page you could say something like "Like our company? "Become part of it!"

Testimonials - People are more apt to click through on a call-to-action when they see other people have succeeded or benefited from what you are offering.

Bonus Offers- Perhaps a visitor signed up for your newsletter, you can send them a thank you page with a special bonus offer exclusive to members.

Use Confident Persuasive Language - "Everything You Need to Know About ... "

Use a compelling question - "Are you overweight and feeling tired?"

Include Numbers and Statistics - "5 Ways to Save on Your Business Credit Card Fees", "10 Ways to Tell if Your Job Applicant can Handle Pressure".

Compare these to CTA's that don't work any more such as "Contact Us"and "Click Here".

At its core, a call-to-action should convey value and prompt visitors to take an action. A good call-to-action should lead to a more enhanced engagement with your company and a meaningful experience to the visitor.

For more information contact us at advertising@signonsandiego.com

Friday, November 11, 2011

5 Google Paid Search Products You Need to Know

5 Google Paid Search Products You Need to Know

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 05:31 PM PST

For many digital marketers, the fall of 2011 might be remembered for bringing dynamic advertising to paid search. Google’s newest offering, said to flip “the search engine on its head,” does away with the traditional keyword advertising approach in lieu of matching landing pages with the right user search.

Dynamic Search Ads is just one of dozens of innovations Google has made to its AdWords product over the past few years. Google paid search has evolved to include everything from video to coupons and a call feature, all in the name of improving advertiser results. Not every Google product is a good fit for every advertiser – in fact, some of its offerings aren’t even available to the masses yet. But Google is nothing if not progressive, and for this reason many of them warrant a closer look.

1. Google Image Search. Instead of advertising exclusively on Google’s web results page, this product allows brands to place their listings next to Google Images. Typically, this approach is best suited to those who’ve noted a distinct benefit to presenting consumers with a product image up front. The campaign is set up through AdWords, except that instead of uploading ad copy alone, the advertiser also submits an image that will precede the organic image search results on the page.

2. Google Media Ads. Previously known as Google Video Plus Box, this program was initially tested in beta with advertisers ranging from automotive to CPG. A box beneath a standard search ad would display a web-only video such as an instructional product clip, and advertisers would pay the equivalent of their cost-per-click text ad bid when the video hit the 10-second mark. The unit has since morphed into Google Media Ads and is open only to the entertainment vertical (at least, so far).

3. Google Product Ads/Extensions. Similar to the video extension, this unit allows brands to include additional promotional material in their text ads. The ad pulls information from an advertiser’s existing Google Merchant Center account and can include anything from images to business center maps, product titles, detailed descriptions, and prices. Brands can promote their entire product inventory through paid search and, in theory, generate more qualified clicks because they’re providing the user with more product information up front.

4. Google Redemption Ads/Offer Extensions. Through this program, brands can deliver a coupon directly to search engine users from their paid search ads. Several user options exist, including having the coupon emailed to a desktop or texted to a mobile phone – they can even be saved to a user’s Google Wallet. Redemption options, too, are varied: depending on what the brand is looking for, consumers can redeem in store, online, or by mail.

5. Google Call Extensions/Metrics. When generating phone calls is a campaign priority, Google’s call feature can help. Advertisers include in their paid search ad a unique toll-free number provided by Google that links to the marketing client’s existing phone number. Advertisers can then track which AdWords campaigns their calls are coming from, along with the duration of the calls and the caller’s area code, through their existing Google account.

6. Google Sitelinks. One of the most useful of Google’s newer products, Sitelinks affords the ability to include up to six additional links in your AdWords text ad. This gives brands complete and immediate control over the pages, products, and messaging they wish to promote.

Considering the length of time it can take for Google to re-index a site, and the urgency of updating ad copy and Sitelinks for such events as new product line launches, this can be a critical advantage. “You’re giving the user seven links to choose from and letting them select exactly where they want to go,” says Nathan Lewalski, one of Enlighten’s senior interactive media planners, “but you’re also gaining a competitive advantage by owning more real estate on the results page.” Click-through rates on these ads tend to be higher because users instantly know what to expect from a site. “Without paid search,” Nathan says, “it’s unlikely the user would see a brand’s newest messaging or get sent directly to new pages in time.”

Google is infamous for experimenting with its AdWords products (not to mention giving them countless different names). The advantage for advertisers is a glut of program options and a fresh take on how to supercharge those two little lines of text. Take some time to learn what’s new in Google Ad Innovations. The company’s next unit could be the one you’ve been waiting for.