Joe Balestrino's Articles

Is Google Guarantee Worth it?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:34:19 GMT

It has become increasingly challenging for businesses to establish their online presence and gain a competitive edge in search engine rankings. With the plethora of options available to consumers, it has become essential for businesses to find innovative ways to stand out from the crowd and build trust with their target audience. This is where the Google Guarantee program comes into play.

The Google Guarantee program is a notable initiative that has garnered significant attention in recent years. This program offers businesses the opportunity to showcase their trustworthiness and reliability to potential customers through a Google-backed guarantee. Simply put, businesses that participate in the program can display a badge on their listing that assures customers that they will receive a refund for services that fail to meet their expectations.

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the intricacies of the Google Guarantee program and explore its benefits. We will also provide actionable steps that businesses can take to outrank other websites and secure this coveted accreditation. Whether you are a small business owner looking to increase your online visibility or a marketing professional seeking to improve your company's search engine rankings, this guide is for you.

So, let's dive in and explore the Google Guarantee program in detail. We will take a closer look at what it is, how it works, and why it's essential for businesses looking to establish their online presence and gain a competitive edge in today's digital marketplace.

Benefits of the Google Guarantee Program

Considerations for the Google Guarantee Program

While the Google Guarantee program offers several benefits, it's essential to consider some factors before deciding if it's worth it for your business.

Is Google Guarantee Worth it?

Deciding whether the Google Guarantee program is worth it for your business requires careful consideration of its benefits, along with the associated considerations and costs. It's crucial to evaluate your industry, local market conditions, and competitive landscape, while also considering your business's capacity to meet the program's requirements and deliver exceptional service consistently.

Before committing to the Google Guarantee program, it may be helpful to seek advice from a Google Ads professionals or industry peers who have experience with the program. They can provide valuable insights and share their experiences to help you make a well-informed decision.

In conclusion, the Google Guarantee program offers several benefits, including enhanced trust, increased visibility, improved conversion rates, and access to Google Local Services ads. However, it's essential to consider factors such as eligibility, verification processes, costs, competition, customer expectations, and the program's role within your broader marketing strategy. By carefully evaluating these aspects, you can determine whether participating in the Google Guarantee program is a worthwhile investment for your business.

The Benefits of a Comprehensive Google Ads Audit

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:10:58 GMT

A Google Ads audit acts as a powerful tool to assess the effectiveness, efficiency, and overall performance of your advertising initiatives on the platform. By delving deep into the intricacies of your campaigns, an audit provides valuable insights, identifies areas for improvement, and offers actionable recommendations to optimize your advertising strategy. Whether you're a seasoned advertiser or just starting out, a Google Ads audit can be a game-changer, empowering you to make data-driven decisions and unlock the full potential of your online advertising endeavors.

In this article, we will explore the myriad benefits that a Google Ads audit can bring to your business, helping you elevate your campaigns to new heights and achieve your marketing objectives with greater precision and success.

Cost optimization: An audit helps identify areas where you may be overspending or wasting budget on ineffective campaigns. By optimizing your ad spend, you can allocate resources more efficiently and improve your return on investment (ROI).

Performance improvement: A thorough audit can reveal opportunities to enhance the performance of your Google Ads campaigns. It can identify underperforming keywords, ad groups, or ad creatives and provide recommendations to optimize them for better results.

Enhanced targeting: Audits can assess your targeting settings, such as demographics, locations, and device preferences. By refining your targeting parameters, you can reach a more relevant audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions and improving.ng campaign effectiveness.

Quality score enhancement: Google Ads assigns a quality score to your keywords based on various factors like ad relevance, landing page experience, and click-through rate. An audit can identify keywords with low quality scores and suggest improvements, leading to better ad rankings and lower cost-per-click.

Ad extension optimization: Ad extensions can provide additional information and call-to-action buttons in your ads. An audit can review your ad extensions, ensuring they are set up correctly and making recommendations for optimizing their use to increase click-through rates and conversions.

Conversion tracking evaluation: Tracking conversions accurately is vital for measuring the success of your advertising efforts. An audit can verify if your conversion tracking is properly implemented and identify any gaps or issues, allowing you to make data-driven decisions based on accurate performance metrics.

Competitive analysis: An audit can provide insights into your competitors' Google Ads strategies and tactics. By understanding their approaches, you can identify areas where you can gain a competitive edge and differentiate your campaigns.

Compliance and policy adherence: Google Ads policies and guidelines change regularly. An audit can ensure that your campaigns comply with the latest policies, avoiding potential penalties or ad disapprovals.

Overall campaign strategy review: A comprehensive audit includes an evaluation of your campaign structure, settings, ad rotation, and bidding strategies. It provides an opportunity to review your overall advertising strategy and make adjustments to align with your business goals.

Expert recommendations: An audit conducted by experienced professionals can provide valuable insights, best practices, and recommendations tailored to your specific business and industry. These recommendations can help you maximize the impact of your Google Ads campaigns.

In summary, a Google Ads audit can optimize your advertising efforts, improve performance, and increase ROI by identifying inefficiencies, enhancing targeting, improving ad quality, and providing strategic recommendations.

Increase Conversion Rates on Google Ads: Strategies for Success

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:27:38 GMT

As a business owner, having a low conversion rate on your Google Ads campaigns can be a real challenge. It can be discouraging to see that despite getting clicks, your ads are not effectively persuading users to take the desired action on your website. However, don't worry, because there are ways to turn this situation around. With strategic optimizations and targeted approaches, you can significantly improve your conversion rates and maximize the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns.

In this article, we will dive deep into some actionable tactics that you can use to boost and increase your conversion rates and drive better results. These tactics are designed to help you get the most out of your Google Ads campaigns and ensure that your marketing efforts are not going to waste. We will discuss everything from optimization tips to targeting strategies, and provide you with the knowledge you need to take your campaigns to the next level.

So, whether you're a seasoned advertiser or just starting out with Google Ads, this article is for you. By the end of it, you'll have a better understanding of how to create high-converting ads that drive traffic to your website and increase your bottom line. So sit tight, grab a cup of coffee, and let's get started on improving your Google Ads conversion rates!

Refine Your Keyword Strategy

Optimize Ad Relevance and Copy

Optimizing ad relevance and copy is essential for improving conversion rates on Google Ads. Craft compelling headlines that quickly convey your value proposition. Create persuasive ad copy that addresses pain points and offers solutions. Consider using dynamic keyword insertion to personalize ads.

Leverage ad extensions to provide additional information and enhance visibility. Test different variations to identify the most effective combinations. Ensure ad relevance by aligning copy with keywords and landing pages. By optimizing ad relevance and crafting compelling copy, you can capture audience attention, increase conversions, and drive better results from your Google Ads campaigns.

Improve Landing Page Experience

Leverage Ad Extensions

As a business owner, you know that online advertising is a great way to attract potential customers and reach a wider audience. However, with so many ads vying for attention on the internet, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd. That's where ad extensions come in. By utilizing ad extensions, you can enhance your ads and provide additional information to users, making them more likely to click and convert.

One type of ad extension is callout extensions. These allow you to highlight key features or benefits of your product or service, such as "Free Shipping" or "24/7 Customer Support." By including callouts, you can give users a quick glimpse at what sets your business apart from the competition.

Another useful ad extension is sitelink extensions. These allow you to direct users to specific pages on your website, such as your product pages or contact form. By providing easy access to relevant information, you can increase the chances of users taking action on your site.

Finally, structured snippets can be used to showcase specific categories or services offered by your business. For example, if you offer a variety of products, you could use structured snippets to highlight different categories like "Men's Clothing" or "Home Goods." By organizing your offerings in this way, you can make it easier for users to find what they're looking for.

By leveraging these extensions, you can improve the visibility and engagement of your ads, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversions. So if you're looking to take your online advertising to the next level, be sure to consider ad extensions as part of your strategy.

Implement Conversion Tracking

Improving low conversion rates on Google Ads requires a strategic and iterative approach. By refining your keyword strategy, optimizing ad relevance and copy, improving landing page experiences, leveraging ad extensions, implementing conversion tracking, and continuously testing and iterating, you can drive better results and maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns. Stay proactive, analyze performance data, and make data-driven optimizations to unlock the full potential of your Google Ads and achieve a boost in higher conversion rates.

Boost Your Click-Through Rate (CTR) on Google Ads: Strategies for Success

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:02:01 GMT

Enhance Ad Relevance

When it comes to improving your Click-Through Rate (CTR), there are many factors that can come into play. However, one of the most important is the relevance of your ads to user search queries. After all, if your ads aren't relevant to what users are searching for, they're not likely to be clicked on. So, what can you do to improve the relevance of your ads? Here are a few key approaches that you can consider:

Firstly, Keyword Optimization is a critical factor to consider. You need to ensure that your keywords align with your ad copy and landing page. This means that you should use targeted and specific keywords that will attract the right audience. Make sure that your keywords are relevant to the search queries you're targeting, and that they're used in a way that makes sense to the user.

Another important factor to consider is Ad Group Structure. By creating tightly themed ad groups, you can improve the relevance of your ads. This means grouping keywords and ad copy around specific themes or product categories. By doing so, you can make your ads more targeted and relevant to the user's search query.

Finally, Ad Copy Optimization is also critical. You need to craft compelling and engaging ad copy that clearly communicates your unique selling points and encourages users to click. Incorporate relevant keywords into your ad copy, but make sure that it reads naturally and isn't just a list of keywords. And, of course, include a clear call to action to encourage users to click through to your landing page.

By taking these approaches into consideration, you can improve the relevance of your ads and increase your CTR. So, take the time to optimize your keywords, ad group structure, and ad copy, and you'll be well on your way to success.

Utilize Ad Extensions

A/B Testing

Improve Ad Positioning

Ad positioning is a critical factor in determining the click-through rate (CTR) of your ads. The higher the ad position, the more visibility and clicks you can expect to receive. Therefore, it is crucial to implement effective strategies to improve your ad positioning and maximize your advertising efforts.

One strategy to improve your ad positioning is through bid adjustments. By increasing your bids for high-performing keywords or specific target locations, you can increase your chances of securing a higher ad position. This will ultimately result in greater visibility and a higher CTR for your ads.

Another effective strategy is ad schedule optimization. It is essential to analyze the performance of your ads during different times and days to determine when your target audience is most active and likely to engage. By allocating more budget to these periods, you can ensure that your ads are being displayed during the times when they are most likely to be seen and clicked on.

By implementing these proven strategies, you can enhance your ad positioning and improve your overall advertising performance. Remember, a higher ad position means more visibility and clicks, which can translate into increased conversions and revenue for your business. So, take the time to optimize your ad positioning today and reap the rewards of a successful advertising campaign!

Ad Optimization for Mobile

Continuous Monitoring and Optimization

Regularly monitoring your campaigns, analyzing performance metrics, and making data-driven optimizations is a crucial step in improving your Click-Through Rate (CTR) on Google Ads. By actively tracking and assessing the performance of your campaigns, you gain valuable insights that allow you to make informed decisions and take necessary actions to enhance your CTR.

Monitoring your campaigns involves regularly checking the performance metrics provided by Google Ads. These metrics include CTR, impressions, clicks, average position, and conversion data. By monitoring these metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of how your ads are performing and identify areas for improvement.

Analyzing performance metrics is the next step in the process. Dive deeper into the data to identify patterns, trends, and potential issues. Look for keywords, ad variations, or targeting settings that are underperforming and contributing to a low CTR. By conducting a thorough analysis, you can pinpoint the specific areas that need attention and optimization.

Identifying low-performing keywords is crucial in improving your CTR. Analyze the performance of your keywords based on their CTR, impressions, and conversions. Identify keywords that have a low CTR but a high impression count, as this suggests that they are not resonating with your target audience. Consider pausing or modifying these keywords to improve your CTR.

Similarly, evaluate your ad variations to identify those that are not generating enough clicks. Examine the ad copy, headlines, and call-to-action elements to ensure they are compelling and engaging. Experiment with different variations to find the ones that resonate best with your target audience and drive a higher CTR.

Boosting your Click-Through Rate (CTR) on Google Ads requires a combination of strategies focused on enhancing ad relevance, utilizing ad extensions, conducting A/B testing, improving ad positioning, optimizing for mobile, and continuous monitoring. By implementing these tactics and constantly optimizing your campaigns, you can increase CTR, drive more qualified traffic to your website, and achieve better results from your Google Ads investment. Stay proactive, adapt to your audience's needs, and continually refine your ads to optimize your CTR and drive success in your advertising campaigns.

Effective Strategies to Reduce High Cost per Click (CPC) in Google Ads

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:38:58 GMT

High CPC can be a significant challenge for advertisers, especially when operating in competitive industries or targeting popular keywords. It means that you have to pay a higher amount every time a user clicks on your ad, potentially leading to increased costs without a proportional increase in conversions or revenue. This not only affects your campaign's profitability but also restricts your ability to reach a larger audience.

However, there are proven strategies that can help you combat high CPC and make your Google Ads campaigns more cost-effective. By implementing these strategies, you can achieve better visibility, attract relevant clicks, and ultimately improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).

In the following sections, we will explore these strategies in detail, providing practical insights and actionable steps to help you reduce your CPC and optimize your Google Ads campaigns. Whether you are a small business owner, a marketing professional, or a seasoned advertiser, these strategies will empower you to take control of your advertising costs and achieve better results.

Refine Your Keyword Strategy:

Optimizing your keyword strategy is a crucial component of any successful advertising campaign. By effectively managing your keywords, you can lower your cost-per-click (CPC) and increase your return on investment (ROI). To achieve this, it's essential to explore and implement various tactics that can help you refine your keyword targeting.

One of the most effective tactics to consider is long-tail keywords. These are specific, less competitive keywords that align with your campaign goals. By focusing on long-tail keywords, you can increase your chances of attracting high-quality traffic that is more likely to convert. Additionally, long-tail keywords tend to have lower CPC and higher conversion rates, making them a cost-effective option for advertisers.

Another key tactic to consider is using negative keywords. Regularly reviewing search terms and adding negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches can help prevent wasted clicks and lower CPC. By filtering out irrelevant traffic, you can focus on reaching your target audience and maximizing your marketing budget.

I always recommend using broad match keywords as a least resort. While broad keywords result in a lower CPC it will also generate the most irrelevant traffic out of all the match types.

Improve Ad Relevance and Quality Score:

Utilize Ad Extensions:

Ad extensions are an essential tool for any advertiser looking to increase their ad's visibility and engagement. With ad extensions, you can take your ads to the next level and drive higher click-through rates (CTR) while potentially lowering your cost-per-click (CPC). There are several types of ad extensions available, and each of them serves a unique purpose in driving user engagement and conversions.

One of the most popular types of ad extensions is sitelink extensions. These extensions allow you to add relevant sitelinks to your ad, directing users to specific pages on your website. By doing so, you can increase engagement and CTR, giving users a seamless experience from your ad to your website. Sitelink extensions are particularly useful for businesses with multiple products or services, allowing you to showcase different offerings and drive more conversions.

Another type of ad extension is callout extensions. These extensions enable you to highlight unique selling points or offers in your ads, differentiating your ads from competitors and attracting more clicks. Callout extensions are an excellent way to showcase your business's unique features or benefits, such as free shipping or 24/7 customer service.

Structured snippet extensions are another type of ad extension that can help increase ad relevance and CTR. With structured snippets, you can provide additional details about your products, services, or features to users, giving them more information about what you offer. This, in turn, can increase user engagement and drive more conversions.

Ad extensions are a powerful tool for any advertiser looking to improve their ad's performance. By utilizing sitelink, callout, and structured snippet extensions, you can increase your ad's visibility and engagement, leading to higher CTR and potentially lower CPC. So, if you're looking to take your ads to the next level, be sure to explore the many benefits of ad extensions.

Optimize Bidding Strategies:

Continuous Monitoring and Optimization:

It is crucial to regularly monitor and optimize your campaigns to ensure ongoing cost efficiency. This can be achieved by undertaking a range of tasks, including performance analysis, A/B testing, and conversion tracking.

To begin with, performance analysis involves analyzing campaign performance metrics, such as click-through-rate (CTR), conversion rate, and return on investment (ROI). This enables you to identify any underperforming keywords, ads, or targeting settings that may be hindering the success of your campaigns. Once you have identified any issues, it is essential to make data-driven adjustments to optimize your campaigns.

In addition to performance analysis, A/B testing can also be highly effective in improving campaign performance. This involves testing different ad variations, landing page elements, and targeting options to identify high-performing combinations. Continuous testing and optimization can lead to lower cost-per-click (CPC) and improved campaign performance overall.

I mplementing conversion tracking is another vital step in ensuring the effectiveness of your campaigns. By tracking conversions, you can identify which keywords, ads, or audiences are driving the most conversions and allocate more budget towards them. This can help to maximize your return on investment and ensure that your campaigns are as efficient and effective as possible.

R egularly monitoring and optimizing your campaigns through performance analysis, A/B testing, and conversion tracking is essential for achieving ongoing cost efficiency and driving success in your advertising efforts.

ReducIng High Cost per Click (CPC) in Google Ads

The Benefits of Outsourcing Google Ads Management To An Expert

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 21:09:07 GMT

Outsourcing Google Ads Management: Why You Need an Expert

Google Ads has become a vital tool for businesses aiming to reach their target audience and drive results. However, managing Google Ads campaigns effectively requires a deep understanding of the platform, ongoing optimization, and strategic planning. For many businesses, this can be a daunting task that demands time, expertise, and resources. This is where the option of outsourcing Google Ads management comes into play. By entrusting this responsibility to a skilled professional, businesses can unlock a range of benefits that go beyond the capabilities of an in-house team or self-management. In this article, we will delve into the advantages of outsourcing Google Ads management and explore how it can help businesses maximize their campaign performance, save time and resources, and achieve their marketing goals more efficiently.

Access to Expertise: When you outsource Google Ads management to an expert, you gain access to a wide range of specialized knowledge and experience. These professionals have dedicated their careers to mastering the intricacies of Google Ads, including campaign setup, keyword research, ad copywriting, bid management, and performance analysis. Their expertise allows them to develop effective strategies tailored to your business goals and target audience. By leveraging their knowledge, you can stay ahead of the curve and maximize the potential of your Google Ads campaigns.

Choosing an expert for Google Ads over an agency provides distinct advantages. An individual expert possesses specialized knowledge and experience, honed through years of hands-on experience, allowing them to develop highly targeted strategies tailored to each business.

Direct communication and collaboration with an expert foster a deeper understanding of the business's goals and enable a personalized approach to campaign management. Additionally, experts offer flexibility in customizing strategies, quick decision-making, and timely adjustments to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Working with an expert can provide cost efficiencies, value for money, and the potential for a long-term relationship, ensuring continuity and continuous improvement in campaign performance. Overall, accessing an expert for Google Ads offers businesses the benefits of expertise, customization, flexibility, and long-term success.

Time and Resource Optimization: Managing Google Ads campaigns can be time-consuming, requiring constant monitoring, optimization, and analysis. By outsourcing this task, you can free up valuable internal resources and allow your team to focus on core business activities. A dedicated Google Ads manager will handle all aspects of your campaigns, including keyword selection, ad creation, performance monitoring, and budget management. This ensures that your campaigns receive the attention they deserve while saving you time and effort.

Strategic Planning and Customization: An expert Google Ads manager will work closely with you to understand your business objectives, target audience, and competitive landscape. They will conduct thorough research to identify the most effective keywords, ad placements, and targeting options for your campaigns. Based on this analysis, they will develop a customized strategy that aligns with your specific goals. This strategic planning ensures that your campaigns are tailored to your business needs, helping you reach the right audience and drive relevant traffic to your website.

Continuous Monitoring and Optimization: Google Ads campaigns require ongoing monitoring and optimization to ensure optimal performance. A skilled Google Ads manager will closely monitor your campaigns, analyzing key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-acquisition. They will make data-driven adjustments to your campaigns, optimizing bids, ad placements, and targeting to maximize their effectiveness. This proactive approach allows you to stay ahead of the competition, adapt to market changes, and continuously improve your campaign performance.

Google Ads Management Checklist

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:07:06 GMT

Google advertising is a powerful digital marketing strategy that allows businesses to drive targeted traffic to their websites and generate leads or sales. However, running successful PPC campaigns requires ongoing management and optimization. In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive Google Ads management checklist, covering the daily, weekly, and monthly reviews you should perform to ensure the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns.

When it comes to PPC management, it's not enough to set up your campaigns and let them run on autopilot. Regular reviews and optimizations are crucial to maximize your return on investment (ROI) and achieve your desired advertising goals. By following this PPC management checklist, you can ensure that your campaigns stay on track and continue to deliver results.

Why Is Google Ad Management Is Important?

PPC management involves the continuous monitoring and optimization of your paid search campaigns. It encompasses various tasks, such as keyword research, ad creation, bid management, targeting settings, and performance tracking. The ultimate objective is to increase your ad visibility, drive relevant traffic, and maximize conversions while staying within your budget.

Regular reviews are essential in PPC management because they allow you to identify areas that need improvement and make data-driven decisions. By analyzing the performance of your campaigns on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, you can identify trends, spot issues, and take proactive measures to optimize your PPC efforts.

Daily Google Ads Management Tasks

Weekly Google Ads Management Tasks

Monthly Google Ads Management Tasks

Effective PPC management, including Google Ads, requires regular reviews and optimizations. By following a daily, weekly, and monthly PPC management checklist, you can ensure that your Google Ads campaigns are continuously optimized for maximum performance and results. Stay proactive, analyze data-driven insights, and adapt your strategies to stay ahead in the competitive landscape of PPC advertising. If you are having issue with your Google Ads management contact Joe for a review of your account.

How to Determine Your Google Ads Budget

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 18:04:22 GMT

How to estimate a Google Ads Budget

Estimating a Google Ads budget involves several steps to help you allocate an appropriate amount for your advertising campaigns. Here's a guide to help you estimate your Google Ads budget:

Define your advertising goals: Determine the specific objectives you want to achieve through your Google Ads campaigns. This could include driving website traffic, generating leads, increasing sales, or raising brand awareness. Clear goals will help shape your budget estimation.

Research industry benchmarks: Look for industry data or conduct research to understand average costs and performance metrics in your industry. This information can give you a benchmark to work with when estimating your budget.

Identify your target audience and keywords: Define your target audience and identify relevant keywords for your campaigns. Conduct keyword research to understand the average cost per click (CPC) for your desired keywords. This will give you an idea of the potential costs associated with your chosen keywords.

Determine your target cost per acquisition (CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS): Decide on the maximum amount you are willing to spend to acquire a customer or the desired revenue you want to generate from your ad spend. This will help guide your budget estimation and ensure you are aligning your advertising investment with your business goals.

Calculate the number of clicks or conversions needed: Based on your target CPA or ROAS, estimate the number of clicks or conversions you need to achieve your goals. Consider factors such as conversion rates, click-through rates (CTR), and historical performance data to make an informed estimation.

Consider campaign duration and ad frequency: Determine the duration of your campaigns and how frequently you plan to show your ads. This will impact your budget estimation as longer campaigns or higher ad frequency will require a higher budget.

Start with a test budget: If you are unsure about the ideal budget, start with a smaller test budget to gather data and assess performance. This will help you gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and make adjustments before scaling up your budget.

Monitor and adjust: Regularly monitor your campaigns and analyze performance metrics such as CPC, CTR, conversion rates, and ROI. Adjust your budget based on the data insights you gather. Increase the budget for well-performing campaigns and make optimizations to improve efficiency.

Scale gradually: Once you have a better understanding of campaign performance and have achieved positive results, consider gradually increasing your budget to reach a wider audience and drive more conversions. Monitor the impact of budget increases on your key metrics to ensure a positive return on investment.

Remember that estimating a Google Ads budget is an iterative process that requires ongoing monitoring, analysis, and optimization. It's important to continuously evaluate your results and make adjustments to maximize the effectiveness of your ad spend.

How to Calculate your Google Ads Spend

Google Ads Spend = Average Cost Per Click (CPC) x Number of Clicks

The average CPC represents the average amount you pay for each click on your Google Ads. This can vary depending on factors such as keyword competitiveness, ad quality, and bid strategy. The number of clicks is the total number of clicks your ads receive within a specific period.

For example , let's say your average CPC is $1.50, and your ads receive 500 clicks in a month. The calculation would be:

Google Ads Spend = $1.50 x 500 = $750

Therefore, your Google Ads spend for that month would be $750.

It's important to note that this formula provides an estimate and that your actual Google Ads spend may vary due to bid adjustments, budget caps, ad scheduling, and other factors. Regular monitoring and optimization of your campaigns will help ensure you're getting the most out of your budget.

Creating Compelling Google Ads Copy: A Step-by-Step Guide

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 18:04:31 GMT

In the realm of digital advertising, crafting compelling Google Ads copy is essential to capture the attention of potential customers and drive them to take action. A well-crafted ad can make all the difference in achieving your marketing objectives. Whether you're aiming to increase sales, generate leads, or boost brand awareness, the power of persuasive ad copy should not be underestimated. In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through the process of creating compelling Google Ads copy that captivates your audience and delivers results.

Step 1: Understand Your Audience

Before diving into writing your Google Ads copy, it's crucial to have a deep understanding of your target audience. Who are they? What are their pain points, desires, and motivations? By understanding your audience on a fundamental level, you can tailor your ad copy to resonate with their needs and aspirations. Conduct thorough market research, analyze customer data, and create buyer personas to gain valuable insights into your target audience's demographics, interests, and preferences.

What sets your product or service apart from the competition? Identify your unique selling points (USPs) and highlight them in your ad copy. USPs could include exclusive features, exceptional customer service, competitive pricing, or any other factor that differentiates you from the crowd. Communicate the value proposition of your offering and emphasize how it addresses the pain points or fulfills the desires of your target audience.

Step 2: Identify Unique Selling Points (USPs)

Step 3: Craft an Attention-Grabbing Headline

The headline is the first element of your Google Ads copy that users see, so it needs to grab their attention instantly. Create a concise and compelling headline that entices users to click on your ad. Use action-oriented language, incorporate relevant keywords, and focus on the benefits or solutions your product or service provides. Experiment with different headline variations and A/B test them to determine which one resonates best with your audience.

Step 4: Highlight Key Benefits

In the body of your Google Ads copy, highlight the key benefits of your product or service. How will it make your customers' lives better or easier? Focus on the specific outcomes or solutions your offering provides. Use persuasive language, emphasize the value your product brings, and showcase any unique features or advantages that align with your audience's needs. Keep your copy concise, clear, and persuasive to maintain user engagement.

Step 5: Incorporate Relevant Keywords

To ensure your Google Ads appear in relevant search results, it's important to incorporate relevant keywords in your ad copy. Conduct keyword research to identify the terms and phrases your target audience is likely to use when searching for products or services like yours. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your ad copy, both in the headline and the body text. However, be cautious not to overstuff your ads with keywords, as it can negatively impact their readability and effectiveness.

Step 6: Create a Strong Call-to-Action

Every effective Google Ad copy should include a strong call-to-action (CTA) that prompts users to take the desired action. Whether it's "Buy Now," "Sign Up Today," or "Learn More," your CTA should be clear, concise, and compelling. Create a sense of urgency or exclusivity by incorporating time-limited offers or limited availability. Make it easy for users to understand what action they should take and what they stand to gain by clicking on your ad.

Step 7: Test and Optimize

Once you've created your Google Ads copy, it's crucial to continuously test and optimize your ads to maximize their effectiveness. A/B test different variations of your headlines, ad copy, and CTAs to identify the highest-performing combinations. Monitor key metrics such as

Why Your Google Ads May Not Be Working

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 17:35:12 GMT

Are your Google Ads failing to deliver the desired results? Despite the immense potential of Google Ads as a powerful online advertising platform, there are several reasons why your campaigns may not be yielding the expected outcomes. Understanding these challenges is crucial in identifying areas for improvement and maximizing the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.

In this article, we will explore some common factors that can hinder the performance of Google Ads campaigns and provide insights into overcoming these obstacles. By addressing these issues head-on, you can revitalize your advertising strategy and unlock the full potential of Google Ads.

Poor Keyword Selection - One of the most critical aspects of Google Ads management is selecting the right keywords. Avoid the mistake of choosing overly broad keywords that may generate high traffic but low-quality leads. Instead, focus on specific, relevant keywords that align with your target audience's search intent. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the most effective keywords for your campaigns.

Lack of Ad Relevance - Creating ads that are not directly related to the keywords or ad groups can lead to poor ad performance. Ensure that your ad copy aligns with the keywords you're targeting and that it is compelling and relevant to your audience. Maintain consistency between your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages to provide a seamless user experience.

Poor Landing Page Experience - Sending users to generic or irrelevant landing pages can result in a high bounce rate and low conversion rates. Ensure that your landing pages align with your ad copy and offer a seamless user experience. Optimize your landing pages for speed, relevance, and clear calls-to-action to improve conversion rates and user satisfaction.

Lack of Testing and Optimization - Failure to continuously test and optimize your campaigns can limit their effectiveness. A/B testing different ad variations, landing pages, and targeting options allows you to identify what resonates best with your audience. Regularly review your campaign performance, make adjustments based on data insights, and refine your strategies to achieve better results.

Common Questions Around Google Ads Management

What is the cost of Google Ads management services?

Google Ads management service costs can vary depending on factors such as the complexity of your campaigns, the size of your account, and the level of service provided. It's best to inquire with service providers to get specific pricing details.

How long does it take to see results with Google Ads management?

The timeframe to see results with Google Ads management can vary depending on factors such as your industry, competition, and campaign optimization. It's essential to set realistic expectations and allow sufficient time for data collection and campaign refinement.

Can I pause or stop my Google Ads campaigns at any time?

Yes, you have full control over your Google Ads campaigns and can pause or stop them at any time. This can be useful if you need to make changes to your campaigns, adjust your budget, or temporarily halt advertising for any reason.

How do I know which keywords to target in my Google Ads campaigns?

Conducting thorough keyword research is essential for identifying the most effective keywords to target in your Google Ads campaigns. Consider factors such as search volume, competition, relevance, and intent to select the most appropriate keywords for your campaigns.

What is the best way to optimize landing pages for Google Ads campaigns?

Optimizing landing pages for Google Ads campaigns involves ensuring that they align with your ad copy and offer a clear and compelling user experience. Consider factors such as relevance, loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and clear calls-to-action when designing and optimizing landing pages.

How To Manage Performance Max Campaigns

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 14:52:38 GMT

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max is a type of Google Ads campaign that is designed to help advertisers maximize their campaign performance by leveraging multiple Google ad formats and networks. This type of campaign uses machine learning to automatically optimize targeting, bidding, and ad placement across Google's entire network, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Discover.

Performance Max campaigns are designed to help advertisers achieve their campaign goals, such as driving website visits, generating leads, or increasing online sales. Advertisers can set up Performance Max campaigns to target specific audiences, such as people who have interacted with their website or shown interest in their products or services.

Performance Max campaigns are highly automated, with Google's machine learning algorithms working to optimize campaign performance in real-time. This means that advertisers don't need to manually adjust their targeting, bidding, or ad creatives, as Google's algorithms will make adjustments automatically based on performance data.

The Downside of Performance Max Campaigns

While Performance Max campaigns can be effective for many advertisers, there are some potential downsides to consider. Here are a few:

Limited control: Performance Max campaigns are highly automated, which means advertisers have limited control over targeting, bidding, and ad placements. This can be a downside for advertisers who prefer to have more control over their campaigns.

Learning curve: Performance Max campaigns can be complex, and it can take time to learn how to set them up and optimize them effectively. Advertisers who are new to Google Ads or who are not familiar with machine learning may find it challenging to get started with Performance Max campaigns.

Data requirements: Performance Max campaigns require a significant amount of data to perform well. Advertisers with limited website traffic or other conversion data may find it difficult to set up effective Performance Max campaigns.

Cost: Performance Max campaigns can be more expensive than other types of Google Ads campaigns. Advertisers who have limited budgets may not be able to afford the higher costs associated with Performance Max campaigns.

Not suitable for all goals: While Performance Max campaigns can be effective for driving website visits, generating leads, or increasing online sales, they may not be suitable for all advertising goals. For example, they may not be as effective for building brand awareness or promoting a new product or service.

Misconceptions and Myths surrounding Performance Max Campaigns

How To Optimize and Manage Performance Max Campaigns

E ffective management of Performance Max campaigns requires continuous monitoring, optimization, and experimentation to ensure that your campaigns are performing at their best. With the right strategy and approach, you can identify the right audience to target, test different ad formats and messaging, and optimize your bids to achieve your desired results. Additionally, managing Performance Max campaigns can help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the advertising industry, giving you a competitive advantage and helping you stay ahead of the curve.

Set clear goals: Before you start managing your Performance Max campaigns, it's essential to define your advertising goals. Whether you want to increase conversions, drive more traffic to your website, or improve brand awareness, having clear goals will help you measure the success of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

Monitor performance regularly: Regular monitoring of your campaign's performance is crucial to ensure that you are on track to achieving your goals. Review your campaign metrics regularly, such as impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost per conversion, and make adjustments as needed.

Optimize for performance: Optimizing your campaigns for performance is crucial to achieve your goals and maximize your return on investment. Test different ad creatives, landing pages, targeting options, and bidding strategies to identify what works best for your campaigns.

Leverage automation: Performance Max campaigns offer several automation features that can help you save time and optimize your campaigns effectively. For example, use automated bidding strategies to adjust your bids based on your campaign's performance, or use responsive ads to test different ad variations automatically.

Use audience targeting: Audience targeting is a powerful feature that can help you reach the right people with your ads. Use demographic targeting, interest targeting, or remarketing to reach audiences that are most likely to engage with your ads.

Experiment with different ad formats: Performance Max campaigns support several ad formats, including image ads, video ads, and responsive ads. Experiment with different ad formats to find the ones that work best for your campaigns and help you achieve your goals.

Signs You Need an Expert to Manage Your Performance Max Campaigns

You are not achieving your campaign goals: If your Performance Max campaigns are not driving the desired results, such as conversions or clicks, it may be a sign that your campaigns are not optimized correctly. An expert can analyze your campaigns and identify the issues that are holding you back from achieving your goals.

Y ou are spending too much money without seeing results: If you are spending a lot of money on your Performance Max campaigns but not seeing a return on investment, it may be a sign that your campaigns are not optimized effectively. An expert can help you identify areas where you can cut costs without sacrificing performance and improve the overall effectiveness of your campaigns.

You lack the time or resources to manage your campaigns effectively: Managing Performance Max campaigns can be time-consuming, and it requires a certain level of expertise to optimize campaigns effectively. If you lack the time or resources to manage your campaigns effectively, hiring an expert can help you save time and ensure your campaigns are optimized correctly.

You are not familiar with the latest Google Ads trends and best practices: Google Ads is constantly evolving, and it can be challenging to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices. An expert can help you stay current with the latest developments in the platform and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

You are not confident in your ability to manage your campaigns effectively: If you are not confident in your ability to manage your Performance Max campaigns effectively, hiring an expert can give you the peace of mind you need to focus on other aspects of your business. An expert can take care of your campaigns and provide you with regular updates on their performance.

If you are struggling to achieve your campaign goals, spending too much money without seeing results, or lack the time, resources, or expertise to manage your campaigns effectively, it may be time to consider hiring Joe Balestrino to manage your Performance Max campaigns.

How to Write Blog Posts That Skyrocket Lawyer Lead Generation

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 18 May 2023 10:52:54 GMT

When it comes to blogging for a law firm, the topics you choose should align with your target audience's interests and address their legal concerns. Here are some relevant topics that can serve as a starting point for your law firm's blog:

Explaining Legal Concepts: Many individuals are unfamiliar with legal terminology and concepts. By breaking down complex legal concepts into easily understandable explanations, you can help your readers grasp important legal principles. For example, you can write a blog post titled "Understanding the Difference Between Civil and Criminal Law," where you explain the distinctions between these two branches of law and provide examples to illustrate each.

Updates on Laws and Regulations: Laws and regulations are constantly evolving. Keeping your audience informed about the latest changes in legislation relevant to your practice areas demonstrates your expertise and helps them stay compliant. For instance, you can write a blog post titled "New Employment Laws Every Employer Should Know," where you summarize recent changes in employment law and provide practical advice for employers to ensure legal compliance.

Case Studies and Success Stories: Sharing success stories or case studies from your firm showcases your ability to achieve favorable outcomes for your clients. You can highlight notable cases and explain the strategies and legal arguments that led to successful resolutions. For example, you can write a blog post titled "How Our Firm Achieved a Favorable Settlement in a Personal Injury Case," where you outline the challenges faced, the legal approach taken, and the positive outcome achieved for the client.

FAQs and Legal Advice: Addressing frequently asked questions and providing valuable legal advice positions you as a reliable source of information for your audience. You can write blog posts that answer common legal questions and offer practical guidance. For example, you can write a blog post titled "Key Considerations for Creating a Will," where you explain the important elements of a will, discuss the potential implications of different choices, and offer tips for effective estate planning.

Industry Insights: Sharing your expertise and insights on emerging trends, challenges, or opportunities within your practice areas demonstrates your firm's thought leadership. For example, you can write a blog post titled "Navigating Data Privacy Laws in the Digital Age," where you discuss the latest data privacy regulations, provide guidance on compliance, and offer insights on protecting personal information in an increasingly digital world.

Guides and How-Tos: Providing step-by-step guides or instructions on legal processes or procedures helps your audience navigate common legal issues. You can create comprehensive guides that walk readers through various legal processes. For example, you can write a blog post titled "A Guide to Starting a Small Business," where you outline the essential steps for starting a business, including entity formation, permits and licenses, and contracts.

Client Testimonials: Featuring client testimonials or case studies that highlight positive experiences and outcomes showcases your firm's track record and builds trust with potential clients. You can share stories of how your firm successfully resolved legal issues and the positive impact it had on your clients' lives. Testimonials can be integrated into blog posts or featured in separate posts where clients share their experiences and express their satisfaction with your services.

By expanding your blog content with these topics, you can provide valuable information, establish your expertise, and attract potential clients to your law firm's blog. Remember to customize the content to suit your specific practice areas and target audience's needs.

Elevating Your Law Firm Marketing Strategy for Success

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 16 May 2023 14:17:55 GMT

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on law firm marketing! As an expert in law firm marketing expert we understand the importance of implementing a robust marketing strategy to help your law firm stand out from the competition. In this article, we will provide you with invaluable insights and effective techniques to elevate your law firm's online presence and attract potential clients. Let's delve into the world of law firm marketing and pave the way for your firm's success.

Building a Strong Online Presence

Creating a Professional Website ; A well-designed and user-friendly website is the cornerstone of your law firm's online presence. Your website should exude professionalism, instill trust, and showcase your expertise. Ensure that your website incorporates responsive design, intuitive navigation, and relevant content that addresses the needs and concerns of your target audience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ; Implementing an effective SEO strategy is essential to increase your law firm's visibility in search engine results. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the most relevant and high-ranking keywords in the legal industry. Optimize your website's meta tags, headings, and content with these keywords to improve your search engine rankings.

Engaging and Informative Content; Creating engaging and informative content is crucial for establishing your law firm as a trusted authority in the legal field. Develop a content marketing strategy that includes blog posts, articles, case studies, and informative guides. Ensure that your content is well-researched, relevant, and addresses common legal questions and concerns.

Social Media Presence; Harness the power of social media platforms to connect with your target audience and build brand awareness. Identify the platforms most popular among your potential clients, and maintain an active presence by sharing valuable content, engaging with your audience, and showcasing your firm's accomplishments and expertise.

Nurturing Client Relationships

Paid Advertising and Lead Generation

Google Ads; Capitalize on Google Ads to expand your law firm's reach and attract qualified leads. Target keywords that align with your practice areas and create compelling ad copy that differentiates your firm from competitors. Utilize ad extensions, such as call extensions and sitelink extensions, to provide additional information and increase click-through rates.

Social Media Advertising; Leverage the targeting capabilities of social media platforms to run targeted advertising campaigns. Identify your ideal client demographics and tailor your ads to reach potential clients who match your criteria. Utilize engaging visuals, persuasive ad copy, and compelling calls-to-action to entice users to click through to your website or contact your firm.

Maximizing Referrals and Networking

Referral Programs ; Encourage satisfied clients to refer your services to their friends, family, and colleagues. Implement a referral program that incentivizes referrals through discounts, rewards, or exclusive benefits. Show appreciation to those who refer clients by sending personalized thank-you notes or hosting client appreciation events.

Networking and Collaboration; Actively participate in networking events, both online and offline, to expand your professional connections within the legal industry. Attend conferences, seminars, and bar association events to meet potential clients and build relationships with other legal professionals. Collaborate with complementary professionals, such as accountants or real estate agents, to cross-refer clients and expand your reach.

Tracking and Analyzing Results

Partnering with a law firm marketing expert can be a game-changer for businesses seeking to leverage the power of online marketing. The expertise, experience, and resources they bring to the table can propel your campaigns to new heights, increasing brand visibility, generating qualified leads,

Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads: Which Is Right for Your Business?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 15 May 2023 16:06:46 GMT

In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, choosing the right advertising platform for your business is crucial. With so many options available, it can be challenging to determine which avenue will yield the best results. Two of the most popular platforms that often come into consideration are Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Both platforms offer unique advantages and cater to different marketing objectives. In this article, we will delve into the intricacies of Google Ads and Facebook Ads to help you make an informed decision and propel your business to new heights.

Understanding Google Ads

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is an advertising platform offered by Google. It allows businesses to display their ads prominently in Google search results, as well as on other websites that are part of the Google Display Network. This vast network reaches a massive audience, making it an attractive option for businesses aiming to increase their visibility and drive targeted traffic to their websites.

One of the key benefits of Google Ads is its intent-based targeting. When users search for specific keywords or phrases on Google, they are actively expressing an intent or interest in a particular product, service, or topic. By leveraging Google Ads, you can position your business in front of potential customers who are actively searching for what you have to offer. This intent-driven approach often leads to higher conversion rates and a greater return on investment (ROI).

Another advantage of Google Ads is the flexibility it offers in terms of ad formats. You can choose from various options such as search ads, display ads, video ads, shopping ads, and more, depending on your marketing goals and target audience. Furthermore, Google Ads provides extensive tracking and analytics capabilities, allowing you to measure the performance of your campaigns and make data-driven optimizations to maximize your results.

Unleashing the Power of Facebook Ads

Making the Right Choice for Your Business

When it comes to choosing between Google Ads and Facebook Ads, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The decision depends on various factors such as your business goals, target audience, budget, and the nature of your products or services. To make an informed choice, it is essential to consider the strengths and limitations of each platform and align them with your specific marketing objectives.

If your objective is to capture users at the moment of intent and drive immediate conversions, Google Ads may be the ideal choice. Its intent-based targeting and extensive reach make it a powerful tool for businesses focused on generating direct response and sales. Furthermore, if you have a product or service that people actively search for on Google, such as plumbing services or online courses, Google Ads can help you.

The Complete Guide to Google Ads Bidding Strategies

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sun, 14 May 2023 15:38:34 GMT

If you're running a business, you probably already know that Google Ads is an essential tool for reaching your target audience and driving sales. But to get the most out of your campaigns, you need to master the art of bidding. In this guide, we'll cover everything you need to know about Google Ads bidding strategies, from the basics to advanced techniques.

What is Google Ads Bidding?

Before we dive into bidding strategies, let's first define what bidding means in the context of Google Ads. When you create an ad campaign, you choose specific keywords that you want to target. When someone searches for those keywords, your ad has the potential to appear in the search results. However, you're not the only one targeting those keywords. Other advertisers are also bidding on the same keywords, and Google uses a complex algorithm to determine which ads appear in which positions.

Your bid is the maximum amount you're willing to pay for a click on your ad. It's not the actual amount you'll pay every time someone clicks on your ad, but rather the maximum amount you're willing to pay. The actual amount you'll pay is determined by the Ad Rank of your ad, which is based on your bid and the quality score of your ad.

Basic Bidding Strategies

There are several bidding strategies available in Google Ads, but let's start with the basics.

Manual CPC bidding is the simplest bidding strategy and is recommended for new advertisers. With this strategy, you set a maximum CPC bid for each keyword in your campaign. Google will then try to keep your ad in the best possible position while staying within your budget.

Enhanced CPC (ECPC) bidding is a more advanced version of manual CPC bidding. With this strategy, Google will automatically adjust your bids for clicks that are more likely to lead to a sale or conversion. ECPC is only available for campaigns that have conversion tracking enabled.

Target CPA (cost per acquisition) bidding is a bidding strategy that allows you to set a target cost per conversion. Google will automatically adjust your bids to try to achieve that target cost. This strategy is ideal for campaigns where the primary goal is to drive conversions.

Target ROAS (return on ad spend) bidding is a bidding strategy that allows you to set a target ROAS for your campaign. Google will automatically adjust your bids to try to achieve that target ROAS. This strategy is ideal for campaigns where the primary goal is to generate revenue.

Advanced Bidding Strategies

Once you've mastered the basics, you can move on to more advanced bidding strategies.

Maximize clicks bidding is a bidding strategy that allows you to set a daily budget, and Google will automatically adjust your bids to try to get as many clicks as possible within that budget. This strategy is ideal for campaigns where the primary goal is to drive traffic to your website.

Target impression share bidding is a bidding strategy that allows you to set a target impression share for your campaign. Google will automatically adjust your bids to try to achieve that target impression share. This strategy is ideal for campaigns where the primary goal is to increase brand awareness.

Target search page location bidding is a bidding strategy that allows you to set a target position on the search results page. Google will automatically adjust your bids to try to achieve that target position. This strategy is ideal for campaigns where the primary goal is to appear at the top of the search results page.

What Happens If You Choose The Wrong Bidding Strategy?

Having Issues With Your Google Ads?

Consider reaching out to Joe Balestrino for a Google Ads audit if you're encountering problems or unsure about which bidding strategies to employ.

How Much Does SEO Cost?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 18:51:06 GMT

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic through organic search engine results. In simpler terms, it is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords and phrases.

SEO is important because it helps businesses increase their online visibility, attract more qualified traffic to their website, and ultimately generate more leads and sales. By appearing higher in search engine rankings, businesses can establish their authority and credibility in their industry, gain a competitive advantage, and reach a larger audience.

The cost of SEO can be a significant consideration for businesses looking to improve their online visibility and attract more qualified traffic to their website. While SEO can be a highly effective strategy for driving long-term growth and success, the cost of implementing an SEO campaign can vary widely depending on several factors. In this article, we'll explore the factors that can affect the cost of SEO, the different types of SEO services and their associated costs, and how to choose an SEO provider that fits your budget and goals. Whether you're just starting out or looking to scale your SEO efforts, understanding the cost of SEO is an essential step in achieving your business goals.

Scope of the project: The scope of the project can also impact the cost of SEO. A small-scale SEO project targeting a few keywords and phrases will be less expensive than a larger-scale project targeting multiple keywords, pages, and topics.

The scope of the project can significantly impact the cost of SEO. According to a survey conducted by Ahrefs, the average monthly cost of SEO services ranges from $500 to $5,000 per month, depending on the scope of the project. A small-scale project targeting a few keywords may cost around $500-$1,000 per month, while a larger-scale project targeting multiple keywords, pages, and topics may cost $2,000-$5,000 per month.

Competitiveness of the industry/niche: The level of competition in the industry or niche can also affect the cost of SEO. A highly competitive industry or niche may require more resources, time, and effort to achieve desired results, resulting in higher costs.

The level of competition in the industry or niche can also affect the cost of SEO. According to a survey conducted by Backlinko, the average cost of SEO services for a highly competitive industry or niche ranges from $2,500 to $5,000 per month, compared to $500 to $1,000 per month for a less competitive industry or niche.

Geographic location: The geographic location of the business can also impact the cost of SEO. The cost of SEO services may vary depending on the cost of living and labor rates in the region.

The geographic location of the business can also impact the cost of SEO. For example, the cost of SEO services in the United States is generally higher than in other regions, with the average hourly rate ranging from $100 to $250 per hour, according to a survey conducted by Clutch.

Desired results and timeline: The desired results and timeline of the project can also affect the cost of SEO. If a business wants to achieve quick results, they may need to invest more in SEO to achieve their goals within a shorter timeframe.

The desired results and timeline of the project can also affect the cost of SEO. According to a survey conducted by Moz, businesses that want to achieve quick results may need to invest more in SEO, with some SEO providers charging a premium for expedited services.

Tips For Choosing An SEO Provider

Define your goals: Determine what you want to achieve with your SEO campaign. Do you want to increase website traffic, boost sales, or improve your search engine rankings? This will help you find an SEO provider who can help you achieve your goals.

Look for experience and expertise: Choose an SEO provider who has experience and expertise in your industry or niche. Ask for examples of their past work, case studies, and client testimonials.

Check their approach and methodology: Ask the SEO provider about their approach and methodology for implementing SEO. Look for a provider who uses ethical, white-hat SEO techniques that align with your business goals and values.

Check their reporting and communication: Choose an SEO provider who provides regular reporting and communication about the progress of the campaign. Ask about the frequency and format of their reporting and how they will communicate with you throughout the project.

Look for transparent pricing: Choose an SEO provider who provides transparent pricing and clearly outlines the services included in their pricing package. Avoid providers who offer vague pricing or charge hidden fees.

Read reviews and testimonials: Read reviews and testimonials from past clients to get an idea of the provider's track record and level of customer satisfaction.

Consider long-term partnerships: SEO is a long-term strategy, and it's important to choose an SEO provider who you can build a long-term partnership with. Look for a provider who is invested in your success and is willing to work with you to achieve your business goals.

5 Reasons To Hire A Google Ads Coach

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 20:37:01 GMT

Why You Should Hire A Google Ads Coach?

Google Ads is a powerful advertising platform that allows businesses of all sizes to reach their target audience and drive more traffic, leads, and sales. However, running successful Google Ads campaigns can be a challenging and time-consuming task, especially if you're not familiar with the platform's features and best practices.

That's why many businesses turn to Google Ads coaches for guidance and support. In this article, we will explore five reasons why you might need a coach for Google Ads, including setting up campaigns, optimization, campaign management, budget management, and staying competitive. By the end of this article, you'll have a better understanding of how a Google Ads coach can help you achieve your business goals and maximize your return on investment.

Lack of experience:

If you are new to Google Ads, you may not be familiar with the platform's interface or how to create effective ad campaigns. A coach can help you get started by teaching you the basics of Google Ads and guiding you through the process of setting up your first campaigns.

They can help you choose the right campaign type, select the right keywords, and create compelling ad copy that will attract clicks and conversions. Additionally, they can help you set up conversion tracking and analytics to measure the success of your campaigns accurately.

Having a coach to guide you through the process can help you avoid costly mistakes and maximize your ROI. They can help you avoid common pitfalls such as bidding too high for keywords, targeting the wrong audience, or using ineffective ad copy.

Even if you have some experience with Google Ads, a coach can still provide valuable insights and help you take your campaigns to the next level. They can help you identify areas for improvement and provide tips and strategies for optimizing your campaigns to improve performance and drive more conversions.

Learn how to optimize: Google Ads optimization involves constantly monitoring and adjusting your campaigns to improve their performance and achieve your business goals. However, optimizing your campaigns can be challenging, especially if you're not familiar with the platform's features and best practices.

A coach can help you optimize your campaigns by providing insights into what's working and what's not. They can help you analyze your data and identify areas for improvement, such as keywords with low click-through rates or ad groups with low conversion rates.

A coach can also provide guidance on how to improve your ad copy, targeting, and bidding strategies to maximize your return on investment. They can help you set up A/B tests to determine which ads or landing pages perform better and provide insights into how to improve your campaigns based on the results.

By optimizing your campaigns with the help of a coach, you can improve your ad relevance, increase your click-through rates, and drive more conversions, ultimately leading to a higher return on investment for your advertising spend.

Learn about campaign management: Managing Google Ads campaigns can be time-consuming and requires a lot of attention to detail. Even if you have experience with Google Ads, it can be challenging to keep up with changes in the platform and best practices for campaign management.

A coach can help you manage your campaigns more efficiently by providing guidance on how to structure your campaigns, ad groups, and keywords. They can help you set up effective targeting options to reach your desired audience and advise you on bidding strategies that align with your campaign goals.

Moreover, a coach can help you stay up-to-date with the latest changes in the Google Ads platform, such as new features, targeting options, and bidding strategies. They can help you leverage these changes to improve the performance of your campaigns and stay ahead of the competition.

Additionally, a coach can help you save time by automating certain aspects of your campaign management, such as ad rotation, bid adjustments, and budget pacing. This can help you focus on other aspects of your business while ensuring that your campaigns are running smoothly and achieving your desired results.

Learn how to manage your budget: Managing your Google Ads budget effectively is critical to achieving your business goals while maximizing your return on investment (ROI). However, setting an appropriate budget and optimizing your campaigns to stay within that budget can be challenging, especially if you're not familiar with the platform or the best practices for budget management.

A coach can help you set a realistic budget based on your campaign goals, target audience, and competition. They can help you identify the most effective bidding strategies for your campaigns and advise you on how to allocate your budget across different ad groups and campaigns.

Moreover, a coach can help you monitor your budget and adjust your campaigns accordingly to avoid overspending or underspending. They can help you optimize your campaigns to maximize your ROI and ensure that you're getting the most out of your advertising spend.

A coach can also help you stay within your budget by providing insights into cost-saving strategies, such as targeting more specific keywords or optimizing your landing pages to improve your Quality Score. These strategies can help you reduce your cost per click and stretch your budget further.

Learn to analyze data: Google Ads is a highly competitive advertising platform, and staying ahead of the competition requires a deep understanding of the platform's features, best practices, and strategies. With millions of businesses advertising on Google Ads, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd and achieve your desired results.

A coach can help you stay competitive by providing insights into the latest trends and best practices in Google Ads. They can help you identify new opportunities for targeting and audience segmentation, provide insights into what's working for your competitors, and advise you on how to differentiate your campaigns to stand out in the crowded advertising landscape.

Moreover, a coach can help you stay up-to-date with the latest changes in the Google Ads platform and leverage new features and targeting options to gain a competitive edge. They can also help you analyze your competitors' campaigns and identify areas for improvement in your own campaigns.

In addition to providing guidance on how to stay competitive, a coach can also help you measure your success and track your progress against your competitors. They can help you set benchmarks for key performance indicators (KPIs) such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend (ROAS), and provide insights into how you can improve your campaigns to achieve better results.

Hiring a Google Ads coach can be a valuable investment for any business looking to achieve success with their advertising campaigns. With their expertise and guidance, coaches can help you navigate the complexities of the platform and optimize your campaigns for maximum results. Whether you need help with campaign setup, optimization, management, budgeting, or staying competitive, a coach can provide the support and guidance you need to achieve your business goals. So, if you're looking to take your Google Ads campaigns to the next level, consider hiring Joe Balestrino today and start reaping the benefits of their expertise and guidance.

How to Calculate Your Google Ads Budget

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:32:00 GMT

What is a good budget for Google ads?

Google Ads is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal for your business. Google Ads has one of the fastest and greatest ROI of any marketing strategy out there. But just how much should you be spending on Google Ads and how do you calculate a budget?

Google Ads does not have a set maximum or minimum – ads budget – it is totally up to you to decide on how much you want to spend. You can have campaigns with a daily budget of as low as $10 or even lower. However, this is not advisable as you will fail at getting Google ads to perform well.

Let’s say your average CPC is $7 and you set your ad spend to be $300 a month. This gives you a budget at just $10 a day. Now, let’s say you have 50 keywords in your account. Technically, after 1 click you’re done for the day. How long do you think it will take for you to gather enough data on all 50 keywords in your account? A very long time.

When I come across small businesses that have low budgets – I turn them away. I recommend to them that they have enough budget for their campaign to run 24 hours a day for at least 2 – 3 months to get adequate data.

Minimum Amount for Google Ads Campaign

Since Google does not have a minimum budget for advertisers wishing to advertise on Google ads you can set anything that you believe your business can afford. You can spend as much or as little as you like and some advertisers will spend millions, some thousands and others hundreds of dollars.

However, most new advertisers typically start at about $500 a month or less. Which is a mistake, without doing research into what an appropriate budget should be. In many cases, advertisers will think Google ads aren’t for their business when in many cases is that their budgets are too small for the number of keywords they are advertising on along with the average cost per click.

If your budget is really small you may want to try using Bing ads. The CPC there is cheaper however, the number of searchers is far less.

Research Keyword Average Cost-Per-Click

The average cost per click (CPC) is the average dollar amount Google Ads will charge when a searcher clicks on your ads. You can use a range of tools such as SpyFu or Semrush to check out the CPC of a given keyword but the best tool is the Google Keyword Planner.

Note that the CPC data that you get from the Google Keyword Planner will typically be an estimate of previous historical data of what advertisers were willing to pay.

The average cost per click will typically vary widely depending on factors such as location, user intent, number of competitors and industry in which you are advertising. You also have to take into account landing page, ads and ad group quality scores which can either increase or decrease your CPC.

For instance, insurance and legal terms such as “Insurance Company Houston” or “Injury Lawyer Miami,” or high purchase intent keywords such as “best drone” or “best lawn mower” will be highly competitive and will attract a higher CPC. The reason for this is that a lot of advertisers will be going for such keywords and will be willing to bid a lot to appear for them on the search results.

Below are the estimated CTR based on industry. However, keep in mind the ad copy, landing page and the position of your ad can influence these numbers below both positively or negatively

How to Use Google Keyword Planner

To get your keywords one of the best free tools is the Google Keyword Planner found inside your Google ads account.

To get your keywords, type in a broad search term related to the service or product you want to advertise in the “service or product” field. If you have not yet done the research, you can enter your website into the “landing page” to get your keywords.

Google Keyword Planner will spit out a list of keywords related to the broad search term or terms that you entered. While your actual CPC may vary during the actual campaign, you can use the estimated CPC to determine a budget.

Research the Competition

Another way to get your keyword cost per click data is to spy on the competition and see how much they are spending and on what keywords. This can also fill in gaps in your data especially if you get the data of a direct competitor that you want to outrank on the search results.

One of the best tools for this is SpyFu, which makes it so easy to research the competition. All you need to do is enter the domain address of the competitor and you will get all the keywords that they are targeting including the average ad spend.

You can also go further back in time and spy on the Google Ads history, including their most successful keywords and how much they spent on those ads. If you can get such insights, you can outbid and write highly relevant copy that would be more likely to outperform the competition, increase ROI and reduce your budget spend.

Using Google Keyword Planner to Estimate the CPC Budget

Once you have your desired keywords, it is time to estimate your budget. Go to Keyword planner and under “Tools” click on “Get search volume and forecasts” then enter the keywords that you selected.

Now click on “Get Started,” and on the next page you should see this:

Google Keyword Planner will display the daily CPC estimate on the right-hand side bottom corner. Hovering over the graph should give you the maximum suggest CPC. Once you input your bid, you should see the traffic estimates and daily costs for your keywords.

Calculate Your Google Ads Budget

To get the monthly budget, you should then multiply your total estimated CPC by 30.4 which should be your monthly budget. For instance, if your estimated daily budget is 4.25 for a group of keywords, your monthly budget will be.

30.4 x 4.25 = 132.24

This should provide a baseline or minimum budget for your Google ads campaign.

Key Performance Indicators and the Ads Budget

While CPC is one of the major metrics, it is not the be-all and end-all KPI. Other important KPIs that will influence your ads budget that you need to track include:

Quality Score – This determines how much you pay for ads – the more relevant your ads are the higher your quality score

Impressions – The number of times your ad will be shown

Click through rates (CTR) – How often users click on your ads

Average position – The position that your ad appears will determine how much traffic you get. Higher position may cost more but have higher CTRs

Cost per conversion – The amount of money spent to convert one lead

Conversion rates – Measures the actions that users take such as submitting an email or buying services or products once users click through to your website.

How Much Does Google Ads Cost?

There are many variables that may result in you paying more or less depending on factors you can control such as quality scores, keywords and metrics, and others you cannot control such as competition and CPC. It’s better to have more money to spend and not use it than to have a small budget that you max out every day. Over time you're spending will decrease as you uncover keywords/products that don’t work for you and pause them.

If you need help contact me for Google Ads management.

How to Improve Google Ads Performance

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 21:16:11 GMT

There are many ways to improve your Google Ads performance. As someone who has evaluated thousands of Google Ads accounts. I’ve seen issues that are very common with accounts that cause advertisers to spend way too much. On the flip side of that, I also see advertisers whose quality score is so low it prevents them from showing up at all within Google Ads.

Issues can range from poorly chosen keywords and improperly set up campaigns to lack of ongoing management. When it comes to improving performance, you need to first uncover the cause of your problem before you can address it. I’ve taken the most common questions I am asked by business owners and provide guidance in where to locate issues and how to address them.

If you still have questions after reading this post please contact me for assistance.

Why are my Google Ads Spending so much?

There are many reasons why you may be spending too much with Google Ads. Open up your Google Ads account and take a look to see if some or all of these pertain to your account.

Ad rank is low – Low ad rank will cause you to pay more per click or your ads may not show at all.
Keyword quality score is low – If the keywords in the ad quality score is too low you will need to increase your bid which would cost you less if the quality score had been better.
Your keywords are all set to broad match – Broad terms generate a lot of irrelevant searches. This may result in cheaper clicks however, it will take more of those cheaper clicks to generate sales / leads and therefore cost you more in the end.
You're not adding negative terms - The keywords and phrases you use generate other related keywords. Many times the keywords generate for your ads are not relevant and will drive up costs. Adding irrelevant keywords as "negative" will prevent you from wasting money on clicks that aren't related and save you money.

What is Ad Rank?

Google’s Ad rank determines your ad position and if your ad will show up at all for a particular search query.

Ad rank is a combination of the keywords within your ad group to the relation of those keywords in your ad and on your landing pages. If your ad groups are too broad you can’t optimize your ads to be as relevant to the persons search results as possible.

If your ad rank is low it could also cause you to pay more per click in order to show your ad on the first page of Google. If your rank is too low (1-2) your ads may not show at all due to low relevancy.

Keyword performance is also tied heavily to Ad rank. If you’re targeting too many broad terms in an ad group this could cause your ad to be less relevant as the ads cannot be highly targeted to the searches query.

In order to improve ad rank you should...

Pause keywords with a low CTR
Pause keywords with that have low search volume
Add phrase and exact matches
Avoid using broad modified match when starting new ad groups.
Create more specific ad groups with less keywords in order to create ads that match the queries.

What is Account Level Quality Score in Google Ads?

Every aspect of your account is based on a score. Keywords in relation to the ad group and the ads in combination of all ad groups within a campaign across an entire account.

Account-level quality score is the result of the overall historical data of all of the keywords and ads within your account. If you have a large number of low-quality keywords, low CTR and overall poor performance within your account will pull down other aspects of your account even if they are doing relatively well.

In my experience accounts usually are all poorly set up or all set up half way decent. I rarely come across an account that had some campaigns set up poorly while others ad groups were set up perfectly. New accounts have a “sandbox” phase where ads and keywords are rolled out slowly and increase over time as data and performance is collected. Old accounts that have had bad performance tend to struggle to perform well even after they have been “cleaned up”.

Some agencies who come across this issue tend to start over by creating a new account. However, this is against Google’s terms and will lead to both accounts being suspended. Google has stated that there is no such thing as an account level quality score but those of us that have managed many accounts over the years know that account level quality score exists on some level even if Google denies this.

Why are my Google Ads not showing?

There are several reasons why your Google Ads may not be showing. I’ve listed out the most common reasons below. You could have more than one of these issues in your account.

Low impressions - If there isn’t a lot of search volume for a keyword you should pause it as the poor performance can bring down the rank of the entire ad group.
Low daily budget - If your daily budget is too small Google may not show your ads at all.
Low bid on keyword(s) - If your keywords are bid too low they may not be showing up on the first page and therefor you will not receive many clicks.
Landing experience is poor - If your landing pages have a high bounce rate, low time on page, little content that reflects the targeted terms, or has a low conversion rate this will impact your ads ability to appear.

How to Improve Google Ads Conversion Rate?

Conversion rate is a key metric. The higher the number of conversions you can generate the better your campaign will perform. However, in order to understand how to improve the conversion rate we need to conduct an audit of your current landing pages. While conversions rate is measured in Google Ads the actual conversion takes place on your site. Understanding what could impact your site’s conversion rate goes beyond just looking within the Google Ads interface.

➡️ The number of calls to action on a page

When sending visitors to a page it’s important that you have clear calls to action and there should only be one! If you ask visitors to make a purchase, follow you on social media and to subscribe to your newsletter they may take the wrong action or no action at all. When paying for traffic it’s important to have the most important conversion metric easily accessible from all pages. Which is usually the header of the site.

In some cases, it’s better to use landing pages without a main navigation in order to force visitors into making a purchase, calling or filling out a form and leaving. It’s important to note that if your conversion metric is a call you’ll need to have a call tracking code that can tie calls to keywords and report it back into Google Ads as a conversion.

This will help not only improve your quality score but will as provide you insight as to which keywords are producing calls. You can take this one step further by scoring calls from good to bad. You may start to realize that some key terms produce better conversions than others. This will help you fine tune your campaigns to get better quality leads.

When it comes to capturing leads it’s always easier to have a form pop up on the page a user is on then sending them to another page. It’s also better to have as few fields on the form as possible. Every field after the common, name, email and message increasing your chances of losing the lead.

➡️ Cost of the product or service

If your product is more expensive than the competition you need to be able to justify the reason for the increase in costs. If the increase in cost is because shipping is included be sure to mention that on the site. (Free Shipping) If it is more expensive because of the quality or the effectiveness of the product this needs to be stated clearly on the product pages. The same can be said for service / consulting business who place pricing on their sites.

You should know what your competitors charge. Visitors will most likely look at multiple sites to gauge pricing and you should be prepared to justify the higher cost – if there is one.

➡️ Enable Express Checkout

How easy or complicated is your checkout process? Many PPC managers never even look at the checkout process. Are you requiring shoppers to create an account? There should always be an express checkout process.

Allowing to ship to the billing address also speeds up the checkout process and increases conversions. Be sure to add trust signals such as; secure checkout icons, reviews and any guarantees directly on the product pages. These have all been tested to improve conversions and should be considered when designing a product page.

➡️ Set Up Conversion Funnels

If your checkout has multiple steps it’s a good idea track the checkout process using conversion funnels within Google analytics. This will allow you to discover where in the checkout process people are abandoning.

This will provide insight into where customers are running into issues with your checkout process. You can then adjust and change things up in order to push more people into checkout.

Is the page in the checkout process where shipping and taxes are added where people drop off? Is it the checkout process too long and needs to be broken out into smaller sections or have certain fields removed? Tracking the process will provide you with information as to how far shoppers are in the checkout process when they drop off.

How to Improve Your Google Ads CTR?

Having a good Click Through Rate (CTR) is a good indication that your keywords and ads are relevant to each other. A poor CTR will impact your ability to show up for certain keywords. You can improve your Google Ads CTR by doing the following;

Create specific tightly niched ad groups. You can get as specific as Single Keyword Ad Group (SKAG).
Ensure that the keywords in the ad group are represented in your ads
Using extensions and sitelinks to expand your ads
Increase your bids to the first position in order to increase the chances that sitelinks will be visible.

Improving the click through rate (CTR) on ads requires that your ad be clear as to what the message is as well as a clear call to action. You must tell searchers what to do. Get A Free Quote, Call Now, Buy Now, Order Now etc. Just having text without tell people what to do will cause less people to click on ads as they will just read the ad.

Creating specific ad groups around very specific keywords will let your ad keywords in your ads. This improves relevancy to the ad, keyword and ad group. This will also resonate with the searcher. Seeing some or all of the keywords in the ad helps confirm that what they are seeing is relevant to their search.

The screenshot below is from a Google search for “Handyman Services”. As you can see by the green arrows where in the ads that phrase is repeated.

Add site links ( blue arrows ) will expand your ad and take up more real estate increasing your click through rate.

The tan arrows show that are code of the phone numbers are local. This conveys to the search the company is local to their area.

The best way to keep your ad costs down is to manage your campaigns performance as frequently as possible. Some performance metrics will take time to collect before making changes.

Google ad accounts that tend to waste the most money are ones that are poorly managed above all other reasons followed by improper set up. A properly managed account will catch problems sooner and catch underperforming ads and keywords. It will also ensure that irrelevant keywords are caught sooner which will save money on wasted keywords.

Still unsure on what’s most important to tackle? The best way is to hire a professional who has experience improving campaigns. I offer a free Google Ads audit for the purpose of identifying where issues lie and to create a strategy the gets you generating revenue as quickly as possible.

Account management is the key to success

The best way to keep your ad costs down is to manage your campaigns performance as frequently as possible. Some performance metrics will take time to collect before making changes.

How Much Does Google Ads Management Cost?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 15:49:02 GMT

Google Ads management costs vary depending on who you are working with and their pricing model. It’s important to work with an agency or a Google Ads expert whose pricing is in line with your business goals or budget. I’ll break down the three most common pricing structures and the pros and cons of each.

It’s important to decide which pricing structure works for your business and to then find a company that offers the payment option that works best for you. However, pricing alone should not be a factor alone. Check out testimonials and case studies. You also should not commit to a long-term contract. However, you do need to give the agency or ads manager enough time to show improvement. Especially on new campaigns. I would say 3 – 6 months.

The Different Types of Google Ads Management Fee Structures

➡️ A percentage of spend. This is one of the more common ways agencies structure their management fees. The agency benefits from increasing the amount of money you spend each month on Google Ads. There are 3 variations to this pricing model. I’ve listed them in order of most common to least common.

A percentage of spend plus a flat monthly fee.
A flat monthly fee or a percentage of spend whichever is higher
A flat fee percentage based on the amount you spend every month

This pricing model doesn’t benefit the business owner. Sure, an increase in the monthly budget could mean an increase in sales, but not always. Depending on how well the account is being managed you could lose money. Also, agencies tend to want 15% on average of monthly advertising costs . That could be a hefty fee if you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.

➡️ Flat monthly rate . This works best for lead generation websites and smaller businesses that have smaller budgets. This allows you to know exactly what you’re paying every month. This is by far my favorite option as your management fees are predictable. Great for businesses on a budget. However, if you spend less on advertising any given month or your revenue is lower than expected your management fee doesn’t change.

➡️ Percentage of revenue. This pricing model works well for eCommerce businesses that tend to spend a large amount of money per month. A flat rate for large budgets can be high and at a 15% of your advertising spend, it may not be an option.

There are 3 common ways agencies will charge based on revenue.

Charge you between 1% - 5% of revenue generated through Google Ads
Charge you a flat rate plus a percentage of revenue
A flat rate or a percentage of revenue. Whichever is higher.

The options above are common and in some cases, you can negotiate how large of a percentage of revenue you’re willing to give up.

Avoid Very Low Management Fees

In my experience companies that are charging little or no setup fees and not taking the time to thoroughly research your niche. They are in most cases throwing broad terms into one or several ad groups. This in the end results in poor performance.

I’ve found that companies that charge less than $400 a month for management aren’t doing much management in accounts. (You can review what is being done in your account by viewing the change history.) This is most likely because they are getting paid so little that it’s not really worth their time to manage the account and spend more time on larger accounts. They probably figure that if you’re paying so little you won’t expect much.

Google Ads Set Up Costs

In most cases, there will be an initial setup fee and cost. This is typical when creating a new Google ads account. You will want to create your own Google ads account and grant the agency or manager access. Never let anyone else create an account for you.

The initial set up may include;

Competitive research
Keyword research
Campaign creation
Ad group creation
Ad creation & design
Setting up conversion tracking

This is typically billed in addition to your first month of management and can range anywhere from $500 - $3,000+ depending on the size of the account.

You may also be charged a “revamp” or “restructuring” fee. This is typical if the current account setup is poor and needs a fair amount of work or it needs to be built from scratch.

Work With An Ethical Company

I review between 50 - 75 accounts per year. Approximately 35% of them are accounts I wouldn’t take on as a client. Some agencies will take anyone as a client even if they aren’t spending much on Google Ads.

This is because they are working on volume. Their business model is to get as many ad accounts as possible. You end up being a number on a spreadsheet and not a valuable client. That not only wastes your time but your money. What good will come from an account that most managers should know won’t be successful on its small budget? An unethical one!

I would never charge a client who is spending $500 a month on Google Ads a $650 management fee. It doesn’t make sense to spend more on management than you are on Google. Yet large agencies do it all the time. Business owners think because an agency lists all the awards they’ve won it’s a trustworthy company. Clients think a larger company will take care of them. That’s not always the case.

I want my clients to be successful and my job is to manage their expectations. If you’re spending $20 or less a day on Google I would turn down the work. Why?

Your budget is too small. You’ll run through your advertising budget before the day is over. The account would get 1 – 3 clicks a day and then cease to run the rest of the day. Your account will never provide me with enough data to make the informed decisions required to get it to generate business.

You should have enough money to advertise your keywords 24/7 for at least 30 days if not longer. Once there is enough data collected in the account I can take the appropriate actions to improve performance.

Business owners who typically have small ad budgets tend to fail. They typically comment “Google Ads doesn’t work for my business”. It’s not that it doesn’t work. It was your expectation that a $10 a day budget was sufficient enough money to run a test and I am here to tell you it’s not.

When potential clients have small budgets, I tell them to either focus on fewer terms and products or save money until there is enough budget to run ads 24 hours a day 7 days a week for 2 months.

The Cost Of Ongoing Monthly Management

Ongoing management is very important. You can’t have an account running even on an automated strategy without someone overseeing it. A poorly managed account is the leading cause of wasted ad spend. If you think you can just pay for a build-out of a campaign is enough to be successful – you will not.

When working with a management company you’ll want to ask them;

What does monthly management look like?
How often will changes be made within the account
Who will manage the account?
One person? What’s their seniority?
A team of more than one person working on your account?
The same person(s) every time?
What type of changes will be made?
What does monthly reporting entail?
Is the account managed by a human or software? Or both?
How easy will it be to get in charge of the account manager(s)
Is there a review with you and them or just a report?

You want to ensure that the management you are getting is in line with what you expect. Obviously, the agency won’t be able to give you an immediate or specific answer to all of these questions. However, they should still provide you with ballpark figures. If you can try and get more accurate numbers before signing a contract.

The person selling you on management services is rarely the person doing the work. There can be a big disconnect with the results you’re being sold in relation to what actually can be done with your budget in your industry.

It’s important to make note of the size of your account. As an ads manager, I look at the size of the account when deciding how to bid out a project. If your budget is large but only has 100 keywords it may take me less time to manage than an account with 10,000 keywords.

Other Services That May or May Not Be Included

Depending on your needs there are additional costs that you need to consider. Your PPC management fees could include additional charges based on;

Whether you need call tracking
If you need landing pages created
Design services for display, retargeting ads, etc.
You’re also running ads on Bing & Yahoo

Which Google Ads Pricing Structure Should You Choose?

You should choose a fee structure that works best for your business. If you’re running on lead generation and expect your budget to remain mostly flat then a flat monthly fee structure makes sense.

If you’re selling tens of thousands to 100s of thousands of dollars a month you may want to tie performance to payment. This way the agency gets paid more if they are able to generate more revenue.

You should have a conversation with your management company to work out a deal that benefits you both. However, I would avoid going with a percentage of advertising spend.

If you still need help you can reach out to me directly for an audit of your account .

How to Market a New Law Firm Online

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 21:44:51 GMT

Marketing your firm online is essential – without it you’ll have a hard time staying in business. There are many aspects to marketing online, it can be confusing and overwhelming at times. I’ve reviewed hundreds of law firm websites within the past 6 years and many of them suffer from similar issues.

In this article I will lay out the blueprint for what your firm could and should be doing in order to generate consistent leads. Unless your firm has a large budget, you’ll want to be strategic with where you invest your money. Yes, I said invest. Marketing is an ongoing part of business. Investing in marketing is an investment in your firm. Being inconsistent with your marketing will result in an inconsistent flow of leads. Don’t assume because you have a website that people will just find you, because they won’t.

➡️ Questions to ask yourself

How activate has your firm been at marketing? Did you just start blogging? Is your website dated and slow? Is your firm effective at marketing its attorneys on social media? Is your firm on Google My Business? Are you guest posting on websites where your potential clients are? Have you created case studies? How many client testimonials do you have?

These are all very important questions to ask yourself. The minute you decide to go solo or start your own firm you need to consider how to promote yourself and your firm. Relying on referrals will not allow you to grow your firm. You need a strategy that you can increase and or decrease based on your workload or lack thereof.

⭐️ Who are your competitors and how are they marketing themselves?

The first step is to discover what your competitors are doing and more importantly, how does your firm’s marketing stack up? Does your site look professional and not dated? A well ranking website won’t help generate business if it looks old, outdated or slow to load. Older websites also tend to drop in performance over time, especially on WordPress.

Also having a dated site could give users a sense that you’re out of touch and that could impact your ability to generate a sufficient amount of leads. It’s standard practice to redesign a website every 3 – 5 years to keep up with new technologies. So, if it’s been more than 5 years since you updated your site, now may be the time to do so.

There are also tools that you can use to uncover keywords they are advertising as well as keywords that they rank for organically on Google. Knowing this can help you craft a more robust SEO strategy. If you work with an SEO consultant or agency they will be able to provide that information to you.

➡️ How long have you been marketing your business compared to theirs?

Marketing takes time to implement, track and refine. This doesn’t happen overnight. Understand that in order to get to where your competition is took a lot of time and money. If your competition has a 5-year head start with their online marketing you won’t catch up to them in 6 months.

➡️ Are you using Google Ads?

You may be thinking that Google Ads is a wasted of money. Perhaps you’ve used it in the past and it hasn’t worked for you. You should keep in mind that you get out of it what you put in. If your cost per click is $20 and your budget is $30 a day, after one click your ads are paused. You need enough of a budget to run ads all day long for at least 30 days.

You can start with one practice area at a time. It’s also important to understand how the Google Ads platform works. If your keywords are too broad you’ll generate clicks that will not result in unqualified traffic. This is the reason why you should work with someone who understands the platform and can help you spend your advertising dollars on the right terms.

⭐️ The importance of practice area pages

Where many law firms fail is with their content. Law firms are like any other business – they are selling a service. Yet, their landing pages are wordy and boring. They aren’t easy to pull information from and therefore it makes it harder for the visitor to take the next step by contacting the firm.

When you write content is it easy to understand? Do you know who your target audience is?

Many law firms make the mistake of writing content that speaks either about the law itself or about the law firm. What you should be focusing on is the searchers problem.

What are their(searchers) needs and concerns? How can your law firm help them? You are the expert and you (should) know the concerns clients have. Address those concerns within your practice area pages. Other common content issues law firms suffer from are…

✅ Having too little content on the practice area pages.

✅ Not having individual pages for each practice area.

✅ Not showcasing testimonials or examples of past success.

A law firm is a business yet many firms think they should be exempt from providing this type of information as it seems “gimmicky” but it isn’t. This is information clients expect so why make it hard for them?

However, if other legal professionals are looking to hire your services then having content more legally focused makes sense. If you’re a DWI lawyer all a person wants to know is can you help them, how you’ve helped others and how it relates to them.

➡️ Set Up A Google My Business Listing

Having a Google My Business Listing (Google maps) is one of the first things you should do when opening your practice. It is free to create. You should fill out all of the information required within the Google My Business platform. Add photos, business hours etc. You also should work on local citations and ask clients to add reviews for your profile.

Creating citations will help Google verify that the business name, address and phone number are correct by comparing it to other white pages across the internet. Any misinformation can cause your firm to not rank as well.

➡️ Not all blog posts are created equal

The goal of your blog post is too drive in traffic, but not just any traffic. You want your blog posts to capture potential clients who are researching topics and questions that only a lawyer can answer.

If you’re a tax lawyer in New York writing about a national tax law will not help you drive in local clients. However, if you wrote about the tax benefits of creating an S Corp in New York you now have the potential to turn a searcher into a client.

This is where understanding your clients’ needs and their questions can help you drive relevant business. Practice area pages drive searchers who know what type of lawyer they need. Blog posts help answer questions that people have that lead them to possibly needing a lawyer. Your blog posts are your opportunity to showcase your knowledge.

✅ Calls to action are important

So many law firms leave this out. This is especially true for larger law firms. Larger law firms don’t have calls to actions on their websites. They assume users will find an attorney on the site and contact them directly. However, the firm has no idea how many people are reaching out to attorneys and which online channels drive the most leads.

This leads to gaping holes in understanding what’s working or what isn’t. While they may know which practice, areas are most important on paper there’s no way to tell in analytics outside of page views which can be deceiving.

Smaller law firms do a better job of placing calls to actions on their site’s however, they usually miss the tracking portion. Having the firms phone number placed prominently on the site is great. However, not tracking phone calls is almost as bad as not having a phone number.

If you're generating calls where are they coming from? Google Ads? Which keywords produce calls? If you have ads on other websites or directories – how do you know which websites drive in leads when people call? Same with email and blog posts. If you aren’t tracking how do you know which of your marketing efforts are working well and which aren’t?

What is the quality of calls by channel? A small firm looking to grow will want to know where to invest more dollars. If you’re not tracking then how do you know?

➡️ What should you do with this information?

You should now have a better sense of what your site is lacking and what you should do to market your law firm online. The difficult part is how to implement these items. Most law firms hire an agency or individual to do this for them.

Hiring a law firm marketing expert is one of the most effective ways to speed this process up. Unfortunately, many of the law firms I speak with have used overseas marketing services or “cheap” $299 a month SEO packages.

This seems like an appealing option. It’s cheap, but in my 17 years in the industry “cheap” equals “bad”. My recommendation is to assess your needs.

Marketing involves reviewing content, studying algorithms, testing, content optimization research, analyzing calls, creating reports, managing ad campaigns, testing ads… etc. Does that sound like a $299 a month job? If you want quality work it will come at a premium, but the results will also be better.

Do you need an individual or a team (agency)? Then start requesting information and ask questions, review case studies and read client testimonials.

Decide what you want to focus on and your firm’s needs. If SEO & PPC (Google Ads) is all you need then you’ll want to hire an expert or individual. If you need search marketing, email marketing, social media management, content creation you’ll want to work with an agency. You can decide this by looking at your goals for the next 1- 3 years. You could start small and work up to more services if your budget is small.

Marketing is something you need to do every day, month and year you’re in business. This is the only way to ensure you keep your rankings and continue to drive in steady business to avoid dry spells.

If you’re struggling with marketing your law firm while practicing law it may be time to hire an expert. Contact Joe for a free consultation.

Why Your Google Shopping Ads Are Not Showing

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 23:00:37 GMT

Common Reasons Why Your Shopping Ads May Not Be Showing

Google is committed to providing the best user experience on search, and hence they are very strict when it comes to Google Shopping ads. Noncompliance with any regulations, laws and Google policies will get your ads disapproved or even worse your account suspended. Having your ads disapproved or your account suspended means that you will lose a significant amount of business, particularly if much of your business depends on Shopping Ads.

There are many reasons that could lead to the disapproval of your shopping as apart from errors in the product feed. The following are some of the most common reasons why your ads may be disapproved or why your Google shopping ads are not showing and how you can fix them.

➡️ Problems With the Data Feed -The feed is an important cog in Google Shopping ads since it is what the algorithm uses to advertise your items, make optimizations and get to know the products. The feed usually contains several attributes that include things like condition, availability, id, title, description, and Google product category among many others.

There are two types of attributes that Google Shopping uses to advertise your products:

✅ Attributes that help customers find something specific for their needs

✅ Attributes that help Google Shopping categorize and identify the product

It is important to have as many product attributes added to the feed as you can, but ensure that they are added in properly. Improper or careless use of attributes is what leads to product disapprovals. It could also result in product ads being shown to the wrong customers that will not convert resulting in poor ROI.

➡️ Violation of the Google Shopping Policies - Besides the product attributes, there are several policies set by Google that every advertiser needs to adhere to. Any violation of the policies could result in ads getting disapproval or the Google Merchant Account getting suspended.

The policies specify the products or content that may be advertised under the Restricted or Prohibited Product policy.

Prohibited or Restricted Product Policy - If you are selling any products not allowed or are heavily restricted such as copyrighted content, drugs, weapons, counterfeit goods, tobacco, adult content or alcohol, you could get your ads disapproved.

It is important to note that prohibited or restricted content or products can vary depending on the target country, you may find your ads are getting tons of disapproval when you expand your product offering or go international.

Always check that your feed does not include any heavily restricted content. If you find any, remove it from the feed and wait for Google to approve the new feed. Here is more on the Google shopping policy here.

Using The Wrong URLs - The product URLs you provide to the feed needs to match the domain that you have claimed in the Merchant Center account or your ads will get disapproved. For instance, if you are selling on Shopify on bracelets.myshopify.com and provide bracelets.com on the Google Merchant account, your ads will not be approved due to a wrong URL.

Google shopping ads will also disable all product ads if their pages cannot be accessed. If any of the product pages are resulting in 404 errors or the website is inaccessible at the time of crawl, you will get errors and disapprovals.

As such, you should always ensure that all your product URLs are working as expected. You should not have any 404s or URLs going to the homepage rather than the relevant product page.

Invalid Product Images - Google Shopping requires that all products that are in the data feed have a unique image. If any images are not in the accepted format, or if they point to a web page rather than an actual image you will get 404 errors and possibly get the ad disapproved. To ensure your ads get approved you need to make sure that they are in either BMP, TIFF, PNG, or GIF. They should not be animated in any way.

Incorrect Pricing - Google Shopping will always be scanning your website to check that the prices in the product feed are the same as those you have displayed on the site. Any discrepancies in the prices will result in product ads getting disapproved. Moreover, the price also needs to match the currency of the country being targeted.

To ensure your ads do not get disapproved, check that you have not updated your prices without updating the feed. You should also ensure that you have set prices for products according to the target country’s currency.

Other Reasons Your Google Ads Aren't Showing

Product Availability - Google Shopping supports the following availability settings: in stock, out of stock and pre-order. What gets products disapproved is classifying items in the wrong availability category. For instance, still having a product in the feed with “in stock” when it is sold out. It can also happen when you input availability values that Google does not recognize.

To fix or prevent this always ensure your feed only has the approved availability settings and that the availability is a match for what is on the website.

Return and Refund Policy - You need to provide clear information on how customers can return orders or get refunds. If you do not have such policies clearly spelled out, the feed will be suspended and if you do not change it the Merchant account may be suspended.

Shipping Settings - Google Shopping expects you to provide complete and accurate information on shipping including aspects such as insurance, speed of shipping and any associated costs. In case you will be shipping the goods from outside the target country, you need to be clear about aspects such as custom fees that may be applied. The basic premise is that the client should not be surprised and should have clarity on cost and what to expect.

Bid Adjustments Not High Enough - Many of your products may not be showing because your bid is too low. Once you break out your products individually, you can bid on each product separately. In many cases, if products are grouped together your default CPC will be the same for all products. However, some products will need to be increased.

If you are still having issues and aren’t sure why please contact this Google shopping ads expert .

How to Improve Google Shopping Ads

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 20 May 2021 17:23:40 GMT

Tips to Improve Google Shopping Ad Performance

The Google shopping feed is a spreadsheet that you provide to Google Shopping ads includes a description and categorization of your product catalog provided in a way that will allow Google to can crawl and understand your product details.

Shopping campaigns work similarly to conventional Search campaigns though instead of bidding on keywords, your ads will appear based on the optimization of your feed. You can also use services that will build a feed for you and certain platforms such as Shopify have plugins that do the work for you.

The feed usually contains information such as brand, availability, and price among others, which Google Shopping will use to determine relevance just like it is done with keywords in SEO. As such, it is important to optimize your Google shopping feed, as the more your ads show up on a search, the better the chance of a conversion.

How Improve & Optimize Product Titles

The product title is the most important component when you are optimizing your shopping feed. While you can send a lot of data to Google through your feed, product titles contribute up to 80% of your ad ranking on the search engines. The reason for this is that Google Shopping relies on the key terms in your product titles to understand how to identify and categorize the products. Nonetheless, product titles still need to have a natural structure that takes into account the needs of the consumer.

The following are some of the most important aspects to take into consideration when optimizing your titles:

✅ Character Limit – Google allows you to input a maximum of 150 characters though it is always recommended to input no more than 70 characters. Past 70 characters, Google will truncate the titles most of the time.

✅ Front Load Key Terms – Put all your important and most profitable keywords as close to the 70 character limit as possible.

In the example above the first four product listings have the word cod oil or fish oil. The last product does not include any of the two words though hovering over the ad shows that it does include it. This means that it was truncated.

Most searchers especially those on mobile will either not be able to or will not bother to hover over the ad, you may lose a lot of clicks by not front-loading your valuable keywords. Since the character limit is in a constant state of flux, always make sure the titles are as short as possible, and that the important keywords are front-loaded.

✅ Be Descriptive but Concise – You obviously have to include the name of the product you are selling but make sure the description is something that both shoppers and the search engines need and want. For instance, accessories and apparel may include valuable information such as gender, size, and color.

In other verticals such as machine or auto parts manufacturers, part numbers may be more important. Google suggests that you tailor your descriptions according to the industry as in the following table.

✅ Be Natural – Optimize your product titles not only for the search engines but also for real users. If you are new in the industry check the ads that other competitors in the industry are using or if you are a small business you can ask family members to search for your products and then take cues from their searches when writing your ads.

✅ Focus on Key Product Features – It is critical to remember that not all keywords have the same value. A key attribute in one keyword may not be so important for a different product. For instance, model numbers are critical for electronics but mean very little when it comes to apparel. As such, it is critical to check the ads of other advertisers. and also test ads to find the attributes that searchers find most relevant.

✅ Use Keywords in Titles & Descriptions- The first thing to do is to dig through your data to find products that are already ranking. You can then go to Google Ads and run the “search term” report to determine the best performing search terms.

Note; These could include keywords from a PPC campaign you are already running. Be sure you are in your shopping campaign, You can use what users are typing into search to find lucrative keywords.

✅ Add Negative Keywords - Google will try and show your products for as many terms as possible. There will be terms that are not relevant and need to be excluded or that are relevant and don’t convert. You should go through the search term report and look at all of the keywords that are irrelevant or don’t convert and exclude them. If you are using Google smart campaigns, you won’t be able to see these terms in your account.

✅ Pause Underperforming Products - If you’ve broken out your products inside Google ads you’ll be able to view all of your individual products. Review your products and go through products that have a poor

✅ Increase Product Bids - As you review your account you should look at the number of impressions each product is getting. If you see that certain products have low to no impressions – you should increase the bids. Keep doing so until you start getting impressions. If overtime increasing bids don’t improve your positions try some of the troubleshooting tips.

✅ Google Shopping Ads Troubleshooting - Ask yourself these following questions when troubleshooting your ads

Do Product Listing Ads appear when I run a manual search for the keyword?
Do my product descriptions or titles have the keyword?
How much am I spending on the keywords on campaigns I am are already running?
Am I showing up for at least one product when I run a manual search?

✅ A/B Test Keywords/Titles and Descriptions - It is absolutely critical to ruthlessly A/B test when you are choosing your keywords. You can test multiple keywords and title formulas to determine what works best and then tweak your strategies accordingly.

It is important to note that there is no one correct combination of keywords, descriptions or titles. Every retailer will have different levels of engagement and conversions. Some e-commerce stores will have committed hobbyists, others will have college-educated shoppers and others anything outside or in between the different categories.

✅ Product Descriptions - You can enter up to 5000 characters for your product descriptions though no shopper is likely to read that much information. In fact, having too long product descriptions may actually be negative for your product ads since it could mean that you have unclear selling points thus resulting in poor click-through rates.

The optimal product description length is about 500 and no more than 1000 characters. To ensure that your descriptions are more effective, thoroughly research and use good keywords just like you would when writing your meta descriptions and SEO titles.

✅ Product Category - The product category is an algorithm centric rather than a consumer-facing metric. This means that it is important for the search engine as Google will use it when ranking your ad on the search results.

You need to include the product category in every Shopping feed you submit or the product ads will not be listed. Google provides the Google Product Taxonomy also known as GPT, which is a list of more than 6,000 categories and subcategories that you can use to classify your product ads. You can find the complete list of them here on Google.

The product category is a critical component for optimizing your feed as it gives the ad relevance. The more accurate you are with your categories and subcategories the more relevant the ad will be. This will result in more targeted clicks that will convert better.

✅ GTIN – Global Item Number - The Global Trade Item is an important component of optimization and is mandatory if you are reselling goods provided by a manufacturer. However, if you are selling antiques, custom products, manufacturer parts or are the only seller you do not have to include the GTIN.

✅ Reasons to use a GTIN - Google makes use of the GTIN to get the data from the supplier catalog and then differentiate your products from those of other sellers reselling the same product. Most of the time, Google Shopping will override optimizations in the feed, and use the attributes provided by the supplier.

GTINS can get your ad placed when searches such as “Top” and Best are included with certain keywords. Since these searches make use of customer reviews to ranks ads, you stand a chance of ranking in the first position if the product is reviewed on sites such as Verified Reviews, Yotpo or Trustpilot.

✅ Sales & Merchant Promotions - Merchant and sales promotions are among the best optimizations to drive high click-through rates and conversions at relatively lower costs.

For instance, if you own an eCommerce store selling clothing and are running a promotion at 30% off for spring, you can set up a promotional code of SAVE30 on the site and include this in the shopping feed.

The first thing to do is to set up promotion_id as an attribute call and then populate all the clothing you intend to sell using the promotion code. You can then log into the Google Merchant Center Account and under the promotions tab create the promotion. You should find all instructions on how to set up the promotion including start and end dates, promotion codes and whether you want to include all or specific products.

Merchant Promotions and sales may be run for up to 4 months without any updates. This can be great if you are running a long sale or are offering free shipping. They can include promotions such as:

Free Shipping
Brand-specific rebates (for instance sponsored by the manufacturer, one for each brand)
Lowering free shipping thresholds
Tiered percentage discounts such as 20% off orders of $150 or more, 10% off on orders of $50
Buy one, Get one at 50% of or Buy one, get one

✅ Product Type - The product type optimization is another important component that will help Google’s backend determine relevance. However, it is not mandatory like the product category.

However, providing the product type for your product ads can make for a more precise categorization of the ad, which improves click-through rates and conversions. It allows the e-commerce seller to paint the product better thus serving it to more relevant audiences. Product type may be especially important for eCommerce sellers that sell niche products that are unlikely to be featured on the GPT.

✅ Product Image Optimization - Product images are important for your product ads in Google Shopping and hence it is worth investing in images as they will pay for themselves in better click-through rates and conversions.

➡️ Follow the following guidelines to improve and optimize your images in Google Shopping:

Get images with the highest resolution you can find (should be up to 10MB file size and be at least 800 pixels in width and height).
Include at least three good quality images for every product.
Every image you add needs to provide additional information
Ensure the image is on a white background and provides a clear view of the product
Provide images showing different angles if you are selling accessories, clothing or shoes

In the example above the Kohl’s product ad, which is at an angle would be more enticing and would likely entice more clicks.

✅ Optimize the Google Merchant Center - Text ads typically allow you to determine how optimized your ads are by giving a quality score such as 7 out of 10. However, Google Shopping only provides the Merchant Center to help you determine if your ads are set up correctly.

The Merchant Center is the ultimate resource where you go to determine the accuracy and cleanliness of your data. Once you have uploaded your data into the feed, you should see all the disapprovals, warnings and errors.

While you can still have your product ads show up in some searches without optimizing your merchant center, you will be disadvantaged against your competition that has taken the time to optimize their Merchant Center accounts. As such, it is critical to optimize the Merchant Center.

➡️ The following are some things to look out for:

✅ Account Level Warnings – This is the worst thing that you want to see in your account and needs to be taken care of ASAP, as not doing so could result in your account getting shut down. This may include serious issues such as verification that need to be resolved immediately to keep your account active.

✅ Feed Level Warnings – Google will go through your feed to ensure that all files are readable and have been set up correctly. You will get warnings if there are any problems with your feed.

✅ Item Level Warnings –Item level or SKU warnings tend to be at the specific product levels. The algorithm will scan your products and give a warning or recommendation if any are missing specific attributes.

Regularly Update the Feed Data

When optimizing your Google Shopping feed, you must update your shopping feed whenever your inventory levels, availability or product prices change. For instance, if you had 600 items in stock last month and now have only 400, then you need to go into the data feed and update it. This ensures that you will not waste ad spend on products you no longer sell. This could result in 404 errors that may mess with the quality score of your feed.

Analyze Ad Performance Data - Google Shopping is a good source for ad performance data but it is better when combined with search volume and supplementary data sources. Critical data that may come in handy include negative keywords, search volume, and conversion for your Google Shopping ads.

You can use the data to find additional optimization that you can incorporate into A/B testing of your product feed. This will allow you to continually improve the performance of your campaigns over time.

I hope this article has taught you how to optimize your Google shopping ads. If not, or you still need help – reach out.

How To Hire An SEO Expert or SEO Agency?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 17:23:34 GMT

Hiring An SEO Expert - What Should You Ask?

You’re here because you’re looking to hire an SEO expert or agency and you’re not sure which questions to ask or how to spot a pro from a con?

You could just hire me and your problems would be solved ��. All kidding aside – as someone who has worked in SEO for more than 17 years, I can tell you exactly what you need to look for and which questions to ask. You can also apply these questions if you’re looking to hire a freelancer or in-house SEO.

➡️ Google SEO certification - Are they Google SEO certified? This is a trick question. No SEO is certified by Google. While you can take courses on SEO – you can’t be “certified”. If the person or agency tells you that they are certified from Google, it’s a sure sign they are scamming you.

➡️ What is their experience? - When I say experience – I don’t mean just by how many years they’ve been in SEO. Let me explain. If I were looking to hire an in-house SEO I wouldn’t hire someone that has worked in SEO for 3 years, but only on a handful of sites – that person’s experience is limited. I rather work with someone with fewer years of experience but have more experience when it comes to the number for sites they’ve worked on. Why?

You gain experience by working on numerous sites. Each site has its own unique issues and if you work on only a few sites the issues you come across will be limited. So, while one person may have more years of experience they may not have the acquired skill set to tackle SEO problems.

You also want to ask about their wins and losses. Every SEO has them. Get them to talk about their experience. What was a fun project or a difficult project to work on? Also, ask them how the industry has changed over the years. This will give you a sense of their overall experience within the space. SEO experts love to brag about complex issues or challenges they’ve resolved. You have to have the desire to solve issues and to be a detective of sorts.

SEO is not simple. It is full of challenges and technical issues and one small change could dramatically improve or totally crush a website’s ability to rank.

➡️ Don’t buy cheap SEO - If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is. When it comes to SEO, cheap labor always equals poor workmanship. Do you think someone who is charging you $350 a month for SEO is spending a whole lot of time working on your SEO? Do you think if they were good at what they do they would charge more? There’s a saying – if you think an expert is too expensive – wait until you hire a novice.

➡️ How did you find your expert? - A good sign that you may have found a knowledgable SEO expert is that you found them performing a Google search. If an SEO is good at his or her job their own site ranks well. If someone has cold-called you or emailed you directly, it’s a good sign that they aren’t good enough to rank themselves so they probably can’t rank your website either.

➡️ What does search engine marketing mean to them? - If the person you are talking to tells you that SEO is about links and content – move on. SEO is way more complex than that. SEO involves on-page off-page, keywords, content, site crawlability, indexing and so on. If their answer you receive is simple and short – they don’t fully understand how SEO works. This is very common, unfortunately. Many people think that SEO is an easy way to make money.

➡️ Which tools do they use? - It’s not enough to ask which tools they use. It’s easy to run off a list of popular tools. Ask them which tools do they use and how do they use them. Tools such as SEMrush has a ton of features and not every SEO uses all of them.

➡️ What are they saying? - If they use words like “trick” and “fool” (Google) this is a red flag. What we do not want to do is trick or fool anyone. As an SEOs, we understand what Google wants and we use that knowledge to help our clients. Tricking Google means you're deceiving and what business owner wants to decisive Google or their visitors?

✅ More importantly – you will know if you’re speaking to an expert because they speak from a place of confidence and experience. I typically tell clients about how SEO was 12 – 15 years ago compared to today and how things have evolved. I do this to provide them insight into my experience. I’ve landed jobs without even writing up a proposal based on what was said over a phone call or in-person meeting.

Stay away from anyone who calls themselves a ninja, magician, wizard, warlock, etc. People who go by these names not only don’t have respect for the field, but they don’t have respect for themselves or take their job seriously. When you have a multi-million dollar business you want to hire a professional, not an illusionist or ninja.

➡️ Avoid guaranteed rankings - Guarantees are not something SEO experts can provide simply because Google could make a core update that could impact your site negatively and there is nothing that anyone can do to predict when an update is coming or what impact it could have on your site.

Some agencies will offer you a guarantee if they get certain terms on page one. These are usually very long tail term keywords that are easy to rank for and have to search volume or they will spam your site with backlinks that will get you to the top quickly.

Once they collect their money and Google has time to make adjustments your site rankings will fall just as fast as they made it to the top of Google. In some cases, those links could impact your site overall in a negative way.

➡️ What are their results? - When hiring an SEO expert review his or her case studies. Ask for them. Look to see if their rankings are all long tail terms or some smaller more competitive keywords. If all the rankings they provide are 4 – 8 words long – it’s not a good sign.

You also want to see a variety of SEO work. How good are they at identifying site issues, indexing, conducting audits and so on? Many “new” SEOs just do on-page and link building. If your site is older you will need more than that to improve rankings.

Ask for references if you don’t find a lot of case studies on their site and be sure to reach out to them and ask them what they thought about the work and the communication.

How does an SEO measure success? - Rankings are a good measurement for tracking SEO. However, ranking for a keyword and not receiving traffic from it, is not. Or, receiving traffic that doesn’t translate into “goals” may not be the right traffic.

How do they communicate? Every month you should have a call with your SEO expert or SEO agency. There should be goals to reach every month. It’s okay to miss or exceed the goals. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t reach your goals. The purpose of the call is to discuss what went well, what didn’t and why and the plan moving forward.

What else do they do? - While SEO alone is a lot to handle many experts and agencies offer other services. When working with a web development agency, ask if they have a dedicated expert. Many agencies will tell you they build sites with SEO but don’t have a dedicated expert on the team. This is critical when going through a site redesign. You could lose a lot of traffic if the redesign isn’t done correctly.

If you’re hiring an expert look at the other services they offer. Do they do paid search, content marketing, social media, web development? Having experience in other related areas is useful – However, if they offer a lot of other services it may be a sign that they are a jack of all trades. If you’re looking for an expert be sure they are an expert in that field and not a so-called expert in many fields.

Ask about contracts - It is not uncommon to have SEO contracts for 6 – 12 months at a time. However, you should review progress on a quarterly basis. If there has been no improvement or things have gotten worse you want to be able to back out of the contract. In theory, if things have gotten worse and they don’t know why – you wouldn’t want to continue with them. Ask them to write the clause into the contract. If they are confident in their work it shouldn’t be an issue.

Hopefully, you have enough ammunition to ask the right questions when you’re looking to hire an SEO expert.

Ask An SEO Expert!

If you're ready to ask an SEO question you're in the right place. Feel free to reach out or book a consultation !

10 Mistakes Website Owners Make

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 18:35:09 GMT

There are basic features and functions that a website should have. New website owners may not know what their site should or should not include. This top ten is a quick but important list that even current website owners will want to run through.

Not consulting an SEO before designing a new site

There is nothing more discouraging than paying to have a site designed to only realize that it’s not SEO friendly. It’s important to ensure that the design company you’re working with has an SEO on site or hire your own to work with the design company. It will be worth the extra cost. Once the site is built you’ll wind up paying more to have the site updated after it is built.

Web design and development companies don’t always have SEO on staff and since they are designing or developing a site it’s not their responsibility to ensure the site is SEO friendly. Though it should be.

Not doing keyword research before building pages

When your site is being created or even in its current state you should understand how people search to find your service or products. What keywords are they using? Are you looking at your competitor’s websites? What types of pages do they have? What are the title tags of their pages saying? How does your site stack up?

Naming your title tags the same

If you do not take the time to title your pages properly or if your naming them all the same you’re missing out on SEO traffic. The title tag tells Google what a particular page is about. If you label them all the same then Google may assume all of the content is the same which impacts the ability of those pages to drive traffic.

If the title tag of your home page is labeled “home” your SEO is not tuned in. Most home pages should have a focus umbrella term. Not just your brand name and definitely not “home”.

Placing Google Ads on your business website

This one makes me cringe. I get the thought behind it, but it’s not worth it. You’re thinking - “I’m spending money on advertising and even if people don’t buy from me at least I’ll get a few pennies if someone clicks an ad”.

In reality what you’re doing is giving your competitors an opportunity to advertise on your site. Who wouldn’t want an ad on a competitor’s site? Sure, you’ll make a few pennies, but the client now has the opportunity to make a sale. You’re trading dollars for pennies. Don’t do it.

Not having services pages for your business

As part of your SEO strategy having a landing page for each service allows you to address the following concerns:

Address the searches most common issues or pain points. This is very important. This is where understanding your clients’ needs come into play. If you can address their most common problems and concerns they are more likely to reach out.
Explain how you can help them with their problem – This is where your years of experience comes into play and how you’ve helped others in similar situations.
Why you’re the company they should choose – Case studies – testimonials.

This is how your company pages should be structured. These pages will also double as great paid search landing pages. They can also work well for any other type of online marketing. If you can generate pages based on your services, services by industries and possibly services by location you could have a solid strategy for generating leads.

If you have one page with all of your services listed with a small paragraph you’re missing out on a massive amount of relevant traffic.

Relying on one source of traffic

If you receive a 70% or more of traffic from Google you could be setting yourself up for trouble. You could be one step away from losing it all. I’m not trying to push some conspiracy theory, but Google is known for putting online businesses out of business with a single update. The same can be said for Google ads. If your ad account gets suspended all of your traffic could instantly come to a complete stop.

The best way to protect your business is diversify your traffic sources. Test everything. Facebook ads, LinkedIn, Google ads, SEO, content, YouTube etc. This is the best way to ensure your business doesn’t come to a screeching halt if you lose one source of traffic.

Using cheap hosting

Cheap hosting is appealing because…it’s cheap! However, cheap hosting winds up costing you in the end. Hosting is one of the most overlooked aspect of an online business. If you’re using cheap hosting it may take longer to upload files to the server.

This could make it difficult to make changes when using platforms like WordPress. If files are slow to upload or it takes a long time for site to update then it’s also going to be slow for Google. If Google has a hard time crawling pages it’s less likely Google will rank your pages well. Google prides itself as the number one search engine because of the great results that load fast.

Even, if you could somehow get past Google and still manage to rank. If your site is slow to load no one will stick around long enough to view the site. Everyone talks about mobile friendliness and fast loading templates, but not much is said about hosting.

Using WordPress but not maintaining updates and plugins

If you’re going to use WordPress you need to maintain it. The open source software increases the number of patches it rolls out every year as it’s the most hacked platform there is. Plugins offer vulnerabilities that make it easy for hackers to take control of your site. Costing you hundreds in cleanup and a fair amount of downtime.

If you can’t afford to pay someone to update plugins and themes as WordPress rolls out new updates don’t use WordPress. There are other reliable platforms that may cost more but will save you the headache WordPress will give you and that’s money in the bank.

Not setting up search console and Google analytics

Both of these platforms are free to use and are equally import. Search console allows you to upload a sitemap, discover keywords your site ranks for and you will gain insight into any issues Google finds with your website.

Google analytics will provide you with information on which pages are most popular, which source drove the most sales and leads. You can easily download dashboards to get you started. Just login to your analytics account and click on dashboards.

Then choose "import from gallery" Download as many as you like and once you find the dashboards that provide the information you want delete the rest.

Missing calls to action - Or using too many CTAs

You want visitors to take some form of action when on your site. It’s important the main action is visible on the site. Especially for lead generation websites. You may want someone to fill out a form or to call. I come across sites all the time that have no call to action.

On the flip side I see sites that have so many calls to actions it’s not clear which action a user should take. Following on social media shouldn’t be more important than filling out a form.

If you need help with any of the items above feel free to contact me to learn more about my services.

When Should You Change Your Google Ad Agency?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 16:59:08 GMT

Is it time to change who manages your Google Ads?

I’ve managed Google Ad accounts for more than 15 years, in that time frame I still come across accounts that are poorly managed. Even the larger well-known agencies are guilty of some of these. In many cases, accounts have few ad groups and all keywords are set to broad or broad modified. Which to me is the laziest way to set up an account. Especially when the budget is tight or very small.

In an effort to educate business owners on what a well-managed Google Ads account should look like. I’ve compiled a list of easy to spot red flags. If two or more of these sound familiar to you it may be worth having your Google Ads account audited by an expert.

You find yourself telling your agency about issues you’ve found in the account.

If you’re in the account poking around and you find:

URL destination not working
Keywords below first page bid
Keywords with little or no conversions
Policy violations or account suspension
Keywords with a lot of impressions and little to no clicks
Keywords that have spent a lot of money with no conversions

Any signs of large-scale neglect are an issue. You can always check the “change history” to see how much actual management is happening within the account. Don’t fall for “the account is new” and it takes time. This is only partially true. Even while you’re waiting for things to ramp up there will be irrelevant terms that pop up that should be added as negative keywords. There is also a lot of keyword bid adjustments that happen when a new ad group is launched.

If you’re not seeing any management for 30 days it’s not a good sign. You’re paying for management if you’re not getting it – cut them loose.

The agency changes account managers frequently

If every month you have a new person managing your account it’s a major red flag. This means their internal turnover is high. This can lead to them hiring people with less experience in order to fill vacancies and that’s not good for your business. You want a manager that understands your specific needs and a good account manager becomes great at managing your account the longer they are optimizing it. Every manager has their own style and too many hands in your account could make performance much worse.

You’re not receiving monthly reports

This is one I hear too often. You’re paying for management, it’s only fair that you receive a report on the performance of your account. The report should include how the account performed over the previous month as well as the last 13 months. You’ll also want to know if things didn’t perform well, why.

There should be a plan of action for the next month to expand on what worked and a strategy to fix what hasn’t done well. Your management fee includes strategy – every month.

Costs have increase but leads have not

Are you noticing that the cost per sale / lead is increasing? Your management person or agency should be addressing these concerns in the reporting they provide you. If it’s not brought to your attention it means they aren’t concerned or they hope you don’t notice. The absence of reporting is a clear sign that it’s probably happening in your account.

It’s hard to get a hold of the person in charge of your account

Regardless of whether you work with an individual or an agency communication should be reasonable. The same business day is important to some business owners while 24 hours works for others. However, if it takes more than one business day to get a response it may mean they are too busy to address your concerns. I’ve spoken to business owners that wouldn’t hear from their management company for an entire week.

A major warning sign you should not ignore

There are so many great agencies and managers that do a fantastic job at managing ads. However, for every great management company that are at least four horrible and dare I say shady companies. If you’re current agency is doing any of the following I would cut ties with them ASAP. If any company you plan to work with in the future operates this way do not work with them.

Your agency doesn’t use your Google Ads account.

A shady practice is when an agency doesn’t use your account or doesn’t tell you that you need to have your own Google account. What they end up doing is adding a campaign to their own account. This is a huge problem for a number of reasons.

Most of the time the agency will not provide you with the data in the account. This means that the ad groups, settings, negative keywords will not be given to you. You’ll have to start all over – from scratch.
This type of set up also means you will not be paying Google directly. This allows the shady agency to hide how much you’re spending in Google Ads and how much is going to them. Agencies who give an “all in” cost never report on the amount of money going into their pocket versus Google.
You won’t be able to login and view the account at all. Why would you pay someone to manage something you yourself can’t even view?

Always have your own Google Ad account and grant access to users using their email. Never give anyone your login information. This ensures you stay in control of your valuable data!

Misconceptions about Google Ads management

Cheap management isn’t best. Many times, if you’re paying “cheap” $300 PPC management chances are no one is going to manage your account.

You’re not just paying for the time an account manager spends in the account but also the experience of the account manager. Someone who is willing to charge you $300 to manage an account may not have enough experience to confidently run your campaigns.

Other times agencies are counting on you not expecting much for what you’re paying for and therefore neglect the account. There are many great management companies and managers out there. It’s important to look at results and not just the management cost.

✅ How to justify paying a management fee

Some business owners feel that paying a management fee isn’t worth the expense. I’m here to tell you that it is and for the right reasons.

If done properly you’ll be profitable and generated more leads and sales for the same or less advertising budget.
You’ll free up more of your time to work on other aspects of your business.
If you save money, generate more business, and free up more of your time the management fee is worth it.

If you feel your account is not being managed well you can reach out to me for a free Google Ads account audi t. When I conduct an audit, I’ll identify issues ranging from poorly structured campaigns and irrelevant keywords to lack of basic account set up. I’ll even point out any lack of ongoing management.

The Importance of Managing Your Google Ads Account Regularly

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 23:21:13 GMT

Neglect is a Form of Failing - Don't Fail!

Managing your account is something everyone needs to do. You could argue whether it should be done daily, weekly, or monthly. How much management and time depends on the size of your account.

This doesn’t mean you need to pay an agency to manage it, especially if it’s a small account. If you are self-managing your account and not reviewing the performance of the account at least weekly you're leaving money and your business success to chance.

If your account is large you run the risk of wasting even more dollars and paying someone to handle the management will pay for itself in savings and performance.

Here are just some of the reasons why ongoing management is important.

If you’re not managing your account your wasting money!

If, nothing else in this article conveniences you this section should. If you are not actively managing your account I guarantee that you’re spending money on keywords that never produce business for you. At the very least you’re generating business at a cost higher than if you were managing your account on a consistent basis.

Imagine all of the days, weeks, months and maybe years of mismanagement going on within your account. Think about all of the thousands of dollars that could have been put to better use. Like spending it on keywords that actually drive in business.

Your competition is growing and they are managing their Google Ads

Perhaps when you started there were only a small number of competitors. There are probably more competitors bidding on the same terms you are and they may have pushed you off the first page. Even if the competition is exactly the same you could still be missing out.

Lack of ongoing management will result in your competition out bidding you and stealing business that could be yours.

If their advertising and doing all of the things you aren’t - they’ll grow while your business stagnates or worse declines in visibility.

Your audience is evolving and you’re not

10 years ago, everyone searched on a desktop computer. Today, more people searching on a mobile device is proof that everything changes over time. Industry terms and names tend to change as well as how people search.

If you’re advertising on the term “dental office” for example and people start searching “dental center” because of this change you may miss out on potential business.

Your relying too much on automation

Automation is great. However, automation is not a “set it and forget it” solution. While automation can decrease the time spent managing your Google Ads account - it is not smart enough to create, pause keywords or add negative keywords to your account. It also can’t implement advanced adjustments to your account. You’ll still waste a fair amount of money on keywords, devices and locations.

Your offers have changed

Perhaps previously you offered free shipping and now you do not. Someone clicking on your ad and visiting your site may not purchase from you because your ad was misleading.

Alternatively, you may offer free shopping now and didn’t in the past. Placing “free shipping” in your ad is a great selling point that you may be taking advantage of. The point here is – if you’re not updating ads and testing offers you are missing out on opportunities.

You’re not okay with spending more for new business

If you’re going to take the time to invest it Google Ads you should be managing your account with some consistency not just to control spend, but to drive more business at the lowest cost possible.

I’ve never met a business owner who was okay with spending more for a customer. They always want more for less. I have a feeling you’re that way too. If you find managing your Google Ads account is too much to handle or not sure how to manage it reach out – I’d be happy to help !

How to Optimize Your Content for SEO

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 23:55:09 GMT

How Do You Optimize Your Content for Search?

Here are some guidelines for writing well written and researched content. This guide can be used for any type of content writing. However, the most important part of all of this is to determine the right key phrases. Key phrases are the “key” – not keywords. The longer the search query is the easier it is to rank for and the more targeted your content will be to the searchers' query.

Going after a single keyword is not advised. Ideally, a blog post or service page should focus on one topic and one or two relatable terms.

➡️ Research – The first step is to determine the keywords we are targeting. What is the sentiment behind the keywords? Do the search terms indicate an intent to buy or is it more research? This will dedicate what type of page you should be creating.

➡️ Sales pages (Money pages) sell a product or service. These search terms indicate that the searcher is either ready to buy or at the very least they know which service or product they need. Such as “buy software” or “M&A software”.

➡️ Blog posts are great for capturing searchers early in the buyer’s journey. It could be to research a problem or to identify a solution that then leads to a product. This includes content around “lists” or those looking for the “best” provider. This targets those who know they need the product or service but unsure of who to use.

Example; Going after terms such “The best M&A platform “or “List of M&A software providers “is a good way to capture those who are almost ready to buy.

Other terms could lead to someone needing a provider. These include longer tail terms such as “M&A software due diligence checklist”. Content like this should be informative and detailed. There should be links to resources if applicable and those links should open up in a new window.

The summary of the article should alert the reader that there is M&A software that can handle these items. There should be a link to the M&A software page using the key term “M&A software” as the link to that page.

If we already have a page for M&A software. It may be easier to add the term platform to the page versus recreating what would be the exact same but replacing software for platform. In other words, they are interchangeable.

How to add key phrases to content? Google looks at more than just keywords. They look at keywords you are targeting, other terms that are relevant, and what’s typically found on other pages that also rank for this same term. To avoid over-optimization the target keyword should always be in….

the title of the page
the header of the page
the first paragraph
in the closing statement

The rest of the article should be written naturally. Google is going to look at how the content is written and how naturally it flows. We tend to repeated keywords more naturally when we don’t attempt to optimize content.

Why I don’t recommend optimizing for keywords when writing content.

I noticed when people are asked to mention a keyword-based on a certain percentage the content doesn’t sound natural. When writing on a topic naturally “in most” cases the content is written well enough to initially rank. We can then go in and add additional mentions.

Interlinking and outbound linking on content.

When possible, links should be placed inside blog content back to a relevant sales page. Avoid adding too many links and only add one link back to a sales page. Avoid over linking. On a one-thousand-word article, I wouldn’t link to more than 3 sales pages. Mix up the anchor text when writing blog posts.

When you reference a specific sales page try using some of the keywords that the page is optimized for. If you’re linking to an M&A software page you could link using the phrase "M&A software". However, doing this too many times could be seen as spammy. I recommended using additional text to help randomize the keywords to that page.

As an example; many businesses use our M&A software to simplify the process. M&A software is the target keyword. However, I would make the hyperlink “many businesses use our M&A software” or “use our M&A software”.

I would avoid linking out to other websites within sales pages. The goal of the sales page is to keep visitors on the page so that they can take an action.

On blog posts, outgoing links are encouraged. Links should always open within a new window and point to trusted websites that support or provide additional information that supports the blog post.

Keyword density – This is a defunct way of thinking about optimization. I avoid telling content writers to shoot for a percentage of keywords. This causes content to be over-optimized and doesn’t flow naturally. It’s easier to go back and add keywords.

Additional page elements to consider adding – Google looks at the time a user spends on- page. A longer “time on page” is better as the user is “engaged” with the content. Google is all about delivering great results and to Google more time on a page indicates that the user has found something useful.

Add images – Add images or GIFs if they help tell the story or show how something works on sales pages. On blog posts that are typically long should have images to keep the reader interested and engaged.

Add video - if possible on sales pages. This could be a person or a demo of the product. This keeps people engaged and keeps them on page longer which is a ranking signal to Google.

Other elements - Sales pages with testimonials or case studies are a great way for users to visualize how the product or service has helped others. It’s also a good way to get additional content on the page. You can also use infographics and emended elements like interactive graphs and presentations.

Sub-leaders – Sub-leaders are a good way to get keywords in a prominent place. There should only be one H1 tag. This should always contain the target key phrase.

There can be multiple H2/ H3. These sub-leaders are a great place to add common questions to the content.

How to find questions to answer for blog posts?

When you type in keywords or questions within Google in many search results you will be presented with “people also ask”. If these related questions pertain to your topic, it would be beneficial to add these questions to your content.

This will help you to rank for common questions and turns an ordinary piece of content into a “pillar page" . This page, in theory, answers all the questions a searcher may have on data rooms. This could be applied to any topic.

Well written and informative content tends to build links naturally. This is why it’s important for blog posts to contain links back to “money pages” so that we can pass some of that link equity back to these pages.

Common Google Ads Questions & Mistakes

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 21:37:24 GMT

Common Google Ads Questions

Over the nearly two decades that I’ve worked in digital marketing there are many common questions clients ask regarding Google Ads. I thought it would be a good idea to share the most common ones I come across to help those who are trying to troubleshoot issues with their Google Ads accounts.

Is Google Ads Worth the Money?

If you’re looking to get in front of potential customers Google is one way to do that. Advertising on Google is only worth it if it's profitable for your business. This is why it’s important to work with a professional who understands how Google works.

Many businesses try to manage Google Ads themselves without understand how the Google Ads platform works. Businesses who advertise on their own tend to focus on broad terms. This results in wasting money on irrelevant keywords. Which causes business owners to feel that Google Ads doesn’t work for them. When it’s how they set it up that causes them to fail, not the platform itself.

What is the average CTR for Google Ads

A good CTR would be 5% for Google ads. Google requires grant accounts recipients to maintain a minimum CTR of 5% to maintain their eligibility in the program. However, you want to always improve the CTR of your keywords and ads.

While CTR is important what trumps CTR is CPA. A high CTR with a high CPA is not beneficial. However, if you’re not tracking conversions CTR is a good way to gauge relevancy along with time on page. A high CTR with a high bounce rate is still not a good result.

Why am I not seeing my Google Ads

There are many reasons why your ad is not showing up on Google. The most common reasons are…

Your ad is disapproved
Your ad rank is too low
Your ad is not scheduled to run
Your ads haven’t been approved yet
None of your keywords are bid high enough to show your ad
You’re not in the target location your ad is schedule to run in

How to get the most out of Google Ads?

Ultimately to get the most out of Google ads usually comes down to proper set up and management. If keywords are too broad you’ll generate a lot of irrelevant clicks and waste money. If the account is neglected even if it is set up well – over time performance will decline.

Management consists of reviewing data such as keywords, search terms, ad performance, landing page performance, time of day and day of the week adjustments etc.

When an account is properly managed you can generate more leads at a lower cost. Where a poorly managed account will wind up wasting more money, produce more expensive leads / sales and the overall quality of the leads will decline.

What is a good ROAS for Google Ads?

A 300% ROAS is the minimum you should shoot for. This means for every $1 in advertising you spend you are generating $3 in return. This should be a low-end target. My goal for clients is at least a 500% ROAS. It’s not always possible to reach, but it should be a long-term goal.

You should always work on improving the ROAS of your campaigns to maximize profit. This is why it pays to have a professional manage your account. There are many settings and bid strategies within Google Ads it’s very easy to over spend or pick the wrong strategy.

How long does it take Google Ads to work?

Every account is different. It depends on the number of keywords in relation to your daily budget. If you have a thousand keywords and a budget of just $10 a day. You’ll never collect enough data to determine which of the thousand keywords drive conversions to your business.

It’s important to manage your ad account efficiently. Ideally, your budget should allow your keywords to show all day long for 30 days. If your budget is small and your CPC is high then you need to increase your daily budget or lower the number of keywords you are targeting.

Many businesses assume Google Ads won’t work for them, but in many cases the poor performance is due to a low budget or overly broad terms.

How to track calls from Google ads?

There are several ways to track calls within Google Ads. You can use Google tracking code and place it on your website to track calls. You can also track calls through a call extension. This allows Google to track calls made by searchers clicking on your phone number on a mobile device.

You can also use a third-party that can track calls made from your site and provide additional details about the caller and a recording of the call.

What is “expert mode” in Google Ads

Depending on how your Google Ads account was set up – it may have been set up in “smart” mode. Which is a simplistic version of Google Ads.

The “expert” mode gives you access to all of featured within Google Ads. This is usually reserved for more advanced account managers and the “smart” setting is for those who prefer a more simplistic view of the ads interface.

How to switch to Google Ads Expert Mode

In order to switch your Google Ad account to expert setting you need to sign in to your Google Ad account. Next, click the “tools” icon on the top right of the page. Finally, select “expert mode”.

What other questions would you like answered? Please comment below and help me create a comprehensive list of questions people want to know about Google Ads.

How To Get Into Google News

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 21:17:37 GMT

Google news can be complicated to get into. Many site owners just submit their site without understanding the requirements on both the technical and editorial side of things. If you have one and not the other your site will not be allowed into Google news.

In this article, I’m going to include some of the unique situations I’ve come across that you won’t find in other Google news checklists. I’m hoping this will help you think outside of the box when it comes to how you should approach your Google news submission.

Is your site dedicated to news or does it occasionally report on the news?

In order to get into Google news someone from Google will first manually review your website and if the majority of your content is full of personal opinion pieces, magazine-style articles or full of how-to articles – you’ll be rejected. In my experience, the only types of sites that can get away with a mix of content are large publishers. These are sites that have a high level of credibility with Google.

Before we go into specifics for getting content in Google news, you must be already following Google’s general guidelines. If you can’t check everything off of this list, don’t bother applying for Google news.

Below are some of the more common issues that I’ve seen over the years that can hold a site back from being included in Google news search results.

Create a Google News Sitemap

It should be obvious, but if it is not – only news articles should be in the news sitemap. Additional criteria include:

Avoid adding prefixes to news stories. This is a sure way to have your content rejected. An example would be some of your articles fall into a subcategory of your site and you lead with that subcategory in the title of your news story.
Never place your brand name in front of your title tag. Always lead with the story headline.
Do not add press releases or content from other sources in your Google news sitemap.
Avoid personal opinion within news stories.

Your stories will NOT be included in Google News without a news specific sitemap. Google relies on this sitemap to help it find news only stories. While Google claims that it isn’t required, it’s better to have it. Especially, if your site is not 100% news.

Having a “news” only sitemap is also helpful to you. If Google rejects your stories you may receive notifications within search console. These notifications can help you identify issues and fix them. This is the first place I look if someone was already included in Google news and they don’t see their stories appear.

What are the requirements for a Google news sitemap?

There should be content no older than 48 hours in the sitemap
Only news articles should be in the sitemap
Unique content, no sponsored content or news content from other sources such as AP
Place the link to the Google News sitemap in your robots.txt file.

If you’re using WordPress you can use t his plugin to easily create a Google news sitemap.

Submit your sitemap to search console. You need to verify your website within search console. Once you do. You can upload a sitemap as well as a Google news sitemap.

Additional on Page Considerations

Schema for Google News Articles

Schema is often overlooked when it comes to websites in general, but there is a huge SEO benefit in doing so. Schema helps your content stand out more which in turn helps increase traffic from Google.

What is schema for Google news?

Schema for Google news is markup that helps search engines such as Google understand what your content is about and allows them to pull snippets into search results, increasing your content’s visibility.

Is it important for Google News?

Marking up your news content with Schema will help Google pull your content into the news carousel and other features that they may roll out in the future. You can see a full list of schema for news articles on Schema.org

What is speakable markup?

As Google home grows in popularity Google wants to be able to pull news from content that is “speakable” so it can read it to users. News organizations can capitalize on this function by marking their content with this schema code. If your content is selected and read over a Google device a link will be sent to the user on their phone if they want to learn more about the topic from your site. This could give you an edge over your competitors.

Google News Requirements

How to submit your site to Google news?

The URLs of the site must be static and not change. You can update the stories (recommended) just don’t change the URL.
The text of the site must he HTML. Do not use JavaScript-driven content, Flash or iframes.
Do not place content in PDFs or images as Google cannot read content in those formats.
Google must be able to crawl your content. Do not block Google from crawling the content. This includes the robots.txt file or meta tag no, index directives.

Once you’ve gone through everything in this article you’re ready to submit your site. Below are the steps to take in order to request inclusion.

Set up your site with search console .
Head over to the Google News Publisher Center.
Click the website you want to be included (if you have more than one site verified) in Google news.
Add your website details and news sections if you have more than one.
Click submit.

How long does it take to get approved into Google news?

Google News Submission Rejected?

If you’ve tried everything in this article and your Google news submission is still being rejected it could be due to other various issues that require an audit to undercover any technical issues that could be causing problems.

You can join the Google publisher forum here . Once there you can ask the community for help on your site issues and see if someone there can help.
Your other option is to schedule some time with me to discuss your situation and determine if I can help.

Getting into Google news can sometimes be as simple as meeting the Google news technical requirements. Other times it can much more complicated. If you’re still not sure how to get into google news or are running into roadblocks, contact me.

Google Ads Disapproved Reasons

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 01:02:33 GMT

Common Google Ads Violations

So you set up your Google Ads and are waiting for the clicks to start rolling in but the clicks never come. Google has recently been cracking down and disapproving a lot of ads and hence it is important to know how to get your ads approved.

Thankfully, Google provides a list of the policies that you can follow to ensure that your ads always get approved. But first things first, how do you know your Google ads have been disapproved?

How to find disapproved ads in Google ads?

To find which of your google ads disapproved, log into your account and navigate to your ad group or campaign.

Once you are there click on the Ads tab and then enable the filter “Approval Status” then check the “Disapproved” box.
You should now see a whole lot of disapproved ads. However, to see the reason for the disapproval, you will need to click on the dialogue box. This will show you one or two ads and the reason for the disapproval. To see all of the disapproved ads and the reasons do the following:
Click the click the columns button and then click on customize columns
In the attributes tab, scroll down to policy details and click on it to select it and you should see the specific violation for each ad.

➡️ Key Terms - Once you have found the status of your ads, you may see a few terms that do not make sense if you are a first-timer. This is what these terms mean.

➡️ Eligible – Your ad is still in review but it is showing up in a few Google searches since it has passed preliminary scanning. Wait for full approval.

➡️ Under Review – The ad is still in review and it will not show until it is given full approval.

➡️ Approved – The ad is compliant with all policies and is approved and showing in search

➡️ Approved limited – The ad is allowed to run but is restricted to some audience or in some countries due to industry or content in the ad.

➡️ Disapproved – The ad cannot run since its destination or content violates policies.

Why do Google ads get disapproved?

The following are some of the most common reasons why your ads may not get approved by Google Ads.

➡️ Copyright and Trademark Violations - Ads will usually be disapproved if you include copyrighted content in them. Google adheres to local trademark policies and hence you will not be allowed to run any ads unless authorized by the owner of the trademark or copyright.

Oftentimes, ads can be disapproved since there are brand names that do not match your own in the ad copy. However, this is not a common reason for disapproval as the complaint needs to be manually submitted by the trademark owner for the ad to be disapproved.

✅ How to Fix It - If you are a legal reseller of a product, you can always seek permission from the owner of the copyright or trademark. If you do not have time for that you can always replace the copyrighted terms with other related keywords.

➡️ Alcohol & Gambling - You can run ads for alcohol in most countries across the world as long as you adhere to policies. However, your ads may not run in some countries where alcohol is forbidden. Read more on Google’s policy.

Most of the time your ads will get the status approved (limited)’ which means some countries or audiences will not see the ad. You should also note that there are some campaigns where you cannot advertise alcohol including:

Gmail
Dynamic search ads
Video ads and app image
Consumer rating annotations

➡️ Gambling – similar to alcohol, gambling is also restricted to certain audiences or countries and you may get the same approved (limited) status. While gambling and casinos are approved for most ad formats, you cannot advertise gambling on:

Gmail
Shopping
The Seller Network
Dynamic display ads
DoubleClick Ad Exchange
Medical Terms

Healthcare and medicine including any medical terms in your ad copy could cause a lot of disapprovals. There is some healthcare-related content that can never be advertised at all. Prescription drugs may be advertised in some countries such as the US, New Zealand, and Canada as long as you are a Google certified online pharmacy.

Many ads get disapproved even when they are not selling healthcare and prescription drugs. Sellers of beauty products often get disapproved since ingredients list often contain medical terms that get flagged by the algorithm.

✅ How to Fix - If you are not selling medical and health products or prescription drugs but you get flagged, apply for a manual review. A Google team member will then look at your ads manually to determine if they can let your ads run.

➡️ Editorial Issues - Editorial issues could also lead to your ads getting disapproved. Thankfully these mistakes are some of the easiest to detect and avoid. The top three mistakes include:

➡️ Capitalization - One of the most common causes of rejected ads as people love to call out the elements of their ad copy such as “FREE SHIPPING”. This is a violation of the ad policies and will cause your ad to be disapproved. Other elements of capitalization that could get your ad disapproved include:

Not capitalizing proper nouns (for example I will be coming to los angeles)
Capitalizing in mid-sentence (such as You should Come to Los Angeles)
Random capitalizations such as You SHOULd come to LOS angeLES)

➡️ Punctuation - If you have too many exclamation marks in your ads it may be disapproved. The same applies to other repeated punctuation marks and symbols that tend to be seen as gimmicky. For instance, you will get rejected if your ad copy has:

f1owers
fl@wers
Flowers!!!
F.L.O.W.E.R.S
f*l*o*w*e*r*s

➡️ How to fix editorial issues - Avoid any gimmicky use of punctuation or symbols and write your ads incorrect spelling and punctuation before submitting for review. If your ad has been rejected remove any incorrect grammar, spelling, and symbols that do not belong in formal writing.

➡️ Alternate calls-to-action - Google usually makes money when the user clicks the ad to visit your website. As such, you will be denying the company revenue by having alternate calls to action in the ad, which incentivize the user to take other action rather than click. Some alternative CTAs that will get your ad rejected include;

An email or website address in the ad copy
A phone number in the ad copy

✅ How to Fix - Remove any CTAs that incentivize users to contact you or visit your website without clicking on the ad.

➡️ Google ads disapproved destination not working - Google will disapprove your ads if the URLs you are pointing your ads to are not correct. Some things to check and fix include the wrong final or destination URL. Check to ensure that all your URLs are working and there are no error codes such as 404s or 403s.

➡️ Accessibility -While some websites operate in a small locale, the algorithm expects the website to be accessible globally and may reject your ads if they are not accessible from some locations. The site needs to work in all locations, accessible from anywhere in the world. It cannot be accessible from one country only.

✅ How to Fix - Ensure that the website is available from anywhere online. If you are running campaigns for different countries, you should organize them by country and direct visitors to the ads of the country in which they are in.

➡️ Ad copy - The content in your ad copy could also cause some of your Google Ads to be disapproved. Some of the reasons for disapproval include:

Inappropriate Content
Similar to sensitive industries, services, and products, you can get your ads disapproved for inappropriate content. This includes:
Discrimination: sexism, racism
Misrepresentation
Shocking: profane or obscene language, gore
Animal cruelty
Insensitive: profiting from tragic events
Misrepresentation Policy

Whether you are a contractor working for a client or are advertising your own services and products, it is important to have a code of ethics. The ads need to be ethical and need to be clear and honest and should not deceive the users about the services or product attributes.

➡️ An ad may be in violation of Google Ads misrepresentation policy if it has:

Misleading Content – Contains false claims such as get rich quick schemes, miracle cures and the like
Missing information – Where you have failed to disclose material information or deliberately hidden it.
Unavailable Offers – Making promises of offers that have inaccurate prices or that are no longer active.

✅ How to Fix

Always check to ensure that none of your ad copy is misrepresenting facts. Do not make any false statements or omit any critical information.
Always have disclaimers with regard to results that people may get from your product or service if you were disapproved for guaranteeing results.
If you include testimonials in your landing pages, ensure that these testimonials come with a disclaimer in legible font near the testimonials asserting that results may vary.
Not abiding by local laws

If you are in violation of the local laws of the country you are targeting, you could get your ads rejected. You should always check the legal requirements of the country you are targeting, which Google provides to ease the process. In addition to the country-specific laws, you should also go through all the policies including rules about misrepresentation, URLs, and trademarks.

In addition to the country-specific laws, you should also go through all the policies including rules about misrepresentation, URLs, and trademarks.

➡️ Ads disapproved for destination mismatch - If the URL you show in your ad doesn’t match where you send searchers you will receive this error. Some examples of these are:

Your destination URL needs to match the URL in your ad. If the URL of your site is abc.com, your display needs to match.
If you send URLs to a subdomain but have the main domain in the display URL. An example you send visitors to sub.domain.com but the ad URL reads just domain.com.
If you redirect URLs to another URL once the click the URL in your ad.
Hopefully, this article has helped you to further understand more about Google Ads disapproved reasons.

Reasons Your Google Ads Account is Suspended

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:51:00 GMT

Frustrated about a recent Google Ads account suspension?

Google is the undisputed market leader in the digital ad space, accounting for about 37.2% of the market share with Facebook coming in a distant second. As such, if you run an eCommerce store or any other business selling products, you may need to run Google Ads.

In fact, many businesses depend on Google ads for a significant portion of their revenue and sales. It can be incredibly frustrating when your account gets suspended. Let’s review Google ads disapproved reasons in this article.

Once Google Suspends Your Account it May:

Prevent you from creating new content or running any ads, including any that already exist
Suspend any associated accounts including payments accounts and email accounts
Suspend Merchant Center accounts associated with your suspended Ads account
Prevent you from creating any other accounts in the future.

While it may seem harsh, Google has a zero-tolerance policy as it asserts that its platform exists to create a positive and safe experience for its advertisers and users. The following are the reasons your Google ads account is suspended.

Violation of Terms and Conditions and Policy Violations

This is one of the most common reasons that get Google Ads accounts suspended or even banned. You need to go through the Terms and Conditions and Google Ads Policies to ensure that you have a very good grasp before you start making ads.

❌ Circumventing Systems — Engaging in any activity that seeks to circumvent the quality systems put in place by Google will get your account suspended. Some examples of activities that try to circumvent system include cloaking, sneaky redirects, and manipulating ad text.

❌ Counterfeit — You are not allowed to use Google ads to promote any counterfeit goods or anything that attempts to pass itself off as the original brand. Some examples of these include any clones, imitations, replicas, and knockoffs.

❌ Promoting unsanctioned pharmacies – Any ads that promote pharmaceutical products without first applying for authorization may be suspended. This will include targeting locations where you are not approved to sell pharmaceutical products

❌ Undesirable business practices — Unacceptable business practices is a very serious violation that could result in not only a suspension but a permanent ban. Some deceptive practices include phishing and misstating or concealing critical information about your service, product or business.

❌ Unfair Advantage —This is using Google ads to gain an unfair advantage over other participants in the market. For instance, having several accounts and targeting the same product with different ads to trying to appear more than once on the search listings.

❌ Repeated Violations — If you violate the terms and policies too many times you will get your account suspended.

Google Ads Account Suspended for Payment and Billing Issues

❌ Abuse of Promo Codes – The selling of promotional codes or the use of more than one promo code is forbidden.

❌ Chargebacks — Google makes money from charging you to advertise on the platform and hence when you initiate chargebacks you are depriving them of revenue. This could get your account suspended or even banned.

❌ Suspicious Payment Activity — If Google detects any falsified or suspicious activity on your account including being connected to previously suspended accounts you could get in trouble.

❌ Unpaid Balance — If you have at least one unpaid balance you could get a suspension, which can only be lifted by making payment.

Other Google Ads Policy Violations

❌ Dynamic landing pages/Redirects – If any of your pages redirect to other pages or have dynamic content, they may provide a bad user experience. They will be in violation of Landing Page rules and will get your Google Ads account suspended.

❌ Missing Business Information – If your website is missing critical information such as phone numbers, email addresses, and physical address it may be deemed untrustworthy.

❌ You Publish Deceptive Content –The definition of deceptive content varies but it may include anything that misleads or misstates the facts. For instance, you are not allowed to run Google Ads to promote get rich quick schemes or deceptive weight loss programs. You are also not allowed to make unfounded competitive claims such as our service is the best without third party backup of your claims.

All it takes is for a Google ads employee to believe you are being deceptive for your account to get suspended. There are other cases of deceptive content such as using trademarks and selling copyrighted material, which is likely to be flagged and get your account suspended.

❌ Your Website Was Hacked or You have Malware. Most of the time, the list of violations will not contain a “hacked website “as a reason for the suspension of your Google Ads account. Unfortunately, having a website that is hacked so that it redirects to webpages with malware or deceptive content could get your suspended.

If your website is hacked and the web pages have been infected with malware that is installed into users’ computers, your Google Ads account could be banned. This means the security of your website is very important since not taking the necessary precautions could seriously disrupt your business.

❌ Having More than One Account - Circumventing Google’s systems by having more than one account is one of the most common reasons that result in a permanent ban. Google expects every business to run its ads from only one account, and having more than one is seen as trying to circumvent the systems.

Google is often vague when they send a suspension or warning email and since many users may not have the expertise to fix offenses they make the mistake of creating a new account. Google Ads will immediately suspend the new account for trying to circumvent the quality systems as their systems can easily associate the two accounts.

As such, it is always advisable to fix any warnings or suspension rather than open a new account as doing otherwise could result in a permanent ban.

❌ Poor-quality Landing Pages - Low-quality landing pages may take many forms. For instance, bidding on Google ads only to take that traffic to a page full of Ads, to an affiliate website or a different domain obviously provides a bad user experience. Moreover, it is a violation of destination requirements that Google Ads takes very seriously.

❌ Suspicious Payment Methods - Problems with payment methods are a common issue when it comes to suspensions. It is usually prevalent with users that have more than one account that all have the same payment methods. For instance, if you have the same credit card for two accounts, Google Ads will link them together and suspend the accounts.

It often happens when a new Google Ads account has credit cards associated with an account that was suspended in the past. Another common reason that may trigger suspicious payment methods suspension is when the name of the cardholder is different from what you have on the ad account. Google could also suspend your account if you are using virtual cards or dome debit cards which they think could expose the platform to abuse.

How Do I Fix My Suspended Google Ad Account?

The fixes for a suspended account will depend on the type of suspension or warning and the cause of the suspension. However, the first thing to do when you get that initial email telling you of the suspension is to:

Google Ads Consultation!

Still not sure what to do? Book 30 minutes of time with me to discuss your account and receive actionable items you can use. This is based on my 17 years using Google ads and cleaning up over 150 Ad accounts.

I do NOT work for Google and can NOT guarantee results. Cost $150!

How to Increase Ecommerce Sales

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 01:03:29 GMT

How to Improve Ecommerce Sales

Ecommerce can be very competitive especially if you sell common products. While platforms such as Shopify have made it easier for many to start an online business there is more to selling online than just building a website. Over the nearly two decades that I’ve worked in digital marketing, I still come across many business owners who don’t think about how they are going to marketing their business after it is built. They will spend thousands of dollars to build a site to realize once it is built that they need to now spend money to drive sales.

On the flip side, many website owners think SEO is “free” traffic and it’s not. You need to either learn SEO which takes time and patience as well as money to pay for tools you’ll need to help you track keywords. Or, you need to hire a professional to assist you in optimizing your site which also costs money. In this article, I will review my top ways to improve the eCommerce sales that you can do yourself but will still require time and/or money.

How to Improve eCommerce Conversions Quickly

Many Shopify store owners don’t really know what people want when it comes to the shopping experience. They tend to forget what it is like to be a shopper. What is it you need to see in order to make a purchase? Take a look at this great example below. There are so many key takeaways that it’s hard for someone not to buy. All of the information shoppers need is right here on the product page without needing to scroll down to find any data.

Reviews sell. Making reviews at the forefront of your product page is one of the most important factors.
The cost of the product is important so do not make it difficult to find. What’s more important is the savings they will receive. I would have the price and/or the savings in a different color to make it stand out more.
Easy selection of colors allows shoppers to easily see what the items look like. When you click a color the photo changes and the person never needs to scroll down to see the other styles or colors.
Easy to increase or decrease quantity.
If shoppers want it fast they need to hurry. Urgency is a great way to improve eCommerce sales.
Trust signals help shoppers feel confident that their information will be safe.
People love guarantees. Shoppers are more likely to buy if they know returns are accepted and easy.

How blogging can help with eCommerce sales

Google loves content. Well-written content can drive a huge amount of traffic, but you can’t just write about any old topic. You need to mix creativity with basic SEO optimization. Many eCommerce sites will write blog posts around “the best” product or write reviews about their products and that isn’t a bad idea. What you may find is that there are already many sites taking that approach which will make it difficult for you to rank well enough to drive meaningful traffic.

Use Google search to determine what people are searching for and create content around it. Let’s take a look at what we could write about if we sold blenders. Google will suggest searches based on data they have already collected. As you can see there are some good ideas here. You could create a blog post around how to choose the right blender and it would probably be a lengthy post that would provide a lot of value to not only users but to Google.

If you look further down on the page you’ll notice related questions that searchers also ask. You could create blog posts that answer those questions and others that you think are important to address. Including the answers to these questions in your post will help the content be as informative as possible or branch these questions into even more blog posts.

➡️ Increase order value with an upsell - You can increase sales by adding upsells to your checkout process to increase the order value. As an example; if you sold sunglasses you could offer an upsell of an eyeglass case or cleaning/repair kit as an upsell. It’s related to the purchase and is a simple way to sell more without being pushy. This allows you to increase the revenue you generate without the need to drive more traffic. This is probably one of the easiest and fast ways to drive more sales providing the upsell is highly relatable and at a low price point for the customer.

➡️ Using paid traffic to driving sales - Paid search tends to scare a lot of business owners as there is a lot of unpredictability and too many things tend to go wrong with paid search. Regardless if it is paid text ads or Google shopping ads. It’s important that you understand how to structure and build out campaigns. I’ve created a guide on optimizing shopping ads for those who already have shopping ads running. You’ll learn how to better manage your account for performance.

I do recommend staying away from smart shopping as it takes away control due to the automation and in my experience, it doesn’t work for many eCommerce sites. However, if you have only a small about of products it would be worth testing. You can read my review on Google smart campaigns and check out the pros and cons.

➡️ Get more links to your site - Links are important when it comes to ranking content within Google however, many people do not link to eCommerce sites unless it’s an unusual or extremely inventive product. Writing blog posts can help with building links and awareness to your site. There is also a number of other ways to promote your products and to gain some valuable links.

➡️ Giveaways – People love giveaways and you can easily build up your email list. Social media ads on Facebook and Instagram are good places to start. You can go to giveaway sites and get a link from them to your giveaway landing page.

Product reviews – You can do these yourself and post them on social media or give them to others to review and link back to your product.

➡️ How-to videos – Product how-to videos are great for teaching people how to use a product and its features. A link to your product in your Youtube video can generate sales and traffic.

These are some of the best ways to increase eCommerce sales to your site without doing a lot of work. What have you done to improve your eCommerce site? What worked and what didn’t?

Website Not Showing Up In Google?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 23:35:08 GMT

Why Does My Website Not Showing Up On Google?

Your website was launched a few weeks or months ago and you’re excited about all the new business the site will bring. However, you haven’t noticed any increase in traffic from search. You’ve done the basics and still no traffic? What can you do? Before you panic read my list of the 20 most common reasons why your SEO may not be working.

If you’ve gone through this list and still can’t figure out why it may be time to consult an expert.

➡️ There hasn’t been enough time - If your site is new it’s can take 6 – 12 months before you see any organic traffic. If you’ve haven’t created any new content, worked on backlinks and worked on getting the word out about your site – don’t expect much to happen. You can’t just have your site sit on the internet and not put work into it. As with any business online or not –, you need to invest both your time and money to make it successful.

Google will crawl your site and watch what you do over the coming months. Unless you show Google you’re a reliable source of information, Google won’t rank your content.

➡️ You’re targeting too many broad terms - Many new website owners expect their site to rank from one and two words in Google. There are several reasons why this is a poor strategy. One and two keywords are very competitive and sites with a lot of authority will rank for these terms. Something new and even older websites can achieve without a lot of incoming links

These terms tend to be very broad. Even if you could rank for a single keyword the chances you offer exactly what the user is looking for are slim. Going after long phrases will help you target searches who are looking for something specific and you’re more likely to rank for those phrases.

➡️ You’re not providing valuable content. - Is the content you are creating valuable? Is it informative? Or, is it something hundreds of other sites have covered already? What makes your content better? Unique? Is the content lengthily? Do you have images, videos, and links to valuable resources? If you have posts between 300 – 500 words with no real value – don’t expect Google to rank it. Google prefers longer content that is full of information that keeps users engaged.

➡️ You’re not going after the right terms - What do I mean by that? What I mean is… are the terms you’re going after too broad? Are you going by search volume only? If you rely too heavily on tools you’ll run into issues because you’re letting a keyword tool dictate what you write. I do believe that keyword tools have their place in content creation, but if you rely too much on them you’ll wind up with little traffic and a lot of wasted time.

➡️ You don’t have a content strategy - Your content strategy should address two major audiences.

The first audience is performing the search knows what they want. Your “services” pages should talk about your product or service and how you can help solve a particular problem or issue. If you’re a CPA you may have a service page optimized for “Small Business CPA NY”.

The next audience is those who are seeking answers to questions or researching a topic that can lead them to your product or service. Let me explain; If you’re a CPA your service page may target the phrase “CPA for small businesses in NY”. Your blog posts would target questions such as… “What are the new tax laws for 2091?”, “Do I need an accountant to file my small business taxes in NY?” or “Can I file my NY business taxes myself?” As you create content you also create more opportunities for searches to find your business.

➡️ You don’t have enough incoming links - Links are very important. There are several ways you get acquire links and some are easier than others. I won’t go into methods in this article. I just want to point out that links are very important. If you don’t know how my links you have or have done nothing to try and acquire links – you probably don’t have enough.

➡️ Your site architecture is weak - Mobile visitors have surpassed desktop users however, minimizing your navigation can have a serious impact on your content’s ability to rank. Google takes a look at how many clicks from the main navigation it takes users to find all of the content on your site. If it takes more than 3 clicks to get to pages – those pages will lose value.

➡️ Your meta descriptions are blank, boring or irrelevant - If you look at some of your rankings in Google – what do your meta descriptions read? Are they enticing? Provoke curiosity? Demand action? If you leave your meta description is left blank Google will pull content from the page. In many cases, the blurb they pull doesn’t make sense or it could be text from the navigation.

Google tracks how searches engage with sites that show in their results. If you can improve the click-through rate from search results, it will help improve your overall rankings.

➡️ Your site goes after too many topics - Google ranks a site based on several metrics and one of those is relevancy. Google loves experts and sites that cater to a specific topic. If your site speaks on several different topics it is less likely to rank. If you are an expert on several topics it is better to build separate sites.

➡️ Site speed is slow - Site speed is a ranking factor and slow sites provide a poor user experience in Google. Google wants users to find the content they want as fast as possible. If your site is slow to load there is a good chance your content and site will be demoted until this is fixed.

➡️ Duplicate content - If you use WordPress and love tagging all of your content under numerous “tags” it could be hurting you. When you add tags to content it generates a different url. I’ve seen pages with dozens of tags which creates dozens of copies of the same content. You can easily block these tags from being indexed by using a plugin such as Yoast.

If you are using content from other websites that is also duplicate content. Using content from another site will guarantee that your site won’t rank for any terms as Google has already found the same content on other sites. This can also impact eCommerce sites that use duplicate product descriptions.

➡️ Content is being blocked -You may have accidentally blocked search engines from crawling your site. Check your robots.txt file and meta tags for no,index tags.

➡️ Over optimized content - If you are writing content geared towards a specific keyword or phrase you could be over-optimizing then content causing it not to rank in Google. adding keywords unnaturally in order to rank is a surefire way to get your content demoted.

➡️ Spammy anchor text - Have you been working on your backlinks? Perhaps you’ve been buying links? Shame on you! If you look at your backlink profile are all the anchor text from other sites spammy? Are they all the same? All follow links? You could be hurting your rankings. Check your backlinks using SEMrush.

➡️ Links from sites that aren’t relevant - Similar to spammy anchor text are links from sites that aren’t relevant could be an indication to Google that the links have been paid for and that could impact your site’s ability to rank.

➡️ You hired a “cheap” SEO company - If you spent $300 a month or less on SEO there is a good chance you may have gotten some poor optimization and links. Especially if you outsource SEO to other countries. While the low cost may be appealing – you tend to get what you pay for with SEO. Also, SEO in other countries vary and what works in one country may not work in another.

➡️ Your site isn’t responsive - Being fast on mobile and being mobile-friendly are two different things. If your site isn’t easy to view on mobile you could be impacting how people interact with your site which in turn can affect your rankings.

➡️ Your blocking scripts - In some cases, developers block search engines and sometimes images from indexing them in an attempt to increase site load times. This is an issue. You will be allowing users to see images and scripts but not showing them to Google. This is “cloaking”. Cloaking has a serious impact on your site’s ability to rank.

➡️ Your site has been hacked - If you use WordPress and haven’t kept your plugins up to date you could be a victim of a hack. If you confirm your site within Google search console – Google will send you a notification if it finds malware on your site. Google will notify searchers that the site may have been hacked. If the issue isn’t cleared up over time your site will drop from Google and you run the risk of being blacklisted. One way to prevent this from happening is updating plugins, back up your site regularly and use a reliable hosting company such as WP engine.

➡️ Your site is in a bad neighborhood - If your site is on a managed hosting account it could be impacting your SEO. If there are sites that are spammy and have been blacklisted by Google that would impact your site’s ability to rank. You can use this free tool to see if your site has been blacklisted.

Hopefully, you’ve discovered the reason why your SEO isn’t working. If none of these apply to you or you’re not sure? Simple, contact an expert!

Push Down Negative Search Results on Google

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 22:54:48 GMT

A Double Edge Sword...

There are many wonderful things about living in the age of the internet: instant connectivity, access to practically infinite information, and the ability to keep in touch with people almost anywhere in the world are just a few of the many benefits of this incredible technology.

However, one of the major downsides is that anything you post on the internet can stay there practically forever. One false step and suddenly any Google search for your name could potentially show future employers, for instance, some seriously unflattering or negative material. This may leave you wondering how to remove or push down negative content from your Google searches.

How to Remove Negative Google Search Results?

Public profiles on big-name websites will typically rank more highly than any negative and unflattering search results you might currently be dealing with. After all, if you can’t delete them, the next best thing is to bury them on the last pages of your name’s Google search results, where people are highly unlikely to be looking. (Almost no one looks past the second page of search results.) For any of these profiles, it’s important that you have them set so that they’re publicly viewable, and therefore show up in any listings.

You can even make an extra effort to set up these profiles so that they’re a positive reflection of you and your interests. Use good grammar, spelling, and punctuation, and be sure that anything you post is something you’d be happy with everyone being able to see, both friends and employers. In essence, anything you post on these profiles should be a reflection of your best and most professional self.

Also, try to keep these profiles as active as possible. Having signs of current engagement makes these profiles a much more positive influence on your overall reputation.

Here are some websites where you can easily create high-ranking public profiles (a great start):

Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Tumblr
Quora
Blogger
Reddit
Flickr
Instagram
Me
Photobucket
YouTube

If you link to all your other profiles on these individual profiles, they’re even more likely to show up high in Google search results. That’s among the key methods that Google uses to decide to rank certain sites more highly: if many different sites post links to a site, that’s taken as evidence that it’s worth listing among its top search results. You can take advantage of this by interlinking your social media and public profiles as much as possible. This way, you’ll bury Google results effectively.

➡️ Buy your domain name - It’s almost always a great idea to have your own website, whatever field you happen to be in. Here, you can showcase your portfolio of work, positive reviews, have a blog, and convey an overall image of professionalism and high quality work.

In addition to the standard benefits of having a website, having a domain name that contains your full name will mean another potentially high-ranking search listing—one you can customize entirely to your liking. This is a great way to gain greater control over your online reputation, and with its other included benefits, it’s almost a no-brainer. Be sure to share all your various social media profiles on your website as well.

In order to maximize the ranking of your website in your Google search results, be sure to incorporate SEO (search engine optimization) as you’re creating it. This article in Entrepreneur offers a quick and easy checklist as a way to get started with SEO for your website.

➡️ Comment on articles/blog posts - One way to get your name out there in a positive light is to use your real, full name as a commenter on various popular blogs and news websites. This way, not only can you create even more search results to help bury the negative content you’d like to hide, but you can also positively reflect your own perspective and make yourself look even better to potential searchers.

As you do this, it’s especially important to ensure that all of your comments are the best possible reflection of yourself. This means they should be polite, well-written, and not too controversial. (After all, if you’re unable to delete the comment, you don’t want it to be something else that you’ll regret in five years.).

How Can I Remove a Link from Google Search?

Wondering how to remove negative information from the internet?

✅ A 2014 EU court ruling states that people have the “right to be forgotten” on the internet, so Google was forced to allow users to request that links to personal information be taken down. You can submit the request using this online form. In the process, you have to submit a fair amount of information, including your name, address, and a form of photo ID. However, since this was a European ruling, if you’re located in the United States or in any other countries, this avenue might be less effective.

✅ You can also try using Google’s URL Removal Tool. This applies only in specific situations. It’s on option when you’ve altered or deleted the unwanted content from a site (say, an old MySpace profile), but Google is still showing it in their search results. This can happen because sometimes search results take a while to update and become current.

✅ If the material that you want removed is something that could potentially be in violation of the law, you can also request that Google remove it here: Legal Removal Requests.

✅ Finally, if the content is very serious, is defamatory, and you think it’s worth the effort to do so, you can reach out for professional legal help. Obviously, this is going to be an option that is not affordable for everyone. Additionally, the content that you’re concerned about actually has to adhere to the legal definition of “defamation” in order for you to have a case.

Here’s the Digital Media Law Project’s definition of a defamatory statement: “A false statement of fact that exposes a person to hatred, ridicule, or contempt, causes him to be shunned, or injures him in his business or trade. Statements that are merely offensive are not defamatory.” In this case, you might choose to talk to an attorney who has experience dealing with First Amendment and defamation issues.

These methods may or may not work, but there are some other ways to potentially remove negative content from Google.

➡️ Don’t despair - As frustrating as this can be, there are ways to remove negative content about you from Google searches. Be methodical, and it’s very likely that you’ll improve your Google search results so that not only are they no longer negative, but they’re even a positive representation of you and your brand.

How Do Google Shopping Ads Work

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 22:13:35 GMT

Do Google Shopping Ads Work?

Yes, Google Shopping Ads work which is why they have been growing exponentially as compared to normal text ads. According to Digital Marketer, Google Shopping Ads have a 130% higher conversion rate as compared to normal text ads. Forbes reports that eCommerce retailers spent 47% more on ads in 2015 as compared to 2014 which says something about their effectiveness.

Since they feature a price and product image, they tend to stand out from the search results and Google once reported that they can result in conversion rates up to 300% greater than those of text ads. However, there are several reasons why Shopping Ads work so well.

Why Google Shopping Ads Are Effective

If you’re considering using shopping ads to help boost revenue but aren’t convinced I’ve outlined some of the benefits here. Keep in mind that proper management of both shopping and regular Google Ads require proper management in order to be successful.

➡️ Your brand and products in the Spotligh t - Regardless of whether you are an established brand or a small business seeking to make a name for yourself, appearing at the top of the search engines is great for creating familiarity with the brand and its products. Moreover, since the ads are shown according to searcher keywords, your products will be displayed to customers already interested in what you are selling.

➡️ Better ROI - Since searchers who are shown the product are already further along in the purchase intent scale, the conversion rates tend to be higher than for ads. According to 3dcart, Google Shopping ads have up to 23% lower cost per click and 26% better conversion rates as compared to normal text ads. The better ROI means that you will have more money to spend on your marketing budget.

➡️ Higher Click-Through Rates - In addition to the potential clients being further along the purchasing intent pipeline, higher click through rates will also be driven by formatting aspects of Shopping Ads. Star ratings, product images, shipping times, discounts and other formatting elements make ads very appealing to click on over their text-based counterparts.

➡️ Easy Management and More Accurate Targeting - You do not have to research keywords like you would with text ads as Google Shopping ads will display your ads according to the product data fee you provided. Once you have set up your Google Shopping Feed in the Google Merchant Center account you can craft your product data and then use an automatic Google Shopping Feed app to collect product data directly from the store.

The feed will have all the product data including ratings, product images. Since you are not using keywords, the algorithm will do all the work of matching keywords according to the product you provided, which reduces inefficiencies that may arise from keyword selection processes of text ads.

➡️ Broader Reach - Since the algorithm is choosing the keywords for which your products are appearing on the search results, it may include them in keyword searches that you may never have thought of. For instance, when somebody searches for sneakers, you could also be listed on the search results if your store sells shoes or cross-trainers. With Google Ads, you would have had to bid on all, three synonyms to stand a chance for showing up on the results. This is great if you have a massive inventory of products.

➡️ Automatic Updates - By setting up an automated product feed, the Google Shopping Campaign algorithm will provide automatic updates of the inventory in your store. As such, you will not waste ad spend on products that are out of stock or ones you no longer sell. The feed will also update your feeds with new products and automatically run campaigns without you having to do it manually.

➡️ Better competitive and Reporting Metrics - You can always log into your Google Shopping Campaigns and check out the performance of your campaigns by product attributes or products. You can segment and filter your data by product attributes such as item id, product type, condition, brand, and category. You also get access to competitive metrics of your competitors including CPC and CTR, so that you can come up with a cost-effective strategy right from the start.

How Much Do Google Shopping Ads cost?

This is a common question that many people that are new to shopping Ads typically ask. It is a reasonable question since they want to know how much they will be expected to spend and if they have the budget for it. However, there is no definite answer on how much it will cost since it often depends on a number of factors and you could spend as much as $1,000 a day or as little $1 if that is what you want to spend. These factors include:

➡️ The Auction System - When a user types a search query, an ad auction begins with Google determining which advertiser has products that closest match those keywords that were entered in the user’s query. The auction determines the Ad Rank including the determination if an ad will be included, and if it is included, the position it will take. The Ad Rank is typically determined by product availability and maximum bid.

➡️ Control Over Ad Spend - Some users will have a budget that they assume will last them the whole month then get the shock of their lives when they find they blew it in the first two weeks. This is what makes money people quit PPC, believing that it is too expensive. However, ad control can be controlled through several ways that include:

➡️ Budgeting for Ad Spend - You need to plan a monthly budget that typically involves a breakdown of the daily budget. Once you set your maximum cost per click you will not be charged more than that but you could get clicks for less. Google will typically stop serving your ads once you hit your ad spend limit.

➡️ Ad Scheduling - Ad scheduling involves specifying the times when you want customers to be shown your ads. Note that your ads will still be subjected to the auction prices even if you have selected a time for them to be shown.

➡️ Geotargeting - You can specify the geographical location where your ads will be shown. These could be from as small as a three-block radius from your location or as large as a state or province. This could be effective for capitalizing on mobile shopping trends.

➡️ Device Targeting - With mobile having overtaken desktop as the most used device for search, it is critical to determine where your leads are coming from. You can always specify how much of your ad spend will be dedicated to mobile or desktop depending on how many conversions you are getting from that channel.

➡️ The Amount of Competition - The more generalized your products are the more aggressive you’ll need to be on your bidding. Higher ticket items will also drive up your cost per click as the amount of profit to be made is greater than that of lower-cost items.

➡️ Size of the Business - The amount of product on stock will also determine how much you will pay in Google Ads costs. For instance, a merchant with 100,000 products will pay more than another with 100 products. The reason for this is that the algorithm will have a larger feed and more keywords to draw upon with the larger merchant.

What’s the Difference Between Google Ads and Google Shopping?

Google Ads are text ads that appear on Google searches typically at the top or bottom of the search results. Google Ads is an effective way of increasing reach since a lot of people use the search engine every day. With search ads, you can target specific keywords and users who are looking for certain products or services will see the ads at the top of the search results.

➡️ What is Google Shopping? - Google Shopping is similar to Adwords given that these ads also appear on the search results. However, Google Shopping Ads are products rather than keyword focused. Shopping Ads typically include price, image, description, and name of the product. Google Shopping Ads are very effective since they allow the user to compare different products to determine the best according to their needs. The highly visual nature of shopping ads also increases CTR and conversion rates.

➡️ Which One Should You Use? -The decision on what to use will depend on your circumstances and goals. Here are a few things to take into consideration.

➡️ The volume of Products in Stock – Businesses with a large volume of products are better off using Google Shopping ads. If you have thousands of products, the algorithm through a feed will automatically pull the product data and list your items for thousands of keywords thus making your set-up more efficient. Using AdWords with tons of products will be cumbersome, time-consuming and highly inefficient.

➡️ Click-Through Rates – Google Shopping Ads tend to have higher CTRs and higher conversions. Combined with the fact that they are less expensive for every click means that they provide a better ROI than Google Ads.

Do Google Shopping ads work? I would say yes! However, it comes down to how well you manage your campaign. Avoid using smart shopping as you give up total control which overtime costs you to spend more for a lower ROAS.

SEO Mistakes Law Firms Should Avoid

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 13:52:21 GMT

SEO Tips for Law Firms

Over the last decade I’ve seen a growing number of law firms embracing digital marketing. However, there are still many law firms that still are behind the times when it comes to marketing their firm online. It’s not just the small law firms or the solo practitioners that make these mistakes. I’ve seen many of these issues in large and even global law firms.

I’ve compiled a list of the most common issues I’ve seen in 2017 and explain why you should avoid them in 2018. If you want to give your firm the best chance at growth in the new year read through this entire list. Avoiding many of the mistakes could save you a lot of time and even more money.

➡️ Hiring a web designer or development company that doesn’t have an SEO person in staff

This is one of the biggest mistakes law firms make when hiring a company to redesign your site. It’s not something many law firms think about. They either assume the development company knows what they are doing or the firm isn’t concerned with SEO.

One global law firm I worked with had some serious issues that impacted the site’s ability to rank within Google. Issues an SEO expert would of made sure didn’t happen.

Unfortunately, this can be costly for the development company and the law firm. In most cases the development firm is on the hook for making sure the site is SEO friendly. They will need to correct the issues. The law firm will foot the bill for the SEO expert that will need to conduct a lengthy audit. All of this creates unnecessary costs on both sides.

➡️ Avoid using proprietary content management systems

I’ve seen more and more lawyer clients regret using a development agency’s CMS. It seems counterintuitive to pay for a custom platform when many free and robust platforms such as WordPress exists. WordPress has a ton of plugins and has loads of flexibility already built within it. I’s regularly improved with updates and can be customized to do just about anything a law firm would need it to do.

Businesses owners eventually realize that the custom CMS has many limitations and that new features come at a hefty development cost – in many cases would be a simple plugin for WordPress.When your CMS is built by another company platform, you’re stuck. If you want to switch companies it usually means you need to have another site built. More common platforms can be updated easily without needing to be tied to any one agency.

I personally feel this is a cheap ploy to keep you as a customer. The alternative will cost you more time and money. These companies hope that the fear of redesigning with another company will keep you with them.

➡️ Improper https integration

Since Google started pushing site owners to incorporate https many law firms have decided to go that route. It usually the firm’s developer or design company that suggests the change from non-secure to secure. Unfortunately, 3 out of every five site’s I evaluated this year were implemented incorrectly.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t implement https, it just means that you need to be made aware of the common problems that happen with setting it up.

➡️ The most common issues were…

302 redirects were implemented instead of 301 redirects. 301 is still the best redirect to use for redirecting non-secure pages to a secure page.
In some cases there were no redirects in place. A user could visit a secure or a non secure version of a page. This causes issues within Google as both versions of the site will be seen as two individual sites instead of one, causing duplicate content issues.
The most common issue I see is developers not changing all the urls in the site’s code. Once the site is switched from http to https it’s important that the code on your pages is updated as well. All the internal links on your webpages should point to the https version of your site including images, links to internal pages and scripts.
Not having a page for each practice area

This is more common than I would like to see. When speaking with law firms and asking them which practice areas they are most interested in many list practice areas they don’t even have pages for on their website. In instances when they do have practice areas on the site it’s grouped together on one page with other practice areas. This makes it hard to rank pages organically.

It’s also important for visitors to land on a page that speaks to just one practice are so that you can sell your firm’s experience, results from past clients and address concerns visitors may have that you can solve.

Many firms also spend time writing about the law they practice rather than talking about how they can help the reader. Remember people are looking for a lawyer to help with their current situation. You should understand their pain points and address them as it pertains to that specific practice area.

➡️ Not tracking all goals on all channels

How many leads on average turn into a case? What’s the quality of the leads you’re receiving Which channels produce the best leads at the lowest cost? Answers to these questions and others can only be answered if you’re tracking conversions. How do you do that?

It’s important to track form completions and calls using call tracking. If your site uses a chat feature track those as well. Avoid using email address on the site as those can’t be tracked. Plus, spambots would love to get their hands on your email address.

The more you understand your traffic the easier it is to grow. As you gather data on which marketing channels produce more leads at a lower cost you can focus more effort on that channel and less on channels that don’t convert as well or at too high of a cost.

➡️ Trying to manage your Google Ads campaign by yourself

Let’s say you’re a law firm that handles “police brutality” cases. If you aren’t careful with your Adwords management your ads can show up for “police brutality videos”, “causes of police brutality”, “history of police brutality” and so on. This can drive up costs dramatically and give you the impression that paid search is not a valid resource for leads. Which it is for many law firms both large and small. You need to hire someone who has the time and knowledge to manage your account to improve the ROI.

If you’ve run into some of these issues above or others not mentioned here and need help. Please contact me. I’d be happy to discuss your concerns.

➡️ Not working on your local map listings

More than 60% of the law firms I’ve worked with had never claimed the local listings. The number jumps to 75% on firms that had more than 2 locations. Out of those firms that claimed their Google map listing, more that 89% of law firms never updated their information after the initial setup.

None of the firms I worked with ever asked clients to leave reviews and the majority of the firms never used a service to claim or change incorrect information on their firm’s citations. Including their NAP (Name, Address & Phone).

➡️ It’s important that you…

Claim all your firm’s locations in Google map listing. Create them if they don’t exist.
Update your map listing at least once a month.
Use a service such as yext to help correct and claim new citations
Mark up your locations on your site with schema
Ask clients to review your business on Google maps (72% of consumers will take action only after reading a positive review)
All of the above are factors in ranking your firm in Google’s map listings. Many times individual lawyers at a practice ranks above the firm. If the partner or lawyer leaves the firm will lose its presence.

If you like to learn more about me you can here in my bio and why I am qualified to help your law firm.

SEO Tips for Journalists

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 22:38:02 GMT

SEO For Journalists And Editors

This post is just for journalists.This article will NOT contain any technical info. It is written specifically for journalists who want to get more traffic out of the news stories that they write. Over the years I’ve trained many editorial teams and the questions I receive are always the same. I decided to compile the most common ones in this post in the hope that these tips will help increase traffic with minimal effort.

Keyword research for journalists

One of the most asked questions is “How do we research keywords for content?” When it comes to strictly “news” keyword research doesn’t apply. It’s news and news stories come down to facts. When someone performs a Google search for a news item it is because they have heard the story elsewhere.

It could have been over the radio, a friend, television or perhaps they read the story somewhere else and want more information. When this happens, searchers tend to remember the most important facts. This is typically the who, where and possibly the when. There is no research required.

What about keyword cannibalization?

Keyword cannibalization is when more than one page ranks for the same term(s). This could cause you to miss out on clicks as searchers may be able to tell that the content is an older story and not click on it. Or the content may have a high bounce rate. In my experience, Google does a good job identifying a new story and is usually now an issue.

However, if you wanted to rank consistently for a “topic” you would then want to create a category or package page. Where the title of the section is optimized and all the articles on the page encompass stories about that topic. Such as this “political news” section on the NYT website.

If you find an older story ranking higher than the new story, add a link inside the old story to the news story. Use the search terms you are trying to rank your new story for as the link text from the older article.

How should journalists leverage title tags?

Title tags tell Google what the page is about. It is also the first line that shows in search results. The title tag should have as much information as possible.

As you craft the title of your page it is important that you keep the title to more than 60 charters as Google will cut off your title in search results if it is longer than that. If your title must be longer – add the “who” the “what” and/or “where” in the first 60 charters.

When I train editorial teams there is resistance in keeping titles too “basic” and “plain”. One could say that this style of writing lacks creativity. While it’s not impossible to be creative it isn’t always easy to execute. However, there is another way to be creative and still get the SEO benefit. It’s not unusual for the title of the article to be pulled into the title tag. If you were able to have a separate field for the title tag and the header of the page you’ll be able to create two separate titles.

The first title (title tag) would focus mainly on the who and What and/or the where. Your alternate title (header) you could be more flexible with the title and play of words trying to use some of those same points (who, what and where) if possible as you still want visitors on the site to know what the story entails.

➡️ Optimizing meta description s - A major SEO tip for journalists is creating customized meta descriptions. Meta descriptions show underneath the title in search results. Creating a customized description will allow you to persuade the reader with a “teaser” to get them to click your listing over other search results. This helps you stand out from all the other outlets that are covering the same topic.

In some instances, you may not have access to create a custom meta description. It may be programmed into the CMS to pull the first two sentences of the first paragraph. If that is the case, be mindful when crafting the first few sentences of your first paragraph.

➡️ Using social media titles - When it comes to journalists posting on social media you have a few options. On a platform such as Facebook, you can be as cheeky as you want. Since articles typically show in your followers feeds the more attention-grabbing your titles are the better your chances are to get the click. If you’re using LinkedIn or Twitter you have an option to use your social title instead of your SEO title because you could leverage hashtags. I recommend testing your SEO title versus your social and see which produces the best results.

If the platform you’re working on is WordPress there are a few plugins that will provide the functionality described above. This includes separate titles for the page, title tag, and social media titles.

➡️ Is content length important? - I’m sure you’ve heard that 1,000 words or more are important when it comes to ranking content in Google. However, when it comes to the news this doesn’t apply. What does apply is how you structure your content. Avoid short paragraphs, bullet points and ads between the article, as fragmented articles are known to be excluded from search results.

➡️ Should you update an existing news story or create a new page? - Google actually prefers to see the same page updated. It’s okay to launch your news story with a paragraph or two as you continue to collect more information on the story. It’s news so the sooner you can break a story the better your chances of showing up on the first page of search results.

➡️ Optimize images for search - Avoid using the same images as everyone else. If you Google any news story many times the images are the same or very similar. If you’re able to have a custom image you could increase the number of people clicking on your story. It’s also important to be mindful of image size.

If you grab a large image and then have your CMS resize it – in many cases, the image is still very large. The image will be made smaller using CSS and while the image may appear smaller on your web page the image is still the same size when the page is loaded. This slows down the load time of the page and page speed which is a ranking factor. You can easily resize your image online using free online resizing tools.

It is also important to label your images and alt tags appropriately for search. Alt tags help Google understand what the image is about. Naming images can help your image to rank in Google image search which can drive more traffic to your site.

Implementing these simple tips can help journalists dramatically improve the organic traffic you receive from Google.

Why Did Your Traffic Drop After A Redesign?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 21:57:50 GMT

How To Recover Traffic After A Redesign?

Redesigning a website could provide a lot of benefits for your business. You could have had the best design three years ago but in the digital world, things move so fast that your website now looks dated. Websites are often designed to improve functionality and increase usability.

It’s also not uncommon to redesign a site to improve lead and call volume. While there are many great reasons to redesign a site, doing it incorrectly could be a major headache. In this article, I’ll describe some of the things I look at when I evaluate a site that has traffic issues after a website redesign.

➡️ Improper Redirects - Redirects are important as they connect old urls to urls. These urls could contain the same content – just the url has changed or the old url(s) is pointing to a similar page. When the search engine starts to spider the old urls the redirects help them discover them and tell Google if the redirect is a permanent (301) or temporary (302) change.

Without proper redirects, visitors won’t be able to find old pages and Google will in many cases de-rank them as they won’t be associated with the new site. They will become broken and over time will result in much less search traffic. Fewer pages in search results will result in less traffic from Google.

➡️ Check Search Console - You can always check any pages that have improper redirects by using the search console. Here you will find all of the errors. Go to coverage in search console and click the excluded tab.

Once you have done that you need to perform a comprehensive mapping of all URLs affected since nearly every redesign will have some pages that have to be moved to a new location. It is critical to have a plan in place to properly redirect such pages. Every rewritten URL needs to be made into a 301 permanent redirect, when possible.

If you have a large number of broken pages you can choose to redirect pages to new “relevant” pages or sections of the site. Never “mass” redirect pages to the home page. This will cause Google to flag these types of redirects as a soft 404. Soft 404s can have a negative impact on your site’s rankings. This too could be a cause of a drop in traffic. If you find a large amount of soft 404s – they need to be corrected.

What should you do with broken pages?

Avoid using 302 redirects – These are never good for SEO and as they are short term solutions which are not recommended for a permanent redesign.
Don’t delete pages – Never delete pages unless it is absolutely necessary. If a page is not serving a purpose, the best thing to do is to redirect it to another page if one is similar in content,
404 pages aren’t bad – There are some instances when a 301 will not be the appropriate action and a 404 may be more suitable. For instance, if a page has a large number of toxic links or is infected with malware you may leave it as a 404 error page to limit its impact on the rest of the website.

➡️ Pages that were removed - Removing pages is a common occurrence when redesigning a website. For instance, some companies will remove pages since they are retargeting their service offerings. This could mean the removal of tens or hundreds of pages that they may believe are not bringing in enough revenue. But remove enough pages during the redesign and you will experience a stiff drop in your traffic.

You need to know that Google depends on the co-occurrence of keywords and their density on a page and elsewhere on the website to determine relevance. For instance, assume you have a website about easels. By cutting out pages for easel rentals because they are not generating as much revenue you may find that the pages for selling easels drop in ranking which results in lesser traffic.

The reason for this is that the search engine considers the website less relevant for easels given that their co-occurrence and relevance for the term has been diluted.

➡️ Restoring Old Pages - Since you’ve cut out content that may have been ranking, this will reduce traffic overall. The fix to this is to restore these pages to boost the value of co-citation and co-occurrence. This could take a lot more work as you would have to go through the cut pages that will now be shown as 404 errors. You can then restore such pages from a backup or if not got to the Internet Archive to find that content to restore it.

Another fix is to keep those pages even if they are not performing as well. You can keep those pages and use them for cross-selling rather than cutting them out. For instance, if easel rentals are not doing so well, you can still use the traffic from that page to push people towards buying your easels rather than renting.

➡️ New site architecture - New designs might involve moving pages and navigation around. While you might not think anything of it, the links in pages and navigation are the most important ways that Google uses to transfer authority from one page to another. Both the main and sub-navigation allow Google to easily crawl a website. If it takes more than 3 clicks to navigate the content within a website, Google may demote your content further away from the main navigation it is.

So, before you decide to shorten your navigation ask yourself; will this change make it hard for users and Google to find content? Navigation links are particularly important as they are links that are found on every page of the website. Google see pages in the navigation as “home” to important pages you want visitors to navigate through.

You can check the authority of your broken pages by using this tool. Simply copy and paste the urls of the pages you want to check authority on. If you find pages with high authority, try and find new pages for them or consider creating pages with similar content.

➡️ Content Changes - Most website redesigns will involve the rewriting or complete overhaul of existing content. For instance, if you are changing the focus of the website or retargeting your product offerings, you may change the homepage and category description to reflect the changes. If you remove content or completely rewrite it, you may remove keywords that had good rankings on the search engines, and this will result in a drop in traffic.

➡️ Monitor Keyword Rankings - If you were monitoring keyword rankings compare the report prior to the redesign and after. Are the same pages ranking for the keywords before and after the redesign? If the urls changed are the correct ones ranking? If you didn’t track your rankings before the site launched, there may be hope.

If the new site went live fairly recently you may be able to get your keyword rankings from tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs.It’s always a good idea before you redesign to map out all of your keywords that are ranking high on the search engines and the pages that rank for them. Failure to do this will result in a loss of relevancy, which will result in the inevitable drop in traffic.

Failure to Add or Implement Google Analytics Properly

A drop or total loss in traffic after a redesign may be nothing more than a simple error as forgetting to add analytics into the new design. You need to make sure that your analytics code is installed and working properly before taking the site live. Believe it or not, many businesses often overlook or forget to install the Google analytics code back after a redesign which will report a huge loss in visitors to the site.

➡️ How to Add Google Analytics - Ensure that you have correctly set up your Google Analytics code in your account using the instructions in the video below or from Google’s analytics help section.

What Other Steps Can You Take?

➡️ Submit a sitemap - Submitting a sitemap will help Google discover the new pages of your site. If you haven’t already, submit your sitemap and monitor search console to see how many pages were submitted and indexed. If your site was upgraded to SSL and is now secure, be sure your new sitemap has secure urls (https://) and that you’ve confirmed your secure url in search console.

➡️ Monitoring the Traffic - Once you have launched the site, it is all about monitoring the website analytics for rankings and traffic. You need to look out for any keyword ranking losses, sudden 404 spikes, and any unusual traffic drops. These can be accomplished through the Search Console.

➡️ Monitor Google Index Status - You need to keep a watch on how your pages are being crawled and indexed by Google. You want to ensure that all the pages on the website are indexed.

➡️ Monitor for crawl errors - Once your website is live, you need to be watching for crawl errors. Once you see any 404, soft 404s or any other crawl errors you need to dig in and find the cause behind it and fix them.

➡️ Check your robots.txt file - A simple line of code in your robots.txt file could send your traffic to a screaming halt. Sometimes developers block search engines from crawling the website during the transition, but then forget to unblock them. This is one of the first places I look when I come across a site that’s lost more than 90% of their traffic.

➡️ What if none of these above changes fix your issue?

At this point, you may want to have an audit of your site. There may be technical issues that may be holding you back in the new design? A full detailed audit will help uncover all of those issues and provide you with a course of action.

Traffic Loss After Migration

Losing your traffic after a migration can be a frustrating experience that could send you into a panic. However, it does not have to be so. If you follow the instructions in this article, your site should not have any issues with losing traffic because of a redesign.

It is typical to see traffic decline after a redesign. It can sometimes take Google a while to decide what to do with the new changes of the site. If all of the pages have stayed the same and the only thing that changed was the design, you should see very little flux. However, if you’ve restructured the site, removed page, added new pages and implement a lot of redirects, expect it to take longer.

Let me know if any of these tips helped you to recover traffic after a redesign!

Why is My Website Slow to Load?

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 18:23:35 GMT

Speed can impact your SEO

The modern website user has the concentration of a goldfish and the more time a website takes to load the faster they will close the tab or click the back button. The average website visitor expects a website to load in two seconds or less, even though most websites will load in 7.25 seconds or more.

Given that up to 65% of web visitors expect a website to load in 2 seconds just a single second added to the load time can have the following effects according to KISSMetrics:

11 % reduction in page views
7 to 15% reduction in conversions
16% reduction in visitor satisfaction

With statistics like these, it becomes very important to identify the reasons why your site is slow to load. Having a slow website will impact your rankings significantly.

Does Server Speed affect SEO?

Server speed affects SEO since it affects the website speed, which is one of the components of the Google ranking algorithm. Since 2018 Google has been giving a ranking boost to faster loading websites and server speed can be a critical component in how fast the website loads. The server is important for SEO since it determines how fast the first byte gets from the server to the user’s browser.

If the server is slow, it will take a lot of time and provide a bad user experience. Bad user experience results in visitors either closing the tab or going back to the search results. A slow-loading server is therefore not only at risk of penalty from Google, but since it provides a bad experience it can result in the de-ranking of the site.

How to Check Web Hosting Server Speed

There are several tools that you can use to test your web hosting server speed. For the most part, all you will need to do is enter the site URL and the tool will deliver all the important server data and information that you need.

Most tools are HTTP/HTTPS web server tests that are made to provide deep-level insights on the functionality and health of the web server where your website lives. The test typically provides key performance indicators for server response errors, time to load and server response codes from different locations in the world.

Most tools will involve the use of three steps that are:

➡️ Enter your website information - Once you have entered your information, you should then choose the type of server your website is running (HTTP OR HTTPS) in addition to the Request Type (POST or GET).

➡️ Provide Testing Parameters - This is not mandatory though it provides a way to test more parameters and to customize the data you get from the test. Some of the parameters that you can add include Headers (Value/Name), POST or GET (Value/Name), and Login User Password/User Name.-

➡️ Confirm Data and Receive Report - Once you run the test, you should get a breakdown of web server speed, response times and other insights about your server.

What is Server Latency and why is It Important?

Server latency is a term used to refer to how much time it takes for your website’s server to respond to the request from the user’s browser. Server latency is important since the faster your server can process the HTTP requests, the faster the loading speed of your website for the final user.

Latency is often dependent on the physical distance between the server hosting the content and the end-user. For instance, a server in Washington serving a website being accessed in New York will have better latency than that server serving the same content to a user in San Francisco because of the distance.

Server latency is typically reduced by using Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). CDNs are servers that have copies of the website content and are located near their users. For instance, in the example above a CDN in San Francisco will have a copy of the website and will serve it to the user from a location closer to them making the website load fast. The most common CDN providers include the likes of Amazon Web Services, Cloudflare, and Akamai. You can use this free tool to test your server speed.

➡️ Do You Have Too Many Ads? - Display advertisements can be a great source of revenue for your website. However, if you have too many ads, they could compromise user experience or performance. Too many ads especially rich media such as auto-downloads, interstitials, and pop-unders typically create tons of HTTP requests that take longer for the website and server to process this, of course, makes your site slow to load.

The addition of a few ads could add up to 3 seconds in loading time to your website totally destroying the experience. By having the number of ads down to a reasonable figure you can still monetize your website without compromising performance.

➡️ Is Your Database is Too Slow? Brand new websites are snippy and perform like a charm but as you add content, they will start to slow down taking more time to render. This can be especially so if you are running a content-heavy website such as an eCommerce site, which stores a lot of images, graphics, blog articles and other types of content in the database.

While databases are great, they quickly lose their efficient organization with constant addition or deletion of information that may result in bad queries. Over time, the database will have a lot of extraneous items such as transients, logs, and entries from themes and plugins.

If you have too much of these extraneous items it can result in database queries that will take too long to resolve. It could even time out and show site not loading while the user is waiting for a response from the database. The best way to prevent database errors and slow database errors is to optimize the database.

➡️ Are You Using Too Many Plugins? - There are tons of plugins out there and no matter what functionality you want to add to the website, there will always be a plugin for it. However, having too many plugins will slow down your website. The reason for this is that many plugins and shortcodes usually contain a lot of CSS and JS files. They will add these into your database which will make the site load very slowly.

Some plugins are also terrible at requesting information from the server and will make it less responsive. If you have any significant traffic and too many plugins, you are sure to get a low loading website. The best way to resolve the issue of plugins is to remove all but the most essential plugins.

➡️ Are you Using Cheap Web Hosting? One of the main reasons your site is slow to lad could be how well your web hosts performance. If you are using cheap hosting sometimes just choosing to move to high-quality hosting could significantly boost website speeds. Cheap hosts are usually bad for website speed given that one server may have tens and sometimes hundreds of websites competing for the same limited amount of computer resources.

To resolve issues with web hosting, you either have to move the website to web hosts that do not have too many websites on one server or upgrade to premium hosting. Some options available include VPS hosting, Dedicated Servers, and cloud-based hosting. Try WPEngine it’s what I use.

➡️ Are you Using Non-Optimized Images? - In the early days of the Internet, a large image would load for up to a minute. While we have come a long way since dial-up internet, broadband technology will still ping the server and carry little bits of the website to the user’s browser. The server will carry images, text, and content and the larger and heavier the item, the more time it will take to render.

A large image will thus take a lot of time to render on the user’s screen. As such if you have a lot of un-optimized images, the website will take a lot of time to load each one of them. It is also important to take into consideration the type of file format since browsers can load GIF, PNG, and JPG images faster while BMP and TIFF will take longer to load. As such, you should not only reduce the size of the images but also ensure that they are formatted in lighter formats. Test your image sizes with this analyzing tool.

➡️ Where is your Server Located? - The server location is another important component that determines the speed of your website. The way this works is similar to making a long-distance phone call. It will typically take a longer time for a transatlantic call to connect since the information will take longer to physically get from Europe to the United States.

The same thing is applicable to data and information transmitted between the server and the user’s browser. When the user clicks on the website the browser sends a message to the server asking it to render the content. If the user is in London and the server is in San Francisco, it has to cross the Atlantic which can take several seconds more than if the visitor was in Los Angeles. The query would have to travel from London to San Francisco and then back to London before loading on their browser.

➡️ Are you Using Caching? - Caching is one of the most effective ways of improving the website load speed. If you have not implemented caching on your website, the user’s browser will have to load the data and information every time they visit your website.

With caching, you store some of the information on the user’s browser so that the next time they visit the site they do not have to query the server for all the resources, which makes the website load faster. By implementing server-side and HTTP caching, you can significantly experience a huge improvement in the loading speed of your website.

These are the most common reasons why your site is slow to load. There could be others. However, addressing these issues will improve your site’s load time dramatically which in turn will help improve rankings.

How to Improve Your Ecommerce SEO

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 16:11:04 GMT

On-page SEO Tips for Ecommerce

There are many aspects to SEO for eCommerce sites. In this article, I am going to address the on-page items you can fix that will dramatically improve your organic rankings even if you have very little incoming links and domain authority.

I created a Shopify store about 12 months ago to put my concepts to the test. I wanted to prove if done correctly – even a new eCommerce site can drive organic traffic. This simple guide is great for anyone starting out or from an established website. In either case, you don’t need a lot of domain authority to get started.

How to Improve Ecommerce SEO for a New Ecommerce Store?

In order to improve your eCommerce SEO, it’s important to plan out your site’s architecture and keywords before you launch your site. This guide will help you build a solid foundation that many eCommerce sites lack. The majority of effort is usually placed on the choice of products and the design of the site. There is nothing more time consuming and frustrating than having to restructure and work on SEO while trying to actively promote a website. I’ve outlined a few of the most impactful things you can do to improve the SEO of your site.

➡️ Category Page Optimization - There should be a clear structure for your site. In this example, I have men’s watches broken down by different styles of watches. Why is this important? Why not just place all of the watches in one category? The goal is to get as detailed as possible for a few reasons.

➡️ People generally search by types – No one searches for just “watch” it’s too broad. People tend to have a style of watch that they want to buy. If someone was looking for a men’s minimalist watch style – they may search “minimalist watches for men” or “men’s minimalist watches”.

You may say that the term is too broad or too competitive. Which is a valid concern. However, for me, this is a longer-term SEO goal. What I want to do is break these watches into as many tightly grouped products not just for SEO.

If I wanted to send visitors from paid search campaigns to my site, I could bid on terms around “minimalist watches” and send them to this landing page which only features this one style. This improves quality score and performance. So, it pays to do your research and see how many categories you can create with your products.

It doesn’t matter is products fall into multiple categories. The duplicate content will be minimal so long as all of the same products don’t appear in every single category the same way. Now that we have categories figured out. What does the title tag look like?

How to Write Title Tags for Ecommerce Website

Title tags for eCommerce sites can be tricky, especially when you sell many of the same products. This site I am using is fairly new and while “Minimalist Watches for Men” is a long-tail term and should be easier to rank for – I decided to go with “Cheap Minimalist Watches for Men”. The competition for it is less and it tacks on another word to my phrase. The goal is to overtime rank for variations of; Cheap Minimalist Watches for Men, Minimalist Watches for Men and Cheap Minimalist Watches.

I also added a small blurb above the watches category page in order to add the term “cheap” and my other keywords for that section. I wanted to have those phrases found on the page and not just the title.

Meta Description Optimization for Ecommerce Website

Meta descriptions are seen in Google search results and it tells searchers what they can find on the page. It is also your opportunity to get searchers to click and visit your page. Clicks and time spent on your site improve SEO. See below for what a bad meta description looks like…

The meta description above won’t get many clicks as there is no description. In many cases, searchers will skip this page altogether. Even though it has reviews. This snippet was pulled from the page because the description tag is left blank. Here is a description that is better and could get someone to check out the product.

As you can see there is a difference between the two. Never leave your meta description blank.

Ecommerce Website Product Page Optimization

This section will make or break your eCommerce SEO. I’ve reviewed hundreds of eCommerce stores – many of them Shopify stores that dropship. There is a huge missed opportunity many drop shippers are missing and I’ll break them out below.

How To Name Products On Ecommerce Sites

Another way to improve your eCommerce SEO is through product naming. After you create your category page it’s time to work on naming your products. Here is where 90% of eCommerce stores fail! If you are using the same product titles as the manufacture you’ll run into 3 issues:

➡️ Duplicate content – Google doesn’t want to show the same exact product in search results. That would be a boring experience for users so Google filters these out.

➡️ Many of these titles, especially from Aliexpress are long, wordy and spammy. They will make your product titles unappealing to visitors and clutter your website.

➡️ You’re missing an opportunity to drive organic traffic to your product pages. Yes, to your product pages.

I’ll use my “minimalist watches” as an example. Take a look at these titles and tell me if you can spot what it is I am doing.

The goal here is to use keywords to be as descriptive as possible. If someone is looking for a minimalist watch – they know what style they want, but not the color or function. However, if someone wants a Men’s Quartz Watch with a mesh band – I have a better chance of showing up and even more chance of making a sale.

You have a better chance for ranking for the term, “Men’s mesh watch with blackface”. Just because a term is long tail doesn’t mean it won’t drive traffic or sales.

➡️ Product Description Optimization - Here is another place where e-commerce shops fail. If you are using the same product description as the manufacturer you are going to miss out on organic traffic. Your product descriptions need to be unique. What I like to do is have the main keywords I am going after in the description. If this is my title….

My product description mentions those words in the description.

I also want all the sizes and colors that I carry in the product description to help with SEO. I may sell a minimalist watch with a mesh band that comes in Gold, Silver, and Red. I’ll add that to my description and leave the colors out of the title tag. I also want the description to talk about the material. Remember, you want someone to buy the product – so give them the information they need to make a purchase.

Is this time-consuming? Yes! You can go to places such as Upwork and pay someone a few dollars per description. You can get by with 2 – 4 lines for a description. More is better, however, too long and it will just make the page look cluttered. You can use the same product dimensions, just not the same description. Never post a product without a description. Users will want to know more about the product and while a good photo is nice description can help close the deal.

Ecommerce Website SEO Strategy

I’ve worked on some large e-commerce websites and unless you have a lot of authority to help you overtake competitive keywords – this method will work best for you. The strategy for your eCommerce store regardless of whether you use Shopify, WordPress or any other platform should be as follows.

➡️ A long term strategy is to build SEO to category pages for broader terms, but on specific types, styles and brands of products.

➡️ A short term strategy is to go after descriptive keywords on product pages as those will be easier to rank.

➡️ Create blog posts that answer questions about your products and the issues/questions they solve and link and/or add products within those posts.

Let’s go back to the terms I was optimizing for at the beginning of this article.

Here is a ranking report of the keywords that I am tracking around the phrase “cheap minimalist watches”. As you can see I’m ranking fairly well even though watches are competitive.

You’re probably thinking that I have a ton of links pointing to my store, right? Wrong! My domain authority is 5! To be completely transparent – many of the other terms I am going after don’t rank at all. I’ve also haven’t done any optimization or link building in the last 6 months. I have not started any blog writing to help drive traffic.

Below is the last 6 months of clicks from Google. This data is from the inside search console.

What can we learn from this data? It is possible to get traffic organically from Google even if we are a new business. It comes down to long tail terms and unique content.

One final word on on-page optimization – if you follow this outline you’ll find that if you use Google shopping ads that your optimize title tags and product descriptions also improves your performance there as well.

If you still need help improving your eCommerce SEO feel free to contact me. Or you can go and purchase my book on Amazon .

How To Improve Google News Ranking

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 14:27:50 GMT

Tips for getting the most out of your news content

Over the last 17 years, I have worked with many publishers both large and small. I’ve consulted for some of the largest publishers in the U.S as well as many small niche publications. There are three key points that they all have in common.

They lack writers who understand how people use search engines.
Not providing writers with the right tools or motivation
Not giving writers their own “beat”.

Now that news is more digital – there are still some organizations that produce print publications. However, what works in print doesn’t work well for digital.

How to Improve Google News Stories

Many times, the writer who produced the print content is also repurposing the content for digital. In most cases using the same headlines that are used in print are used on the website. You can get away with flashy, vague or dull titles in print because the person has already paid for the paper – the writer doesn’t have to work at getting his or her article read.

Keywords are important for SEO because in many cases people are already aware of what’s going on in the news. They may have heard it on TV, radio, a friend or another news source. People who want to know more details or breaking updates will perform a search.

If you think about how someone who has heard about a news story would perform a search to learn more, they would probably remember the basics.

Who was involved
What happened
When it took place
Where it took place

These facts will never change and so when writing a headline – the more of these facts you can add to the headline and answer in the story the better chances you will have for ranking.

Writers should have tools that not only help them find the right trends, hashtags and key terms to use but also to create content that can drive epic amounts of traffic.

Here is a list of some very useful sources:

A free web app to take the pain out of transcribing recorded interview s.
Create charts
Create Story maps
News training

Creating interactive charts and graphs around topics is a great way to build links, authority, and repeat traffic to your site. News has a very short shelf life and the more you can do to lengthen the life of your content the less you’ll have to work to maintain or grow your existing traffic.

I’ve worked for organizations that provide real-time reporting on traffic to news stories so that writers could see real-time how many visits and shares their articles were getting. This will also allow writers to see how they stack up against their coworkers. I’ve seen news organizations offer prizes to the writers who drive the most traffic at the end of a month.

Also providing writers with their own reports of their top stories will help them review why some stories did better than others. This can help them to fine-tune their skills.

Why should writers have their own beat or niche? It makes it easier for a writer to become an expert on a topic. Readers are usually interested in following writers who write about specific topics. This increases the chances of readers subscribing to RSS feeds, newsletters, and the social media of writers which will increase the amount of repeat traffic.

If you need additional help with training and educating your editorial staff you can learn more here or contact me.

Why Your Site Is Indexed But Not Ranking

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 00:31:58 GMT

Indexing Doesn't Mean You're Going To Receive Traffic

Getting your website indexed but not ranked is one of the most common problems that beginner SEOs and sometimes even veterans have to deal with. There are many things that could cause your website not to get indexed some of which are of a more technical nature, while others are more manual in nature. But first things first what is Indexing.

What does it mean to be indexed?

Indexing refers to how the search engines spider websites and webpages so that they can include them in their databases. All search engines have bots that crawl tons of websites every day to find new websites and pages to add to their database. As such, a website or page is said to be indexed when it is included the database of the search engine such as Google or Bing.

You have to remember that indexed does not mean that you are ranking but simply that your pages and content are in the database. The content may be in the database but it is up to the search engines to rank or decline to rank it due to either technical or quality issues.

Is my website indexed?

The best way to find out if your page is in the index is to make use of the site: example.com operator on Google. Copy and paste your domain into the operator as shown below and you should see which pages are indexed. Once you have checked which pages are indexed, you can then move on to determine the cause of keywords not ranking.

➡️ Why Your Keywords Are Not Ranking

There are many reasons that may cause a keyword not to rank, some of which may have to do with issues with crawl and indexing while others are about technical aspects on the website. The following are some of the most common reasons why your keywords are not ranking:

➡️ You Have Chosen Keywords That are Too Competitive or Too Broad

A lot of beginners fall into the trap of trying to target keywords with high search volume. While ranking for high volume keywords is not impossible, it may require a lot of work, skill, or money which a beginner may not necessarily have. By targeting such competitive keywords. You will also be competing with more experienced SEO’s who have the money, skill, and time to rank for such difficult keywords. While you can target competitive keywords as a long term strategy, you are likely not to see rankings for a long time if you do not have the time, resources, and money to compete.

➡️ Your Website is New

If your website is too new it can be very difficult to rank for keywords given that you have done little link building and you are also in the Google Sandbox. This means that you will have little domain authority or page authority to rank for anything in the short term unless you target obscure keywords.

To rank for your keywords, you most likely need at least one of either domain authority, page-level links, or high-quality content or a combination of two or more of these components. Moreover, new websites tend to have problems ranking as there is a Sandbox period of between 3 to 6 months before your website starts being taken seriously by the search engines. During this time you may not rank for much of your targeted keywords, even if they are indexed.

➡️ Poor Quality Content

Ranking for your keywords with high-quality content alone is possible but the reverse is also true. If you have very poor quality content, you may find it very hard to rank even if you have backlinks and high domain authority. The reason for this is that poor quality content usually provides negative signals to the search engines.

If your content is not that good, it may result in pogo-sticking (where users click on the result and immediately click the back button), low time on page, and high bounce rates which may cause Google to de-rank your keywords.

Keep in mind that long content does not necessarily equal high-quality content. High-quality content is content that satisfies user intent.

➡️ You have Un-Optimized Title Tags

A title tag refers to an HTML element that specifies the title of the web page. The search engines will display the title tag on the search results which is what the user will click to go to the given result. As such they are very important and even critical for social sharing, SEO, and general usability.

➡️ The Importance Of The Title Tag

It is critical to have the title tag and meta title for your pages for the following reasons:

✅ They drive click-through rates, which means more people will visit your web pages. The more people click on the title the more relevant it is seen. This is likely to make your pages rank for certain keywords.

It makes it easier for the search engines to understand the content of the page and rank the page accordingly. As such, by optimizing your titles you make the search engines work of determining your keywords easier.

You Do Not Have Unique Tags

✅ You may have meta tags but if they are not unique they will not be helpful to the search engines or to users. Most of the time, if you have duplicate title tags, the search engine will choose to ignore the title tags and find what they believe is the most relevant content on the pages and use it as a title tag. Since the algorithm cannot be as accurate as you are in choosing the keywords for the title tag, you may find that the page will not rank for the targeted keywords.

➡️ You are Blocking Crawlers

This is common when it’s either a new website or during website redesign when you may have used meta robots or robots.txt file. Both of these will provide the search engines with instructions on how to treat the content on the website or page, especially on aspects to do with crawl or indexing.

The robots.txt file typically provides site-wide information, while the meta robots tag is usually used to provide instructions to the search engines on how to treat content on one page. However, you can also use the robots.txt file to tell the robots how to treat content in directories and pages during indexing.

A simple way to check for how the website is using the robots.txt file is to enter the domain in the browser using the domain/robots.txt operator for instance https://www.example.com/robots.txt

➡️ Robots Meta Tag

The robots meta tag will typically be in the header of the webpage to tell the search engines what to do with the content of the page. The two most common directives that are used are the nofollow/follow and the noindex/index.

✅ Index follow – Tell the search engines to index the content on the page and follow the links on the page.

✅ Noindex Nofollow – Tell the search engines to index the content on the page but not follow the links on the page.

➡️ You Do Not Have Enough or High-Quality Links

Links are one of the most important components of the Google ranking algorithms, even more, important than the content on your website or pages. To rank, you need high-quality links pointing to your website and depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you are going for, you may need a lot of backlinks. Backlinks are critical since they are a sign to the search engines that your website is reliable and trustworthy.

However, it is important to note that the quality of backlinks is often more important than the quantity of the links. A link from a highly authoritative and high-quality domain may be more valuable than 50 links from irrelevant and low-quality domains.

How to Get Your Site Ranking On Google?

Every issue discussed above has a fix. Nonetheless, some will require a simple fix while some will call for something more substantial that may take time and money to implement. You may also need to buy some tools or use the free ones to fix the issues with your keywords not ranking on the search engines.

The Google Search Console

This is one of the most important tools for finding out and fixing issues with indexing and ranking of keywords. With search console, you can determine if Google has indexed your website and for which terms. Once you have registered and set up your account you can check for:

➡️ Crawl Errors – If there are any issues with crawling, a lot of your keywords will not be indexed and will not rank. You can then fix those errors and have your keywords indexed and ranking.

➡️ Indexing – While not all pages are going to be indexed, you should have most of your pages indexed. If most pages do not show, then you need to fix it.

➡️ Redirect Errors – You can always find any redirect errors in search console and fix them. Pages may not rank for keywords because they may be redirecting to other pages.

➡️ Robots.txt Tester Tool – Google provides a robots.txt tester tool that you used to identify any issues with the robots file. You can also test the pages to determine if the robots file as currently configured may be blocking the Google spider. If a directory or page on the website is being blocked from indexing it will be after the Disallow: in the robots file as shown below. This will prevent the indexing of any pages found in the given directory.

Note that you do not have to fix all the errors in Google Search Console. All you should do is fix all the obviously large issues that are preventing the website from getting indexed and your keywords from getting ranked.

➡️ Use Sitemaps - Implement XML sitemaps to deal with index and crawl issues. If you do not have an XML sitemap, Googlebot will not be able to crawl or index any of your pages. The XML sitemap is a listing of all the pages on your website and will be critical if you have new content that may not have backlinks from outside sources pointing to it. With the sitemap, the Google Spider will find and index all of your pages within a few hours or days of the content being updated.

Most content management systems now come with a capability for making an XML sitemap. If you are using WordPress you can always use the Yoast SEO plugin or any other free plugin out there to make your sitemap. Once you have made your sitemap, log into Search Console and fetch as Google, which will ensure that the spider will know where the sitemap is located and will find it easier to crawl your website and index new content.

➡️ Create More Content - The more content you have, the higher the likelihood that you are going to rank for more keywords. You need to create blog posts that are in the form of answers on how your services or products work or can be used. The reason for this is twofold:

Your website will be crawled more frequently with more content
Your website will come to be associated with the industry due to having co-citation, which means you will rank for more keywords in the given industry.

➡️ Optimize Your Title Tags - You need to optimize your title tags to improve your chances of ranking in the search engine results. You can do this by:

Limiting your title tag to no more than 60 characters
Including your brand name in the headline phase
Using your target keywords as close the start of the title as possible
Installing a tool such as Yoast SEO, which will help to add unique title tags to each page
Create unique title tags for each page
Write title tags for people rather than just for Googlebot
Communicate benefits and value to improve click-through rates
Use best practice for writing effective headlines
Fix Low-Quality Content

Good content means content that your users are looking for. It typically means in-depth content that answers the query of the user. The best way to fix low-quality content is to research your competitors that are ranking for your keywords and then do better than them.

Be better at keyword optimization, cover different angles in the topic, go more in-depth to stand a chance of ranking in the search engines. Content that best answers the user queries and keeps users engaged will send positive signals to Google which will help rank your keywords.

➡️ Build High-Quality Backlinks - You can check the quality and quantity of your backlinks through tools such as Small SEO Tools, Ahrefs, Semrush, and many other free and paid tools. These tools will show you the best links that are pointing to your website or your pages, which you can then compare to those of the competition. You can then reverse engineer the backlinks that your competitors have and replicate them to rank higher.

Another way of building backlinks is by writing high-quality and very helpful content, which will over time naturally attract backlinks. If you have high-quality content you can also build backlinks through outreach to other websites or if not, write guest posts with links back to your site to get your keywords and website ranking in the SERPs.

➡️ Target Long-Tail Keywords - If you have been targeting highly competitive keywords, you need to shift focus to target long-tail keywords, which are typically less competitive. If you do not have the money, time and experience to compete for the competitive keywords, you can make progress with long-tail keywords and as you make progress and gain more experience or until you have the money shift to medium and then high competition keywords. With more domain and page authority, you can target more competitive keywords and get them to rank.

As you can see there are many reasons why your site could be indexed but may not be ranking. The items I’ve listed are among the most common that I’ve come across. If your site indexed but not ranking reach out to me. I’ll be happy to help you solve this issue.

Google Smart Shopping Ads Review

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 18:16:15 GMT

What is Google Smart Shopping Ads?

Google is always looking to innovate and Google Smart Shopping is just its latest product. It is a new type of Google Ads campaign that is intended to simplify advertising for e-commerce by making use of automated ad placement and bidding. This will be advantageous for people who find the process of setting up Google Shopping Ads too complex or persons who do not have the time to set it up. However, you need to weigh both the pros and cons of using smart shopping as it may or may not be ideal for your business.

Smart Shopping Campaigns employs machine learning to make automated bids in certain circumstances when it believes the searcher is likely to make a purchase. It then makes an approximate bid for the customer through unique contextual signals it applies for every auction. The algorithm typically uses user historical browsing data and user search queries to predict what product they are interested in.

On display networks, it uses previous engagement data from similar websites or from your website to determine their interests. With Automated ad creation and placement, you get more relevant clicks as ads are placed in ad spaces where they are likely to convert thus improving your conversions and ROI. The question you need to ask yourself is – Should you use Google smart shopping?

The Difference in Smart Shopping Campaigns

Smart Shopping Campaigns are no different from the regular Google Shopping Campaign except for simplification and automation. They maximize conversion value, simplify campaign management and expand the reach of your ads. The Smart Shopping Campaign also combines display remarketing with standard shopping in addition to automated ad placement and bidding.

Another new component introduced with Smart Shopping Campaigns is the ability to serve both display ads and Product Shopping ads. You can also get your ads displayed on display networks, search networks, Gmail and YouTube depending on how relevant they are to users. This should increase the ROI of conversions even more.

How Does Google Smart Shopping Work?

What Is Smart Bidding?

Smart or automated bidding refers to how the Google algorithm uses machine learning and a range of auction time signals such as operating system, language, re-marketing list, time of day, location, and device to determine the unique context of a user’s search, and set a bid that is more likely to convert the client.

Automatic Bid Setting for Smart Shopping Campaigns. There are two settings for automatic bids:

Maximize Value – This makes it possible to generate as much revenue as possible from your budget. However, the setting means that you lose a lot of control over the ad spend.

Target Return On ad Spend (ROAS) – The option focuses on maximizing conversion and revenue. However, it does provide greater control over the ad spend. This is better for campaigns with strict ROI as it will provide better value

Who can use Smart Shopping Campaigns?

Before you can use Google Smart Shopping Campaigns there are several requirements you have to meet. You need to have:

A Google Ads account
An audience of at least 100 users or more
A Google Merchant Center Account
Shopping Campaigns that had 20 or more conversions in the past 45 days
A product data feed that you have uploaded and gotten approved in your account
Tagged the site for dynamic re-marketing
A conversion tracking tag installed on the website
A re-marketing global site tag on the website
Tracking for transaction-specific conversion values

How to Set Up Smart Shopping Campaigns

Smart Shopping combines display marketing and conventional Google Shopping. As such, if you are running any of these you need to pause them before you target the same products using smart shopping.

The procedure to set up smart shopping campaigns is as follows:

Log into Google Ads user interface and create your new campaign
Click on Shopping on the dashboard to select it, then click on “Sales as the campaign goal.
Click on the Merchant Center Account you intend to use and then select the target country for the campaign
Lastly, check the box beside “Smart Shopping Campaign”
Name your campaign and assign a budget
Set a Target ROAS (this is optional). However, note that If you do not set the ROAS, the algorithm will default to maximize conversion bidding.
Choose the product group and upload the images
Note that the algorithm will include all the products that you included in the product feed unless you specified that you do not want them included. The system works best when the algorithm uses website engagement levels to determine the best product ads to serve to searchers. As such, it is critical to include all products.
Add the business logo for use in the Display Networks. Also add final URL, description and a long and short headline.

Best Practice for Smart Shopping Ads

There are several tips and tricks including recommendations from Google to improve the performance of Smart Shopping Ads. According to best practice:

You need to keep in mind that the default setting for campaigns is to maximize conversion value and conversions according to the budget. The goal is to provide the highest ROAS and highest conversion values.
It is best to use Conventional Shopping campaigns with a maximization bidding setting to fulfill re-marketing and conversion requirements.
Allow for some time for the Google algorithms to collect data on your customers. 15-20 days is sufficient, meaning that you should start seeing good results in between two to three weeks. Depending on conversion volume, the period could be shorter or longer.
Track your performance and measure how each campaign performs once you implement Smart Shopping campaigns and compare them to the traditional Google Shopping campaigns you were running before.
Update your feeds regularly! Optimize images, descriptions, and titles across all the campaigns.
Target a few specific product groups when you are starting and continue to run the rest on the traditional Google Shopping campaign. This will ensure you do not experience a sudden interruption ion performance on your eCommerce store.

Pros of Google Smart Shopping

Shopping campaigns used to be complex and tedious even for the experts. Smart Shopping campaigns now provides a range of features to revolutionize how consumers shop and e-commerce businesses advertise on Google. Some of the Pros of Google smart shopping are:

Better Optimized Campaigns without Tedious Setting Up

Previously it was a complicated affair to maintain a shopping campaign. It was not that hard to do for smaller retailers with fewer products. They could upload a sheet containing the products in their store to the Merchant Feed and be ready for Google Shopping. However, large retailers with thousands of products could not do that.

Large retailers typically had to acquire or subscribe too hard to manage and expensive tools to upload all the products in their store to the Merchant Feed before they could start their campaigns. One major pro of smart shopping campaigns, it is now easy to provide ad information to the feed directly from the website.

Smart Shopping Allows you to Select “Drive store visits,” as a Smart Goal

A lot of consumers prefer to shop on e-commerce stores but there are still a ton of people who prefer to do their shopping at brick and mortar stores. With Smart Shopping you get access to features that allows you to target people that may be more likely to go to a physical store from search. Since about 50% of searchers will visit a store within a day of searching for local service businesses and 80% of local searches convert, you stand to significantly improve conversions with Smart Shopping.

Smart Shopping Allows you to set “Acquire new customers,” as a Smart Goal

Rather than just tracking conversions and clicks, Smart Shopping makes it possible to track new customers and also provides insights that can help make decisions to drive more sales. For instance, with the data you get, you can refine your targeting to improve your ROI.

Ecommerce Businesses can Automate Advertising Campaigns

Setting up advertising on Google Shopping may take too much time or cost a lot of money. With Smart Shopping, the process is less complex and less time-consuming. Most aspects of a campaign from targeting to creatives and bidding can be automated. This makes advertising more efficient for businesses to run advertising campaigns.

Cons of Smart Shopping Campaigns

While Smart Shopping campaigns can be very effective, they also have some limitations. Some of these limitations include:

Ad Scheduling – You do not have the option of scheduling when your ads will run as the algorithm makes all the decisions. Until the algorithm learns which are the best hours you will lose money to bad scheduling decisions.

Audience Targeting – Google will select the customers that it thinks are best for you.

Bid Adjustments – Adjusting and optimizing can significantly improve the performance of a campaign and improve the ROI on budget spend. With Smart Shopping there is no option to adjust your bids.

Device Targeting – Some businesses do better on mobile while others do better with desktop, but Smart Shopping does not allow you to decide what devices to run your ads on thus wasting your money.

Granular Reporting – It is impossible to determine where your sales are coming from as Smart Shopping combines all of Gmail, YouTube, and Shopping and Display data.

Lack of Negative Keywords – It is not possible to set negative keywords in Smart Shopping. Negative keywords can be very important in enhancing the efficiency of a campaign. By not having this feature there is some inherent inefficiency in Smart Shopping as you would inevitably appear for irrelevant search traffic.

Location Targeting – while you can target a country you cannot exclude or target specific regions and thus you will pay for irrelevant traffic.

Network Placements – Businesses are not allowed to decide where their ads will appear and this makes measuring performance difficult. For instance, Search and Gmail will overall be better when you optimize for conversions, while you will typically get lower conversions and CTRs on Display Networks. Since you cannot opt-out of networks that do not work for you, you are likely to pay for unqualified or poorly converting traffic.

Smart Shopping Campaigns Performance Declining?

Unfortunately, the downfall of using an automated strategy is that it tends to perform less the more time goes by. You’re giving up control to a system that will try to drive more sales by allowing your products to show for broader (and in many cases irrelevant) terms.

Hopefully, you now have an understanding of how Google shopping works. While it may seem like a good option at first it will cost you more money in the long term. If you’re having issues with your shopping campaigns and need help contact me.

SEO Consultant vs. SEO Agency

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 16:49:39 GMT

Asses Your Company's Needs

Every website needs a marketing plan without one your website will be invisible. Once you’ve decided what forms of online marketing you want to embark on you then need to decide who will help you achieve your goals. You could handle the work yourself, hire employees, hire a consultant or an agency.

Over the last 17+ years in search marketing, I have worked both on the agency and the consulting side. I’ve seen both the pros and cons of each. While the cost is a factor for a business to keep in mind it’s shouldn’t be the deciding factor. It’s important to understand your business goals and needs and use the information below and match your needs with the right vendor.

There are some significant pros to working with a consultant but again it all depends on your specific needs. The pros include;

➡️ The more experience an SEO has the more expensive he or she can be. The reason for this is the amount of knowledge they have accumulated over the years. You are paying for that knowledge and insight.

➡️ Experts tend to have more hands-on experience and are comfortable rolling up their sleeves and assisting with solving issues.

➡️ Consultants are easier to get a hold of and you have direct access to them.

➡️ A consultant has very low overhead and therefore more of the dollars you spend goes towards actual work.

➡️ Consultants don’t work normal business hours. They tend to work longer hours and weekends as the few clients they have are important to them and are usually working and researching.

➡️ Staying on top of changes is important to consultants as their “bread and butter” depend on it.

➡️ Consultants are more flexible and can fit your organization’s needs better.

➡️ Many experts have a long list of case studies, clients and verifiable credentials.

Cons of Working with an SEO Consultant

As with all things, there is also a downside to working with a consultant which include;

➡️ Consultants and experts are specialized. This means they are experts in a limited about of fields. This means you may need to hire other companies to handle other parts of your marketing. This means you will have more vendors to manage.

➡️ It may take longer to get certain elements set up as there is only one person working on the project. In most cases, they will work with someone on your team to assist. However, if there isn’t anyone it could slow down the initial start.

Pros of Working with an Agency

Agencies have a lot to offer and should be considered if their offerings meet your needs.

➡️ Getting started can be faster. Agencies have more team members and implementation people available which could be a bonus if you’re looking to start quickly.

➡️ Reporting also tends to be more robust and offers a lot of features.

➡️ Agencies have teams that could provide much more insight into complex projects and more hands to tackle larger tasks and issues.

The Cons of Working with an Agency

While practical in some situations agencies have major drawbacks including;

➡️ You’re paying a high cost to work with people with less experience. While most agencies have senior team members those members aren’t involved in the day to day which is left to junior members.

➡️ Agencies have a high turnover rate. Employees move up within the company or move to other agencies. This impacts your bottom-line as the new person in the role now has to learn your business and history. Also, their methods may be different than the previous person and that could impact you negatively.

➡️ Agencies tend to spend more time on larger clients as it generates more revenue for them. If you’re a small or mid-size business you may not receive the attention your account needs and deserves. In many cases, smaller business needs more help and requires more time, but pay the least.

➡️ Agencies are limited to working with you during business hours only. If you need help outside of business hours or the weekend you’re on your own.

➡️ Agencies are busy and it could take a day or more before hearing back. If you have concerns that need to be addressed quickly it could pose a problem.

➡️ Large agencies work in sprints. Sprints can be weekly or monthly. If you need something done or fixed it may need to wait until they fit you into their cramped schedule.

➡️ Agencies have lots of employees and executives on the payroll. Don’t forget the expensive rent they need to pay for. This is built into your fee when building out services you’ll be asked to pay.

➡️ Many times, inexperienced (junior) SEO’s make changes too often or too many at once. This creates more problems and can be the start of a downward trend when it comes to rankings.

➡️ Employees tend to be tied up in meetings and working on client’s campaigns to have the time to read blogs, listen to podcasts and watch videos. Their job isn’t dependent on it. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but there is more likely to gain important knowledge after the fact.

➡️ Some agencies offer a cookie-cutter approach that can work for some businesses but not for others.

Which Should You Choose?

If you’re a small company trying to keep costs down but you know you need SEO knowledge to improve your website, train staff and have a pulse on that latest SEO news, algorithms, and trends a consultant may be better for you. Also, if you have a smaller budget and prefer to work with someone that is more accessible this may be the option for you.

However, if you need full support on various services besides just SEO an agency would be the way to go. This applies also if your budget is on the larger side.

Think of it this way – with a consultant you are paying for expertise and with an agency you're paying for a team and manpower.

SEO Lead Generation Techniques

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 21:58:03 GMT

Generate High Quality Leads Through Search Engine Optimization

Generating leads through SEO is difficult especially if you’re not sure where to start. There are some pages of your site that will target different types of terms. Most online businesses offer a product or service(s). We call these “money” pages. Money pages are typically optimized around keywords that indicate a searcher wants to buy.

There are also other terms searchers use to research, ask questions, or to learn more about a product or service. This is where blog posts come in. However, not many websites do a good job of writing content well enough to drive relevant traffic. This post will go into how to leverage your content to drive more leads through SEO.

SEO Lead Generation Strategy

New There is a lot that goes into lead generation. The first step is to optimize your content using SEO. While this is an important step it is not the only step. You need to ensure your pages have clear and trackable calls to action. This will help you understand which pages not only drive in traffic but also which ones drive in the most leads. As I stated earlier money pages and blog posts drive traffic in different ways.

A web design company would have “Web design” as the main category. However, they may also offer other services that are searched independently. An example may be WordPress development, websites for doctors, eCommerce web design, etc. Having a page for each service type is very important for several reasons.

➡️ When trying to acquire leads for a doctor’s office the visitor will want to land on a page that speaks to their specific needs. What are their challenges? How do you address them and fix them? What are some other doctor websites you’ve designed and what do those doctors say about your work? This helps with driving traffic from Google.

➡️ This type of information is useful for any paid search advertising you do. A part of Google’s ads algorithm is to match key terms on a landing page to the terms in your ads and the keywords within the ad group. A page such as this could help increase conversions and keep costs down. If you were to send doctors to a generic page that didn’t speak specifically to their needs you would not only have a low amount of conversions, but also a higher cost per lead with Google ads. It’s always better to speak to specific audiences than to the general public as everyone has different needs.

Then there are blog posts. Blog posts are usually used to grab searchers who are researching a problem or a question. Blog posts tend to be longer in length and very informative.

Audit Your Site’s Content

The first step here is to audit the existing content on your site. It’s doesn’t make sense to start creating new content when you already have content on your site that isn’t optimized. The first step is to go through Google analytics and see which pages drive the most traffic. You can also combine the search term data within search console and match them to pages of your site. The video below explains just how to do that using Google studio which is free.

You could alternatively just export the keywords from search console and place them in your keyword ranking tool. Regardless of which option you choose, you will still need a ranking tool to check where you rank for your key terms as search console data is not accurate when it comes to keyword positioning.

Once you have the keywords and the pages that rank for those terms you then need to determine if…

✅ The right pages are ranking for the terms. If your “money” terms are not services pages and are blog posts you need to either redirect the ranking blog post to your service page or add a link from the blog post to the service pages and change the title of the blog post so that the service page can begin to rank.

✅ If no pages are ranking you need to evaluate the content and the title tag to ensure your pages have the target phrase on the page and in the title.

✅ If the right pages are ranking, but not on the first page of Google you then need to make subtle changes and keep track of those changes in a spreadsheet. Don’t do too many at once otherwise, you won’t be able to tell which changes had a positive or negative impact.

This is a very basic optimization method. However, depending on other factors other changes should be made. However, there are too many scenarios to list here. If you find that to be the case you’ll want to consult an expert.

Website Navigation is Very Important

Services pages are in the navigation if your site has been recently designed it doesn’t mean that it is SEO friendly. Even if the designer claims to have “SEO’d” it. While you can design a site to be SEO friendly that doesn’t mean it will rank for every keyword related to your business.

S ervices pages should always be found in the main navigation and blog posts should also have a sub-navigation. Pages that aren’t tied to the main navigation will not rank as well. Google looks for pages that users can navigate to in 3 clicks or less. The more clicks it takes to find content the less likely they will rank.

Are You Generating the Right Type of Blog Content?

Cranking out page after page of blog content is pointless unless it is written in a way that is informative and optimized. Even a well-written article with a poor title will not rank as well. When it comes to blog content you need to understand a few very important items.

Witty titles do not generate relevant traffic.
Blog posts should help solve a problem, teach or to answer questions.
Blog posts don’t work for every type of local business. An example, if you’re a Dentist in NYC writing blog content about how to whiten your teeth won’t drive relevant local traffic to your business.

Many businesses think of SEO as “free” traffic, however, if you are writing content (that doesn’t bring in relevant and qualified traffic) is it really free? You’re taking your time to write content or paying someone else to write it.

What Are You dDoing After You Create Content?

The first question I usually ask potential clients is if they know which pages drive the most traffic and leads. It turns out that 9 out of 10 of them say they have no idea. Once the content is written you need to use a ranking tool to monitor the rankings. I use SEMrush, but you can use just about any keyword tracking tool. You can’t just write content and then hope it drives traffic. I find this the case with many online businesses.

Business owners read online that they need to create content and then they start cranking out content never knowing which pieces are driving traffic or leads. They also aren’t sure if the content they write is going after relevant terms. Once you’ve identified your keyphrase, written your content, and published it you then need to monitor it. Every month or so review the rankings and adjust accordingly.

If you’re running into issues using the SEO lead generation techniques contact me.

How to Increase Subscriptions of a Magazine Using SEO

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 21:03:59 GMT

How to Increase Online Readership

Typically online publication issues

Does your site have a large repository of content? Have you noticed that traffic isn’t growing and if it is – is it growing slowly or not at all? Is the only time you see a spike in web traffic is when a particular story ranks well? If so, is the traffic short-lived? There are several things you can do to get the most out of the content you create.

You first need to ensure you’re implementing SEO best practices. If you’re not you will be limited to the amount of traffic you can generate from organic search. Smart, funny, and witty titles do not drive organic traffic. Titles such as these could be and should be used in social media. However, when writing titles for the purpose of driving organic traffic you should follow the outline below.

Choosing The Right Keywords - I’ve conducted dozens of training for news organizations and one factor that is consistent throughout all of them is the lack of sticking with the basics of news reporting. That includes writing titles that address the…

Who
Why
When
What
Where

When people search for news or articles they are searching for in many cases it about something they heard somewhere else. The searcher recalls key facts about the story using the five Ws listed above. It could be a person or a company (who) around a certain event or time period (where and when). While using just the facts in titles is boring, it is what Google understands. You could use a separate title for the title tag (SEO) and another for readers on the site. This way you can serve both the searcher’s need and the visitors browsing existing content.

Optimize Your Images and Videos - If you’re not optimizing your image names and ALT tags your missing out on traffic from image search. Google also tends to pull in images on the first page of Google results as well. More than one-third of all keywords now contain Google images. In many cases images, show above organic listings. A well-rounded SEO strategy should always include image optimization. Don’t forget to ensure your images load quickly.

Videos can also play a major role in how long a user spends on your site. Time on site is a signal to Google that searchers are finding value in your content. If you can optimize video to show up in search results you can also drive more traffic. As you construct your content think about how these different elements can be optimized to leverage more organic traffic. You are not just limited to content.

Get Even More Traffic to Your Topic Pages - Regardless of whether you are a news organization or an online magazine making it easy for site visitors to discover content is an important part of the user experience. If you’re a health magazine you may have a section that discusses healthy recipes, all of your recipes fall under this main “umbrella”. How does this type of categorization help with both SEO and sales opportunities?

If you’re a health magazine you may have a section that discusses healthy recipes. All of your receipts fall under this main “umbrella”. Someone landing here may Google “healthy recipes” or “healthy recipes to make at home” which is great. However, what if someone landed here and wanted to then explore different types of recipes they would have a hard time locating them easily.

Or, what if a person reading a keto recipe wanted to read more recipes on keto? Do they need to scroll through pages and pages of the website? How unappealing is that? What if someone lands on an article and they could easily find all the different types of recipes (or the most popular) on every page?

Now, a visitor reading a keto article can find all of the articles easily within one click. Think of how the user experience has been improved. This equates to more page views, time on page, and revenue! You can take it one step further and break down the keto recipes into types of foods such as desserts, breakfast, dinner, etc.

Increase Readership Without Creating More Content - Too many online publications are relying on visitors to scroll to find content. This isn’t a bad idea however, it does alienate those who are looking for a specific topic to read more about. Just because more users are coming in from mobile doesn’t mean they don’t want to f

You are also missing out on SEO opportunities. If you have pages broken out by different types of recipes you can now optimize for each type. If someone now Google’s Keto recipes you now have an opportunity to drive traffic for people searching just keto recipes.

Another reason sub-navigation is important is that Google loves navigations. The more clicks it takes to discover content the less likely Google will rank. In Google’s mind if visitors can’t discover it by browsing the site in less than 3 clicks then chances are they will never find it. So, why would Google rank content others can’t find?

Increasing Revenue Through Topic Pages - If your magazine published workout routines by famous athletes you may want to create a topic page for each. Many famous athletes have their own merchandise, supplements or partnerships that make this a good opportunity to create a topic page. If you covered a lot of articles about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson you know that he has a partnership with Under Armour. Your sales team could reach out to the Under Amours to see is they would like to buy all the ad spaces on the topic page and on ALL of the articles that are on that topic.

What if Under Amour doesn’t want to buy ad space? Go after other athletes that would love to sell their supplements to the Rock’s audience. If you package your content properly it is easier to get advertisers that want to target a specific audience.

You can use the same model for just about any type of content. A website covering political news my write a good amount of content around the President could create a topic page of all the content pertaining to him. Advertisers or politicians looking to get in front of his audience would jump at the chance to advertise to them.

Additional ways to get more out of your content - Once you’ve created your topic pages and you start working to optimize them and fill them with content the next step is to make them work for you in other ways. If you write stories about Microsoft on a regular basis and created a topic page what other “features” could you add to that particular section of the site to add value?

Envision a topic page that contains a summary of Microsoft as a company. Who founded the company and how long they have been in business. You could add a stock widget to show the company’s current stock price. You could also add an email alert option so that users can be notified of when a new article is added to the section as well as an RSS feed so visitors can subscribe to new updates.

What other elements could you add to this page to make it “sticky” and add value rather than just content? Doing so will make these topic pages a great resource for other sites to link to. We know that links have value in SEO and having more links increases the ability of your content to rank. Try some of these strategies and let me know just how you were able to increase your online readership.

How to Improve Your Google Ads Quality Score

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 19:23:42 GMT

The Importance of QS in Google Ads

If you see, low quality score (QS) in your Google ads account it can cause your keywords to not be shown in Google searches. Regardless of how much you increase your bid, if the quality score is low your ads won’t show. Google determines the quality score of keywords based on the relevance of your keywords, the ads related to those keywords, landing pages and CTR as some of the major factors. In this article, I will address how you can improve your Google Ads quality score.

Rarely shown due to low-quality score

A Google ads quality score refers to the rating of quality and relevance of your account and individual ads which is typically measured in terms of their performance. It is an important thing to take note of as it will impact your profitability and PPC success.

Google Ad’s quality score impacts:

➡️ Your cost per action, and

➡️ The position of your ads

Your quality score will typically be determined by several factors but the most important are:

➡️ Click-Through Rate – The likelihood that searchers will click your ad

➡️ Landing Page Relevance and Quality – How relevant the page is, and the ease of use of the landing page

➡️ Ad Relevance – How closely the ad text matches the user intent

➡️ Historical Google Ad account performance – How effective have your previous ads been

While it is impossible to know what factor is the most important to the algorithm, there are indications that the Click Through Rate is one of the most important. More people clicking your ads is one of the strongest indications that your ads are helpful and relevant to users.

How do I check my quality score?

To be able to make changes to your ad strategies, you need to know how to check quality scores.

Follow these steps:

Log into your Google Ads Account
Click on the campaign whose quality score you intend to check
Select the Keywords tab
Select the Columns tab (You should find it directly below the keywords tab)
Select Customize columns
Click the Quality Score box
Click Save and you should now see the quality score

How To Increase Your Quality Score Google Ads

Now that you have found your quality score it is time to fix it. The following are some suggestions for fixing your low-quality Scores:

Include keywords to improve ad copy - Rewrite any ads that have low CTR and be sure to include high volume and highly relevant keywords into the copy. Once you have rewritten your ads, do some A/B testing to find the best performing.

You could also improve performance by increasing visibility such as adding site links to the ad.

Improve your landing page. Check that all your destination URLs have good loading times and that they are relevant. Check out the Google recommendations on landing page experience to determine how you can improve any of your landing pages.

Change the ad group to include more relevant ads - You need to maintain tightly segmented ad groups with specific keywords. This will make it easier to take advantage of highly converting or keywords with high CTRs. Sometimes, a low scoring keyword will improve when placed in a more relevant ad group.

Test and Refine Ad Copy - You should always be refining and testing your ad copy through A/B testing, which can provide valuable insights. You could start by changing the copy for a few ad groups to determine which ones get an improvement in the click-through rate. A better CTR means higher quality scores and relevancy, which you can then use for the remainder of the campaign.

Use calls to action - When writing ads it pays to have a call to action (CTA) to tell searchers what to do next. Some good calls to actions are…

Call Now!
Buy Now!
Shop Now!
Download Now!
Check Your Landing Pages

If you want to improve your quality score you need to send your visitors to highly relevant content. Driving visitors to a homepage or vague category pages is not going to cut it. Each ad group and individual campaign needs to have its own highly targeted landing page. This will ensure that users are sent to a page with the content they were searching for thus providing a cohesive start to finish experience.

Make Use of Negative Keywords - Always go through your keywords and add negative keywords that drive unqualified leads that waste ad spend. You can do this when starting a campaign but it can also be done on the regular after your campaigns are live. If you are getting a lot of clicks from some keywords but are not getting as much in terms of conversion then you definitely need to add negative keywords.

Use Long-Tail Keywords - When it comes to quality score, long-tail keywords are almost like the Holy Grail. Since they are very targeted, they tend to drive CTR. Moreover, they also tend to be less expensive given that there is not much competition for them.

Follow these guidelines - Many times campaigns perform poorly because they fail to follow the basic rules of PPC management. While not everyone has gone through training or has years experience – in many cases following what’s laid out in this article should improve your overall performance.

How to improve low-quality in Google ads?

Tightly theme your ad groups - Ensure that all your keywords are themed in very specific ad groups. A good rule of thumb is to have between 2-5 different keywords per Adgroup. Each keyword that does not match the other keywords in the AdGroup closely needs to be put in another AdGroup specifically created for it.

Write Specific Ad Copy for Each AdGroup - Every group needs to have a different ad copy. Ensure that each of the ads is unique, written specifically for the adgroup, and is highly targeted. This will help ensure that the ads match the keywords in their group, which should improve the overall quality score.

Use site links and extensions - Using extensions expands the size of your add. This allows your ad to take up more “real estate” in the ad spots above the organic listings. Doing so increases your chances of getting a click which will improve your CTR. This, in turn, will help improve your QS.

Optimize your display url - Google provides you with the option to show a “fake” url. This url isn’t the one that visitors go to. It is just the one that is displayed to them in the ad. This is where you can add the same keywords you use in your ad group and landing page to make the ad more relevant to Google and to help improve your CTR.

Specific ad groups should have their own landing pages - Every AdGroup needs to have its own specific landing page though it is not necessary that it be a new page on the website. As long as it is highly relevant to the keywords you are targeting it should be fine.

For example; you sell many types of chairs. You should have one page for “dining room” chairs. This will align with your ads and keywords within this one adgroup. this will dramatically improve your quality score.

Run two or more ads concurrently - When running ads it is always important to be testing. One of the best ways of testing is by running two or more ads concurrently, which allows you to always be improving to the one that converts better. This will over time improve your quality scores.

Include keywords on landing pages - Never send all your traffic to the home page as that is one of the best ways to get a low-quality score. Have each landing page have its own dedicated keywords and ad groups. This will over time improve the time on site, bounce rate, and conversions. However, you need to keep the keywords between 3-5 for every landing page.

Should you delete low-quality score keywords? - Believe it or not, low-quality keywords have very little impact on other keywords. The algorithm allocates each keyword, landing page, and AdGroup a quality score that lingers for a while even if you delete the keyword.

One word of caution when it comes to deleting keywords. Once you delete a keyword you lose all of the data and history associated with that keyword. I rarely ever delete keywords. I recommend pausing them rather than deleting them.

There are several considerations you need to take into account before deleting or pausing your low-quality keywords. These include:

Performance of the Keyword - While a keyword may have a low-quality score, it may be performing well in terms of cost per conversion, conversions, and click-through rates. In such an instance, it is not advisable to delete the keyword.

How old is the keyword in the campaign? Some keywords may take some time before the algorithm has enough data to portray a true quality score. If the keyword is relatively new, you should consider allowing more time for the algorithm to gather data.

Other factors that play a role in quality score - Sometimes it is not the keyword that is the problem as the quality score may be influenced by other factors such as:

Devices
Ad relevance
Your account history
Landing page quality
The CTR of the ad itself
Geographic performance
The past CTR of the keyword

You need to take all these factors into account and do a thorough analysis before deleting keywords. Of particular importance is the landing page relevance and quality.

You should also A/B test your ads and make them as compelling as possible. It is also important to note that deleting keywords is unlikely to be successful in the short term, as the quality score is built over time when you consistently write good ads.

The information in this article should help you resolve most of the quality score issues by increasing the quality score of your ad groups. Let me know if you still are having issues with Improving your Google Ads quality score.

How to Optimize Google Shopping Ads

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 01:52:29 GMT

Improve Your Google Shopping Ads Performance

Google Shopping ads were initially a component of Google Ads but are now a standalone product. Google Shopping is exclusive to advertisers selling tangible merchandise, downloadable product or media online. For e-commerce clients, traffic from shopping ads has a higher probability of converting as compared to conventional text ads, which make them very cost-effective. Providing you manage your shopping ads properly. However, just like with other types of ads, you have to optimize Google Shopping ads. If you have been asking

Optimize Product Titles

Product titles are probably one of the most important aspects to optimize for your Google Shopping ads. Taking all aspects into consideration, product titles contribute to approximately 80% of your ranking.

The reason for this is that unlike text ads, you will not be bidding on keywords with these types of ads. Instead, you will include keywords in your product titles, which is what Google Shopping works with. Nonetheless, a product title needs to be both natural and descriptive such that it makes it easy for clients to understand what your product is.

How to optimize your Google Shopping product titles?

Character Limit: Google only allows 150 characters though the algorithm tends to truncate any titles longer than 70 characters. You should ensure that your titles are no longer than 70 characters.
Front Load Key Terms: It is not recommended to keyword stuff though you should include your most important keywords as close as possible to the 70 character limit allowed.
Be Natural: Do not just stuff keywords in an effort to target everything as this would seem unnatural. When writing titles you should be writing for people rather than for the algorithm. Research businesses in the niche to find how they are writing their ads.
Be Descriptive but Contrite: It is critical to include the name of your product but the search engines and shoppers may need other things. For instance, you may include things such as gender, size, color or promotions.

Automated bidding for Google shopping

Automated bidding is one of the most effective campaign strategies particularly if you are running several campaigns at the same time. This makes it possible for the machine learning algorithms to learn and test your ads and be able to set the best bids that fit your marketing objectives.

With automated bidding, you can let the algorithm do the bidding for you and also use real-time trends and changes to optimize your bids towards the achievement of your business goals.

Google provides a range of automated bidding options when you are doing Google Shopping ads which include maximize clicks, enhanced PPC, Target ROAS, and rule-based bidding. For a more comprehensive look check them out here.

▶️ Maximize Clicks – The algorithm automatically sets bids so that your ads can get as many clicks as they can within the target ad spend you set. This will make it possible to be within your target ad spend even as you increase clicks to low traffic products.

▶️ Enhanced CPC – The algorithm will adjust your manual bids to improve the probability of a click resulting in conversions. In doing so, it will enhance conversions while allowing you to control your bids.

▶️ Target ROAS – The algorithm will automatically set your bid to optimize conversion value while achieving a targeted return on ad spend (ROAS).

Rule-based Bidding

You need to remember that no matter how good automated strategies are, it is not prudent to automate all your ad strategies. A hybrid approach that includes human bidding strategies combined with automated strategies is always preferred. Some of the best rule-based strategies to adopt are:

▶️ Bid Increase rules

▶️ Pull back on wasted ad spend

▶️ Reduce bids on unprofitable terms

▶️ Bump products with zero impressions

One of the biggest benefits of adopting rule-based bidding strategies is that it allows you to set thresholds. Through strategies such as threshold bidding, you can customize rules according to trends, ROI, impressions, and conversions which means you can make changes to your ads at scale.

Add Negative Keywords

Even though Google Shopping ads do not depend on keywords as much as Display or Text Ads, you still need to optimize by removing negative keywords. Optimizing by reducing negative keywords ensure that you do not appear for irrelevant or expensive terms, which may not provide a good ROI or may plain waste clicks.

The Search Terms report should be your first stop when you are looking to optimize your ads. It shows all the search queries users were using before they were presented with ads they clicked to get to your site.

▶️ Irrelevant Search Queries – Sort out your queries by impressions to get a list of all keywords you do not want your ads to be shown for. This may include color variations you do not sell, wrong size of clothes or any other irrelevant attribute.

▶️ Competitor Search Queries – These re product searches that involved competitor brand names combined with product name.

In the example above, the e-commerce seller sells consumer electronics and competes with the likes of Target, Amazon, and Walmart. Remove all such keywords.

▶️ Very Generic Search Queries – While you cannot pick the keyword to advertise for on Google Shopping ads you can remove those you do not want. You can not look at keywords per product. You can only see all of the keywords that show up in your campaign.

How to Hire a PPC Agency

joey.balestrino@gmail.com (Joe Balestrino) — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:53:54 GMT

Do’s and Don’ts When Hiring A PPC Agency

Google Ads is in many cases is a must for new websites. Simply because SEO takes time to kick in and if you want traffic from users performing certain keyword searches, PPC is the way to go. Google Ads works well in many cases – providing the paid search manager knows what he or she is doing. Which is not always the case.

I’ve been managing PPC accounts since 2004 and I’ve seen a lot of mistakes made by website owners when it comes to working with PPC agencies or managers. I’ve created a list of some of the basic things you should ask and do before signing on the dotted line and hire anyone to manage or create your campaigns.

✅ (Do)– Speak to a real person - Never “order” a paid search management service like you would a pair of socks. You want to speak with a live person with paid search experience. A good paid search manager will ask you questions about your goals, target CPA and past PPC performance. You’ll also want to have your existing account audited. Find out how your current campaigns are performing and what the new manager / company will do to improve upon it.

❌ (Don’t)- Management costs - You’ll also want to inquire about any set up costs and monthly maintenance fees. Many agencies try and offer you flat rate pricing based on your spend (which you should never do. I’ll explain later) or by the number of keywords. Freelancers my charge you by the hour.

If you have an existing account get an audit. Some agencies will take a look at your existing campaign to determine how much revamping a campaign may need. They will also have a sense of how much time they will spend in your account.

Too good to be true management fees are just that. Too good to be true. If you have 10,000 products in your Google shopping campaign and your management fee is $300 a month, I guarantee you that your account will not be managed properly. Every account I’ve looked at that had a ridiculously low management fee suffered from lack of management. Every time!

Also avoid paying anyone a percentage of your spend. It’s very easy for a manager to increase what you’re spending on Adwords and which in turn will increase what they get paid. Also an increase in spend is not an indication that they are sending more time managing your Adwords campaign.

I recommend either a flat monthly rate or a percentage of revenue. If the fee is a flat rate, you know exactly what you’re fees will be. If you go with a percentage of sales value – you pay more money only if you make more money.

You can also go hourly. Just be sure to set a limit to how many hours you can afford a month so there are no unexpected fees.

✅ (Do)- Does certification matter? - Certification isn’t an indication that a person or company is good at managing Adwords. It does indicate that they understand the fundamentals. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look for the certification. Always ask for case studies and for references. Reach out to those references and ask them about what the management company’s reports on and how responsive they are.

If you are working with an agency that is certified, be sure that the individual you are working with is certified. Don’t assume that if an agency is certified that everyone in that agency is. Ask to see certification of the people managing your account.

❌ (Do) – Own your accounts - Never, under any circumstance allow an agency or manager to create a Google Ads account for you. Create one yourself and grant them access. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken to clients who had their accounts held for ransom. You want to be able to revoke access to anyone at anytime. You want to retain all of the data the account has for the next manager.

You don’t’ want to lose valuable data that you’ve spent money on. Even if you decide to rebuilt the account from scratch the data that has already been collected is very valuable. Without it, you have to start all over which will cost you even more time and money.

✅ (Do) – Reporting on progress - One area I see lacking from some agencies is reporting. Many times a client will only receive a screenshot of the account or a spreadsheet showing the campaign’s performance. However, an ideal report comes with an explanation of what was done the previous month and the game plan for the next month.

In my mind PPC accounts should evolve. We call ourselves paid search managers, but what we should be doing is more than just manage. The goal is to grow the campaign and continue to improve performance and growth.

It’s always good to shop around and to see what agencies can do for you. Some may offer landing page optimization others may specialize in e-commerce. Find the agency that fits your needs and goals.

❌ (Don’t) Avoid contracts - When it comes to PPC, performance is the goal. Over time you should see your campaign improve. Sure, there will be times it may not perform as expected, but there is usually a reason for it. It could be a new site went live. Perhaps your testing new landing pages or a new offer. Whatever the case may be know and understand why things are improving or why they may not be.

Don’t flip out if you have a bad month. Just understand that somethings things won’t go as planned. However, if you have several months of poor performance and your management company or manager isn’t able to improve performance it may be time to have an audit done by a third party and possibly a new manager. Getting locked into a 6 – 12 month contract could be costly.

Did I miss any tips? What have you learned in the past from working with agencies or managers that you can share?