Month: May 2020

google_ads_experts

How to Calculate your Google Ads Budget in 2020

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Google Ads

Pay-per-click (PPC) is one of the most effective means of generating qualified leads and maximizing online revenue opportunities. Businesses across the world spent a lot of money on PPC campaigns.

Unlike SEO, PPC generates leads almost immediately. It’s an ideal revenue stream while you are building your online presence. Though, understanding how much you should spend on your Google ads is often tricky. 

There are a lot of factors that go into calculating and adjusting your Google ads budget. Let’s go over the basics of calculating your Google ads budget in 2020. 

Study Your Finances

PPC is an investment. Before you can determine your Google ads budget, you should ideally understand:

  • How much you have available to spend.
  • How much you are comfortable spending.
  • How much you can reasonably afford to spend.

With this said, marketers must work in cohesion with business leaders to gain a deep understanding of organizational finances. Furthermore, here is how each step should go. Marketers should ideally consult with business leaders on the total amount they can spend on a campaign.

Then, marketers should receive guidance from business leaders on how much marketing dollars they are willing to experiment with. Lastly, marketers can decide on their own at what’s reasonable to spend based on their expertise.

Let’s break this down even further. Marketers aren’t normally qualified or allowed to sign off on major investments on their own. Therefore, they should seek the counsel of their senior officials to streamline this process.

Keep in mind that the total amount you have to spend isn’t a budget by any means. If you have any sort of experience with setting up PPC campaigns, you should use this amount in conjunction with your senior officials to decide what you’re willing to spend.

Finally, you can make a decision on your own on a ballpark amount that you want to allocate to your Google ads. These are the most basic steps of setting up your Google ads campaign. 

Setting up your budget is contingent on what you’re trying to achieve. The following section will explain how you can analyze your business goals to make a great decision. 

Know Your PPC Goals

Here’s a question? What are you trying to achieve with your PPC campaign? Oftentimes, marketers take to online guides and videos to learn how they can better optimize their campaigns.

Though, does it make sense to follow the PPC advice of a multi-million dollar company when you have completely different customers and goals? There are a lot of PPC experts online, but you are responsible for understanding how you can adjust your budget based on your goals.

To do this, make sure you answer the following questions:

  • Do I have other marketing initiatives in play or am I focusing solely on PPC?
  • What is my target audience?
  • What is my unique selling proposition (USP)?
  • What keywords are relevant to your business?

Answering these questions and understanding your goals will make you ready to take part in the next phase of calculating your Google ads budget in 2020.

Use Google Keyword Planner to Optimize Your Budget

By now, you should have a great idea of how much you want to spend and your goals for your PPC campaign. Now, it’s time to adjust your budget based on actual data. Before we begin, you should understand one important term: cost-per-click (CPC).

CPC is a rate that Google charges you every time one of your ads is clicked. Now you may be wondering, “I’m paying good money for my PPC ads, so why is Google charging me for when someone clicks on my ads (even if they don’t convert)?”

The answer is simple. High-performance ads can more than makeup losses from a CPC. In fact, if you increase your ad score, your ads will rank higher while maintaining the same CPC.

With that said, Google Keyword Planner is a tool you can use to browse potential keywords you can use as well as the corresponding CPCs. 

Calculate_Your_Google_Ads
Let’s say that you want to use the keyword, “Google ads budget”. 

Google_Ads
This is a glimpse of what using Google Keyword Planner looks like. Receiving CPCs from this tool will help you take your planned budget and modify it accordingly with real-life data. 

Keep This in Mind

Before you get ready to start your PPC campaign, you should keep this in mind: all campaigns must endure a phase of experimentation. It’s unlikely that you will begin your campaign and produce desirable results immediately.

Performing A/B split tests, trying different keywords, and various ad formats are essential to understanding the precise techniques that can be used to drive increased revenue. Once you’ve found out what works, you can increase your spending and do whatever you want to improve your results.

So, What’s Next?

You shouldn’t rush to spend your entire monthly budget when starting your campaign. Otherwise, you could waste your time, money, and other valuable resources. Understand that losses in your campaign will happen.

Though, hiring an experienced PPC agency will help you avoid the learning curve and rookie mistakes that are sure to come if you aren’t sure how to navigate your campaign. The quicker you realize what works, the better.

The best way to calculate what you’re going to spend on Google ads is by hiring a PPC agency to provide you with a quote.

Give Us a Call Today!

There are a lot of PPC calculators available online. However, many of these tools only provide preliminary information that won’t help you as you move forward throughout your campaign.

Instead, you should contact Agency Partner Interactive to provide a quote for your business. We specialize in creating high-performance Google ads on behalf of our clients. 

We can lead you on selecting the right budget based on your goals and available resources. Therefore, if you want to learn more about our services, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How to Calculate your Google Ads Budget in 2020” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

app_development

How Much Does it Cost to Make an App in 2020

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Application Development

If you’re here, then chances are you want the direct answer to “how much does it cost to make an app in 2020?” In reality, the answer varies depending on a wide variety of factors. You can’t possibly provide a universal cost when there are overseas and local options available. 

Also, there are certain things that can affect the bottom line of any app. In order to receive an accurate estimate of the costs of developing an app for your brand, you should take the proper steps of familiarizing yourself with the app development process.

As such, this guide will go over all of the details of how much it would cost to make an app in 2020.

What is the Worldwide App Development Costs?

Whether you’re a business leader or executive, you likely know of a secret production tactic that organizations across the world utilize. This is sending production overseas to save money.

This has happened for generations, and it continues to happen in the app development industry. As you can imagine, costs for developing a fully-functional app vary tremendously based on the country you enlist assistance from.

According to a report from GoodFirms, the average cost for a basic app is somewhere around $40,000 and $60,000. An app that needs a few custom functions could you run you between $60,000 and $70,000, which is good news for businesses on a budget that needs a few more accommodations with a basic app. 

A complex app with numerous custom functions could cost you more than $100,000. Now, these are the total costs of apps. Let’s say that an app developer is charging you $50 an hour and is building a basic app for you. 

The total cost based on the standard hours worked will be around $25,000, $40,000 to $70,000 for medium-complexity apps, and more than $70,000 for complex apps. Again, these rates vary from region to region. 

Here is an image to help you understand how app development rates vary in each worldwide region.

software_development

If you take a look at all of these rates, they should look a bit normal except for one thing. The app development rates in India are noticeably cheaper, which is expected since outsourcing is ubiquitous in that region.

Here comes the tricky part. You can’t just automatically send your app development project to India and expect quality. In fact, here are some things to consider before starting your app development project.

  • There are thousands of app development companies, experienced and new, local and overseas, large and small, and expensive and affordable. Selecting the right one for your brand will require in-depth consumer research.
  • A lot of misconceptions occur about finding the right app development company, such as expensive apps lead to better quality and new app companies are ill-equipped to handle large projects. 
  • Be wary of choosing cheap overseas app development companies. This isn’t to say that all of them do horrible work. Since apps are quite costly, do your research before falling too much in love with the price tag.

The last bullet is very important and will be discussed in further detail in the next section.

Local Development vs. Outsourcing

Local development is simply the act of hiring an app developer close to your place of business. Outsourcing is hiring a company that isn’t local. From a logical standpoint, it seems right to hire a local company. 

After all, you’ll be able to communicate with them face-to-face on the goals of your project. This isn’t always the case for all businesses. In fact, every business is different. Some may just have the wherewithal to purchase any type of app and wouldn’t care where they procured app development services.

Some may have a stringent budget and have to be mindful as to where every dollar is going. In the case of the latter, here are the pros and cons of hiring a local app developer vs outsourcing these services.

outsourcevslocal
As you can see, local development has its perks. You get to receive deeper involvement and straightforward communication without any hurdles. However, local companies are usually more affordable and have a limited amount of resources.

Companies outside of your region are cheaper, more flexible, have a huge talent pool along with a high-level of expertise. Though, there are some challenges regarding time zone discrepancies and a lack of being directly involved in your project.

Depending on the scope of your project and budget, you should think carefully about the selection you make. 

Time and Money Issues Relating to App Development

App development companies generally prefer to charge an hourly rate for their projects. This means that you can estimate the amount you’ll spend on an app depending on the hours of development. 

Here is a breakdown of the typical hours spent on app projects based on complexity. 

  • A basic app will take approximately 500-700 hours to complete. 
  • A basic app with custom functions will take 700-1000 hours to complete.
  • A time-consuming, complex app will often take more than 1200 hours to complete.

If you were to quickly acquire the hourly rate of a prospective app company, you would be able to determine the ballpark amount for how much you should spend. 

What Affects the Final Cost?

When you hire an app developer, you cannot expect to receive an extensive list of development costs right off the bat.

What usually happens is that you will be sent a proposal, a bill, and the company will estimate the preliminary hours it took to construct the build-out. 

App companies cannot predict other costs that may be necessary, which include:

  • Platforms
  • App maintenance
  • Functionality and features
  • Specific customizations
  • App administration and backend infrastructure
  • Structure and location of the development team

Give Us a Call Today!

Do you want to know more about how you can develop an app for your business? If so, give us a call today at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How Much Does it Cost to Make an App in 2020” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

paid_search

10 Trends That Influence Paid Search in 2020

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Paid Search

Paid search is a lifeline for businesses across the world. It enables organizations even with a rocky online presence to generate qualified leads through effective ads. Granted, there is competition in paid search, but it’s one of the more convenient avenues toward meaningful online revenue opportunities. 

In order to maximize the performance of your paid search campaign, you should always look toward new trends in the marketing sector. Understanding these trends will help you try new methods of reinforcing your campaign to ultimately make more money from your ads.

Do you want to explore 10 trends that are influencing paid search today in 2020? Continue reading to learn more. 

1. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Will Evolve

It can be easy to understate the impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) has had on world innovations in the 21st century. Both technologies allow any computer-based to learn and get smarter over time. 

Their impact on paid search has been undeniable recently and doesn’t figure to change any time soon. Popular PPC platforms like Google Adwords have already begun to utilize AI in their algorithms, as well as other PPC agencies across the country. 

2. Human Marketers Will Continue to Be Indispensable

Technology and innovation have its perks and it will undoubtedly continue moving forward, but there are downsides such as human jobs becoming obsolete. In the award-winning video game, Detroit, Androids began to overpopulate and ultimately take over all of the jobs humans normally did, such as construction and even law enforcement.

Will machine learning and AI have the same effect on the jobs of human marketers. The answer is no. Both innovations are essential for performing consistent tasks for making PPC campaigns more efficient. Though, it’s up to humans to interpret and act on received data. 

3. Amazon Ads Will Get More Popular

Amazon rules the world in regards to e-commerce. They have now created an advertising platform where brands can construct PPC ads to generate more qualified leads.

Amazon

Experts predict that the use of Amazon ads will continue to increase. Why? That’s mainly because the cost-per-click (CPC) of Amazon ads are significantly lower than Google ads.

Google Adwords’ CPCs are necessarily expensive, but Amazon has far cheaper rates. Not only that but Amazon rivals Google in company size and potential visibility, especially for e-commerce brands. 

If you operate in the retail industry, leveraging Amazon ads maybe your best option for putting your resources to better use. 

4. A Universal Shift from Keywords to Audiences Will Take Place

Many marketers and business leaders carry out marketing campaigns with a broader emphasis on its technical aspects rather than its value. For example, some SEOs tend to focus more on accumulating visibility for keywords instead of creating content their audience will enjoy.

Google has stated it time and time again that user experience is significantly important to them and their rankings. In the same way, marketers should shift their focus on their ad quality score instead of worrying too heavily about the keyword usage. 

5. Text Ads Are Still Here to Stay

With new technologies changing the way PPC ads are developed, some think that text ads are going out of style. In reality, text ads are the most productive types of ads.

HannapinStateOfPPC_TextAds

Therefore, while voice, video, and other ad formats are becoming increasingly popular, text-based ads still reign supreme. This is good news for a lot of marketers, mainly since text-based ads are simple to create.

What are the chances that the most convenient form of paid advertising is also the most effective?

6. Video Ad Usage Will Continue to Grow

It’s nothing new that video marketing is a growing trend of 2020. Just last year, video marketing accounted for 80% of all internet traffic. You could say the video is taking over the internet. 

With that said, video advertising is also increasing. It now makes up 25% of digital ad spending in the United States. It’s not a surprise that video usage is increasing in this vein.

Video ads can easily be engaged with and provide a unique opportunity to show off the unique selling proposition (USP) of your brand without much effort.

7. Mobile Use is Thriving

If there was any safe and obvious prediction on this list, this entry would be it. With a majority of internet traffic being derived from mobile devices, it’s a no-brainer that this trend is taking place. 

This proves that a larger emphasis on mobile-friendliness needs to be addressed by marketers. Therefore, the question here is will you optimize for it? Luckily, optimizing mobile-friendly ads isn’t difficult if you have a qualified PPC agency on your side. 

8. Voice Search is Thriving

20% of mobile searches were conducted on a smart speaker or via voice search. Therefore, it’s not like you have to get ready for a voice search to affect your campaigns. It already has begun to affect your campaigns. 

Now, voice search has not been monetized yet but there are a lot of ways to get this done. voice search has not been monetized yet but there are a lot of ways to get this done. 

9. Facebook and Google Will Automate Their Ads

Facebook and Google house two of the most preeminent advertising platforms in the world. Both platforms have already introduced dynamic ads that make ad creation almost effortless. 

In the near future, these companies could make it possible for their algorithms to completely customize ads for users.

This isn’t a stretch considering that Facebook and Google are billion-dollar companies with unlimited resources at their disposal. 

10. Facebook, Google, and Others Will Master Attribution

Attribution has been something like a Rubix cube for several years. Even seasoned marketers have difficulty leveraging attribution to impact their campaigns. Fortunately, machine learning and AI were designed to perform complex tasks like this.

To make advertising easier and boost their own agenda, look for Facebook, Google, and other companies to use technology and master attribution. 

Give Us a Call Today!

Do you want to improve the performance of your PPC ads? If so, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “10 Trends That Influence Paid Search in 2020” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

email_marketing_experts

The Future of Email Marketing

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Email Marketing

Email marketing is still the top marketing initiative that generates the highest ROI. When it comes down to it, this actually makes sense. Other marketing initiatives like SEO and PPC are designed to generate qualified leads and lead them to purchase. On the other hand, once you have an email list, you already have a bunch of qualified leads that are ready to listen and are close to purchasing. 

Does this mean that email marketing is simple?

Of course not! 

People receive several emails every day, some even from your competitors. Making your emails stand out is a real challenge. To stay on top of the curve, educating yourself on the latest email marketing trends is a must.
This article will outline four major email marketing trends you should consider to reinforce your current campaign. 

1. Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content is defined as content chosen by the user. For example, when a person subscribes to receive precise property listings in their area from a real estate agency, they are activating user-generated content.

Oftentimes, brands can lose sight and send messages that they believe are relevant only to experience low engagement metrics and open-rates. The most obvious solution to combat this is giving your subscribers the type of content they want. 

To do this for an already established email list, you can send a survey allowing your subscriber to hand-pick the content they receive and the frequency in which they receive it. 

If you are starting to build your email list, you can create a subscriber opt-in box that makes the previous feature possible. Overall, you should strive to send emails that your subscribers will look forward to. 

Otherwise, they won’t open them and you’ll waste your vital marketing spend. 

2. Study Your Audience and What Works

Despite what you see from online articles and videos, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy. The best marketers and business leaders take risks and experiment often.

email_marketing
Not every audience is the same, so would it really make sense to copy an email marketing strategy you saw from a marketing agency to your real estate subscribers? Clearly, both audiences crave something different.

For a real-estate audience, emails with a sliding carousel of potential listings would be helpful. That way, your subscribers won’t have to do a lot in visiting your website and refining their search.

For a marketing audience, simple text-based emails have like this long proved to be effective.

There are a lot of ways to understand what works in your particular industry, but to be sure it will work for your audience, you should study them. Look for key metrics that prove either your emails aren’t being read or that no one is visiting your website from your campaign.

Once this happens, it will be easier for you to craft the right messages your subscribers will listen to and respond to. 

3. Practice Segmentation

Experienced marketers know segmentation is a key component of effective email marketing. Ideally, you should segment your entire list, even if it means leaving just one contact in a category by themselves.

Why?  Deep personalization can lead to the best open rates. In one survey, it resulted in up to a 29.95% open rate and a click-through rate of 5.03%. It may be time-consuming and tedious to separate your email list into such granular categories, but you want to be able to reach every potential customer in a relatable fashion.

After all, when a person opts-in to your email list, they are giving you sensitive information like their email address.

Show them that you value their time by crafting an email just for them. 

4. Make Your Emails Compatible

Most people access their inboxes from a mobile device. This means that your emails should be optimized to be compatible with all mobile devices. You can do this by following these tips:

  • Reduce email content.
  • Don’t use text in images; instead, use text HTML. 
  • Develop a visual hierarchy in emails.
  • Avoid text alignment and be aware of excessive sections of center-justified text.
  • Use alt text for all images.
  • Use bigger line spacing and font sizes.
  • Make sure HTML tables can be read by screen readers.

Mobile-friendliness is extremely important nowadays, not just for your website. Take the above tips to ensure that your emails are compatible with any platform. 

Give Us a Call Today!

Do you want to put certified email marketing experts in your corner? If so, give us a call today at (214) 295-5845 or click here to receive a free quote. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “The Future of Email Marketing” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

google_ads

Your Guide to Google Ads for Real Estate Investors

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Google Ads For Real Estate Investors

Real estate investors often find it difficult to capture qualified leads. This is because real estate is one of the hardest propositions to sell, mainly with leads backing out of deals arbitrarily. 

This often negates all of the hard work you put into converting each lead, but it’s never the end of the world if a promising lead rejects you. There are certain marketing initiatives that will guarantee diverse incoming leads to your website every month.

One of them is pay-per-click (PPC), the lifeline for millions of small and large businesses throughout the world. Many businesses use PPC to create a continual flow of leads, but every campaign is different.

Do you want to know how to set up a successful campaign for your real estate business? This guide will break down all of the tips to help you succeed in that regard?

1. Set Up a Plan

Regardless if you’re a new or veteran real estate investor, you may not be all too familiar with the aspects of setting up and configuring a successful Google Ads campaign. This is why you should take a step back and create a plan. 

Just like starting a business, creating a PPC plan is the first natural step of building a campaign. Ideally, the details of your preliminary plan to answer the following questions:

  • What type of campaign are you seeking to build? Will it target buyers or sellers?
  • What is your ideal customer acquisition cost?
  • What is your maximum cost per click (CPC)?

The last question is especially important because it will base the affordability of your campaign and determine how much you can spend. Therefore, you can use this helpful formula to calculate your maximum CPC.

(revenue per customer) x (conversion rate) x (1 – profit margin) = Max CPC 

Now that you have got the preliminary planning out of the way, it’s time to execute the last steps of the planning process. This entails:

  • Estimating your Google AdWords budget.
  • Determining your keyword test budget.

Google ads campaigns are not plug-in-play. A great deal of experimentation goes into setting up your campaign correctly. For this reason, determining your keyword test budget is key.

Here is a formula you can use to get the job done. 

Keyword test budget = (100 clicks) x (Calculated CPC)

Congratulations!

You’ve now completed the first step and can now move forward to the next one – keyword research.

2. Perform Keyword Research

Once your plan is in place, keyword research becomes the next logical step. Keyword research is a comprehensive phase that includes finding intent keywords, competition, and researching your market. 

  • Identify Your Target Audience: Experienced real estate investors likely know who they’re dealing with, while rookie investors are still searching. If your business is already up and running, your target audience should be clearly identified to begin making a profit and capturing leads from your Google ads.
  • Identify Your Target Locations: You should also determine the locations where your target audience commonly abides. These locations need to be specific down to the zip codes. 
  • Collect Keywords: You can find and collect keywords from popular resources such as Ubersuggest and the Adwords Keyword Planner.
  • Define Negative Keywords: These are commonly called negative keywords, meaning that you don’t want your business to show up when these are typed into a search engine. 
  • Sort Your Keywords: There are different types of keywords. In regards to real estate, there are research and customer intent keywords. Sorting your keyword list will help you monitor the progress of your campaign and see if you’re overspending on particular keyword usage.
  • Spy on Your Competitors: If your competitors are successful, you take a look at their formula by using tools like SpyFu or SEMRush.

3. Determine Your USP

Your USP, or unique selling proposition, is a distinct advantage you have over your competitors. This keeps your business and offerings unique in a competitive marketplace such as real estate.

Essentially, you should ask yourself:
“Why should my target audience choose me instead of my competitors?”

Whether your USP is your massive level of insider experience in the USP or a level of credibility, this will need to be added to your ads. You only get one first impression when it comes to how your ads are presented. Hit your prospects hard with an irresistible ad that they will be hard-pressed to refuse. 

4. Create the Perfect Offer

There are three main factors that will impact the success of your Google ads campaign: your copy, your audience, and your ad copy. 

Just take a look at how these successful ads look.

Ad Example #1

ads_example
Ad Example #2

ads_example2
There are a variety of enticing offers that you could use to reinforce your ads. For example:

  • No agents
  • Close in less than 14 days
  • No extra fees
  • Cash in as less than 7 days
  • Cash offer in 24 hours

Do you see the different types of offers presented here? These are:

  • Guarantees
  • No commissions
  • Free quotes

Based on your target audience, you should craft an attractive offer. Don’t worry if your offer doesn’t result in a high close rate immediately. If you don’t receive the results you’re looking for, you can always experiment and modify your offers accordingly.

5. Keep Experimenting

Setting up your Google ads campaign is only half the battle. Experimenting is the rest, and you could quickly lose sight if you don’t regularly perform tests. To save money and optimize your ads, it’s essential to steadily figure out what’s working and what’s not.

This, unfortunately, can take a lot of time that most people don’t have. By hiring a qualified PPC agency, you can have professionals continually work on your campaign so you don’t have to.

This will ensure that you are maximizing the performance of your Google ads without sacrificing the projection of your ROI.

Hire Agency Partner Interactive Today!

Do you want to learn more about how you hire an experienced marketing agency? If so, give us a call today at (214) 295-5845 to learn more about how we can help you. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Your Guide to Google Ads for Real Estate Investors” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!