Month: September 2020

ppc_blog

How to Improve Your PPC Landing Pages

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For How to Improve Your PPC Landing Pages

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is now more proliferate, and more relevant, than ever before. Whether you’re advertising on Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, or another platform, you want to make sure you’re doing everything possible to make your PPC landing pages provide your leads with the right information and the best user experience that’s possible.

As a digital marketing agency that works with a variety of brands on PPC advertising, we help companies in several different industries with landing page creation and landing page optimization. Keep reading for our best tips for optimizing your PPC landing pages, including things you can do right now to improve these important aspects of your PPC campaigns on Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads.

1- PPC Landing Page Speed Matters – A Lot

According to the latest Google statistics, 50% of all search queries happen on a mobile device. Do you know what else Google is reporting? Mobile searches completely abandon a website – including several PPC landing pages – if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. Just 3 seconds? That means losing your potential next customer can happen extremely quickly.

To make sure your page speed is fast enough for today’s mobile web searcher, consider the following landing page optimization tricks:

  • Don’t overload your PPC landing pages with images. Focus on one clear image – that loads quickly, of course – that conveys your message to viewers.
  • Test your mobile speed score before you finalize a PPC landing page. It’s better to learn now than later that you need to go back to the drawing board.
  • Keep your designs simple and easy to load. Don’t waste valuable page speed on loading an intricate web design for PPC landing pages.

2- Design First For Mobile, Next for Desktop

Even though half of all Google searches still happen on desktops, you really should be designed with the mobile viewer in mind first. And this is whether you’re performing landing page optimization for Google Ads, Bing Ads, or Facebook Ads.

Think about it this way. Your PPC landing pages are being designed by digital marketing professionals who have large screens for their laptops or desktop computers. That means, when they’re designing and testing PPC landing pages, they’re getting the full view. But how often do you test your PPC landing pages on your iPhone or Android phone before you publish them? Be honest, it’s okay. We’re here to help, not to judge.

You see, responsive design is so important, it should be the first thing you test for today and most likely in the future.

If you’re not considering how your pages view on mobile devices when you’re performing landing page optimization, you’re leaving out 50% of your viewers. Make sure your hero image, key message, and any CTA are easily viewed above the fold on multiple different mobile devices before you push a PPC landing page to go live.

3- Focus on Quality, not Quantity

Some PPC advertisers are all about conversions. They want to increase their conversion ratio as much as possible.
However, if you only focus on conversion, you’re forgetting about what’s even more important – converting qualified leads.

Think about it. Which would you rather have your sales team follow up on – 100 leads that found you but aren’t necessarily interested in your product or service, or 10 leads who were pre-qualified through your detailed lead capture form? The answer is obviously the latter.

This is why we never recommend you deploy certain landing page optimization techniques that other digital marketing agencies might suggest, such as slimming down your lead capture form to be as small as possible and still fit into your company’s sales funnel.

Trust us, qualified leads who are truly interested in your products will take the time to provide the additional information you request. And by filling your sales pipeline with qualified leads, you’re best utilizing your internal sales resources.

4- Simplicity is Key

Minimalism is in, and definitely far more than keeping your home easy to organize.

One of the best landing page optimization tips we can offer you is to keep your landing pages simple. Too much information is overkill and can overwhelm viewers. Your landing page sweet spot is when you give viewers just enough information to entice them to either keep searching your website or fill out a lead capture form so they can be put into your sales funnel. Never list all your product details on your landing pages – that’s far too much information for a PPC ad clicker to see upfront.

5- Use Personalization Wisely

Personalization is changing PPC advertising. But you don’t want to go overboard with personalization in a way that makes viewers have data privacy concerns.

Some ways that we recommend you use personalization on your landing pages include:

  • Display different images for male and female viewers that A/B testing has proven to be effective.
  • Use localized images based on the searcher’s geolocation.
  • Constantly be A/B testing your personalization options to see what choices are best.

6- Don’t Forget The Little (and Tried and True) Aspects That Have Been Helping for Years

Because aspects like personalization are new and exciting, it’s easy to think that older landing page optimization tips are no longer relevant. Think again. You should be taking advantage of:

  • Metadata and title tags.
  • A/B testing of forms.
  • A/B testing of content style and length, including paragraphs, bullets, and more.
  • A/B testing of different taglines.

Additionally, all PPC landing pages should have an easy way to get to the rest of your website. In fact, Google will ding you if your landing pages don’t have this “escape hatch.”

Do You Need Landing Page Optimization Help?

As a digital marketing agency, we help a wide variety of brands with their PPC advertising, including landing page optimization. Whether you want to be working with PPC experts like us, or you simply don’t have the internal resources to perform this task on your own, we’re here to help. Call us to get a conversation started at (214) 295-5845.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How to Improve Your PPC Landing Pages” instead.

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

AGENCY PARTNER INTERACTIVE Ranks As Top B2B Web Design & Digital Marketing Firm in US by Clutch

Clutch Reveals List of the Most Highly Recommended Digital Agencies in the United States

Posted on | by devops
Agency Partner Interactive Named Top B2B Service Company
Clutch.co reveals list of the most highly recommended B2B Companies in Texas

 

DALLAS, September 28, 2020 – Clutch.co today revealed that Agency Partner Interactive has earned an award as a “Clutch Leader” – a list of the leading B2B service providers in Texas for 2020.
The B2B ratings and reviews platform, Clutch, publishes an annual list of the most highly recommended companies that serve the web design, branding, eCommerce, and digital marketing needs of B2B companies, among others. The Clutch.co team considers services companies across all states and then names the top companies in the United States. For the most part, the Clutch team does this to help buyers in the market make purchase decisions.

“We have invested into building the processes and hiring the right people necessary to help our clients be successful. We work to understand the specific drivers and business goals that each of our customers have defined for themselves, and then we work tirelessly to help them get to the next level,” said Muhammad Younus, founder and CEO.

The Clutch research team selected these companies based on their ability to deliver high-quality work for their clients. Each company is grouped into one of four categories based on their specific services and then organized by their Clutch rank. Agency Partner is listed in the #45 position under the category, “Top Leaders in Texas.”

“These companies stand out because of the positive feedback their clients shared with the Clutch team. The quality of their verified reviews shows that these companies know how to deliver exceptional work to their clients,” said clutch Founder Mike Beares.

“As more companies highlight their leadership in the industry and build their online reputation through third-party reviews, I hope the process of finding the right service provider becomes easier for business decision-makers.”

Clutch is an established platform in the heart of Washington, DC, committed to helping small, mid-market, and enterprise businesses identify and connect with the service providers they need to achieve their goals. Their team of analysts interview service providers’ clients to collect client feedback, analyze industry data, and compare competitors in a specific market to arm businesses with the information they need to connect with the right service providers. Using this methodology to identify market leaders, the Clutch.co team is pleased to share these insights with buyers and sellers in the United States.
 
About Clutch
A B2B research, ratings, and reviews firm in the heart of Washington, D.C., Clutch connects small and medium businesses with the best-fit agencies, software, or consultants they need to tackle business challenges together and with confidence. Clutch’s methodology compares business service providers and software in a specific market based on verified client reviews, services offered, work quality, and market presences.

CONTACT:
Adam Rizzieri, Chief Marketing Officer
adam@agencypartner.com

ppc_blog

PPC Personalization and Privacy Concerns

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For PPC Personalization and Privacy Concerns

It’s never been easier than now to find data about web users and personalize your pay per click (PPC) marketing ads and landing pages to them. At the same time, web users are becoming increasingly concerned about data privacy on the Internet, and wary of PPC marketers like you who they think seem to know a little bit too much about them, their interests, and their recent web activity when they see your well-targeted ads.

How do you appropriately adjust your PPC targeting so that you are balancing PPC personalization and privacy concerns? Continue reading for our suggestions on how using audience segmentation can help you achieve your desires as a PPC advertiser while also respecting your target audiences’ data privacy concerns.

PPC Platforms Have Moved from Targeting Keywords to Targeting Audiences, and Your Campaigns Should Keep in Step

Years ago, PPC targeting was simply centered around search engine keyword search activities. A person entered a search term into Google that you had selected in your Ad Group, your PPC ad was displayed if you won the bid against those also bidding on that keyword, and hopefully, your PPC ad was compelling enough to generate clicks.

My, have things changed.

Today, the best PPC campaigns are audience-centric. While PPC targeting of search terms is still important, choosing the proper audiences for your PPC campaigns is pay per click advertising’s sweet spot.
That’s where audience segmentation, which is the latest development to come from new PPC platform technology, comes in.

Our Top 4 Tips for PPC Targeting Audience Segmentation

You can respect data privacy through proper audience segmentation, which tells you about web users’ recent online interactions without revealing personally-identifiable information about them that they may feel is too sensitive for you to be using.

Here are our top 4 tips for PPC targeting and audience segmentation.

  • Market, and Remarket, to People Most Likely to Decide to Purchase Your Products.

Thanks to advanced PPC platform technology, you can market to, and remarket to, a variety of different audiences who are more likely to purchase your products using personalized ads and landing pages, including:

  • People who were already in your online store, but abandoned their shopping carts.
  • People who purchased a specific one of your products, which is a great way to upsell them on add-ons or complementary products.
  • People who are actively searching for and engaging with a product or product type, but haven’t made a purchase decision yet.
  • People specifically looking for organic or environmentally-friendly products, which is great if these aspects are relevant to your brand.
  • People who are price sensitive.
  • And so much more!

With audience segmentation, we encourage you to think about your specific products and services, how someone in the process of making a purchasing decision would likely research products they’re interested in and market (or remarket) to those groups.

  • Always Know Your Audience

Just because PPC targeting technology is so advanced doesn’t mean you get a free pass on marketing 101, which is knowing your audience.

For example, let’s say you’re a hotel. You, of course, have ADA accessible rooms. You might think that people who want to book them will search “ADA accessible rooms in (city)” or “wheelchair accessible rooms in (city).” But is that really what people who use wheelchairs are looking for when deciding on what hotel to stay at?

By drilling down into your specific audience’s needs, you may realize that better search terms to reach those looking for ADA hotel rooms include:

  • “Hotel rooms with roll-in showers in (city)”
  • “Hotel rooms with shower seats in (city)”
  • “Hotel rooms with no stairs in (city)”

This example can be extrapolated to be used in any specific audience segmentation. Be sure to give careful thought to your audience’s needs, not just the buzz words surrounding a product or service that they might desire that your company uses internally. By personalizing your PPC ads and landing pages accordingly, you’re able to create a more relatable experience for potential customers, which puts your brand a step above.

  • Know-How Your Going to Use Audience Segmentation in Google Ads

Google Ads’ seemingly never-ending options are a double-edged sword. They’re great because they let you tailor your Campaigns and Ad Groups to your specific goal. They’re bad because there are so many options for you to learn – with new options being added all the time for you to master.

To help you out, here’s a quick breakdown of how you can use audience segmentation in GoogleAds:

  • You can add an audience on the Campaign or Ad Group level, and from there adjust:
    • Keywords.
    • Bid modifiers, like your cost per click (CPC).
    • Ad copy.
    • Landing page.

As you can see, there are so many different possibilities for Ad Groups and Campaigns when it comes to applying audiences. In fact, you may find that in order to reach all your objectives, you have several similar looking campaigns, each with a different aspect, or lever, changed.

  • Document Everything You Do

Your GoogleAds Campaigns and Ad Groups are constantly changing. This means, as you’re changing your PPC targeting options and performing audience segmentation, it’s easy to forget what you did even just last week.

We recommend you save digital copies of all your reports, along with very detailed notes about what was unique about that campaign. While a tactic that didn’t work 6 months ago may work now, meaning you’ll repeat tweaks in the future that weren’t successful before, you don’t want to forget what you’ve tried, when, and what results in you received from it. In fact, documenting is one of the most important tasks we think a PPC marketer should be doing.

We Can Help with PPC Targeting and Audience Segmentation

As we mentioned before, Google Ads is great because it has so many options, and it’s cumbersome for the same reasons. What we know, though, is that audience segmentation is a great way to lift results while maintaining a balance of PPC personalization and data privacy.

If you simply don’t have the internal resources to take advantage of all the features Google Ads has to offer today, we can help. As a PPC agency, we help a variety of different brands with their pay per click advertising, and we’re available to help you, too. Start a conversation with us today by calling our agency at (214) 295-5845. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “PPC Personalization and Privacy Concerns” instead.

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

 

ppc_marketing_strategy

Strategies for Custom Affinity Audience Targeting for PPC

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Audience Targeting for PPC

Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing for display ads is getting smarter and smarter every year. In years past, you used to only be able to enter your desired keywords for your PPC marketing campaigns and hope they resulted in your ads being clicked. However, new technology in PPC marketing is letting you target web browser users who have shown recent Internet search and website viewing history related to the products and services you offer. This is called affinity audience targeting and it’s completely changing the way PPC marketing for display ads works such as Google Ads’ Display Network, YouTube, Facebook, and more.

As a Dallas PPC agency, we know that figuring out how to define custom affinity audiences may be confusing to someone who doesn’t spend all day, every day in PPC marketing tools such as Google Ads like we do. That’s why we put together this blog post to help explain the best strategies for using affinity audience targeting in your pay per click display ad campaigns.

What is Affinity Audience Targeting?

Custom affinity audiences are PPC marketing audiences that you define using browser data that your advertising platform has collected about each person using their browser. It’s essentially creating a TV show advertising audience for the Internet. 

Rather than choosing to have your PPC ads shown to just anyone based on your keywords, with affinity audience targeting, your display ads are shown to a custom selected group of web users based on their recent browning history and the amount of time they’ve spent on each webpage they’ve recently visited.

Based on these factors, PPC marketing platforms such as Google Ads, YouTube, and Facebook determine what a user’s passions and interests are. This makes using affinity audience targeting for PPC marketing options like Google Ads Display Ads very beneficial and a great way to increase display ad clicks while lowering lead acquisition costs, too.

How Do You Create Custom Affinity Audiences?

Each PPC marketing platform is different. To explain how to create custom affinity audiences and take advantage of them for display ad options, we’ll use the world’s largest PPC marketing platform – Google Ads – as an example.

In Google Ads, you can create custom affinity audiences for display ads based on:

  • Interests which Google determines due to the keyword phrases a user has been entering in their Google search queries, of course, looking for related keyword phrases and trends
  • Using recently visited URLs as a proxy for interest bundles
  • Selecting the types of places Google users are interested in, for example, locations as varied as restaurants and shoe stores
  • Mobile apps that your target customer may be interested in downloading and/or purchasing or use and make an in-app purchase

What Are the Best PPC Marketing Strategies for Affinity Audience Targeting on Display Ads?

As a Dallas PPC agency, we’re always researching the best ways to use PPC marketing, including taking advantage of custom affinity audiences to boost display ad results. Based on our findings, here are the top 3 strategies we deploy for our clients’ PPC marketing campaigns that use custom affinity audiences for display ads:

  • Using Only Your Top Performing Ads for Display Ads

PPC marketing is all about paying for clicks. Obviously, while you want to generate clicks, you want your cost per action (CPA) to be as low as possible.

One way we’re using custom affinity audiences strategically is by using our clients’ top-performing ads for display ads. We are:

  • Defining custom affinity audiences with contextual keywords
  • Using our clients’ top-performing ads for display advertising
  • Running regular placement exclusions

As a result, we’re seeing CPA come down for our clients when we use this affinity audience targeting strategy.

  • Targeting People Who Have Looked at Or Use Your Competitors’ Products or Services

Your competitors’ customers are, of course, great leads for you. After all, they’re using products or services very similar to the ones you offer. Why let these leads go to the competition when they could be choosing your brand instead?

When you’re trying to use display ads to win over your competitors’ customers or leads, however, you have to be mindful of your cost per lead (CPL). In a space where all competitors are likely targeting the same keywords, it’s easy for CPLs to skyrocket and get out of control, or for it to become unsustainable to continue bidding on those competition-related keywords, no matter how many qualified leads they provide.

This is where custom affinity audiences come in.

When we combine affinity audience targeting with our competitor-related keywords, we’re seeing incremental increases in leads, with CPL decreasing as much as 30% in some cases.

  • Combining Interest and Custom Affinity Audiences Together

As a Dallas PPC agency, we’ve found that the combination of interest-based targeting and custom affinity audiences can yield great results. This is one area in affinity audience targeting that Google recommends PPC advertisers use.

We Can Help You Create PPC Marketing Campaigns with Custom Affinity Audiences

We know that for many companies, and especially for entrepreneurs, creating and managing PPC campaigns on advertising platforms like Google AdWords is a huge undertaking even when you’re using only the most basic of the features offered to advertisers like you. This means that many brands like yours who can benefit from affinity audience targeting and the strategies we listed above don’t leverage this feature because they simply don’t have the internal resources or expertise to use this functionality.

That’s where we come in. While we’re a Dallas PPC agency, we help companies throughout the United States with their pay per click advertising campaigns. We are PPC experts and know how to best use custom affinity audiences for PPC marketing display ads.

If you need help with your pay per click campaigns, or if you want to take your existing campaigns to the next level through affinity audience targeting on your display ads, we’re here to help. Simply call us today to start a conversation at (214) 295-5845. 

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Strategies for Custom Affinity Audience Targeting for PPC” instead.

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

 

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Should I Use Broad Match or Phrase Match on Google Ads?

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Use Broad Match or Phrase Match on Google Ads

As a business owner or marketer, you may be wondering which match type to use on Google Ads in 2023 – broad match or phrase match. Both match types have advantages and disadvantages; choosing the right one can significantly impact the success of your advertising campaign. By understanding the key factors that influence match type selection, you can make informed decisions to maximize the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns in 2023 and beyond.

Expert Tips for Using Broad Match or Phrase Match on Google Ads 

While it’s very easy to add keywords to your pay per click (PPC) campaigns – you simply type them in – it’s important that you are properly keyword targeting on Google Ads. As a pay per click agency who has helped several brands create and manage Google Ads campaigns, we’re here to give you some tips and tricks on how to best create your list of keywords for your PPC ads.

The Importance of Keyword Targeting on Google Ads

Keyword match options determine how closely a user’s search query must match a keyword in a Google Ads campaign for an ad to be displayed. The three main match options are broad match, phrase match, and exact match.  

  • Broad match keywords allow for a wide range of variations and related searches to trigger an ad. 
  • Phrase matches keywords require the search query to include the keyword phrase in the same order as the campaign keyword.  
  • Exact match keywords only trigger ads for search queries that match the campaign keyword.  

Choosing the right match type can help target the most relevant audience and prevent wasted ad spend.  

 

What are Broad Match Keywords?

Did you know that by default, Google sets all its PPC keywords to broad-match keywords? Broad match increases your number of impressions, but as you’ll see below, that’s not necessarily a good thing. 

You see, broad match keywords ensure that your keywords trigger lots of ad traffic, which means your ads are likely to get more clicks. However, these ads aren’t necessarily as targeted as you want your keywords to be.

Let’s say you’re a company that sells organic dog food and you want to create a Google Ads campaign to target people searching for your product. You might be tempted to use broad match keywords like “dog food” to cast a wide net and capture as many potential customers as possible. However, if you use broad match keywords, your ads could end up being triggered by searches for things like “dog food recipes” or “is dog food bad for my pet?” which aren’t necessarily indicative of someone looking to buy organic dog food. 

To avoid wasting ad spend on irrelevant clicks, it’s a good idea to use phrase match or exact match keywords instead.  

 

What are Phrase Match Keywords?

We generally set our clients’ PPC campaigns to use phrase match. The reason – this PPC option typically provides our clients with the most qualified clicks who are more likely to become leads or customers.

In Google Ads, phrase match changes your keywords from broadly matching remotely related search terms to making sure that your keywords are only displayed if they match the phrase that a searcher entered into Google. Still, Phrase match allows for some variants in keywords, including:

  • Misspellings
  • Singular or plural forms
  • Stemming
  • Abbreviations
  • Accents

For example, you could use phrase match keywords like “organic dog food” or “healthy dog food” to capture more specific searches and ensure that your ads are only shown to people who are actively looking for your product. By using targeted keywords, you can improve the quality of your clicks and increase the likelihood that those clicks will lead to conversions. 

Phrase match is a great way to ensure your Google Ads show up for searchers who are intending to find content like your landing pages, which of course, require you to pay for a click in order for a Google user to discover. 

What are Exact Match Keywords?

Exact match is the most restrictive match option you can choose when keyword targeting on Google Ads. With exact match turned on, your ads will only display if a Google user enters in the exact keyword you have in your PPC campaign, in the order those words appear. 

While the exact match is restrictive, it can be a useful option for brands who have a keyword that typically generates a lot of impressions – so many so that the brand’s campaign budget is eaten up in the first few days of the month.

How Negative Match Impacts your Google Ads Campaigns

Sometimes, brands want to make sure that their ads never appear in searches that contain negative words. Google Ads calls this negative match. One of the most popular negative match keywords that PPC advertisers use is free. For example, if you sell anti-malware software, you likely want to make sure your ad doesn’t display – and isn’t clicked – if someone searched “free anti-malware software.”

There is one downside to Google’s negative match option that you will want to consider if you are running Display Ads. Because Google Ads wants to follow your wishes, your Display ad is less likely to run on a website that includes your negative keywords.

Things to Consider When Choosing Between Broad Match and Phrase Match on Google Ads 

When it comes to choosing between broad match and phrase match on Google Ads, there are a few things to consider 

Target audience 

If you have a specific target audience, phrases that match keywords may be a better option as it helps you reach a more relevant audience. 

Keyword selection  

If you have a limited set of keywords that you want to target, phrase match may be a better option. The broad match may be a better option to target a more comprehensive range of keywords. 

Budget 

If you have a limited budget, consider using phrase match. It can help you target a more specific audience and reduce the likelihood of irrelevant clicks.  

Let Agency Partner Interactive Help You Reach Your Target Audience! 

Whether you don’t have the internal resources to manage PPC campaigns alone or want to work with a pay per click agency to ensure you’re getting the most out of Google Ads, we can help. Our team of Google Ads experts has years of experience. They will work closely with you to understand your unique business needs and create a customized strategy that maximizes your return on investment. Here are some services that we provide:

  1. PPC Keywords Research 
  2. Ad Copywriting 
  3. Google Ads Campaigns 
  4. Landing Page Optimization 
  5. Conversion Rate Optimization 
  6. Analytics and Reporting 
  7. All Types of Keywords Research 

Get instant visibility and drive targeted traffic to your website with our effective paid search marketing solutions. So, if you want to take your online presence to the next level, contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing agency and how we can help you succeed in 2023 and beyond. 

web_chat

Should I Use Chat on My Website?

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Use Chat on Website

While we personally love website chat options and believe that everyone should have them, there’s never been a better time than 2020 to set up a website chat service for your business, especially if you work in the B2B space.

Why? The answer to everything this year – the Coronavirus pandemic. 

As more and more businesses have been forced to send their tech support and customer service representatives home to work while their kids, dogs, neighbors’ lawnmowers, and other distractions are making loud noises in the background of business phone calls, website chat tools are a deal saver and help you answer customers’ questions despite having a customer service or tech support team that’s stretched thin. Continue reading to learn why we think you should be using a website chat app now.

  • Website Chat Apps Let You Respond Faster and Generate More Leads

When was the last time you called a company’s customer service line? Let us guess. You were “greeted” by an automated voice, had to wait to see which option to press before you could get directed to the right department, and had to listen to some terrible hold music while you waited for a living and breathing person to actually answer the call. Calling customer service – or tech support – is terrible these days, isn’t it? It’s even worse during this pandemic, with many calls now being directed to cell phones with spotty service or homes with barking dogs in the background.

And if you think calling businesses is bad, emailing them is even worse. Some email messages seem to be sent and never responded to. Others take 48 hours to receive an automated message, even something as unhelpful as an email letting you know your support ticket has been added.

This isn’t the speed at which B2B customers, and even consumers, expect to communicate in 2020. It’s not even close.

Website chat apps, however, are a breath of fresh air these days, and much improved from the website chat tools of a decade ago that could take as long as 10 minutes to connect to. Today, businesses are using website chat services to rapidly respond to customers’ questions, helping them increase leads and stop online shoppers from abandoning shopping carts. The simple fact of the matter is if you aren’t using website chat options in 2020, you’re losing out on leads and sales.

  • Chatbots Let You Answer Questions Even When You Can’t Personally Reply

In a perfect world, you and your team would be able to respond to every incoming website chat message personally.

However, that simply isn’t possible for small businesses or businesses that don’t offer 24/7 support, or employees temporarily working from home while also helping their kids with a virtual school.

Chatbots, however, help you answer customers’ questions even when you can’t personally reply. Modern chatbots are very intelligent and can detect question intent better than ever before. By having your website chat features programmed properly to identify common questions and resources that answer them, even a one-man shop can be giving answers to customers all night long, even at 3:13 am.

  • Stop Online Shopping Carts from Being Abandoned (and End Other Objections, Too)

It’s estimated that anywhere between 60% to 80% of online shopping carts are abandoned. You can help retain more of those potential sales by providing your eCommerce or click and mortar customers with a quick way to communicate with you through your website chat app. Website chat tools can stop other common objections dead in their tracks, too.

First, webchat services allow your customers to get quick answers to questions they’d never resolve by checking your FAQs or entering in their question in your website’s search bar. Customers who have specific questions – or doubts – about your products can quickly get answers to their burning questions – questions that may have made them abandon their shopping cart if they weren’t invested enough in the idea of your product to spend time on hold calling your business or send an email and wait for a reply.

Second, website chat features allow you to be proactive in asking customers if they have questions before they even open up your website chat app. Many businesses are leveraging the advanced functionality in website chat options to customize push messages that are sent out on highly-trafficked pages, such as a product page, a popular blog post, and so on. When you ask people a question, they’re more likely to answer, and thus you’re able to initiate conversations and get customers who may have only been casually browsing your website more engaged.

  • Web Users are Moving Away from Filling Out Forms

Sure, forms are a great way to capture lead data. But if you think people are going to fill out your online contact form to reach you just because you’ve listed it online, think again.

Today’s web users, especially Gen Z and younger Millennials, live in a world where they expect fast interactions.

They’d rather simply ask their question than fill out all the fields listed on forms just to send an email that won’t receive an immediate response.

Website chat options also incentivize your leads who want to stay anonymous – and off your email marketing list – from contacting you before they buy. Since they don’t have to give any personal information upfront, these leads are more comfortable reaching out to you when you offer website chat apps.

We Can Help You Incorporate a Chat App on Your Website

Since you’re reading this blog post on our website, you can see we practice what we’re preaching here. We have a website chat app, and we get great results from it.

We want to help you answer your customers’ questions more quickly too, and prompt leads to ask questions instead of bouncing off your site. As a full-service marketing agency that has a team of web developers, we can incorporate website chat apps into your website, and even recommend our favorite option.

For help with website chat options, call us today at (214) 295-5845 or chat us up on our own website chat app.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Should I Use Chat on My Website?” instead.

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

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How the 2020 Election Season Affect PPC Campaigns

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For 2020 Election Season

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is one of the best ways to attract new leads to your brand, especially with Google Ads and Facebook Ads. But with the 2020 election quickly approaching this November 3rd, you may be wondering, “how does the election affect PPC advertising?” After all, the 2016 presidential election put Facebook Ads under scrutiny with a scandal of Russian influence on the platform. Given that recent history, are your PPC campaigns going to be affected due to the upcoming 2020 election?

The answer is most likely yes, and that exactly how the election will affect your PPC advertising is going to depend on the geolocations you’ll be advertising too. As a leading digital marketing agency that specializes in being a PPC agency, here is a discussion of four ways we expect PPC campaigns to be affected in the coming weeks leading up to the 2020 election.

  • Getting Your Ads Approved Will Likely Be Harder as Google Ads and Facebook Ads Want to Ensure Ad Legitimacy

PPC campaign platforms like Facebook have come under the microscope for allowing fake or misleading ads on its platform both politically related and not. As such, both Facebook ads and Google ads are expected to be harder to get approved in the weeks before the 2020 election and to take a longer time to get approved too.

The reason – Google Ads and Facebook Ads want to make sure they are approving PPC campaigns that are legitimate and true. Since many different organizations run political ads outside of official candidates’ campaigns, you can expect there to be an influx in new Google Ads and Facebook Ads getting in line to be approved.

As a PPC agency, we encourage you to be proactive about getting your PPC campaigns, especially any that you have specifically created for the fall or the holiday season, created and submitted for approval in advance. By creating content now, even for ads you want to run for Halloween or Thanksgiving, you’ll be one step closer to getting them approved more quickly given the expected PPC campaign approval bottleneck thanks to the 2020 election.

  • Facebook Ads and Google Ads Won’t Run Local 2020 Election Ads in Washington State and Canada

If you’re planning to run political PPC campaigns for the 2020 election, you should know they’re not allowed everywhere. Both Washington state and Canada have, through the threat of litigation, caused Facebook and Google to make the decision to not run any local election ads in these geolocations.

If you’re looking to create PPC campaigns on Facebook Ads or Google Ads that will be political in nature, you’ll need to look for an alternative advertising channel to get your message across to your intended audiences.

  • There’s The Potential for Consumer Distrust in Pay Per Click Ads As the 2020 Election Approaches

As the 2020 election gets closer and closer, you can expect more pay per click ads to appear online on platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads. These PPC campaigns will be run by candidates, major parties, lobbyists, PACs, and Super Pacs, and more.

While some people love getting involved in elections and the political process, others don’t. This latter group is especially likely to have a growing distrust of political PPC campaigns, and potentially all PPC campaigns, the closer we get to the 2020 election.

As a digital marketing agency, we have a few suggestions to help maintain trust amongst Facebook Ads and Google Ads viewers. First, if your brand is apolitical and your company doesn’t support any political party, don’t mention politics or the 2020 election in your ads. This will help keep those who are tired of hearing about politics from avoiding clicking on your ads. However, if your ads will be political in nature, or have a political slant, make your political leaning very clear. This will help you better pinpoint your target audience and get a better response to your ads’ call to action, too.

  • PPC Ads Are Expected to Spike in the Swing States

Our final thought in answering the question, “How does the election affect PPC advertising?” is that there’s an anticipated influx of PPC ads coming to American swing states in the coming weeks. This can mean a few things if you advertise in a swing state.

First, with the expected increase in Facebook Ads and Google Ads in swing states, there’s also the anticipation for ad fatigue until the 2020 election season is over. This means you may see a temporary drop in clicks to your PPC campaigns in these geolocations as Internet users simply get tired of seeing so many pay per click ads.

Second, if your product or service is discussed in politics, keywords that you commonly use may be in higher demand, thus driving up their cost per click (CPC). For example, if you work in the healthcare industry, you can expect related keywords to become more frequently bid on in the next few weeks, thus driving up your CPC on them.

Finally, just as we mentioned earlier that ads are going to start taking longer to get approved, these delays may be even more pronounced in swing states. So if you’re planning on running a geo-targeted PPC campaign in Ohio, for example, get started on it now.

As a PPC Agency, We Can Help You with Your Pay Per Click Campaigns

While we are a full-service digital marketing agency, many of our clients know us for our PPC agency specialities. We help brands throughout the US create, optimize, and manage a variety of PPC campaigns on Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other pay per click platforms.

Whether you want to pay per click advertising help for the short term because of the upcoming 2020 election, or you’re ready to engage with a PPC agency to take over your PPC campaign efforts, we can help. Simply contact us today to express your needs by calling (214) 295-5845, emailing sales@agencypartner.com, or filling out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “How the 2020 Election Season Affect PPC Campaigns” instead.

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

 

 

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What to Include on a PPC Landing Page

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For PPC Landing Pages

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a must in today’s day and age, especially on Google. With Google’s algorithm constantly changing, you simply can’t rely on organic traffic alone to give you the leads or sales your company needs.

For this reason, many companies like yours use PPC digital marketing platforms like Google to promote their business. But creating a compelling ad for Google – even if it has a high clickthrough rate – simply isn’t enough. You need optimized PPC landing pages for your PPC ads to make sure you get the desired 1:1 conversion ratio for every person who clicks your PPC ad.

Continue reading to learn what we as a digital marketing agency suggest every PPC landing page contains, including what it shouldn’t have.

Our Digital Marketing Agencies PPC Landing Page Must-Haves

As a digital marketing agency that has helped several businesses create PPC landing pages, here are our recommendations for your own pages:

  • PPC Landing Pages Need Their Messages to Match Their Ads

When a web searcher clicks on your PPC ad, you’ve already got them interested and engaged at the messaging you used in your ad. To get them to convert to a lead or a sale, you need to make sure your PPC landing page’s message matches that of the ad that enticed the web searcher, to begin with. Your PPC ads should never direct web searchers to your homepage or another page on your website, but rather a specially designed PPC landing page that contains the exact same messaging as the ads that directed them there.

  • Don’t Include Links to Other Pages on Your Website

The goal of every PPC landing page is to get the person on the page to convert to either a lead or sale, depending on what your call to action (CTA) is. To make sure this happens, you don’t want to link to any other pages or materials on your website that could cause your PPC ad to lead to a bounce. 

  • Make Sure Your PPC Landing Pages Have Impactful Headlines

One of the tenets of digital marketing is to use words wisely. You want the headline – which will be the first thing your PPC ad lead sees when they are directed to your PPC landing page – to be impactful. Remember to use message matching, and when it makes sense, use action words to keep your lead captivated on your product or service.

  • Add a Tagline That Supports Your Main Message

A tagline is your opportunity to add more messaging about the benefits your product, service, or brand can offer your PPC ad leads. Taglines should be succinct, but meaningful. It is okay, however, for your tagline to have slightly more text than your PPC landing page headline.

  • List Out Your Product’s or Service’s – Not Just Its Features

While it’s important to include product or service details or technical specifications, you need to write this information in an engaging way. Our advice is to list them as benefits, and not just features.

For example, if you’re creating a PPC landing page for a 60” TV, don’t just list “60-inch TV” as a bullet on your page. Instead, use impactful copy that conveys the benefit of the TV size, such as “Large 60-inch TV that lets you see your favourite shows and sports in full detail.”

  • Show Symbols of Trust

Since your PPC ad lead is a paid lead, it’s pretty safe for you to assume that he or she wasn’t thinking of your brand, product, or service when entering his or her web search. Your PPC ad lead was looking for options and recommendations and may have never even heard of your business before. For this reason, it’s important that every PPC landing page includes symbols of trust, such as:

  • Security symbols, such as from McAfee, if you sell a software application.
  • Customer logos, especially from customers recognizable in your industry niche or household names, if you can get permission to use them.
  • Testimonials from happy customers – just make sure to keep them short and sweet. Long, paragraph-form testimonials may be easily skimmed over for PPC ad leads.
  • Award badges for any award your company has won, such as from professional organizations and publications.
  • Membership badges, if your company belongs to any industry-recognizable professional organizations.
  • Certification badges, which are especially important for service-based industries. 
  • Transparent language about your company’s policies, including your privacy policy and whether or not you share lead or sales data with 3rd parties, return policies, and so on.
  • A free trial if you offer a software product.
  • Press mentions, especially in mainstream or leading industry publications and websites.
  • Make Sure You Have a Clear CTA

Every PPC landing page needs a CTA. It’s well known in digital marketing that PPC ad leads are more likely to take the next step when they are asked to do so. You need to keep this message clear, though. Don’t have multiple CTAs, but just one. Depending on the product or service you offer, your CTA may be to make a purchase, download a trial, download a lead magnet like a whitepaper, or something else.

  • All PPC Landing Pages Need a Lead Capture Form

If a PPC ad leads lands on your page – and even follows through on your CTA – you’re doing yourself a major disservice if you don’t have a lead capture form on your PPC landing page. A lead capture form allows you to identify the person who has come to your page, obtain his or her contact information, and add him or her into your marketing funnel for either remarketing if the lead didn’t convert or to send supplemental or support materials such as emails about your product or service.

  • All PPC Landing Pages Need a Compelling Image of Your Product in Action, or the Conveying the Benefits of Your Service

People are visual, and you need to appeal to your PPC ad leads’ desires for images on your PPC landing pages. If you’re promoting a product, then choosing an image is typically easier. You want to include an image of your product in action, especially showing it offering a benefit, if possible.

If you are a service-based industry, you want your PPC landing page image to trigger positive emotions related to your brand. Think about the types of images you typically see on a financial institution’s website, for example. Since most people are managing their finances for the benefit of their family’s well-being and future, banks’ websites often contain images of families, especially with young children, to elicit an emotional response from the webpage viewer.

We Can Help You With Your Digital Marketing Needs

As a full-service digital marketing agency, we’ve helped several brands create PPC ad campaigns and PPC landing pages that have matched messages. If you need help creating PPC landing pages to get PPC ad leads to convert, we’re here to help. Simply contact us at (214) 295-5845, sales@agencypartner.com, or fill out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “What to Include on a PPC Landing Page” instead.

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

 

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Magento vs. Woo Commerce

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Magento vs. WooCommerce

Many people just like you who are launching eCommerce websites to sell online look for helpful blogs like this one to compare eCommerce tools. Should you use Magento, WooCommerce, or Shopify? Which platform offers the best eCommerce software?

To simplify things, in this blog post we’re going to focus on comparing Magento features to WooCommerce features, but check out our main blog page for other posts that discuss Shopify, too.

The Similarities Between Magento and Woo Commerce

Unlike Shopify, which is an out-of-the-box solution for launching eCommerce websites, both Magento and WooCommerce are more advanced eCommerce software solutions.

Choosing either Magento or Woo Commerce will require those who want to sell online to have an internal resource who is technical and can configure their chosen eCommerce software to meet their specific needs, or engage with a marketing agency like ours to create their eCommerce websites for them.

Many entrepreneurs who want to sell online consider these two eCommerce software solutions for a variety of reasons, including:

  • They are going to be creating eCommerce websites that are larger and sell more products online.
  • They want to be able to customize more features of their eCommerce websites.
  • They want more control and insights into their eCommerce websites.

Whatever your reason for wanting to compare eCommerce tools Magento and Woo Commerce, continue reading to learn about each of their unique features.

Key Magento Features

Magento comes as both a free open source edition and an Enterprise edition. Which option you’ll choose will depend on your unique needs for your eCommerce website.

Key Magento features that make it stand apart include:

  • The Enterprise edition is highly-scalable, which makes it great for eCommerce websites whose business plans have them growing and growing.
  • There’s a huge network of Magento developers and agencies like ours that specialize in building eCommerce websites powered by Magento, so you’ll easily be able to find resources to sell online using Magento.
  • Even though it’s a customizable solution, there are several useful out-of-the-box features.
  • If you plan to sell online to other businesses, you’ll love the Magento features focused on B2B eCommerce.
  • Magento features let you input lots of product data info, which is important for eCommerce websites that are selling products online that have lots of technical specifications (especially for B2B eCommerce websites).
  • Magento features provide you with strong order management tools, which makes tracking and fulfilling orders easier to manage.
  • One of the most well-appreciated Magento features is that it makes accepting payments and shipping orders very easy, which is especially important for eCommerce websites with large volumes of orders to fulfil.

Key Woo Commerce Features

Woo Commerce is a WordPress plugin and the most commonly used eCommerce software solution. But just because so many other people use Woo Commerce, does that mean you should as well?

This eCommerce software platform has some great features for entrepreneurs who want to launch eCommerce websites and sell online. Key Woo Commerce features that make it a great solution for your online store include:

  • It’s part of the WordPress universe, which means you have a seemingly endless amount of themes to choose from and WordPress experts, like our agency, to engage with to create your eCommerce website.
  • It typically has a lower cost of ownership than Magento does.
  • It’s easier to get started with than Magento because it has a lower learning curve.
  • It’s a great eCommerce software tool for selling content, such as ebooks, podcasts, videos, etc.
  • Woo Commerce has many free plugins available to enhance your eCommerce website even more.

Should You Choose Magento or Woo Commerce for Your eCommerce Website?

As you can see from the discussion above, both Magento features and Woo Commerce features are great. Which platform will be best to enable you to sell online will likely be a more subjective opinion, and highly dependent on who you choose to engage with to build your eCommerce presence.

Some experts specialize in Magento eCommerce websites. Others focus on building eCommerce websites powered by Woo Commerce. You may make a decision about the eCommerce software that you’ll use to power your online store simply after you’ve chosen an expert or agency to engage with.

We Can Build Both Magento and Woo Commerce Sites, and Help You Compare eCommerce Tools

At Agency Partner Interactive, we’re digital marketing experts who are knowledgeable about Magento features and Woo Commerce features. We don’t want to push you into choosing one eCommerce software solution over another, but rather help guide you through an evaluation of these platforms so you can compare eCommerce tools and choose the right one for your business.

When entrepreneurs come to us to build eCommerce websites, we first get to know their companies and what their online selling needs will be. For example, we want to know:

  • Will you be selling B2B or B2C?
  • How many products will you be selling?
  • How many technical details do you need to explain about your products?
  • What do you expect your daily web traffic to be?
  • How many orders do you expect to receive daily?
  • How much assistance will you need with order fulfilment and shipping?
  • What payment processing solutions will you be using?
  • What do you want the design of your eCommerce website to look like?
  • How much control do you want over your eCommerce website?

By collecting answers to these important questions, we’re better able to understand your needs, help you compare eCommerce tools, and assist you in making a decision between Magento, Woo Commerce, or something else.

Contact Us To Get Ready to Sell Online

If you need to build eCommerce websites, our digital marketing agency is here to help you. We can assist with both the technical details of creating your online store, creating compelling and search engine optimized content for your website so it’ll rank highly on Google, and create beautiful images and videos to showcase your products to website visitors.

To get started, reach out to our team today. You can call us at (214) 295-5845 or fill out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Magento vs. Woo Commerce” instead.

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

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Shopify vs. Woo Commerce

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Shopify vs. Woo Commerce

Entrepreneurs like you who are preparing to launch eCommerce websites to sell online need to carefully compare eCommerce tools to select the best platform for their unique needs. Would you best benefit by leverage Woo Commerce features, Shopify features, or Magento features?

As a digital marketing agency that has helped several entrepreneurs launch eCommerce websites and compare eCommerce tools, we know a lot about your eCommerce software options. In this blog post, we’ll compare six Woo Commerce features and Shopify features to help you decide between these two popular eCommerce platforms.

  • Which eCommerce Software Offers the Best Design Options?

It goes without saying that eCommerce websites need to be well designed, both for desktop and mobile users.

Modern online shoppers quickly bounce off eCommerce websites that feel clunky, are difficult to navigate, or don’t display product images in an aesthetically-appealing and compelling way. Woo Commerce and Shopify approach store design in two different ways.

Woo Commerce is a WordPress plugin, which means in order to use this eCommerce software, you must have a WordPress site. While that’s great for design – there are so many different design options with WordPress – WordPress isn’t an out-of-the-box solution.

You can definitely have a unique, customized eCommerce website if you use Woo Commerce, but you’ll have to either put in the work to create the design yourself, buy a theme from a third party, or hire a designer to design your store for you. However, with branding and user experience being so important to eCommerce websites, many entrepreneurs who want to sell online see these investments as just a basic expense of launching an online store.

Shopify, on the other hand, comes with free and paid design options that the average person can easily customize on their own. There are several beautiful designs to choose from, but you do want to customize things like colors and fonts so that your online store doesn’t look like others.

The good news is, though, that Shopify provides a simple user interface for customizing designs, so it’s an easy do-it-yourself task, which is great if you’re working with a limited budget for launching your online store.

  • Which eCommerce Software Offers the Best Pricing?

The pricing differences between Woo Commerce and Shopify aren’t as straight-forward as they may initially appear.

If you want simplicity and a single vendor to pay, then Shopify is for you. With Shopify, you pay $29/month for hosting, receive an SSL certificate for free, and pay an additional $9/year for a premium domain.

The Woo Commerce plugin is technically free, though you’ll pay for a theme if you purchase one from Woo Themes.

Additionally, you’ll have other regular expenses to third parties, including $5-$100/month to a third party for website hosting, $0 to $100/year to a third party for an SSL certificate (depending on what deals you can find), and $9/year to the third party for a premium domain.

  • Are Woo Commerce Features Better Than Shopify Features?

Deciding whether Woo Commerce features are better than Shopify features is really a subjective exercise. To make it easier for you, we’ll tell you what we love about each of these eCommerce software solutions.

  • Woo Commerce is great because:
    • It gives you complete customization and control over your eCommerce website.
    • WordPress is a huge community, so there’s a seemingly endless amount of themes to choose from.
    • It’s easy to configure Woo Commerce to work with your WordPress website.
  • Shopify is great because:
    • It’s an out-of-the-box solution that benefits entrepreneurs who may not be as tech-savvy or have the time to customize their eCommerce websites.
    • With Shopify, you just pay one vendor for everything related to your online store.
    • Shopify allows you to quickly create eCommerce websites.
  • Which eCommerce Software Is Easier to Use?

If you’re not tech-savvy, then Shopify will hands-down be easier for you to use than Woo Commerce. As we’ve mentioned above, it truly is an out-of-the-box option for quickly launching eCommerce websites.

While customizations to themes are always recommended, Shopify makes customizing a theme very easy, even for those who aren’t design-inclined.

That being said, so many people know and love WordPress, which makes choosing Woo Commerce a great solution if you want a more unique online store or you want more control over it.

Whether you implement Woo Commerce yourself, or you hire a designer to create your store on WordPress for you, if you want more control over your eCommerce website, Woo Commerce is the clear choice for you to use.

  • Which eCommerce Software Offers the Best Customer Support?

Shopify offers free 24/7 support to its users via email, chat, or a phone call. It also has a very built-out online knowledge basis to look for support articles that may apply to you.

Woo Commerce, which is a WordPress plugin, offers support through the WordPress Forums or by going to WooCommerce.com and creating a free account to access its online support.

If you want to make sure you have 24/7 support available at your fingertips in several different formats, Shopify is the clear choice for you.

  • Which eCommerce Software Makes it Easier to Incorporate SEO?

The importance of incorporating SEO into eCommerce websites can’t be overstated enough. Your online store needs to include common search terms related to the products you sell so that you rank highly on Google and get discovered via search engine results.

But, SEO isn’t all about the content you create. There’s the back-end to SEO, which includes ensuring that your online store has all the appropriate meta information, a natural linking structure, and clean code.

Shopify is great at this, and as long as you’re smartly incorporating popular keywords into your web content, you should be fine with SEO.

Woo Commerce, is run on one of the largest publishing platforms there is – WordPress. As such, WordPress is full of knowledgeable SEO experts who can help you create optimized content, and has several SEO plugins, like YoastSEO, to fine-tune your SEO even more.

Ranking the two websites in terms of which provides the best SEO experience really is a subjective exercise. But just as with other aspects of the two eCommerce software platforms, if you’re looking for something that requires as little effort as possible to check the SEO box off your to-do list, you likely want Shopify.

So Which Platform Is The Best?

As you can see from the discussion above, there’s strength with both Woo Commerce features and Shopify features.

If you want more customization and control, you’ll likely want to choose Woo Commerce. If you want to get your online store set up quickly and with as little work as possible, Shopify is best for you.

We Can Help Customize eCommerce Websites

Whichever platform you choose, we can help. Whether you need assistance with setting up and customizing Woo Commerce or need help creating content that’s optimized for search engines that will go on a site run by either of these two platforms, we can help. To get started, call us at (214) 295-5845 or fill out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Shopify vs. Woo Commerce” instead.

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